Christopher Schlegel Update 07-19-2010

Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind” is the eighth tune on my Solo Jazz Guitar Standards, Vol. 1 disc.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

This is typically a big crowd pleaser.  Even for an obtuse live performer such as myself.  Everyone has heard Ray Charles do this tune.  But even without the lyrics (that most people don’t know past the first two lines anyway; which is even more than I know) people will listen the whole way through.  I’ve got a couple live performances of this one on vid.

From the Paris Arts Fest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POeD8a-j9Og

From my DixiePAC performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zB6N90weI

Interested musicians or jazz-lovers can compare the two performances and see how I use the same basic arrangement but change the details on the fly each time I perform it.  Or they can complain about how badly I mangle it.  That seems to be popular sport also.  Either way I have a lot of fun playing this tune.  Lots of opportunities for grandstanding.

Enjoy!

Another Ellington ballad, “In A Sentimental Mood” is the seventh tune on my Solo Jazz Guitar Standards, Vol. 1 disc.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

This song was the earliest recorded on the disc.  I did it back in 2000 on a borrowed Epiphone Emperor, before I actually owned one!  This was from back when I was just starting to get my bearings in this type of work.  I think it stands up admirably to the newer recordings.  In performances I usually do this dark, dreamy, laid back ballad as a contrast to my uptempo zillion-note arrangments of other standards.

People often say they recognize it or seems familiar to them.  But few remember the name or where they heard it.  It is a beautiful composition and a lot of fun to play.  I don’t have any video of me playing this tune.  So, how about another?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PYxhiHiJGM

Another Ellington oldie & goodie, a fave of mine to play.  Enjoy!

Christopher Schlegel Update 05-20-2010

Another George Gershwin gem, “The Man I Love” is the sixth tune on my Solo Jazz Guitar Standards, Vol. 1 disc.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

The legend behind this tune is that Gershwin attempted to craft an entire song starting with the typically throw away ending of many show pieces, “That’s all folks!”.  Or if you’ve ever sang the campy ending to “Happy Birthday To You”, it’s the part tacked on the end, “And many moooooo-re!”.  It’s also the well-known, bluesy ending to Gershwin’s own “Rhapsody In Blue”.

The tune Gershwin built is a masterpiece of beautiful melodic themes perfectly integrated with a brilliant harmonic structure.  Learning this song and making my own arrangement of it was a milestone in my development as a solo artist.

Here’s an old studio practice version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-NTieZAXnQ

Here’s a more recent live version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-VrI6xYvUY

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 03-24-2010

Among my 1000 plus lessons at Guitar Tricks I currently have 161 in the classical genre. Only 9 of them have been redone in High- Defintion. I’ve spent most of the last year working on improving my video & audio quality in other areas. For example, I’ve reshot all my beginner lessons, close to 300 videos that form the two Guitar Fundamentals courses. And then there are over 500 other lessons on other topics (theory, scale, chords, technique, improvisation, etc.), in multiple skill levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and in multiple genres (Blues, Jazz & Rock).

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

In short, I’ve been holding off on reshooting classical until other things were taken care of. Mostly, it was due to the user data. Non- classical lessons are simply more popular in use by Guitar Tricks subscribers. Therefore, it was in my best interest to reshoot those things first. Another reason was that the classical lessons (teaching & playing them) required much more planning & recording time & effort.

So, I’ve put it off until now. But now is here! I’ve been practicing my classical repertoire lately. I’ve performed a couple of times recently using my classical guitar. I’ve been reviewing scores & re-writing lesson materials. And I’ve even shot some test footage.

Some that footage included a pass at Tarrega’s “Adelita”. Francisco Tarrega was a brilliant guitarist & classical composer. He is somewhat unique in that he is a composer that wrote primarily for guitar; being a guitarist himself! This particular piece is one that will be reshot for the lesson site. It is also one I frequently play live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngaq6tW05ec

Happy viewing & listening!

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 12-19-2009

“Blue Monk”, Thelonius Monk’s classic is the third tune on my Solo Jazz Guitar Standards, Vol. 1 disc.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

Monk was an odd character to say the least.  Some of his stuff is beautiful, some ugly, some just plain weird.  But it is all farily stunning.  He is an American jazz original for sure.  I picked this tune to do because it is basically just a simple blues with a nifty little melody.  This leaves the options for improvisation wide open to the performer.  I had a lot of fun thinking of things to do with it.

Finally, here is a vid of me playing the tune at that outdoor arts fest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYjOZw1ff5g

Enjoy!

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.