Category: Unit 9

Christmas gig running order, job roles and rules

  • Supernova – 7:30pm
  • Eclipse – 7:50pm
  • The Walkouts – 8:10pm
  • Tripswitch – 8:30pm
  • Pirate Radio – 8:50pm
  • Sons Of Pitches – 9:10pm
  • Deacon Too -9:30pm
  • The Fever – 9:50pm
  • The Preachers – 10:10pm
  • Ellie – Chairman
  • Tom K – Tech team
  • Lucy – Tech team/Vice Chairman
  • Dean – Tech team
  • Millie – Vocal Tech
  • Molly – Unloading/Loading
  • Tom S – Unloading/Loading
  • [ Sam – Unloading/Loading ]
  • [ Josh – Unloading/Loading ]
  • Jack – Backstage
  • Lewis – Runner
  • Faith – Front of house
  • India – Front of house
  • Effects pedals are allowed within reason if they’re not disruptive and time consuming.
  • Everyone should arrive at The 1865 in Southampton for 5pm to unload the van and set up the stage, DO NOT GOTO COLLEGE BEFORE HAND.
  • After the van has been unloaded and the stage has been set up your roles will be adjusted to what is needed the most on the night.
  • Faith and India will be giving out wristbands which have to be prepared before doors open at 7pm.
  • Doors open at 7pm for HNCS, Level 2 and Level 3 first years. No one apart from Level 3 second year, etc are allowed in before that time. Jack and Lewis will be showing performers to the backstage where they will store their gear, DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE UP WITHOUT WRISTBANDS.
  • Drinking alcohol before you play will not be tolerated, if you are unable to fulfil your role due to drink it is at your own cost…

Friday the 22nd of November 2019

Nothing much happened today in comparison to the rest of the week, I started off my SWOT analysis finally but it has taken me longer than I expected to fill in as it has nearly been three weeks with my glasses and it is hard for me to stare at a screen for even short periods at the moment so I am trying my hardest to keep my work flow up.

We went through what we had to do as a class then I had to go through out job roles again as everyone seems to be forgetting what we have to do, when we have to turn up to the gig and what is going on. It is frustrating for me as I am now chairman so I have to Chris’ job whilst maintaining a level of professionalism when amongst my class mates who are annoying for the most part anyway.

After that we went through the tutorial bulletin and headed off home.

Thursday the 21st of November 2019

Yesterday we decided as a band that ‘Here Comes the Sun’ is not challenging enough for us as a band, so we have chosen to replace it with another song.

We did speak to our Chris about songs that would suit our sound the best, and after our success with ‘Love Rears Its Ugly Head’ by Living Colour, he recommended we try ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ which is also by Living Colour, it is all starting to look like the Prince get up from last year, but I’m not complaining…

He spoke to us yesterday and wanted us to start working on it on Thursday, so I went home on Wednesday afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting a feel for the rhythm, figuring out key the song is in and figuring out what scales would fit over the dive bomb spectacular which I will sadly unable to replicate as Vernon Reid is in a league of his own.

We then went through ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ for the first time. I knew the whole of the song which was good for me, but the rest of my band had only just started learning it so we worked together by putting what we knew all together which worked out in its own special way.

We will keep on working on it this week and next week until we have learnt the whole song, hopefully, whilst also rehearsing our other songs which are ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, ‘Love Rears It’s Ugly Head’ and ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’.

Warm Up Christmas Gig, Wednesday the 20th of November 2019

On Wednesday the 20th of November 2019 we performed a Christmas warm up to demonstrate our abilities so far during this academic year. The two songs we played are our strongest at the moment, so we all felt more than confident when it came to playing them.

The first song we played was ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ by Etta James, but we played a version covered by a band called Stan Webbs Chicken Shack. Within this track my part revolves around two chords so there is nothing particularly challenging so it is a relaxing 5 minutes for me. The only bit that requires full focus is when I have to improvise a solo but then it goes back to the chords, this song is especially for the singer.

We have all learnt that most audiences when it comes to listening to music, they mainly focus upon how the singer looks and sounds, as long as we are there to support and fill in the blank space behind her. What I need to improve on within this song is looking more engaged with my part which is something I can do in my spare time and just trying to smile more especially at the crowd.

Thee next song we played is called ‘Love Rears Its Ugly Head’ by Living Colour, this was a particularly tricky one for us all to get our heads around in such a short amount of time but the best songs for us always turn out to be the most challenging and time consuming!

Our drummer learnt her part for this song by reading sheet then memorising it that way, I did the majority of the song by ear as you can’t trust what is online for music for the most part so I had to be very precise and make sure I wasn’t half asking it. After two weeks or so I had gotten my bit down including the solos, it was then up to me building my confidence up playing within a band then in front of an audience and you can see the outcome in the video.

For this admittedly as a band we definitely need to get tighter for this song to sound crisp rather than a sloppy mess in certain areas, to do this we will make the most of our rehearsal sessions and go through the song in greater detail rather than going through our entire set and avoiding the task at hand.

On my hand I need to perform and show off to the audience when I go for a solo because that is its soul purpose in all so there is no reason as to why I shouldn’t be sucking up the spotlight for once instead of the singer…

A final issue to mention is looking down upon my fretboard, I know I can play the songs without intensely observing it as it is just a coping mechanism for me as sometimes my inner shy guy comes out and I try to focus more upon myself rather than the audience so I feel more confident but from now on this will change and I will try to leap out of my comfort zone like an adult.

Friday the 8th of November 2019


Our rehearsal was very minimal today, not many people were in all together so it was another slowish Friday which is sad, but atleast it gives me more time to practice my guitar parts at home and get them tighter than they were before.

We had Aural perception next where we looked at Living Colour songs which Chris humoured our band with because it had odd time signatures and then proceeded to suggest for our band to play it jokingly as he knew it would take us months.

But then he showed us a bit of Lizzo as an example of modern music which is perfectly fine with me as she is a great representation of being clever but still appealing to a wide modern audience, including musicians too!

Next week we need to crack down for the Christmas gig and continue to rehearse our current set so we begin to sound better than the rest of the bands.

Thursday the 7th of November 2019, Solent University

I went on a trip to Solent University with my year group today, and it was a pretty cool insight to how this particular UNI operates.

The trip is a way in which we could meet the lecturers at Solent and record one of our songs from our set for the upcoming Christmas Showcase and due to the fact that we will soon be competing to perform at Solent Sound, a competition for young musicians hosted by Solent University, thats if we get voted through of course, but I have high hopes when it comes to it as I know if we put our heads down and worked hard we could win it for our college and ourselves.

I payed the drummer from my band for a lift there and back to Southampton which was convenient for me, but the traffic getting there was awful not to mention my navigational skills from the back of the car.

When we finally had arrived we briskly walked over to Solent University, the building that we went into was fairly new and its facilities to me were very impressive considering I have not yet looked round any Universities yet.not just in the music department but the building as a whole.

When we arrived in the music department, after many flights of stairs, we were separated into our bands and each band was sent into a rehearsal room with a lecturer from the university. We played our chosen song ‘Love Rears Its Ugly Head’ by Living Colour so that the lecturer could hear what we sounded like as a band without his critique.

He then worked with each of us in order to improve our sound. For me, he focussed on helping my guitar part have a more “ rock” sound, encouraging me to really bring out the sound within my guitar by properly hitting it so my strings were to resonate more and then the body would come out more.

Another area he touched upon was me focussing heavily on my fretboard, so he then told me to stare either at the audience and or too my band and perform it to them every time, even when I’m soloing because my muscle memory is there.

One of the last major things I will talk about is my use of dynamics, I was told to try without palming muting myself when the singer is singer and do what I want because guitar is one of the huge elements to this song along with the drums.

After working with the lecturers, because they all came in and out after they had heard that a band were covering a Living Colour song, and then running through the song a few more times, we were moved into a studio to record our track which was exciting and frustrating as you never know how many takes you’ll need before it peaks a standard you are all happy with.

Although I am now quite used to recording by now, it was still a fun experience as the studio was very open so that we couple see each other. We were also limited with time, which meant that none of our recordings were perfect except the final take where we all cracked down and gave it our all after all the hiccups we had previously experienced, but we might be able to edit them once we get back to college as we were given the tracks back.

The trip was a overall good experience and it was interesting to see what the music facilities at Solent are like, but all in all this is just giving us all a look at what further education may have installed for us.

Wednesday the 6th of November 2019

During rehearsal we went through the song a couple of times which went alright, but it wasn’t so easy from that point onward. We have been having a few issues as a band as of late and it is getting more than frustrating to some and a breeze for others.

When we come in to rehearse and book time out of our own personal lives you’d expect everyone to turn up to these sessions to rehearse the set, act professionally and get on with it no matter what is going on.

Personally, I think that it is unacceptable to come back after a week off to not have played through the song or realised that you’ve made a mistake even though you have had the time to listen to the song and play it every day. Even though I was away and had no access to my guitar, every time I listened to the song I had made note of where that sound was coming from on it and what I have previously missed out on, and in comparison to before half term I can definitely say I have improved massively.

Not to mention that we are going to Solent University tomorrow to record the song, I have never felt more on a fence than I have because I am sure half of us our ace and others are winging it so to speak…

After rehearsal, I had an instrumental lesson where I got to learn on how to build any chord and scale I desire, when I get home I will begin to put this to practice and gather all of notes and ideas into one book to then show to my guitar teacher each week!

Friday the 25th of October 2019

Shorter day today which was a relief because I had five hours worth of travelling later…

I still haven’t managed to figure out the solos properly in the song we are doing, hopefully listening to it on repeat will enable me to voice the notes by singing them to myself after I play in rehearsal at home or in college.

Also before I went home we played Mario Kart for a couple hours which was good, I went beast mode and crushed Chris and a few others by finishing first place on more than one occasion. I had also finished and uploaded my Improvisation sheet which I have been meaning to do for weeks

Over half term I will be listening to the songs we are going to be playing, rehearsing and performing in time for the Christmas Gig and I will also be getting my blog up to date and attempting to add a few more features like an archive…

Thursday the 24th of October 2019

Today during our rehearsals, although I now understood what I had to do I still couldn’t get it right when it came to how fast the solos were played by the guitarist in Living Colour and how many flavour tones had to be hit if I wanted it to sound somewhat like the original.

Over half term I need list to the song as much as possible to get the rhythm and feel down, and then I need to focus on when to pause and let others go. I also need to be able to point out to others to not step on my toes or each others when it comes to our fiddly bits, because it frustrates me as it needs to be perfect for the song to flow properly.

For the rest of the day I worked on my stylistic analysis within my notebook, where I am planning it all out for me then to put it all together on my blog after all the other tasks I have to do, especially before our trip to Solent University after half term!

Improvisation Write-Up

Explain the stylistic elements required to improvise musical passages over a 12 bar blues chord progression.

Within a 12 bar blues progression features a call and response between the vocalist and guitarist in my case. Another feature would have to be the swung feel on the drums which are played within 12/8. Instead of using regular sticks, brushes are used instead to give it that blues feel, just like the original. We are also in a minor key to give it that gritty feel, all of the chords the guitarist would be minors in our progression. The walking bass line also helps to brings everything together so it flows smoothly. Here are two musicians who I have taken inspiration from whilst playing through the 12 bar blues, they are B.B King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. When it comes to call and response there phrases when responding to the singer are deep and meaningful but also simple whilst sounding complex based off their own styles.

Write the chord progression and/or structure of the section of the piece that you improvised on below.

List the scales/technical exercises that you used in your improvisation.

During this improvisation I tend to use all minor chords through out the progression as we in a minor key (A Minor). I also use the pentatonic minor and the blues scale to come up with new phrases that fit when it comes to responding to the singer. I have taken inspiration from David Gilmour, B.B King and Stevie Ray Vaughan when it comes to the sounds and licks I come up with.

Analysis in detail how you used the scales/technical exercises listed above, to improvise musical passages over a 12 bar blues chord progression.

I mainly rely upon the blues scale and minor pentatonic, I stick within one octave at the moment as going into a higher one doesn’t sound right at the moment trying to work it in to the song doesn’t quite fit. I tend to play around the different chords each time round based upon the singers part. Mimicking the vocalist through call and response portrays my ability whilst playing through a 12 bar blues progression also as it takes skill and patience to figure out where they’re going next.

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