• “Every minute of every day, someone needs blood. That blood can only come from a volunteer donor, a person like you who makes the choice to donate. There is no substitute for your donation.” *
• “More than 1 million new people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Many of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment.” *
• “Since platelets have a shelf-life of just five days, it is imperative that there are enough platelets on hand to meet the needs of hospital patients across the country.” *
• “When you make a blood donation, you join a very select group. Currently only 3 out of every 100 people in America donate blood.” *

* info taken from redcrossblood.org site

Appointments are necessary.
Call Karen – 248 563 3789 or
email karenmaclean@wowway.com

Blood donations are desperately needed.
For more information visit RedCrossBlood.org/

My wife Jen and I have just register to be on Team Taylor for the Michigan Marrow Walk. If you would like to join the team visit:
michiganmarrowwalk.com

If you would like to donate visit
http://michiganmarrowwalk.​com/participant/3427

My personal goal is to raise $1,000. We understand that times are hard on everyone right now but we would really appreciate any donation that you can spare. There is a really easy form on-line. It will only take a minute.

My involvement in this race is in support of a student of mine, Taylor, an incredibly brave young woman who is fighting for her life. Help her and the thousands of people of all ages that are diagnosed with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases.

The Michigan Marrow 5K Walk that unites communities across Michigan in support of helping patients in need of a bone marrow transplant. With your support you can help us cover the cost of adding new potential donors to the Be The Match Registry, increasing the chances of saving more lives. You will also be supporting patients with financial hardships through My Friends Care Cancer Fund.

May 13-15th – Downtown Rochester, Michigan

Join the party to help keep Michigan beautiful. Many of us take for granted the big beautiful planet we live on. I know I do. This event will help build awareness of the MI Green Team and all the ways they are working to improve the health and prosperity of our community and our great state. Learn about the local businesses and local people striving to help thru the use and production of green products, services and practices. Get information on how you can Green Your Life or Your Business. Join the celebration of the beauty of our planet and those dedicated to keeping it that way. There will be music, dancing, food, drinks, games, prizes, exhibits, awards, a parade and so much more.

Visit MiGreenTeam.com for more info.

Party for the Planet will include performances by:

• Broken Bravado
• Luck & Trouble
• Dave Edwards from the Look
• The Ragbirds
• Cliff Erickson
• Nate Montgomery (I will be performing on Saturday, May 14th from 5-6:30)
• Ben Sharkey
• Chad Hofman
• Motor City Josh & the Big 3
• Long Neck Strangler
• Billiards Music

FREE ADMISSION – Sponsored by

• Rochester Mills Beer Co.
• Vince & Joes
• Total Health Care – Radio Disney AM 910
• School of Rock
• Straight Line
• Lazy Daze Records

Beginning Guitar Players.

Another way to expand your ears ability to hear is to further define the chords that you know on the instrument. For example you may know how to play an Emajor chord but can you recognize an Emajor chord in a song without having the guitar in your hand? In other words your listening to a song and all of a sudden you hear an E, C, D, A, or G major chord and know without a doubt that you are hearing that chord? If you enjoy listening to music then this ability can be developed.

The first thing you need to do is to take every chord that you can currently play on guitar and give it a definition. Play an E major chord and then play an E minor chord. If they were both colors what colors would they be? The choice is yours and no one can say that you are wrong! Play the two chords again only this time decide what they smell like. A little more difficult you say, well give it some time and use your imagination! Play the two chords again and try to think of what they taste like, feel like, sound like, etc. By thinking of the chords in new way you will be accessing parts of your brain that you don’t usually use when listening to sound and this alone will help you to define what those chords mean to you. If you absolutely can not think of what a chord smells like, move on and don’t force it to happen it may take a little time. Maybe just stick with color until you have given numerous chords a color definition.

To get started, try singing the guitar part of your favorite song along with the track and then again without the track, a capella. If you notice that you are having trouble singing the correct pitches or rhythms then you have a weakness that should be worked on! Early on this was a sore spot for me and it took a very long time for me to get decent at this skill. In my case I had to start by matching my voice to one single note on the guitar. This seemingly simple task gave me much trouble and was extremely frustrating. At the time I was pretty fast with my fingers yet still couldn’t match my voice to a single pitch much less sing a phrase correctly.

What really helped was blocking my ear canal with my finger while singing the note starting low vocally and sweeping up to the pitch. This sort of “tuned” my voice to the note on the guitar and helped me to hear it inside my head. Once I was able to match that one note correctly I played a note one fret higher or one fret lower on the guitar and started the process over again. The next step taken was to sing along with riffs that I knew how to play like Day Tripper by the Beatles and scales that I had under my fingers like the minor pentatonic.

Try to add this type of practice into your routine ever time you pick up the instrument even if its only for a few minutes… you will eventually get past the one note like I did and be on your way to having a great ear that will serve you well on your musical journey.

There are many tools out there to help you with ear training. Here are a few that you might find useful.

• Find out more about what ear train is and is not here: easyeartraining.com.
• This site has great audio with quizes to help you test your skills: good-ear.com
• This site has additional free tools and info: trainear.com/
• This site has additional free exercises and tools: musictheory.net

However the time has come for a new chapter. Time for me to work on some other things. It is time I finally quit talking about writing a third Fingerstyle disc and really do it. In the mean time I will also be recording a live disc for release in mid 2011. The first date for recording will be on Friday, Jan 21 at Lazy Daze Lounge in Downtown Rochester.

Also, It’s time I get back to my true passion- jazz. As luck would have it I recently got a call to book the jazz trio- slightly modified to focus on Latin jazz to fit at Cantina Diablo. The timing couldn’t be better to get the guys together and work out some new material. We have recorded a little bit from our shows and you can listen to a couple of clips on jazz trio page. Check the shows page for complete show info but as of now we are playing at Cantina Diablo in Ferndale on 12/3 12/11, 12/18, 12/30 12/31 and then all Saturdays in January and February starting January 8th.

Jon and Nate having a blast performing live

Hope everyone has a great holiday season. All of my different projects as well as 7MJ are available for private parties and functions. If you would like more information email or call. I would be happy to discuss the possibilities.

Cheers!
Nate

When you take the guitar and completely retune the instrument it is like starting over. Your normal chord shapes and structures will not necessarily work in the new tuning and you have to abandon your previous views on how to compose. People often ask me how I write my tunes and honestly they are almost all different but for the most part I like to start with a melody line and then fill in the bass notes. By the time the melody and bass are together there are only so many possibilities of what other notes you can fit with six strings, four fingers and a thumb! It is fun to start with a drum beat some times but I have found that I often get too caught up in the groove of the percussion and bass until I can no longer hear a melody or even a second section. Over all exploring what the guitar has to offer in any given alternate tuning can be a nice break from the theory-driven aspects of standard tuning.

I saw Preston Reed perform again recently only this time it was the as a music fan instead of a guitar player. It was just as inspiring but it a whole new way. Up till this point I had been focused on the complexity and technique of his playing, this time around I was swirling in the compositions.

So today I would like to leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

“Wes Montgomery played impossible things on the guitar because it was never pointed out to him that they were impossible.” Ronnie Scott

and this is just the short list…..

Here is a short list of QUICK TIPS to help you get started:

1. Stretch before any practice or performance. For great ways to stretch visit handhealth.com. This is almost always the first thing I teach new students.
2. Keep fingernails short on fretting hand to make everything easier.
3. Change strings regularly for a more vibrant sound
4. Wipe guitar strings off with a clean dry cloth to ensure strings will last longer
5. Create a practice space that is free from things that will take you away from the pure experience of getting to know the instrument better.
6. Set an alarm so that you don’t have to watch the clock.
7. Focus on one practice item for as long as you can to build your mental endurance and general ability to focus.

Whenever you are trying to learn something new it can seem overwhelming and impossible, but with some time, patients and passion you can play anything.

Also here is a list of a few website that I have found helpful for either myself or students:

• musictheory.net: Great for theory lessons, reading
  exercises, fretboard training & ear training
• guitarpro.com: A must have for increasing your learning curve!
• ultimateguitar.com: All the Guitar Pro files you need to succeed.
• all-guitar-chords.com: Helpful when learning scales and modes.

Of course reading this interview also took me back to what was and still is the highlight of my career, the night I got to open up for Tuck and Patti at the Magic Bag Theatre in Ferndale. My friend Chris Oleksy, who at the time was a fellow teacher at Gus Zoppi’s had been working on this project where we each played 2 guitars simultaneously. Chris, who was a student of mine back in the day, was huge into Stanley Jordon and was working on the whole tapping technique. Together we started arranging and writing tunes. We called the group Groovelation, like the song/album Groove Elation by John Scofield, also one of my favorite guitarist, then and now. I played a white Steinberger bass duck taped to a guitar stand on a Uhaul box with my left hand and a guitar with my right. Chris played a seven string in the right and a 6 string with his left laying across his lap. I don’t know how Chris did it but some how he hooked us up with this gig. It was crazy! I had a tremendous amount of respect for Tuck and Patti before, but watching them up close and in person took it to a whole other level. During the sound check Tuck would play a bit and Patti would call out to the sound guy something like “notch out a bit at 10K its a little hot and add a little around 100hz”. The two of them were incredible the way they prepared for the show. I have since been to a lot of shows at the Magic Bag and To date it still remains the show that had the best sound at that venue. After the show I got Tuck to autograph my 7 string guitar. It really was the opportunity of a life time.

After the show Chris and I played together for awhile around town and we performed together for my senior recital at Wayne. We also added a vocalist, Leah Woods (AKA James) and a drummer, Clint Sabon. We had a lot of fun. I think there is some really low quality video footage out there some where. It would be fun to see that now after all these years. This project definitely changed the way I viewed the instrument and what is possible. It was at the tail end of all this that I started writing the solo acoustic stuff. You could say I was looking for a way to combine those 4 guitar parts into one on the instrument. I haven’t quite gotten there but I am not done trying….