shred like rango #1: A-Major
guitarist matthew meadows
because it’s possible to transpose songs from one key signature to another it might lead you to assume that key signatures are relative, and you’d be right. you can always shift the entire tonal body of a song up or down in pitch and retain the same relative melodic structure, which is to say the relationships between the chords and melodic elements retains the same intervalic distance from each other.
guitarists take advantage of this all of the time, and it speaks to the versatility of the instrument. they use a simple device called a capo, or cleverly change the tunings of their strings in order to change the key signature of songs. i do this all of the time, and as matter of practice keep my guitar tuned 1/2 step down and frequently drop the E string all the way down to D (think Dobro Love, The Turk) for dramatic effect and easy pedal tones, making me effectively playing in D-flat.
however, it also happens that these keys are absolute. the key of A-major has a very discrete and absolute resonance stemming from the primary tone we’ve discovered and named A, which vibrates somewhere in the vicinity of 440Hz. human musicians, for thousands of years, have been collectively trying to settle in on the precise frequency of these tones, and it’s fun to imagine some harmonic convergence thousands of years hence when we finally crack the riddle of the <actual> absolute frequency values of each of the tones of the diatonic scale (the one scale, (TM)), the stuff of science fiction, legend and religion. it may be paradoxically impossible to write in decimal notation if it is in fact not an even integral of Herz, and thus impossible for computers to measure precisely using digital measurement systems. and i suspect that it is not a perfect ratio since Herz is a human scalar measure (but there are interesting implications either way). so in the recording industry, calibrating machines, we’ve settled on the value of 440Hz but concert pitch in parts of europe is 442-443Hz. the range for this tone across cultures is fairly wide, varying with a tolerance of ~15Hz.
i’m going to share some of my insights about each of the named tones over a series of posts, but i’m not going to drill into each of them at the same depth. we’ll focus our lens on a single tone and chords that emanate from it. it’s the composer’s job to explore how the chords built from these root tones make us feel, but there is an undeniable sense of optimism that stems from songs built in A-major, the first and most logical chord to examine.
quoting the wiki:
more f# minor, but it’s related \m/
According to Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, A major is a key suitable for “declarations of innocent love, … hope of seeing one’s beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God.
in my recent experience, it was the key MikeWhite Presents used for a forthcoming collaboration with Jenni French. for me it feels like sky blue. it’s the chord in Otis Redding’s Sitting on the Dock of the Bay that is the anchor of hope (exercise to the reader: go listen to the song and find that chord with your ears. if you do it on my take, bonus since it’s tuned down a half-step, but no points if used the video because you didn’t use your ears). there’s something about A-major, it can give you a lot of hope, somehow, and i know i couldn’t possibly be more vague, but i encourage you to seek out and find an A-major somewhere and get up in there.
that’s what we’re gong to around here as i develop my guitar syllabus. i suffer from a mood disorder called bipolar that has caused a ringing in my ears, and that ringing has matured into an absolute tone. it’s not tinnitus, it’s aleph, and we’re just going to ride the wave, right at the crest, roughly 440 times per second. you can slide around, but if you trough out, you won’t be in a-major any more \m/.
it’s a beautiful thing, really. you should find an a-major near you and give it a big ‘ol hug :-D.
-rango
the positive in this image feels like a-major
addendum:
if you try to understand the key of A-major from the wiki, you’ll probably just fall asleep or find a sandwich to call your own without ever hearing it. but if you want to try to stay awake (and i know you do) you can learn some really cryptic stuff about A-major here starting in the second paragraph, which i find hilarious:
“Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only key where a Neapolitan sixth chord on requires both a flat and a natural accidental.”
a-major makes me happy 😀
stich knows, a-major feels great
fun/fun/fun
^^^ you, going for a sandwich because how obscure is that.
if you wanna really get down with A major, drill on it, and explore it at depth, one on one, we can do that. in fact, you can even have your sandwich:
https://www.thezoen.com/teachers/matthew-meadows-acoustic-guitar-and-electric-guitar
Matthew Meadows, Guitar Instructor at The Zoen
Ticket for Two (A Christmas Romance)
fiona the loveharp ❤
Wishing you and all my friends and fans a wonderful holiday with your family should you choose to observe. Since i’m still looking for a jobbie/job I was trying to ignore the whole affair but my girlfriend would have none of that. Now we’re having a full-on war, trying to out-Christmas each other. She was in the lead, with a box overflowing with gifts and even a miniature tree and a floppy Santa hat. I figured that required drastic measures so I just lobbed this litte volley up to YouTube, ReverbNation, Soundcloud and Fandalism where it’s been viewed over 250 times in the first hour, with glowing props. Yup, a Christmas love song :-D.
Here’s the teaser for the video Ticket for Two (A Christmas Romance), a litte diddy I just recorded with my love harp <3:
two problems with most christmas songs:
a) lacking shreddiness
b) needs more rango
problem solved :-D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gu8QsQ-idI
or (fandalism, way more plays & feedback here since it uses facebok authentication &)
http://www.fandalism.com/rangothedog/bGhl
merry christmas!!!!
-rango
http://www.youtube.com/user/rangothedog
ReverbNation
http://www.reverbnation.com/matthewmeadows
Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rangothedog
Facebook Personal
http://www.facebook.com/matthew.meadows
Facebook Band Page
http://www.facebook.com/matthewmeadowsmusic
Portfolio
http://www.freelanced.com/matthewmeadows
Gallery
http://matthewmeadows.see.me
IBroadcast.TV
http://ibroadcast.tv/channel/4803
Rango’s Holiday Six-Pack
Rango’s a busy dude, to a fault. We’ve marked his first birthday by releasing a flurry of six new videos, ranging from the latest Snowpocalpyse installment to an old cover tune. During the last year since Operation Rango: Check 1,2 was released we’ve increased our social engagement by a factor of 4x, and our edge graph now stands at over a million people, with roughly 1,000 hardcore fans and 15,000 that are extremely tuned in.
do not let your children play in the snow
Yup, you read that right. From zero in December, 2010 to a million people. Unfortunately there is no corollary between social cache and employment status or checkbook balance, so I’m hovering steady at $0 US, unemployed going on four months now, and my house foreclosed on.
This was the big one, your christmas present. don’t say i didn’t get you anything, this took thousands of hours 😀
1) Operation Rango: Into the Snow II – This is Not Empire
January 20th, 2012 was the day several snowflakes fell and shutdown one of the most advanced technology hubs in the world, the Emerald City of Seattle. Rango went into the snow with his survival kit in search of Tacoma axe man Tim Hearn, who into into the snow in search of Rango. A cautionary tale that reveals not only the fate of the two friends, but also the last known sighting of my wallet before I lost it, along with my phone, and eventually my grip on reality.
\m/~(-.-)~\m/ – moo. moooooo! moooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
2) The Pope – Purple. Don’t let the friendly chimes fool you, there will be bloody paladins at the gate before you can blow the horns. Expect a purple dawn drenched in glistening red. This is the second of three mixes in The Pope trilogy, but in the end there can be only one.
Very popeish, and somewhat purple.
\m/~(-.-)~\m/
3) Of all the work I’ve done in the last two years, the most satisfying has been the collaborations. If you’re a musician in the unfortunate position of not having a band, collaborations are a life saver, because they involve actual people (the fleshy, non-facebook kind). Notably fun, singing as Simeon for Sabrina Pena Young’s animated science fiction opera Liberteria. This is the most sophisticated video I’ve ever shot in terms of lighting and animation, relying on Sabrina’s artwork and composition to frost the cake and breath a little life into it. Super fun, and not your mother’s opera 😀
4) i figure if you’re going to sit around all day and do nothing you might as well sit around all day and do nothing with a guitar on your lap and a microphone in your mouth (or for better results, in reasonable proximity).
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding Cover), now in glorious high-fidelity stereo audio, smooth & dry going down 😀
5) not one but count ’em two pope videos in the latest salvo. this was the first of the pope tracks i published and the first video to hit the streets a few weeks later. it’s frivolous and silly, except for the serious parts. it’s The Pope – Hat Dance :-D, and i think that’s fun:
rango on solo guitar, getting somewhat popeish. don’t let the chimes fool you, it’s the legion of bloody paladins at the gates you have to worry about. also, did you a bring a suitable hat? you have to have a fancy hat. it’s a hat dance, it’s a perfectly reasonable requirement.
6) here’s a little nugget for you, paying some homage with few sticky licks before ripping into one of the first blues songs i ever wrote, Wine. clean electric here, written for an ex in an instant, i called this one the Broken String mix, because in fact i popped one right at the end of the take (all patched up) \m/
And just because six videos is not enough for Christmas (it’s never enough, is it?), there’s more. Lots more, in fact an endless stream of good music and pithy rangoisms will be flowing from my brother Johnny Burger over at the AudioBurger, main site here:
I’ll be kicking off my new show there in the new year, along with Jack, Sascha, Baz & Pete, and of course Daddy-Burger himself. Listen to the antics and expect the worst from this impromptu live preview show from last week, heard by hundreds of people during the broadcast and hundreds more after the fact. Hilarious, silly, and totally off the cuff, with a giant dose of Rango right in the middle courtesy of Johnny, who pretty much gave me the floor:
http://www.spreaker.com/user/reputationmedia/audio_a_new_go
Finally, being an internet DJ is super fun, but as you may recall I need a jobbie/job. I need to get paid. That’s why it seemed so fortuitous when I stumbed across an inside line on a DJ position over at Seattle’s biggest radio station, 107.7 The End. Nice work if you can get it, right? Since I knew it was unlikely they would even hear my audtion, I published it online and started a campaign to get my fanbase to tweet/message/email/post their support: “rango for DJ” was our battle cry for a week, and it’s worked. The general manager of the radio station, Michael Kagan, was kind enough to acknowledge my campaign and submission last week on their Facebook page when I posted an open letter there.
You can find links to my audition, and further instructions, on my blog site at RangoTheDog.com, the official mouthpiece of the beast :-D:
https://rangothedog.com/2012/12/14/call-to-action-rango-for-dj-at-107-7-the-end-fm-seattle/
…and that’s a wrap! Thanks to Urban Coffee here in aesthetically devoid Lynnwood for hosting tonight’s session! See you guys online, you know where to find me:
http://www.freelanced.com/matthewmeadows
Gallery
http://matthewmeadows.see.me
Website
http://rangothedog.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/rangothedog
ReverbNation
http://www.reverbnation.com/matthewmeadows
Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rangothedog
Facebook Personal
http://www.facebook.com/matthew.meadows
Facebook Band Page
http://www.facebook.com/matthewmeadowsmusic
Pop Song (Lyrics)
oh man he’s in love
i know your’re not sleeping
and the company you’re keeping
keeps you up at night
like the trains in the summer
every night i wonder
how to make it right
every song is written
every time and cue
every single breath
takes me back to you
the ryhme and the reason
the time and space
the wind in my wings
my china doll in lace
maybe i’ll just write a pop song, baby
stick a hook in the chorus
you can sing along, maybe
build a bridge in the middle
that will make you want to get up and dance
for romance
i could sing about you
i could sing about love
i could sing about hummingbirds and morning doves
we could fly away
and never look back again,
’till the end
love harps
i can wonder, i can wait
i can give myself to fate,
that’s alright
but the morning never comes
and i never see the sun
without your light
it’s our time, take my hand
running start along the sand
into the evening sky
when we fly then you’ll see
that we were always meant to be
never have to say goodbye
it’s like regular love +1
maybe i’ll just write a pop song, baby
stick a hook in the chorus, you can sing along, maybe
build a bridge in the middle
that will make you want to get up and dance
for romance
i could sing about you
i could sing about love
i could sing about hummingbirds and morning doves
we could fly away
and never look back again,
’till the end
Christmas Kindness at The Hobbit
o’reily risk photobomb
i see lot of outpouring of kindness every day here, and it’s always touching in a way that’s hard to describe, particularly after ending up unemployed and facing an uncertain future. but the day went to a stranger yesterday, somebody that didn’t know me and anonymously pitched in a small token of good will that saved me some face in front of my son.
we were at The Hobbit, just rango and boogie, a movie i’ve waited, conservatively, 30 years to see, a screen adaption of one of my favorite books and the seed of a teenage blitzkrieg of D&D fueled fantasy campaigns (and lots of vernor’s soda and chips & cheese).
so it was a big deal to me, personally, and to be there with my son at a time when i have no money. she couldn’t make it yesterday but we were there by way of my girlfriend who knows my situation and knows how badly i wanted to see it with him. totally primo, imax 3D, and $$. we’re talking digital dragons baby, smaug. we had perfect seats, half the width of the screen into the audience and smack dab in the middle.
i love movies. absolutely love them. i live in one 😀
living in a bad 80’s movie
i hustled to go get popcorn and drinks, cuz we’re going full ride here, very detroit, totally styling. on the way out i noticed a young woman 1/2 my age doing the same, looking very sharp, possibly professional sales or maybe just likes to look classy when she goes to the movies. that reminded me of my girlfriend, because she’s incredibly classy and pretty much everything does, anyway. (i inhale, she’s in my head, yup, i exhale and i can’t forget about her. pity she couldn’t make it yesterday but i thought of her at least 1,000 times, so quota).
anyway, i was in a hurry and i’m clumsy and scattered by nature and inadvertently cut this woman off at the counter, thinking about romance and hobbits and music and probably 349 bonus thoughts in the 10 seconds before i got there, including a complete symphony in fast motion, where i found myself digging through my pockets fishing for wadded up bills and change. i found more crumpled receipts than legal tender so i mumbled something about not having my ATM card, leaving out the part that it was worthless anyway as an uncomfortable feeling settled in. the clerk served up the popcorn and the soda, and then i had another one of those cash register fight club moments. getting sick of these: not enough money. not even close. closer to $0 US. one drink was in a bottle, so i put that back, then kind of had my moment of shame right there, stammered, and walked away a few paces to collect myself.
where’s my soda?
my pockets are like the everglades so i did some fishing and came up with one more moist, skunky dollar. that was enough to get just the popcorn, and it was still on the counter but the clerk was going for it to toss it back. so i rudely interrupted the next customer, which of course was the young lady i had just cut off. i kind of waved my hands around like an idiot (because that makes being rude not as offensive as any outspoken hollander knows), indicating i had enough money for the popcorn.
“the kind lady paid for your drink, sir”, he said, and sure enough she gave me a polite nod. what? just like that, random kindness from a stranger. i was delighted and relieved, and thanked her, explaining that it was for my son and that i was unemployed and boy did she just make a big difference in my day.
“sure”, she said, “merry christmas”, and we walked over to the condiment stand. at that point i asked her name. “bethany”, she said. i introduced myself then told her she was for a treat, that i was a prominent internet blogger, and a musician. that i’m rango the dog, (“all one word”), and that she should go home and check out my page or my youtube videos. then i indicated that i was going to go home and tell the whole world, anonymously, what she just did, because it was so kind.
however, have i changed my mind. her name is bethany simpson.
m2 imagery by dianne murray
thank you bethany for giving an unforgettable christmas gift to a perfect stranger, an old black dog with a starry eyed kid. i told boogie all about it, because when people do really cool things we should shine a light on them, for just a moment, and acknowledge, and learn from them.
“i find it’s the little things. love and kindness” – gandalf, the hobbit
\m/~(-.-)~\m/
Winter Family Christmas in the Pacific Northwest
“keenau reeves” – tony
let me tell you this: hanging out with those triplets tonight was pure joy. first: they’re beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed, perfect dutch toddlers, all them. they were spanking and strumming my guitars within minutes, and the name “rango” started rolling off their tongues over and over again, which they all agreed was easier to remember and more entertaining than (mumbles a bunch of m-sounding-things, including the words matthew and “uncle max from texas”).
(ed: sidebar – what is your m-factor?)
a year, seriously? my cousin jenni is only 15 minutes away, but with 3 babies and a teen and her own software company of 50+ people, and me rango, just super/super busy. so it might as well be another planet, it’s that hard. but like me she is gifted, and blessed. she has an amazing family, her partner since high school and my only advocate when i moved to seattle, renee, i love like my own mom, and their kids, what joy :-D. a major in business and a minor in computer science and a 5 star pedigree, but just top-shelf cool and hilariously bright. she’s my cousin, right? physically, you could tell from a mile, but she’s brilliant and kind and i love her and her entire family. i lived with her and renee for months when i moved to seattle, in their attic, carrying my incontinent dog up and down the steps and gravitating toward’s renee’s “how are you?” inquiry every day. she is sincere, and has a fancy degree in psychology, and i love her because she is genuine and very smart, and jenni’s partner. and if you had super-hearing like rango and could hear jenni snore, you’d know what a sacrifice that is.
and tony? omg. we’re like brothers. seriously, he’s only up in Bellingham, and yet we grew up together in Grand Rapids but rarely see each other. but we couldn’t stop talking, all night. he sells incredibly complex railroad engineering services. his wife? gorgeous and hilariously fun, a computer programmer at a college. how his daughter is now walking and talking when last she was a baby is a notable todo on my list, namely: get up there more often, it’s only like 45 minutes. we grew up together, every other weekend or so, my house or mom’s, along with aunt grace and our grandpa and grandma. such joy, and family, hard to come by, right? because limited edition (family), and spread geospatially (gr to seattlle).
even better: jenni & renee, their daughter and triplets, uncle jack (super smart arthur & anderson vp), aunt liz (love), the new nannie and more. best yet:
blessed with family
my cousin roland just moved here, from Alaska by way of Grand Rapids where he and my older brother were best friends, to Washington’s amazing Puget Sound, west of Tacoma and over the bridge by ancient brother Tim Hearn, with his two kids and his beautiful wife. his boy: perfect clone, just like dad and somewhat hyper (imagine that). his daughter: fascinating, into theater and joyful. i was overjoyed to see them, it’s been ~15 years and i hugged him before he recognized me, he was stunned. my son played with his kids all night, and Boogie (my boy’s nick name from Boogie with Stu aka Stuart Epps but legally Benjamin Meadows after my dad because homage and love)
jenny and i share common dna and upbringing, our moms are sisters and we grew up in the same town, saw each other once a month or more growing p. we share obvious physical similarities and could pass for brother and sister. but we’re only cousins, which means we spent pretty much every weekend together in grand rapids experiencing what i will coin as the “vandoorne gravity”, the weekly meeting with one or more of our dutch cousins, and it was always fun/fun/fun, baby.
‘night ♥, god bless ♥
Call to Action: Rango for DJ at 107.7 The End FM Seattle
ATTENTION: I NEED A JOB.
rango for DJ at 107.7 The End FM Seattle
this is rango’s hello world for 107.7 The End FM Seattle, who you should <totally> call/text/tweet to request me as their next DJ.
me: seriously
you: o rly?
me: no, seriously
you: k (if it only takes 5 seconds). ??
me: just say “rango for dj”
you: where?
me: it’s a radio station, but they’re on the web here:
and
https://twitter.com/1077theend
or even their request line for songs, call and ask for a new DJ (politely, tell them they’re awesome first, we love to hear that)
206.421.1077
I DARE YOU \m/
if they need evidence just send them here, i’ve posted a hello world and my audition:
12/12/12: Welcome to The Zoen
learn to shred like rango 😀
what did you do on 12/12/12? i hit a triple. i became a professional musician. effective immediately i’m accepting bookings for online guitar instruction and related consultations over at The ZOEN – Online Music Lessons . i’ve passed the application process, background check, and instructor training and my profile is 90% complete. you know what? good enough, let’s get started on a date we can never forget. saddle up with Matthew Meadows Music (aka m3 – what is your m-factor?) …and yer buddy rango, grab your guitar and your favorite song and let’s start jammin, baby.
\m/ (-.-) \m/
this is the direct link to my profile. it tends to not show the preview correctly yet due to DNS propagation errors, but it’s public:
https://www.thezoen.com/teachers/matthew-meadows-acoustic-guitar-and-electric-guitar
Operation Rango: The M-Factor
what is your m-factor?
Facebook post by Rango the Dog, dated 12/12/12, a date that will live in infamy:
“I think instead of a show called X-Factor where people can theoretically take a crap on TV and win a prize, they should have a show called M-Factor where the producers try to find the mutants among us, the polymaths. Just like Professor Xavier, but you’ve got to have Mutant Spectral Talent Syndrome (I made that up). But we’ll just use the internet instead of a fancy machine like a mutant locator or TV, and we don’t need any fancy producers, we’ve all got computers and Facebook and Youtube and such”.
Doesn’t that sound fun? Matthew Meadows Presents: Actual Talent, Gushing All Over Your Internet (TM, but not really). For this competition you cannot merely demonstrate one art to be a contender, you must demonstrate three. You must demonstrate that you are a triple threat. I will leave the three arts to your discretion. For instance you could dance, play guitar and sing (aka Rango). You don’t necessarily have to do them at the same time, but choose your weapons, and make them count. Got more than three? Are you a polymath? Bring on the rain, let’s show the world. We’re big kids, we can do this by ourselves even if this is the Land of Misfit Toys.
After Music XRay takes their cut, 10% of all contributions will go to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which you can learn more about here:
“triple” \m/~(-.-)~\m/
right. fun :-D. how about a rango sandwich with an earworm :-D, that’s super fun!!!
asdfjdsjfasqreqwe1!
<itsgud2berango>
\m/~(-.-)~\m/
<itsgud2berango>
“triple” – operation rango, check 1,2: the final cut
http://fandalism.com/rangothedog/btl4
WANTED: an intern and some ca$h 😀 (super/super fun!!!)
Music Industry A&R Summary
risk
the current music industry a&r market looks like this to me:
taxi: zero luck
others: nibbles & bits
http://www.musicxray.com/?afid=a85f43b0176f012e081612313b120559
Rango's Dog House 