JoseB Blog

Before I answer that I'll give you a clue as to why it is who it is. If you are into music and know how some of the Beatles songs were written, you will know the answer. Here are among my favorite Beatles songs:  I am the Walrus A Day in the Life Strawberry Fields Baby You're a Rich Man Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for me and my Monkey Dear Prudence I'm so Tired Revolution Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds In My Life And You're Bird Can Sing Across the Universe Ticket to Ride Nowhere Man Hey Bulldog That should tell you who it is. So if you guessed John Lennon you're right. Those are all John songs. A trick to know who wrote which Beatles song is by who sings it. Whomever sings it almost always mostly wrote it.  But here's the thing. I know that Paul is the more musically talented of the two. And Paul has written quite a few masterpieces like Yesterday, Blackbird, Elanor Rigby, Hey Jude, Let it Be, We Can Work It Out, just to name a few.  But there...

Everyone listens to music differently.  Some listen to the words first, others the music, and others listen to both. I am one of of those who just listen to the music, and then maybe later (sometimes years later) I listen to the words.  My brain is wired for sound. I went for many years not knowing anything about the lyrics of many Beatles songs. The melodies and George Martin's production were too powerful for me to pay attention to anything else.  For some reason, I am wired to interpret music as repeating sonic patterns made of melodic note sequences, chord sequences, and bass and rhythm sequences.  If I like the song, I will listen to it over and over and I will dissect and analyze each individual pattern for anything interesting. I will literally play a song in my head over and over each time focusing on a different instrument. The most interesting  songs have new patterns I've never heard before that are pleasing. The more complex the production (with orch...

Every guitar channel person on YouTube has at least one video called 'The Top Ten Guitar Players.' I never watch them because its such a 'click bait' title. What right does anyone have to determine who the top ten guitar players are? Had they titled the video 'My Top Ten Guitar Players,' that I would watch, because its an honest title and I am always interested in other people's opinion on this topic. For me its very important that a guitar player have an original style and sound. My favorite guitar players are the ones that when I hear them play a few notes in a song I've never heard, I know its them. Here they are: Terry Kath - I have another blog post as to why he's my favorite. Suffice to say I picked up the guitar when I was in the 9th grade because of this guy. Terry abusing a Strat    Jan Akkerman - Jan is the guitarist for the highly underrated Dutch progressive rock band Focus which had a minor hit called 'Hocus Pocus' (Yes, the wa...

I forget exactly when it happened but I think it was when I was in the 9th grade, 1970 thereabouts. My older brother Mario was one of the writers for the University of South Carolina's newspaper and he was assigned to write an article about the band Chicago who was coming into town (Columbia, S.C.) to play at the Carolina Coliseum. He was given two backstage passes to briefly interview them after the show, and he offered that I come along.  I played the sax at the time, it was the instruments my parents loved and bought for me when I was in the 3rd grade when they saw I had musical inclinations. I knew nothing about Chicago, so I was very surprised at the show to see a rock band that had horns! So cool! Horns in a rock band!  Maybe Mario knew I would be blown away by seeing a sax in a rock band.  I don't remember much about the show because I was not familiar with their music at the time but I do recall Terry Kath doing some 'Free Form Guitar' feedback solo which JUST B...