Christopher Schlegel Update 02-17-2010

“Mood Indigo”, Duke Ellington’s classic ballad, is the fourth tune on my Solo Jazz Guitar Standards, Vol. 1 disc.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

hat is there to say about Duke that hasn’t already been said? A genius of American music, an amazing composer & arranger, outstanding (and in my opinion highly underrated) pianist, bandleader, performer, overall first rate musician. Always dressed to the nines and always on the top of his game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington

Along with Gershwin, Mr. Edward “Duke” Ellington’s songs form the backbone of the Great American songbook. “Mood Indigo” is a tune I’ve known and loved for many years.  Like many jazz tunes, for years I never knew the lyrics to the tune. Or even that it had lyrics!  I’ve intentionally avoided grandstanding on this one. Just the melody, a simple bass line, and inner chord color tones that are my personal tribute to Duke’s beautiful music that I’ve loved for many, many years.

I’ve been testing my video studio setup with a new mic & subdued lighting. I recently filmed some test footage which included a pass at “Mood Indigo”.  This is very similiar to the arrangement on the CD & how I typically perform it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvN26FYSFHA

I also recently filmed a series of blues lessons for Guitar Tricks. I used my Reason Amps Bambino for all of them!

http://www.reasonamps.com/

Here are a couple of the play along performance sections I extracted from the lesson footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-9eA4jWfkw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3E5tgDeRX8

Happy viewing & listening!

Happy new year! My web vendor CD Baby now has an Artist Overview page, on which you can view my currently available catalog of discs on CD Baby. And also get links to direct digital downloads.

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ChristopherSchlegel

I need to get some of those Download Cards and give them away to people or something like that which might resemble “Marketing”.

I still haven’t finished posting about all my jazz guitar CD tunes individually. I intend to finish that project this year. So keep watching this e-space for a blurb about each tune in order!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel8

I am also working on some exciting projects involving performances & clinics this year! More details to follow.

Gibson.com has posted another of my video lessons. I have at least a couple more like this ready to go for the beginning of the year. I enjoy doing these simple blues things very much!

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/InstrumentLessons/Blues-Orchestration-In-A-112/

Happy viewing & listening!

Christopher Schlegel Update 11-16-2009

A couple of months ago I attended the very first Nashville Amp Expo.

http://www.nashvilleampexpo.com/

As a result, I am officially an endorsed artist for Reason Amplification. Thanks to my old friend, Obeid the best tube amp designer in the world, and to my new friend Anthony, the best amp cabinet man in the world! Scroll down the list to read my blurb.

http://www.reasonamps.com/artists.php

I wrote it for them to stress how my name on their roster is best mutually beneficial. And, it’s true! I am a pioneer and leader in online video instruction with over a thousand lessons on various websites. I’ve had over 1,000 video lessons in total on various sites for a while. But as of yesterday I have over 1,000 on Guitar Tricks alone!

http://www.guitartricks.com/instructor.php?input=155014

I did a series of six videos to demostrate the tonal range and potential of the amp I got from them, a Reason Amp Bambino. If you haven’t seen them yet, you can check out all 6 on my YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChristopherSchlegel

I’ve been incorporating my new Reason Amplifier in every possible lesson I’ve done lately. The first of these to show up on the Gibson site has recently been posted.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/InstrumentLessons/Combining-Lead-Rhythm-111/

Happy viewing & listening!