Category Archives: Music in General

Music in General

Seven Facts About Inspiration

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Phill Gibson

1 – Teachers should provide it for students. Some of it, at least. And remember too, the old saying about leading horses to water; it certainly applies here. We get inspiration from many different sources and our instructor should be … Continue reading →

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Music: A Cure for Modern Day Complexity

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Phill Gibson

Go check your email. Can’t do it? Maybe the SMTP server is down. Call ’em up and find out. Search for their number and find it if you’re lucky. Go through the voicemail maze and finally leave a message in … Continue reading →

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The Fence We All Straddle

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Phill Gibson

When it comes to ways to learn the banjo or mandolin, there are a couple of different paths we can follow. Each path uses the same set of tools and so can look very similar to the other, but the … Continue reading →

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Name – Skill Correlation

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I’ve often wondered; is there any relationship between people that have names easily identified with a certain skill and their propensity to take up that skill, or at least to have a greater than usual interest in that skill? You see … Continue reading →

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What I'm Listening to – September, 2009

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Phill Gibson

Vo-Do-Do-De-O Blues – Cynthia Sayer I got a couple of Cynthia Sayers’ great CDs a while back and have been listening to them, especially this infectious and quite funny tune. But it’s also a great bit of jazz, with great … Continue reading →

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People are Important

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I used to love playing Tony Trischka’s Chromania (still do, actually). It’s a rather challenging tune to play from one of his early melodic banjo tablature books. It’s a very satisfying feeling to be able to play it cleanly and … Continue reading →

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What I Would Do Over

Posted on August 29, 2009 by Phill Gibson

I went to visit my folks out in the country this past Sunday afternoon, just as I often do. While there, I took the opportunity to go visit my old bedroom. The furniture has changed in there since the days … Continue reading →

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Should Music be Cubby-holed?

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Phill Gibson

A friend and I were talking about various qualities of musical instruments and he made the comment that guitars, banjos and such instruments can easily play alone, whereas a brass or woodwind instrument, say, a trombone, really needs other instruments … Continue reading →

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The Road in Song

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Phill Gibson

What is it about the open road that is so appealing in song? It pops up so often – in rock, blues, bluegrass, country, you name it. For as long as people have wanted to get away from something, surely … Continue reading →

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Complexity in Songs

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Phill Gibson

The more full-featured something is (car, computer application, banjo, song, etc.), the more complex it is and so the more difficult to construct. (Also more expensive to fix and less apt to be fixable by yourself!) This seems intuitive as … Continue reading →

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