I have found the Pandora podcasts to be most informative. Upright bass is my instrument, although I am strickly amateur. The bass podcasts are most welcome, although I truly enjoyed the drum one as well. I like the way the instrument parts are delineated and explained. Bravo, Pandora!

I'm a songwriter and the example's where great.At time,s I get alittle busy with the change's I use and the example's helped, thank's alot John...............

Oh man, I am so sorry I missed this discussion, especially after having yammered so much about lyrics in earlier blog comments!! Hurray for finally including lyrics in the arena, and on behalf of all songwriters, thanks! I just discovered it and am going to shut up and listen.

This is the best educational music-podcast I ever came accross on the net. Well-documented, clear examples and straight to the point! Keep up the good work!!
PS I'm looking forward to a next guitar-podcast...

I can not connect with Pandora internet radio. please help me please

You guys are doing an AMAZING job with these podcasts, thank you so much for Pandora.

DV

regeton,salsa merengue & mexican

Thanks, guys.

Peter, more guitar podcasts to come.

Ruth, I'm glad you showed up -- I remember your contributions to the main-blog discussions on lyrics. (At first, I read your name as "Ruth Underwood," and thought you were the mallet virtuoso.)

Do any of you have questions or comments for Michael? He's on here too, and happy to reply.

Nice job again! I love these podcasts, no where else do I learn so much about the music I love, and new music to love! I loved, loved the podcasts on pedal point, and drumming both of which helped me appreciate music more and expanded my playing (Bass).

Would you please do a series on Electric Bass ??

Thanks, you rock guys!

Definitely, definitely. Electric bass. It's on its way. Thanks for listening, David.

hey folks - just saying thanks for listening, and for the comments - glad the info helped, john, and good to hear from you again ruth!
until next time,
mz

Well organized, very informative. The samples are really educational and appropriate, I can't love Pandora Podcast more.

thank you

i lakes JAMES BLUNT

Thanks, Henry! More to come.

I had pandora music for a long time until my computer crashed 2weeks ago and my disk was wiped clean to start over.Now i can't down load it.All i get is they can't come to Canada. When did that happen. I miss Pandora,too bad

Someday we hope to be fully international, Pat. We're continuing to work on that. Thanks for listening.

I couldn't let the opportunity go by to throw in my thoughts about the issue of lyrical craft for a local songwriter, Marc Barnhill. Some of his songs were collected on a CD called BLUE TIME, which I consider an overlooked masterpiece in terms of songwriting. There's no adequate way to describe what Marc Barnhill does as a songwriter without talking about language. With occasionally lofty vocabulary, plays on words, frequent alliteration, and offhand references to nursery rhymes, Yeats, Tennyson, Shakespeare, James Joyce, and even Robert M. Pirsig (or possibly Eugen Herrigel), language is always the focus here -- even cliches tend to be revised, reversed, or placed in a context that renders them changed -- but wordiness never eclipses actual personal insight. The combination of the mundane and the surprising (both topically and linguistically) announces itself right away: "My body's been sunburned, the topography's turned." The ground shifts continually here, folding back on itself to reveal layers of meaning. It's no accident, therefore, that some of the best lyrical passages involve the singer looking at his own looking: "Under the guise of looking myself over, I traded my freedom for fear / I was the devil on my own shoulder, the poison in my own ear"; "I can look ahead and see tomorrow / Following the rails, fathering my own / Waiting for the train in paternal patience / Burning in the station
like a burial stone"; "The water is wide, the way is treacherous, and the treasure is mislaid / Small steps and giant leaps to cross the room / Like some aborted lunar landing I spent half my life in planning / I'm left standing with my eyes fixed on the moon." Metaphors pile up until the compression squeezes out diamonds of recognition. So it is that "the bright bird of childhood," already an acceptable image, "settles like a hand upon your shoulder," with all the connotations that a suddenly descending hand would have for a child. This isn't an isolated example; this happens all over the album. Words pile up and slide apart, always revealing new facets of self-discovery, building and finally exploding in "Tragedy In Coney Island" in ways that don't bear decontextualized quotation. All of which is to say that Barnhill does what any good songwriter is supposed to do: he pays attention. Anyone else have a specific "unsung" songwriter in mind who truly pushes the lyrical envelope?

Thanks for the information, Christine -- I can't say that I've heard of Marc Barnhill. I look forward to checking him out.

I'd love to send you a little compilation of music that is very significant to me personally this year.
How best to do that? I currently use iTunes for all my music management.
Are there some other tools I can use to make this easy?

Although he probably isn't everyone's taste (not musically as much as lyrically) I like the lyrics that David Crowder uses (from David Crowder Band.) He has this habit of throwing in some really interesting words and saying things in unique ways. I appreciate it when guys take the time to really put their lyrics together.
I'm drawn to Paul Simon because of his ability to really put phrases together under interesting melodies. He probaby does work against the rule of 'complicated melody, easy lyrics' and sometimes I think he is trying to fit too much in at one time : but he really is interesting, and his album 'Rhythm of the Saints' is probably one of the most original albums available in the world!

You guys are doing an AMAZING job with these podcasts, thank you so much for Pandora.

how about showing me how songs that i lisened too.its way pass my bed time i just could stop so please if you can send me list the johnnymband,,,,,,,,,,rockandroll108@comcast.net

Marc Barnhill. Some of his songs were collected on a CD called BLUE TIME, which I consider an overlooked masterpiece in terms of songwriting. There's no adequate way to describe what Marc Barnhill does as a songwriter without talking about language. With occasionally lofty vocabulary, plays on words, frequent alliteration, and offhand references to nursery rhymes, Yeats, Tennyson, Shakespeare, James Joyce, and even Robert M. Pirsig (or possibly Eugen Herrigel),

In this podcast at 4:48 they start a song, and i wanna find out who is the artist to this song. I love the chord progression. If anyone knows about this progression or the artist please email.
itzmecorey@gmail.com

Thanks for listening, Corey.

That song which appears at 4:48 is an unreleased Michael Zapruder track (the refrain is "They don't understand us").

Michael, is that track available anywhere?

You guys are doing an AMAZING job with these podcasts, thank you so much for Pandora

thank you

thank you

I had pandora music for a long time until my computer crashed 2weeks ago and my disk was wiped clean to start over.Now i can't down load it.All i get is they can't come to Canada. When did that happen. I miss Pandora,too bad

thanksss