Unit 1 Part B: Arts event review 2

On Sunday the 13^th of October 2019. Me and my dad went to the Light Cinema in Stockport to see S&M².  S&M² is a concert where American metal band Metallica and the San-Francisco Symphony Orchestra come together and play Metallica’s songs but with an orchestral twist.

         Metallica is an American metal band and one of the big four of thrash metal. They were founded in 1981 by Danish born drummer Lars Ulrich in Los Angeles. 20 years ago, composer Michael Kamen went to Metallica and recommended they did an orchestral concert. Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra 20 years later did another orchestral concert to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the original.

          I really liked the different dynamics the orchestra brought to the songs. My favourite song they played was The Call of Ktulu because the orchestra really suited the song. What I disliked was that sometimes found that the orchestra did not add anything to the music. 

         The audience in the cinema to be brutally honest were boring it was really only me and my dad quietly singing along. On the other hand, in San Francisco there were fans from all over the world and were occasionally louder than the band and the atmosphere looked amazing. Comparing it to when I saw them in Manchester earlier this year the atmosphere is so different being there in person is so much more of an experience. I have to admit it was much warmer in the cinema though.

         Overall, I thought it was a good concert with an amazing atmosphere I would defiantly watch it again and I would also recommend it to another Metallica fan or metal head looking for a twist on the music they listen to. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. 

Art Skills Share

For my skill share I am going to teach you the E minor pentatonic scale.

E MINOR PETATONIC SCALE TAB

E|————————————-0–3——————————————|

B|——————————-0–3————————————————|

G|———————–0–2——————————————————–|

D|—————-0–2—————————————————————|

A|———0–2———————————————————————-|

E|–0–3—————————————————————————–|

Below is my video explaining the E Minor Pentatonic scale. It is the first time I’ve filmed myself and also the first time I have shared any of my musical knowledge.

It an easy scale and a good way to start playing your own material and is also the basis on which lots of famous songs are written.

For the planning of the video, I had to write and plan my own script, I also had to practice the scale.

This is the script for my 1st skill share

SKILLS SHARE VIDEO 1

INTRO

Today I am going to teach you the E minor pentatonic scale which is one of the easiest and most frequently used scale in rock and blues guitar. This scale is used a lot by iron maiden, Jimi Hendrix as well as tons of other bands and musicians and is a great start when it comes to writing your own material.

TUTORIAL

So, you start off by playing the open low E string then using your middle finger play the 3^rd fret also On the E string. Like this….

After which play the open A string then using your first finger play the 2^nd fret. Then you’re going to repeat the process you did on the A string on the D string so open then 2^nd fret. Same on the G string as well.

So now you’re going to play the open B string but instead of playing the second fret you are going to play the 3^rd fret using your middle finger.

Now play the open high E string and to finish the scale using your middle finger play the 3^rd fret and that completes the scale.

CONCLUSION

Once you mastered the scale you can play it in any other key for example B minor pentatonic. Like this!

Here’s an example of improvising using the E minor pentatonic scale. 

Hope you found this video helpful, feel free to leave a comment below 😊

For my second skills share I will teach the intro to Seven Nation Army which is a simple riff in the G major scale (according to ultimate guitar).

G MAJOR SCALE

SEVEN NATION ARMY

Script

         Today I will teach you a simple riff in the G major scale.

 The riff is the intro to Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. So, the intro goes like this.

 So, to start off you are going to play the 7^th fret on the A string and then play that note again. Now with your pinkie you’re going to play the 10^th fret. Then back to the 7^th fret again and then move down to the 5^th then 3rd then finally 2nd.

Now when you can play this what you want to do is start off the same. But instead of playing the 2 your going to go back to the 5 then 3 then finally 2. Then repeat all that you just did. So overall is should sound like this. I hope you found this video helpful and please feel free to leave a comment 🙂 .

My current inspiration.

Steve Harris is the founding member of British Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden. He was born in 1956 as Stephen Percy Harris in Leytonstone, Essex. When he was 9 years old he had the chance to sign with West Ham United but he decided not to and to follow his musical dreams. Originally Harris wanted to be a drummer but didn’t have space in his family home so he taught himself bass instead. His first bass guitar was a Fender Precision model and cost him just £40 in 1971, not long after which he joined his first band which later became Gypsy Kiss. Gypsy Kiss lasted just 3 years. During this time Harris was writing his own material. Then on Christmas Day 1975 aged 19 he formed Iron Maiden.

His bass style could be described as gallopy and complex making his work very recognisable. He has written the lyrics and music for most of Iron Maiden’s songs. He is also the band’s pianist and co-producer. Harris’ lyrics are heavily influenced by mythology and history. I particularly like the story telling quality of Harris’ lyrics. This inspires me to write music based around my own personal interests too. He has played a key role in their 16 studio albums and 4 E.P.s. The most successful of which is Powerslave released in 1984. As you can probably tell by the album cover it is based around Eygption mythology.

My favourite album is Somewhere In Time which was released in 1986. They released albums in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2015 this is not including E.P.s and live albums. Steve Harris has also released a solo album called British Lion.

Steve Harris inspires me because not only is he a great bass player he is also a songwriter, plays the piano, sings backing vocals, co-produces their albums and directs and edits their live videos. I would love to be such a well-rounded musician.

3 Fun Facts about Steve Harris.

1: After leaving school he trained as a architect’s draughtsman but ending up working as a road sweeper after being made redundant.

2: Three of his six children work in the music industry.

3: Steve Harris is still a massive football fan and has started his own football team called the Maidonians with other members of Iron Maiden and crew. When touring they will challenge local teams to matches.

On the 18th of June 2019 I went to the Etihad stadium in Manchester to see Metallica.

It was my first standing gig and it was definitely a different experience to the other concerts I have been to. I was a little bit anxious about how long I would have to stand and by the end my back was hurting a ton. However my experience was a positive one the pyrotechnics and lights were cool.

It was chucking it down and by the end we were soaked; but it definitely added to the experience and it has mad seeing the amount of water coming off Lars’ drums. My favourite song they played was Master Of Puppets but all the songs they played were amazing. They played a lot of new stuff as well.

It was really inspirational seeing that even after 38 years that they are still performing and writing new material and that showed me that no matter the age if you love what you do that even after 38 years you won’t to bored.

Hi, I am Oliver and welcome to my blog. This is where I will record my Bronze Trinity Arts Award journey. My art form is metal/rock music, in particular electric guitar. I have always loved music and started playing piano when I was six. I tinkered with my acoustic guitar for a couple years but in the Summer of 2017 I started having electric guitar lessons and I’ve never looked back.

I have guitar lessons every week. Each week I will learn a new riff, chord or playing style. So far I have learnt about 123 riffs, 26 chords and 3 playing styles and lots of techniques.

On March 27th 2019 I took my first guitar exam. It was the Rockschool grade 3 exam in electric guitar. For the exam I had to learn 3 songs, 4 scale as well as doing sight-reading, melodic and rhythmic recall and answer general musicianship questions.

At the moment I am preparing for my Rockschool grade 4 exam. For the exam I have to learn 3 songs, 5 scales, 3 arpeggios, 3 dominant 7th chords, a riff, harmonic and melodic recall and I have the choice between sight reading or improvisation; all of which are in the Rockschool grade 4 guitar book. I am also using the grade 4 companion book.

The songs I have chosen are For Whom The Bell Tolls (Metallica), The Boys Are Back In Town(Thin Lizzy) and Dirt wizard by the Rockschool musicians. The scales I have to play are the A Major scale, B Natural Minor scale, C Minor Pentatonic Scale, D Major Pentatonic and the C Blues Scale the arpeggios I have to learn are A Major 7 arpeggio, C Minor 7 Arpeggio and the D 7 arpeggio. I have to learn the B major 7, C minor 7 and D 7 chords and the riff is in the G blues scale.