Words from:
Carl @
Pittsburgh Guitars
I've been
reading a book about Einstein's theory of mass-energy equivalence. ("Why
Does E = mc2?" by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw.)
Early in the book the authors discuss scientific work that inspired Einstein,
including that of British physicist, Michael Faraday. Faraday is most
famous for his work with electricity and magnetic fields. He found,
through careful experimentation, that electric currents generate magnetic
fields. He also discovered that moving a magnet through a coil of wire
generates an electric current. These two simple phenomena, now referred
to as electromagnetic induction, are the basis for generating electricity in
electric motors... which surround us everywhere... even in the CD/DVD drive in
this computer I'm using right now. Quoting from the aforementioned book,
"Faraday's contribution to the growth of the industrial world is
incalculable."
Oddly, though, despite listing many positive benefits of Faraday's work, the
authors fail to mention electric guitars! The basic science behind an
electric guitar pickup is Faraday's Law of Induction. A guitar
pickup is constructed of a magnet and a coil of wire. As Faraday noted,
there is a magnetic field surrounding the magnet. When a vibrating guitar
string disturbs that field it causes an electric current to be generated in the
coil of wire. A pickup goes bad when there is a break in the coil, which
interrupts the current flow. And "disturbing the magnetic field" is why
you shouldn't put acoustic strings on your electric guitar. Acoustic
strings are primarily made of bronze, rather than the steel of an electric
string. Bronze won't impact the magnetic field of the pickup as much as
steel, so it won't create as strong a current.
As I was reading about Michael Faraday, I thought, "I should tell everyone
about him. After all, his scientific discoveries eventually led to the
development of the pickup, which eventually led to rock &
roll." But then I thought, "Let's face it, most of us don't care
all that much about the science behind an electric guitar. We care about
its development and use!"
So, instead of Michael Faraday, I want to talk about Vinnie Bell!
Vinnie Bell was a successful New York City studio musician in the
mid-1960s. He played on hundreds of hit songs, movie soundtracks, and TV
shows. In the studio his job was the get the guitar sound the producers
wanted. And all producers want a hit record. And the easiest way to
get a hit record is to mimic the sound of another hit record. And that
brings us to 1965, 1966 and 1967.
In early 1965 The Beatles filmed their second movie, "Help!" One scene
took place in a restaurant featuring an Indian band. During the filming,
George Harrison took an interest in a sitar played by one of the
musicians. In mid-1965 he bought a sitar. In October 1965 he used
it on a Beatles' recording, "Norwegian Wood," from the Rubber Soul
album. Soon the rest of the pop world wanted to use a sitar. In
March 1966, Brian Jones used one on the Rolling Stones' hit 45 "Paint It,
Black."
At this point, let's take a quick look at the sitar. Here's a picture. Although it looks confusing, with two rows of
strings, the lower row is not played at all. They merely vibrate.
And the top row of strings are mostly just drone strings, strummed, but not
fretted. The melody is primarily played on one string. The
hardest part about playing the sitar is holding it. (The second hardest
part: listening to someone play one!)
Now, getting back to New York record producers... When The Beatles (and then
the Rolling Stones) used a sitar, producers started requesting sitars on their
songs. And Vinnie Bell ended up carrying one around New York to recording
sessions. Needless to say, a large fragile instrument like a sitar is not
an easy thing to haul around. Being a clever and innovative guy, he
thought, "There's gotta be an easier way to do this!" On his way to a
session he sketched out a small solid-body sized electric sitar. And thus
the Danelectro Coral Sitar was born. Like a real sitar, it had
sympathetic strings. Unlike a real sitar it was strung and played like a
normal electric guitar. Though it was hollow like other Danelectro
models, it didn't really vibrate enough to rattle the sympathetic strings, so
they were mostly for show and novelty. But the six-string part actually
sounded like a real sitar, and was 1000 times easier to use.
Here's Sam with a 1967 Danelectro Coral
Sitar. The model was an
immediate hit, and was immediately used on hit records.
Here are a few (many of these feature Vinnie Bell playing the sitar on the
record):
"Green Tambourine"
by the Lemon Pipers
And we owe it all to Vinnie Bell!
The Danelectro sitar was made from 1967 until 1969 when Danelectro went out of
business.
I thought of Vinnie because this week we sold two sitars at Pittsburgh
Guitars. Years ago we used to sell real Indian sitars, and on Monday one
was traded back in. We sold it a day later. Yesterday we sold
an electric model made by the Italia company. Although in recent years
the Danelectro name was revived, they are not currently making an electric
sitar. Fortunately, several other companies are, and Italia makes a
particularly nice one. Here's John with an Italia electric
sitar.
So, to recap, two names we should know:
* Michael Faraday, in 1821, discovers electro-magnetic fields
* Vinnie Bell, in 1967, invents the electric sitar
OK! Now we have something to talk about over dinner!
Speaking of sitars... Winter is approaching. And that means dry
air! And that's bad. Especially for your guitar! If your
guitar gets too dry, the wood will shrink... Your fret edges will get sharp
(since steel doesn't shrink)... And eventually your neck angle will
change... And then your strings will fret out on the upper frets...
And then... it will sound like a sitar!
If you want a sitar, you should get one. But don't let your normal guitar
turn into one!!! Humidify!!
See you soon,
Carl
Check out our web site www.PittsburghGuitars.com
Check out our Local Band CD section!
|
1996 CD release: NEIGHBORHOOD BEAT "NEIGHBORHOOD BEAT", "SCHISM 'N BLUES" & the 2007 CD release "ROOT ROT" are available at all Blues Orphans performances. see event postings |
I. First, you must save a photo onto your computer. How to save a photo from the internet:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4939_download-picture-internet.html
II. Second, add the photo onto your profile:
a. from your profile page on pghlivemusic, click on “Change Picture”to create a personalized photo.
b. Under “upload your picture” click on Browse.
c. If it doesn’t come up automatically, again click on “My Documents” to access your photos.
d. Double click the photo you want to use and click continue. Voila!
Soul Singer Solomon Burke Dies At 70
Soul singer Solomon Burke, who wrote "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" and recorded the hit "Cry To Me" used in the movie "Dirty Dancing," has died at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. He was 70.
Airport police spokesman Robert van Kapel confirmed the death of the "King of Rock and Soul" on Sunday, and referred further questions to his management.
Dutch national broadcaster NOS said Burke died on a plane early Sunday after arriving on a flight from Los Angles. The cause of death was not immediately clear.
Burke, who was both a Grammy winner and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had been due to perform at a well-known club in Amsterdam on Tuesday.
A Philadelphia native highly acclaimed by music critics, fellow musicians, and many loyal fans, Burke never reached the same level of fame as soul performers like James Brown or Marvin Gaye.
He wrote "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" in 1964 and it was quickly recorded by the Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett, and later and perhaps most famously by the Blues Brothers.
Legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler once called Burke, "the best soul singer of all time."
Burke joined Atlantic in 1960 and went on to record a string of hits in a decade with the label.
According to his website, Burke was born March 21, 1940, "to the sounds of horns and bass drums" at the United Praying Band The House of God for All People in West Philly.
"From day one, literally God and gospel were the driving forces behind the man and his music," his website said.
Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and won a Grammy a year later.
Those honors sparked a renewed interest in the singer and he toured extensively around the world in recent years.
Burke and his band would play without set lists, instead performing whatever the audience wanted to hear.
"It's like turning back the hands of time instantly," he said on his website. "We can be in the middle of singing something from my recent 'Like A Fire' album, and they'll call out 'Stupidity' from 1957 and we're back 50 years!"
Burke combined his singing with the role of preacher and patriarch of a huge family of 21 children, 90 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.
"Loving people," he said at a recent performance in London, "is what I do."
The blues, like the novel, is always dead or dying, according to someone,
somewhere. But somehow, time and again, both these old forms find a way to
resurrect themselves. Still, if you were asked to finish a sentence that begins
"The next great blues album will be the work of [your candidate here]," it
would be pretty long odds that your answer would be "Cyndi
Lauper."
Lauper started out in the '80s as a pop star with that self-titled album where
it seemed like every song was a hit, and she’s been a creature of pop ever
since. Nonetheless, here she is withMemphis
Blues, and
if there’s been a better blues album this year, it’s a well-kept
secret.
Hard-core blues fans have every right to be suspicious of high-profile interlopers who breeze in and, with no credentials or background, lay claim to territory where excellent musicians have been toiling for years with little or no recognition. But life isn’t fair, and sometimes these interlopers deserve a listen. Maria Muldaur cut an acoustic blues album a few years ago that set the standard for such invasions, but Lauper gives that earlier album some serious competition.
The blues that come from Memphis are hard to categorize because they often
stray over the line into rhythm and blues on one end and pure folk on the
other, with gospel infusing everything. But all of it, from the the Memphis Jug
Band to Elvis, from the Box Tops to Isaac Hayes, dips into the blues. And
Memphis studios and their session players are equally famous for their Southern
hospitality. Outsiders as varied as Dusty Springfield and reggae star Toots
Hibbert have been welcomed in to marry their art with the local juju. Memphis,
after New Orleans, might be the city most vital to American music.
Since the very definition of Memphis music lies in its accommodating
elasticity, Lauper mixes up all sorts of styles, often on the same song. On
Louis Jordan's "Early in the Mornin'," she shares vocal duties with B.B. King
(who started out as a Memphis disc jockey) but makes room in the arrangement
for an Allen Toussaint piano part that’s right out of the Professor Longhair
playbook. By the same token, she can take a Chicago blues standard, feed it
some barbecue, and teach it how to sweat. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have
the undersung Ann Peebles, a true Memphian, along for the ride, but Lauper's
version of Muddy Waters’s “Rollin' and Tumblin'" makes the song sound like it’s
always lived in that storied city on the banks of the Mississippi
River.
What makes the album work, though, are Lauper’s vocals. She always had a terrific voice, but she’s spent her life learning what she could do with it. With unerring pitch and faultless rhythm, she weaves in and out of a lyric, teasing lines, putting her little foot down right on the beat and then winging into the next phrase with such gravity-defying grace that it almost sounds easy. Listen to the bridge on "Don't Cry No More," where she sings over the drums alone for several measures before some very greasy horns jump in and escort her back to the chorus. It's a couple of minutes of music so good, I jumped out my chair when it was over. It takes guts for a singer to walk onto territory once owned by Memphis Minnie, but Lauper pulls it off like a woman who knows everything there is to know about having fun with the blues.
10-29 20 YEARS OF.......... S U B M A C H I N E !!
Local musician Glenn Pavone dies at age 52
By Rege
Behe
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 Last
updated: 9:36 am
Glenn Pavone, one of Western Pennsylvania's most beloved musicians, died last night after a long fight with cancer.
Pavone, who lived in Edgewood, was a native of Alexandria, Va. He moved to Pittsburgh in the early 1980s to play guitar with the Billy Price Band and later started his own group, Glenn Pavone and the Cyclones.
"He's the most gentle guy we've ever met," his friend Norman Nardini, also a musician, told the Tribune-Review last year. "He's gracious. He doesn't look down on anyone. How is this guy so cool and so gentle at the same time? He really is a star but not the kind of star the media makes. He's the real deal."
Pavone is survived by his wife Nancy. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Pittsburgh blues guitarist Glenn Pavone, seen here performing at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival last year, died Monday night at the age of 52. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review file photo
About the writer: Rege Behe is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-320-7990
In
Memoriam
Search:
Marvin Isley
1953 - 2010
The youngest member of The
Isley Brothers, Marvin joined the family band as its bassist in 1973. His
urgent bass lines propelled hits like "Fight the Power (Part 1 & 2)"
(listen)
and "That Lady" (listen).
In 1983 Marvin, Chris and Ernie left the group to form Isley-Jasper-Isley
for three albums and a number one R&B hit (listen).
Marvin died
in Chicago on June 6th of complications from diabetes.
Career highlights:
* Before Marvin joined the band, they recorded a song later covered by The
Beatles (listen)
and in 1964 they welcomed a
young guitarist from Seattle on their tour.
* The Isleys were
inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1992
http://specials.msn.com/A-List/in-memoriam.aspx?cp-documentid=24681927&imageindex=10&cp-searchtext=Gary%20Shider
In
Memoriam
Search: Gary
Shider
1953 - 2010
One of the driving forces behind Parliament/Funkadelic,
guitarist Shider was also known as "Diaper Man" owing to his rather unusual
stage costume (photos).
He first met band leader George
Clinton at a barbershop in Plainfield, N.J. He joined "P-Funk" in 1972 and
is best remembered for songs like "One Nation Under a Groove" (Watch
this). Shider died
June 16 of cancer.
Career highlights:
* As a kid of 10, he played with gospel greats The
Five Blind Boys,
The Mighty Clouds of Joy and others.
* Shider appeared in two movies: "The
Night Before" (1988) and "PCU"
(1994)
* He was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 as a member of
Parliament-Funkadelic.
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