Fret Filings - (Anne's Blog)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

"NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN"
Topic: New Chords Postings

The newest Chord Chart entry on the site is Three Dog Night's "Never Been To Spain". A bit of tab is included in the transcription. The song -- from the 1971 album Harmony -- reached #5 on the pop charts. It was written by Hoyt Axton, who also wrote hits for other well-known acts, such as Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" and Ringo Starr's "The No-No Song". Perhaps his best known song is another made famous by Three Dog Night, "Joy To The World"...and the boys and girls and you and me and fishes.

"Never Been To Spain" has also been covered by a number of other artists.

Hear the Three Dog Night version here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lr0hV0CSzo

Posted by planet/zerofret at 2:03 AM EDT
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A YEAR ON
Topic: Bands/Music

A new tab today, "Breakdown" by Girlschool, posted in honour of Kelly Johnson, who passed away a year ago today. Kelly, as some of you probably know, is my favourite guitarist, has been for several years. This song is one I've meant to do for a long time, since I've always really liked the guitar solo in it. It's understated, melodic, and features that great tone, vibrato, and natural playing style -- everything I've always loved about Kelly's guitar playing. The harmonized lead in the Outro is great, too.

I remember the first time I worked out this solo, years ago. There were a handful of songs on Demolition that I didn't know, because that record was never available here back in the vinyl days. I had most of the songs from that album because they appeared on Girlschool compilation albums, but I knew there were a few I didn't have. Then I happened to come into possession of a live tape of Girlschool performing at the 1981 Reading Festival. "Breakdown" was on that tape, and I loved it. So I first learned the solo from that particular live version. Later, when I got the CD of Demolition, it turned out the solo in that live version was very close to the one on the studio version. Not exactly the same, but almost.

Today, I'll be listening to all of my favourite Kelly songs..."Going Under", "Wildlife", "Breakdown", "Stay Wild", "Furniture Fire", "A Love Too Far". "You Got Me", "Mad Sister", "Hit And Run", "Chinese Whispers" (WCK). And also tracks in which I particularly like her guitar playing, like "Don't Call It Love", "Like It Like That", "Play Dirty", "High 'n' Dry", "Back To Start", "Deadline", "So Much Better Now" (WCK), "No Pain No Gain" (WCK), and more.

And I'll be remembering a wonderfully talented musician who had a huge impact on me.

Here's to you, Kelly.

Posted by planet/zerofret at 2:06 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:27 AM EDT
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Saturday, July 12, 2008

MOXY
Topic: Riff-In-A-Jiff

Today's entry comes from Moxy's 1975 debut album Moxy. I didn't tab this from the studio version of the song, but I think the part of the song I tabbed is pretty much the same as the original. The live version I used was a performance the band did on the morning show "Breakfast Television" on CITY-TV (Toronto) in August of 2005.

On vocals for this version (and the band's vocalist since 2003) is Alex Machin, otherwise known for being the lead vocalist for A Foot In Coldwater. On Moxy's debut album, Tommy Bolin stood in for guitarist Earl Johnson, playing lead on several of the tracks. Earl Johnson: "We were recording the first album with a producer named Mark Smith. I had a falling out with Mark while recording some solos... Our manager Roland Paquin...asked Tommy to come in and complete the remaining solos as a favor... Tommy played all solos except for 'Sail On Sail Away', 'Can't You See I'm A Star' and the ending of 'Train'. He did not work on the riffs or rhythm parts of the songs, it was strictly solo work." (from angelfire.com/ny/bolinfan/interviews/earlmoxy.html) So this particular track is all Johnson on guitar, and is written by him, too. Still in the band, he plays lead on this live version, as well. Tabbed here is the Intro, Verse, and Chorus.

MOXY - "Can't You See I'm A Star" (E. Johnson)

https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/canriffs.txt

This is a video of the performance of the song done on "Breakfast Television":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWqUAWCnihg

The original studio version of the song from 1975, with original Moxy lead singer Buzz Shearman on vocals, can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S80pX1FvDdE

The performance of the song on "BT" is available on Moxy's website as a free mp3 download. That's how I was able to tab the song; I downloaded it from their site and burned it onto a CD. You can find it on this page:
http://www.moxy.ca/audiovideo.html

Posted by planet/zerofret at 2:43 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, July 12, 2008 3:08 AM EDT
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Sunday, July 6, 2008

BROKEN LINK
Topic: Website

A new chord chart posted today, Toronto's "Ready To Make Up". I would have linked to a video or a sound file of the song here on the blog page, but I couldn't find it online anywhere. I also have a couple of tabs on the go right now. I made some pretty good progress on one of them tonight.

I just noticed tonight that the site link logo to the "Cool Text" website (it's on the Home Page) isn't showing. I clicked on the link to see if I could get a clue why, and I got a "page can't be shown" message. So I went to Google and put the site name in. All their links through Google aren't working, either. So the site might be gone. It's too bad, because I did a number of banners and buttons, etc. for AGTA on that site. It was very easy to use, and gave good results. The non-showing logo (with the little red x) on my Home Page is a bit of an eyesore, though. I'll wait a few days and if the Cool Text site is still down, I'll just remove that link.

Posted by planet/zerofret at 2:08 AM EDT
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Friday, July 4, 2008

FIXED?
Topic: Blog

The blog glitch might be fixed. I didn't actually do anything to fix it. But I received an automated e-mail notice today about a comment having been left on my blog. Hurray! I hope it stays fixed. It's much more convenient when that notification function works.

Happy 4th Of July to all Americans visiting the site today. Have yourselves a great holiday weekend!

Posted by planet/zerofret at 2:19 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, July 4, 2008 2:21 AM EDT
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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

JUNE 2008 REVIEW
Topic: Website

Most-viewed tabs for the month of June 2008 (w/ view numbers):

13 - Girlschool - Race With the Devil (guitar)
13 - Honeymoon Suite - Burning In Love
13 - The Kings - This Beat Goes On
12 - The Kings - Switchin' To Glide
10 - Harlequin - Thinking Of You
8 - Honeymoon Suite - Stay In the Light
8 - Loverboy - Working For the Weekend
8 - Kim Mitchell - Patio Lanterns
7 - Harlequin - Innocence

Total tab views for June: 285

(By section: Canadian-181, Girlschool-61, Various-26, Chords-17)

Most-viewed tabs overall (stats date from Oct. 3/07 to June 30/08):

72 - Harlequin - Thinking Of You
60 - The Kings - This Beat Goes On
48 - Headpins - Don't It Make Ya Feel
46 - The Kings - Switchin' To Glide
45 - Honeymoon Suite - Stay In the Light
42 - Honeymoon Suite - Burning In Love
34 - Kim Mitchell - Patio Lanterns
33 - Girlschool - Race With the Devil (guitar)
33 - Harlequin - Innocence
32 - Headpins - Turn It Loud

*Only tab views made by people (excluding my own views) are counted here. Webcrawler/bot views are excluded.

Posted by planet/zerofret at 1:16 AM EDT
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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

CANADA DAY
Topic: General

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

For all who are celebrating it today, have a great time!

Put on some Canadian tunes and crank 'em up!

Posted by planet/zerofret at 1:01 AM EDT
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Monday, June 30, 2008

STEPPENWOLF
Topic: Riff-In-A-Jiff

Get your motor runnin'. Today we have one of the most famous rock road songs of all time, Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild". The track is from the band's 1968 debut album Steppenwolf, and it was also famously featured in the film "Easy Rider".

One of the dilemmas with this song was deciding where to put it...Canadian Riffs or Various Riffs? Steppenwolf's roots are in Canada. The band sprang up out of the Yorkville music scene in Toronto in the late 1960's. They were called Sparrow then, and they didn't become Steppenwolf until after they had relocated to Los Angeles. Still, the version of the song I have is from a CD box set called Oh What A Feeling! - A Celebration Of Canadian Music.

Surfing around the Internet doesn't really help, either. You'll find plenty of sites that call Steppenwolf a Canadian band, and just as many that say that's a misnomer. Ultimately, I opted for the Various Riffs page. But if anybody wants to make a case for this one being on the Canadian Riffs page, I could always re-locate it there.

The important thing is...it's a great song. Here we have the Intro and the 1st Verse.

STEPPENWOLF - "Born To Be Wild" (M. Bonfire)

https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/varriffs.txt

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j-XzYBBIwY

Posted by planet/zerofret at 1:44 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, June 30, 2008 1:45 AM EDT
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Thursday, June 26, 2008

HONEYMOON SUITE - "IT'S OVER NOW"
Topic: Website

A new tab posted today, as promised. "It's Over Now" by Honeymoon Suite. By request all the way from Germany.

Find it on the site Home Page or the Canadian Tabs page.

I thought I might follow it up with Loverboy's "When It's Over". Then maybe Prism's "It's Over". Then Harlequin's "It's All Over Now". At which point we could be good and sure that it's over.

Of course, I have no intention of doing that. I still have a list of requests that I'm working on. Tabs coming to a site near you (um, right here) in the forseeable future will be from such bands as April Wine, Harlequin, and Coney Hatch. That's the current plan, anyhow.

Posted by planet/zerofret at 2:38 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, June 26, 2008 2:42 AM EDT
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

COOL GADGET
Topic: General

Okay, back to work. I've had company for the better part of four days, celebrating my sister's birthday with her. Woohoo! Well, not for the whole four days.

So I haven't been on the computer much. Well, except to get a tutorial from her on how to use a 2GB independent storage unit she gave me some months back for my birthday.

http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/prod_lrg_images/883/204304883.jpg

This little thing is great! It's going to take such a burden off the computer. I'll be able to move a bunch of stuff out of it. And the one advantage it has to discs is that you can still edit files once they've been transferred to it. Discs are great, of course, for data that's been finalized. I have all my tabs burned to disc. But for files that are always being altered, it's nice to have somewhere to store them where they can still be added to. Like the riffs tab pages that are always getting new additions. I'll keep a backup for them on this gadget. I also have picture files that would be better moved out of the computer, but I never seem to find time to label them properly, and don't want to burn them to disc until I do. Now I can just transfer them to this unit, label them bit by bit, then get them burned onto a disc. Okay, I'm sure everybody else knows all about these little wonders, but I'm always a bit behind the curve with computer stuff.

Just having fun with my new toy.

The blog glitch is still ongoing. I'll have to check into that further, I guess. But I've been checking to see if comments are left. (I saw your comment, Manny, I'll get to it soon.)

I should be getting a tab posted tonight. I had one completed a few days back, but didn't want to rush the final checking process. So I decided to leave it until after those few days of visiting. I'll give it a check over tonight, and it'll be there tomorrow morning. Honeymoon Suite...whose tabs have proved quite popular here.

See ya then.

Posted by planet/zerofret at 4:31 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:46 PM EDT
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