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It is always a challenge to get a large project beyond the
initial startup period. It takes a lot of work and dedication from everyone
involved. Accent has been something that we have been extremely passionate
about, and I am very happy to say that I now present you our second issue!
We have made many improvements in our design, as you will notice. Our copy
features many more graphic examples, along with the usual full text, notation
and audio files.
You will notice right away that this issue features my good friend Mike Portnoy
on the cover. Charlie Zeleny took it upon himself this month to dive into Mike's
world and transcribe the entire drum track of the song "Caught in a Web" from
Dream Theater's Awake album. I don't know who is crazier, Mike for playing like
that, or Charlie for taking on the job of transcribing the whole thing,
note-for-note! Enjoy it. It's great to have Mike on the cover, especially in the
style that our graphics coordinator, Paul Undersinger, has presented it. When I
told Mike that he was on the cover of Accent he said, "That's awesome man, it
should always be this easy to have a cover feature!" Here at Accent, we try to
make it painless!
Again, it is our goal to bring Accent to many different types of musicians.
Follow Matt Moldover's articles deep into the world of electronic music. Matt
has been all over the place lately doing a lot of shows as well as continuing to
work with Native Instruments as a part time product specialist. What you will
love about Matt's article and his approach to electronic music is that it is
very organic. He delves into the human side of electronic music performance and
how to connect with an audience on a very physical and emotional level, which is
what it is all about!
This month, for my article, I decided to get deep into showing many different
stylistic ideas all based on a very simple melodic theme. Over the years I have
taken the time to learn about a lot of different approaches that shape the music
that we hear. What this article demonstrates is that even with the simplest of
thematic material, one can cover so much musical ground! If you pay attention to
these various stylistic ideas I present, you can get a quick glimpse into my
personal musical world and hopefully get a strong hit of some of the key
concepts that I use to shape a lot of the music I play. I gave this a lot of
thought and put a lot of information into this one article, so please do take
the time to work with it.
For those of you into recording acoustic guitars, you have to check out Dani
Koesterich's article. The man has tested and tried so many different techniques
of recording this instrument and learned from top engineers in the industry.
This could save you a lot of time the next time you have to lay down tracks!
Marc Schonbrun and I decided that it would be very cool to have articles written
about classical guitar techniques since it is a great extension from all the
usual material that guitar players are offered. I believe that you electric
players out there would all do well to learn something about finger style
playing! The more approaches you learn, the more likely you will be to have an
original voice in your own music, which is a great goal for this magazine and
for all of us as teachers. Learn these arpeggios and see how you can bring them
into an original composition of your own!
Our own Jordan Baker is at it again with his usual musical madness continued. He
got inspired to take my song RA (from Rhythm of Time) and transcribe my entire
bass part for the electric bass guitar. I originally played it on my keyboard
using the Trilogy soft synth. For you bass players, there is so much information
here! I'm sure Jordan Baker would not mind if you contacted him with questions
about how he does this. I'd like to know he does all the wild musical things he
does myself, come to think of it!
Anthony Geluso has contributed a very happening interview with drummer John
Macaluso based on John's book Repercussions. The article has many transcriptions
included. John recently toured with James Labrie on his Elements of Persuasion
project not long ago - so John is interestingly connected in my musical circles.
Chris Romero has completed part two of the Screaming Head (Rhythm of Time)
score. It is a very complete score with a real inside look of what makes up my
composition. There is really nobody more capable than Chris to tackle
transcribing every note accurately, and being able to tell you what is behind
the music. As usual, he has presented lots of MP3 files of separate parts and
all the transcription you will need to get really into this piece.
Ryan Maziarz is the man when it comes to transcribing guitar music. Having
tackled the latest Octavarium guitar book along with Jordan Baker (soon to be
released), Ryan is the man to listen to if you're interested in learning how to
create transcriptions of your own music. In this issue, he presents a very
interesting article about some of the big questions that arise when transcribing
guitar music. There is a science to it and you will have to take the time to
check this out!
Lee Knife has some valuable info on Copyrights, which is something we all need
to learn about. I read that right before I started to write this!
I'm sorry to report that the infamous Bert Baldwin could not join us for this
issue because the road has kept him SO BUSY that he hasn't had a moment to even
call home. He is now the Lighting Director on the current Dream Theater tour,
and is responsible for running not only the lights but also our full video show!
The good news is that when he does surface he will have some BIG stories to tell
with some great insight and information!
Make sure to also check out the Q and A as well as the great song submissions
that we got this month.
Please let us know how you like Accent as we continue to grow and develop.
Thanks for subscribing!
Musically,
Jordan Rudess
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