A small chat with Fran

I had the chance to speak with Fran Rodríguez, a friend of mine who plays Rock N' Roll in a band with other rock fans. Here is the interview.

Which instrument do you play?

With the band I only play the drums, but I play also the guitar.

When do you start playing both instruments?

I started with the guitar, on my own, two years ago. Then some friends asked me to play drums for his band. This group didn't work, but I decided to continue playing drums.

How did you learn to play drums?

I started to receive lessons this years.

How were the things in your first group?

It didn't work. We had personal problems between us. Then Luis -Rythm Guitar- and I decided to start another band. We spoke with Otal and Moroxo (friends of us) and also with Paula -singer-.

How many concerts have you given?

By the time, only 4. When you start it is very difficult to perform, but it's a matter of time I think.

How many musicians are in your group?

Five. Paula is the singer, Moroxo is the Leader Guitar, Otal with the Bass, Luis plays the Rythm Guitar and I play the drums.

Which songs do you play?

Spanish Rock, mainly. Leño, Barricada, Platero y Tú or Extremoduro. But sometimes we play some songs in English, and also Reggae. Each one has their own favourite songs, so we try to play different styles.

What groups do you listen to?

I like English groups between the '70s and the '90s. Led Zeppelin, U2, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jimmy Hendrix or The Clash are my favourite groups. By the drums, I listen to Matt Cameron -Soundgarden-, Stewart Coppeland and Steve Gadd.

Will you ended as a junkie, just like some of your favourite musicians?

I don't think so. The only drug I consume is alcohol (beer). And you have to drink it a lot to become alcoholic.

I want to be a Rock N' Roll Star (as the song). Will you give me an advice?

It's not easy to play in a group. It takes a lot of hours and dedication. As AC/DC said: 'It's a long way to the top, if you wanna Rock N' Roll'. I can only say that go on and do your best.

At the moment you only play at an amateur level. Are you planning to become a professional musician?

It's something I wish, I love music. But beeing realistic, I think that's impossible. I have never study music. Maybe in a few years...

Finally, thanks for all. Luck!

Thank you!

10 things I learned with the blog

1. I actually have another blog, in which I had written since 2008. I learned that a blog is another way to give information, sometimes more useful than a newspaper or a magazine.
2. Bloggers normally write about topics that they like, so if you want to read a blog about a specific topic, you will read a blog written by a person who likes what he is writing and knows a lot about that topic.
3. Blogs are popular because of interactivity. Readers can leave comments and be answered in real time (more or less). A conversation between writer and reader can be possible with blogs.
4. Also, you can find another blogs very similar to yours, so it is a good way to make online friends and exchange information about one topic.
5. In most of the cases, blogs are not made with the objective focused on earn money, but because of a hobby or entertainment.
6. It is also a good way to exchange experiences, like this blog, in which five people talk about different kind of music. Grou
7. It isn't necessary to have a lot of knowledgement about Internet to be a blogger. Platforms like Blogger or Wordpress help unexperienced people to familiarize with blogs.
8. You are the boss of your blog. You decide what to create, what to share, how to do it... Absolute freedom.
9. As a personal site, you can store links, posts or websites to organize your information or other's.
10. It gives you the chance of write whatever you want. If you want to write something about a specific topic but you don't know where your articles can be published, the best option is to start writing in a blog.

An introduction to classic jazz

Hey there!

As I said in my first post  I'm going to talk about jazz.
I'm going to make you a summary about the main representative figures of jazz in the world:

We may divide the musicians in sections according to the instrument they play. So I am going to start with the pianists:

The jazz pianist is part pianist, part composer and part arranger. In addition to "traditional" pianistic skills, jazz pianists must also be able to improvise, harmonize melodies, instantly transpose, and create accompaniments in a variety of styles. They must also have highly developed rhythmic skills and be able to "swing."
Oscar Peterson is one of the most famous jazz pianists. He was baptized as the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington -I'm going to talk about him later-.


We have also Thelonious Monk, who probably is one of the most imitated models of jazz pianists nowadays with Duke Ellington. He was considered "one of the giants of American music".


And the third one is going to be Bill Evans, who was another american pianist. He is considered by some to be the most influential post World War II jazz pianist.




As every one would know, one of the most important instruments in jazz music is the saxophone. It is also known as "sax". It is esential in any jazz composition because of the sound it emits.
I'm going to refered you two musicians who play the sax in a jazz way: one of them is John Coltrane. He influenced innumerable musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history.





The other saxophonist is Charlie Parker. He played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure.



Trumpeters are very important too, in fact all the instruments are important in a jazz composition because altogether form a very special atmosphere. Two of the most important trumpeters in this style of music are: Miles Davies, who had played with all the great figures of classic jazz:



 And Dizzy Gillespie, who was also a bandleader, singer, and composer. He is known together with Charlie Parkers as the promoter of the bebop style:



In guitar, Joe Pass is the most distinguished jazz guitarist, and he also contributed to the exit of the bebop style:




In jazz we must to emphasize the work of some musicians who not only played one instrument but some more:
Duke Ellington was a prominent figure in the history of jazz, he played in all the styles of jazz as he contributed to the spread of this genre. His career spanned more than 50 years. And he also leaded a very famous orchestra.




Benny Goodman, known as the "King of swing", led one of the most popular musical groups in America: the Benny Goodman's orchestra and he contributed with the jazz to the fight against racism in America:




And, the last but no least, I must talk about jazz singers, who put the end note to jazz music with their fabulous voices:
Billie Holiday, known as "Lady Day" was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards.




Also, in feminine voices there is Ella Fitzgerald, the most important jazz singer together with Louis Armstrong, both of them are known as the Great Singers of Jazz, they, though you don't have any idea of jazz music, must be known by you:




Well, this have been an introduction to jazz, of course there are more other famous and very good musicians in this style but I hope you would get to know them after reading and listening to the ones above.

And remember one thing: "it don't mean a thing if ain't got that swing..."

Some good songs

Hello everybody,

Today I am going to post some good sogs.

The first one is: All Time Low by The Wanted. I really like this group and their first single All Time Low. The Wanted are a new British boy band based in London. Their upcoming debut studio album is scheduled for release on October 25, 2010.

 

The second song I want to let you know is: Hollywood by Michael Buble, who is one of my favourite singers. With this song, Michael criticize the actual world of Hollywood and it's new celebrities. I suggest you to watch the video, it is incredible.

 





 Here you can see a funny moment of the video where Michael Buble is dress up as Justin Bieber on Oprah's TV show.







The next song is: Hidden Away by Josh Groban, which is one of my favourites songs. Listen to it because it is a very good song.



Finally I recomend you this other song, De que me sirve la vida by Camila (one of my favourites groups), which is in my partner Paco's post, where he explained very well the song.

I remaind you to check some blogs about pop music (my last week post) to see the latest news, videos and songs.