Happy Memorial Day

This weekend in the U.S. marks the Memorial Day holiday. A time to honor the men and women who serve (and have serve) our country. Along with that also usually comes an extended weekend holiday – most companies give their employees the following Monday off. What does that mean for those of us who have time off?

Beer and BBQ!

Okay, okay, I mean aside from that.

What it means is that you have more time for music this weekend! Forget your “honey do” list; this is the weekend where I give you permission to forget the chores and have some fun.

Support the Scene

1. Support a local band - Find a place that is having live music and go listen! Get out there and support your local music scene. It can be a smokey blues bar, a quiet jazz club, or your favorite S&M grindcore spot; I don’t care. Just as we let our service members know we support them and thank them for their contribution to keeping us safe, you should let your fellow musicians know that you appreciate their hard work and dedication.

I have a jazz quintet gig on Sunday at a town music festival, so I’ll be supporting plenty of musicians. You should, too!

2. Buy a new CD - Again, we’re supporting musicians. There has to be at least one new CD you’ve had on your wishlist for a while. (The debut Din Within CD comes to mind. *cough*)

3. Jam Session! - Invite a few friends over and jam. This goes quite well with the beer and BBQ part of the weekend, too.

Improve Your Playing

4. Learn a cover tune - You know you’ve been wanting to learn “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor for the longest time. Now’s your chance. The chicks will dig you, and you’ll get out of your comfort zone a little bit.

5. Learn a new scale - I have a surprise coming up in this category sometime soon, so be on the lookout. Until then, learn a new scale. Pick something exotic like one of the Indian ragas or something to that effect. Play that scale in everything you do musically this weekend. Absorb it, integrate it, and BE the scale!

6. Chords, Chords, Chords - I am a HUGE fan of learning chords. So, take the 1245 string group and learn all of the min7b5 chords and their inversions. Go ahead, DO IT! You won’t be disappointed.

7. Metronome Time - Now’s your chance. I know you’re going to have at least ten minutes of extra time this weekend. So pop on the metronome and practice your timing. Nothing is worse than a musician with shitty timing. Don’t be that musician!

Have Fun!

8. The Greatest 20 Minute Univibe Guitar Solo, EVER! - And so it shall forever be known. Plug an effect into your guitar, saturate the hell out of the signal, and go nuts. I’m serious. Jump around in your room, do your best Angus Young/Curly from the Three Stooges floor spin, and windmill pick a la Pete Townsend. (For the love of krishna, however, do not smash your guitar; that’s just flippin’ stoopid!)

9. Stop, Collaborate and Listen - Well, I really mean to say “Stop, Relax and Listen” but I couldn’t resist the temptation to quote Vanilla Ice on a guitar blog. Some things just need to be done.

Take a moment or two for yourself and just listen to some music while relaxing. Lie down in the hammock with your iPod and really immerse yourself in the songs. Take in everything – the production, the sound of the instruments, the lyrics, the solos, and the overall vibe. Let the music wash over you.

10. Buy Some Gear - Yeah, why the hell not? Go out and splurge on something you’ve wanted to buy for a while. Just don’t tell your significant other that I said you could. I’m sure the major music retailers are going to have sales this weekend, so go nuts! As much as I’m not a “gear guy,” I do recognize that new gear has a tremendous effect on inspiring us to play. If that’s what it’s going to take to get your butt to the music room for a few more hours this weekend, then by all means do it!

On that note, have a great holiday weekend everyone. I’m taking tomorrow off (in addition to Monday as well) so you won’t see any new posts on Fretterverse until Tuesday. Normally I don’t post on Wednesdays so I can concentrate on my other blog, but hopefully you will have noticed that the past two Wednesdays I did post some content to make up for these vacation days.

I’ll be back next week, ready to bring you more fun and mind-blowing content. Peace!