Day 2: Medersa Ben Youssef

Marrekesh's Islamic school

Morocco Day 1

The Koutoubia Minaret, seen from Djemma El-Fna square, Marrakech.

Arabian Nights

You know how I've been complaining that everyone's been going off on their hols and not getting back to me about jamming, joining bands etc?

Well...

IT'S MY TURN! Ha-ha!

Yes. We're off! Where? Morocco. Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains. By accident rather than design we're headed to a 99% Muslim country during the holy month of Ramadan. It should be an interesting experience, full of culture shock.

It's our first time visiting North Africa, so we're not 100% sure what to expect. When Tim and I travel we tend to do so in quite an immersive fashion, trying to blend in with locals, adopt local customs... eat where the locals eat... that kind of thing. Of course, during Ramadan there's somewhat less eating to be done during daylight hours. By all accounts the festivities after sundown will more than make up for any inconvenience during the day.

It got me thinking about what the soundtrack to our travels will be. I'm no stranger to many forms of world music, but my knowledge of North African culture is limited. I'm guessing that as Morocco is predominantly Berber/Arabic, we'll be treated to some quite exotic sounds.

Having a brief trawl around the internet, it looks like Arabian music is quite different from the standard fare over here. There are no I-IV-Vs, that's for sure! In fact, harmonisation seems pretty scarce. It looks like you predominantly get a solo performance (or chorus of instrument and voice singing the same notes), accompanied by a bassline supplied by a variety of drums. Interesting!

The music is based around quarter-tones rather than half-tones. In other words, there are twice as many notes available to the musician. Okay, so obviously, unless you're really good at tight quarter bends or you're using a slide, as a guitarist you're stymied from the get-go. Well, not completely, but the range of scales open to you are significantly reduced.

Scales themselves are termed 'maqam' and there are something like 100 main and sub-scales at your disposal. Note, that the maqam equivalent to C major would count as different from A major as there is no real concept of 'key' as far as I can tell.

Okay, so maybe discarding the concept of a 'key' is somewhat harsh, as you might move from one maqam to another which to Western ears might sound like shifting scales within one key signature, but... well... as there's no real harmonisation, so perhaps 'key' is irrelevant after all. I think that kind of highlights one of the main things about music theory... that it's really just a framework applied to 'what we know works'. Sometimes, when you try to shoehorn alternate musical styles into Western 'music theory' the wheels fall off the wagon.

Looking forward to the trip... If we're not back by a week on Monday then send out a search party. We'll probably have taken the wrong camel headed south...

Feel free to check in with The Project, though. If I get the chance (and a phone signal) I'll see about sending postcards from my mobile.

Ear, Ear?

On a (muted) side note, has anyone tried these before?



No, they're not magic mushrooms, space-age maracas or transistorised Christmas trees. They're ear defenders for musicians. According to the blurp they filter out damaging frequencies and generally roll off the volume to levels that you can actually hear what people are playing.

Years ago I minorly f**ked my hearing whilst working on the big rigs... oil rigs, that is. Nothing major, but I lost a few higher frequencies. Lately I've been becoming concerned that I'm putting myself in more and more noise hazardous environment (such as rehearsal rooms) and so I figured it might be worthwhile trying these out. They're not likely to break the bank... you can get them online for under a tenner... so I may just try a pair, but I thought it worth asking the more seasoned (or pickled) musos out there whether they've road-tested them already.

Thoughts, people?

Sunday, Metal Sunday

So here's the thing... I've actually got a lot to say about the jam on Sunday and I want to get it out before... well, before I forget half of it... but due to a mountain of work I've to get through I'm just going to have to post snippets. Any comments, suggestions and so on more than welcome.

After a late start to the morning and a late breakfast I just managed to get to the rehearsal rooms on time at 1pm. Riding the ol' bike with Red strapped to my back wasn't a major issue. It may even have been good for my posture! On the gig-bag side of things, the Ritter one I bought (a 700, if that means anything to anyone) is supposedly shaped for a Les Paul, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Blackie the Ovation just squeezes in there... but only just.

So, I got there. I was nervous as hell... much more so than when I went for a jam with Col of Axe Victim, for some reason. I think it was a mixture of not really knowing where this might lead, not knowing the people I was going to meet and, frankly, not knowing much about metal guitar techniques.

Turned out that me and another guy were there to jam with a drummer/guitar/vocal combo. Bass to be added. They're a metal band who are initially looking at doing covers (mainly Metallica) but who have some original material.

From the start it became obvious that the drummer was a real powerhouse and highly skilled. It turned out that she's also a good guitarist. After the session she told us that she'd only been playing a year! I was gobsmacked as she was really, really good.

The guitarist was also top notch in the metal vein. I didn't really get to focus much on the vocalist as she was kind of side-lined by the screaming axes and I wasn't close to her monitor.

The other new guy there had recently relocated to London. He was really good, too, and more than capable of handling metal, blues, rock... anything. I got the feeling that his influences may have been closer to mine than anyone else's.

So, turned up and ran through some Metallica stuff. Luckily, they were tunes I'd at least heard, so I was able to jump in and play along after watching the other boys' fingerings.

After that we jammed for a bit, nominally on blues stuff (not!) then someone kicked off on "Freebird", "Sweet Child Of Mine" and a few other songs I could bash out some pentatonics on. I'm not entirely sure what scales/modes metal uses... Phyrgian? Lydian? Dunno...

Pulling some backbone out of my behind I started into some of the stuff I've written and was elated when the drummer kicked in behind me and the band joined in. You really can't argue with power chords from a Les Paul into a big amp. Sounded good.

After that I vamped on the intro from "Outside Woman Blues". Again, the drummer then the rest of the band fell in. I think that's what impressed me the most about the drummer. No matter what we played she was able to just bring it all together. Magic.

Next up was a session trying to play one of the band's original compositions. The riffs themselves sounded really good. I didn't have a clue what was going on so I wallflowered for a bit. I tried to join in being a faux bass, but in truth I was fading a bit. We'd been playing for over 3 and a half hours continuously and I was stiff suffering from a major workout at the gym the previous day.

Afterwards, we agreed to meet up again and later that evening the drummer texted me to let me know that they were looking forward to next time.

So, to the chase...

I've enjoyed playing some metal, but I don't know whether that's where I want my focus to be. I really liked the other guys in the band and felt I could learn from them. I am, however, way behind everyone else when it comes to knowing the tunes. Nevertheless, they've asked me back...

Obviously I don't have anything else major on right now. I've got at least one more definite possibility, though, and I don't want to put all my eggs in one musical basket. So, I'm thinking I should basically let these guys know that I enjoyed playing with them and would like to try out a few more sessions to see how it goes before committing to anything, but at the same time keep looking. They know I'm not a metal-head and seem to be okay with that... They seem pretty serious about trying to get out there and start gigging, but they're still a way's off.

Ah, what to do..?

On the positive side, it's another notch on The Project's belt. To those more experienced than I am it may seem like nothing, but for me, getting out there and playing with other people (amped to the max!) is a major achievement.