Christopher Schlegel Update 01-26-2011

Happy new year!

I finished 2010 by succesfully updating all of my Guitar Tricks online classical guitar lesson videos to high-definition video and audio.  At the beginning of 2010, I had a catalog of 161 total video lessons grouped into 24 overall tutorials.  For example, I have a tutorial on Bach’s Bourree from the Lute Suite In E Minor.  Unfortunately, all these vids were standard definition, with amateur production values.  Some of them date back to 2005 when I first started doing online lessons!

This is one of those old vids:

http://www.christopherschlegel.com/files/Private/BachBourree1.flv

So, I spent the second half of 2010 redoing every single classical video lesson in high-defintion video and audio.  And I expanded some of the tutorials to include more in-depth material.  And I created a lot of brand new content also!  It was interesting watching my old video footage as a reference point.  Since 2005, when I started this business of online lessons, I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t in the context of a canned video lesson.  I’ve also learned a lot about video and audio production.

Here is the updated version of the Bach lesson:

http://www.christopherschlegel.com/files/Private/BachBourree01HiRes.flv

By the end of 2010 I was able to say I now have a classical guitar catalog of 304 high-defintion videos in a total of 36 tutorials.  They start with absolute beginner tutorial introductions and exercises, note reading exercises, single string melodies, then gradually build in difficulty through easy, intermediate and advanced skills, techniques & pieces.

In total now I have 1,340 lessons on Guitar Tricks grouped into a total of 198 tutorials.

http://www.guitartricks.com/instructor.php?input=155014

http://www.guitartricks.com/

As a result of all this video lesson work I never did get around to releasing a new CD of music.  So that is the first order of business this year!  I have a brand new CD done and sent to my web vendor.  More info on that soon.  Stay tuned!

For now, please enjoy this private rendering of the Bach Bourree from the Guitar Tricks tutorial.

http://www.christopherschlegel.com/files/Private/BachBourree.wmv

Happy viewing & listening!

Christopher Schlegel Update 10-15-2010

These demos are the result of a discussion I had with Anthony Bonadio at Reason Amps.

He mentioned the lack of demos that explicitly focused on the clean, cleanish tones that are possible with a classic humbucker style guitar & the Reason amp line.

So, I plugged a Gibson Les Paul into my Bambino & hit record!

First, I explore the Normal channel:

Next, I switch over to the Bright channel:

Finally, I even pull some nice clean(ish!) tones out of Stack mode:

Enjoy!

Christopher Schlegel Update 09-19-2010

Recently, a gentleman named Scott Yanow emailed me.  This was a nice surprise, because I know of him, but had no idea he’d ever heard of me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Yanow

Mr. Yanow is the author of many jazz books as well as a noted jazz critic.  I’ve read lots of his work in jazz reference books and websites.  In fact, if you go to a site like AllMusic.com and search for biographies of jazz artists or reviews of classic albums chances are the entry you will find was written by him.  For example:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wiftxqy5ldse

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kxfwxqrgldje 

So, Mr. Yanow is always on the lookout for new jazz artists and albums.  As a result my disc got a hit on his radar.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

He contacted me to tell me about his business reviewing jazz albums.  I sent him a CD and he graciously wrote a review for me.  He gave me permission to post it on my website.  So, I put it here:

http://www.truthagainsttheworld.com/music/jazz-guitar

I thank Mr. Yanow for the wonderful review!

Christopher Schlegel Update 08-17-2010

The second annual Nashville Amp Expo is this weekend!

http://www.nashvilleampexpo.com/

Last year I was honored to meet with the guys from Reason Amps.  They made me an officially endorsed artist for Reason Amplification.  Thanks to my old friend, Obeid the best tube amp designer in the world, and to my new friend Anthony, the best amp cabinet man in the world!  Scroll down the list to read my blurb.

http://www.reasonamps.com/artists.php

The show is open to the public.  So, come on down if you are in the area.  I’ll be visiting as many rooms as possible.  But, I’ll spend the most time in the Reason room, of course.  Fair warning, though, it’s going to be loud.

If you combine that with my Epiphone endorsement, you get this nice little video with both machines (Epi Joe Pass Emperor and Reason Bambino) that is still in rotation at the Gibson lesson site:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/InstrumentLessons/Combining-Lead-Rhythm-111/

Enjoy!

Christopher Schlegel Update 04-16-2010

I was born and raised in St. Louis.  So, this tune had to make the cut on my first album of standards.  William Christopher Handy’s classic blues is the fifth tune on my Solo Jazz Guitar Standards, Vol. 1 disc.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

W. C. Handy was an amazing man whose life deserves a little study if you aren’t familiar with him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Christopher_Handy

I did a whole tutorial series on GuitarTricks.com on how to build a chord melody solo guitar arrangement.  I used “St. Louis Blues” to do it.  It really is a great tune for that kind of thing.  Much of the lesson material grew out of my own arrangement.  This vid on my YouTube channel is a highlights overview of those lessons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbfGJzfFBRU

Later on, the Gibson Guitar company website picked up my “St. Louis Blues” video lesson and embedded it on their lesson pages.  It has been in rotation as a featured Lesson Of The Day.  If you play guitar and want to try my arrangment, I suggest the Gibson lesson page because they included my musical score along with the vid.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/InstrumentLessons/Learn-St-Louis-Blues-320/

For those of you with Guitar Tricks subscriptions, you can see the whole tutorial series of lessons here:

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=759

Enjoy!

Christopher Schlegel Update 02-17-2010

“Mood Indigo”, Duke Ellington’s classic ballad, is the fourth tune on my Solo Jazz Guitar Standards, Vol. 1 disc.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

What is there to say about Duke that hasn’t already been said? A genius of American music, an amazing composer & arranger, outstanding (and in my opinion highly underrated) pianist, bandleader, performer, overall first rate musician. Always dressed to the nines and always on the top of his game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington

Along with Gershwin, Mr. Edward “Duke” Ellington’s songs form the backbone of the Great American songbook. “Mood Indigo” is a tune I’ve known and loved for many years.  Like many jazz tunes, for years I never knew the lyrics to the tune. Or even that it had lyrics!  I’ve intentionally avoided grandstanding on this one. Just the melody, a simple bass line, and inner chord color tones that are my personal tribute to Duke’s beautiful music that I’ve loved for many, many years.

I’ve been testing my video studio setup with a new mic & subdued lighting. I recently filmed some test footage which included a pass at “Mood Indigo”.  This is very similiar to the arrangement on the CD & how I typically perform it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvN26FYSFHA

I also recently filmed a series of blues lessons for Guitar Tricks. I used my Reason Amps Bambino for all of them!

http://www.reasonamps.com/

Here are a couple of the play along performance sections I extracted from the lesson footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-9eA4jWfkw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3E5tgDeRX8

Happy viewing & listening!

Happy new year! My web vendor CD Baby now has an Artist Overview page, on which you can view my currently available catalog of discs on CD Baby. And also get links to direct digital downloads.

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ChristopherSchlegel

I need to get some of those Download Cards and give them away to people or something like that which might resemble “Marketing”.

I still haven’t finished posting about all my jazz guitar CD tunes individually. I intend to finish that project this year. So keep watching this e-space for a blurb about each tune in order!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

I am also working on some exciting projects involving performances & clinics this year! More details to follow.

Gibson.com has posted another of my video lessons. I have at least a couple more like this ready to go for the beginning of the year. I enjoy doing these simple blues things very much!

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/InstrumentLessons/Blues-Orchestration-In-A-112/

Happy viewing & listening!

Christopher Schlegel Update 11-16-2009

A couple of months ago I attended the very first Nashville Amp Expo.

http://www.nashvilleampexpo.com/

As a result, I am officially an endorsed artist for Reason Amplification. Thanks to my old friend, Obeid the best tube amp designer in the world, and to my new friend Anthony, the best amp cabinet man in the world! Scroll down the list to read my blurb.

http://www.reasonamps.com/artists.php

I wrote it for them to stress how my name on their roster is best mutually beneficial. And, it’s true! I am a pioneer and leader in online video instruction with over a thousand lessons on various websites. I’ve had over 1,000 video lessons in total on various sites for a while. But as of yesterday I have over 1,000 on Guitar Tricks alone!

http://www.guitartricks.com/instructor.php?input=155014

I did a series of six videos to demostrate the tonal range and potential of the amp I got from them, a Reason Amp Bambino. If you haven’t seen them yet, you can check out all 6 on my YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChristopherSchlegel

I’ve been incorporating my new Reason Amplifier in every possible lesson I’ve done lately. The first of these to show up on the Gibson site has recently been posted.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/InstrumentLessons/Combining-Lead-Rhythm-111/

Happy viewing & listening!

I recently got a new amp! It’s a Bambino combo, the all tube home studio amp from Reason Amps.

www.reasonamps.com

The amp designer is a long-time friend of mine from old school days back in St. Louis where I grew up. We’ve kept in touch over the years. When he told me he was launching his own company I knew I’d have to check out the result. So, I met with the guys from Reason at the Nashville Amp Show and was amazed with this little box! I bought one and they agreed to make me an endorsed artist. I also got permission from them to do some demos.

The idea here is to demonstrate the basic settings & parameters of the amp with different guitars.

1. Epiphone jazz box into normal channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHfp6gpS82Q

2. Epiphone jazz box into bright channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ThJn8qA6xw

3. Epiphone jazz box into stack channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijPR_AEWY4

4. Fender Strat into normal channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUPQIPrdxhY

5. Fender Strat into bright channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv9vrMLQ7WI

6. Fender Strat into stack channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6KzDi4Lo0k

I hope you enjoy watching & listening to these as much I did making them! I’ll be incorporating this amp into as many future Guitar Tricks lessons as possible, too.