How do you listen to music?

(I had a really awesome cartoon from a cool music cartoon website here, but they charge a fee to let people post them on their blogs, even if proper credit is given.  Srsly?  There goes your free advertising, artist who shall remain nameless since it'd cost me $10 to use your damn cartoon.)

Someone put it in my head last week to start reviewing music on my blog, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.  It sounds like a great idea, and it'd give me chance to listen to music I wouldn't normally get to hear.

First, a bit about me as a music "listener":  
I'm predictable and a purist.  Pandora must think I'm the easiest person to come up with songs for.  iTunes' Genius could have an IQ under 100 and still be able to predict what I would like.  I'm so in my niche that artists I follow eventually tour together.  It's a big incestuous musical relationship and I love it.

I dig:
Singer/songwriters.  Heavy acoustic guitar tunes. Pianos.  Solid beats.  Creative lyrics (that MEAN something).  Jazzy chords.  Bass drum. Solid vocals (the fewer "runs" the better).

I pay particular attention to (recent artists):
Augustana
Tyrone Wells
The Damnwells
Colbie Callait
Jason Mraz
Trevor Hall
Gavin DeGraw
Sara Bareilles
Ingrid Michaelson
Mat Kearney
Pink
Matt Nathanson
Brett Dennen
Michelle Branch
Andrew Allen
Jason Reeves
Ron Pope
Chris Ayer
Ben Folds
Matchbox Twenty
U2
Maroon 5

etc etc etc

It's not that I don't branch out, because if someone sends me something, I for sure listen to it, which goes into
"How" I listen to music:  
If I'm buying an album, I listen to the album once, straight through, start to finish, no interruptions.  I make sure I have enough time for this before I even touch a song on it.  Living in a city where you can take public transportation makes this easy enough for me, but it should be something a music "observer" makes the time for.  I think this is the way you should listen to albums.  The album has an order for a reason...the artist is telling you a story, not only through each individual song, but in the album as a whole.  I think you can only appreciate this artistic ebb and flow if you devote the time to listen to it that way.  What irritates me about things these days is that people don't have the attention span to listen to the art, the story, the heart behind the music.  In my world, patience and attention is the only way by which one can truly appreciate music.

Where I see live shows:
I like small venues, which is why I tend to seek out new artists, or artists that aren't on the "main screen" yet (see list above).  It's easier to feel like part of the music when you're in a smaller performance space (at least, I think so).  Plus, the lower ticket fees helps me see more shows.  :) 
And, I'll mention this: a lot of the artists I mentioned above have done "moderately" well with their albums.  ALL of the people on my list are amazing live.  In fact, I'd say most of them I prefer live to listening to their albums.  For example: Augustana's Shot in the Dark off their latest (self-titled) album. I loved this song the first time I listened to the album, but I happened to catch this version on YouTube (that, funny enough, a friend of mine at KINK radio in Portland recorded).  Words can't express how much I love the second version more.  There's something gritty about Dan Layus' voice that you just can't "feel" on the albums.
I wish all of my artists would put out a live album.  Then they'd be really famous, making millions, and playing big venues (...wait...).
There's something powerful in a live performer, and there's so much to it to me that I'll never be a fan of the artists that lip-sync during their shows or sound over-produced on their albums (*cough* Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas *cough*).

I have a Spotify account now at the urging of a friend (Scott Velazco), who, by the way, is also my dealer when it comes to my musical addiction.  He's my personal Pandora.  I look forward to learning more about it and sharing that with you as we move along here.

So there you have it.  Me, musically, in a nutshell.  I wanted to do this so you'd know where I was coming from as I take a stab at reviewing music.  My goal for my next blog will be to write a proper review of the latest album I purchased (sneak peek: I love.).  Stay "tuned"!

In the meantime...do you have an album you love you think I need to hear?  What sort of music speaks to you?

Do you have a soundtrack?

I've been mulling over this blog the past few days.  Honestly, I really don't think that it's working the way I want it to and I need to change it up.  No one is going to listen to someone with a "normal" BMI bitch about her struggle with the last 5-7lbs, or how much I hate running (which, by the way, I HATE running).  Honestly, I don't even want to listen to it.  It's not funny...it's not me.

In my first blog, I mentioned being a Jack of all trades...and I think I am.  I don't do one thing particularly well, but I know all sorts of things about all different kinds of things.  But if I had to pick one thing I know most about, it'd be music.  I can sort of read music (as long as you don't give me a bass clef), I enjoy singing, I played the violin for 13 years, and I'm obviously learning how to play guitar.  I love listening to music, going to concerts, festivals, coffee houses with live music...anything really.  Music is my favorite thing.

My blog about my guitar lessons was by far my favorite to write about...it came easily to me and it was about something I love (and George is an easy target).  I even picked my blog title because it was a scene from a movie: "Iris, if you were a melody...I used only the good notes"...even that is a music reference.  So, if you like singer/songwriters, finding new music, and like me, your life follows a soundtrack, I welcome you aboard.

So, here I go...to take you on a new adventure. To introduce you to life as I see it: one beautiful symphony.

A blog NOT about weight loss? Whaaa???

Okay, so if you are my friend on facebook, you know I've been taking guitar lessons the past few weeks (God bless Groupon and their 50%-ish off guitar lessons with Greg Arney). Turns out Greg couldn't take me, so he passed me off to George Woods (who by the way, doesn't update twitter, or his blog, or his calendar...but once you get to know him, that doesn't surprise you). It was quite possibly the best thing that Greg could have done for me.

I was a *little* disappointed because I had google-stalked the hell out of done my due diligence and researched Greg and knew NOTHING about George. I wasn't sure if it was going to be a good fit, and if you know me at ALL, you know I like to have all my duckies in a row. Way in advance. I was FREAKING OUT a little nervous.

So, my first lesson, I start learning MINOR chords (wha? I know!!) and by the end I felt like a freakin' rockstar. Okay, so I'm still, five weeks later, not even close to rockstar status, but I felt like I was going to learn SO much. Plus, George's suave "I'm so cool people take photos of me putting on a tie" headshots won't tell you this, but he's fucking hilarious. He's totally cool with my weird-quirky nerd sense of humor, and he also has no problem telling me to "shut the fuck up" (which, I thought about for a while: I don't think anyone has ever told me that to my face before). It's refreshing. For the record: that is not me giving you carte blanche to tell me to shut the fuck up.

I'm not a good student. I'm a book-learner and I don't like to do things if I don't do it right the first time. I'm a quiet guitar player. I don't want George (or anyone) to hear the pinging because my damn left pinky won't man up and put enough pressure on the string to make a proper sound. I'm nervous to play in front of anyone (EPIC stage fright), but aside from the occasional "shut the fuck up and play", he's really patient with me. He thinks I'm a fast learner and is really supportive, which, of course, makes the student-me feel awesome (until, of course, I massive fail the scale he JUST teaches me). My fingers don't always do what my brain says and that's frustrating to me, and then I nearly sever the tips of my fingers practicing so much because I want it to be right before I stop. I'm a terrible student, actually. But I try hard, and I really do want to learn.

So far I've learned some minor chords, Ain't No Sunshine (if you don't mind the pinging) and some funky scale that I don't remember the name of (we'll call this one a work in progress...it involves my left pinky in several places and we all know that's a source of frustration for me). I'm also learning Seabreeze by Tyrone Wells (which might be my most favoritest song of all time). It's got a ton of chords in it I don't know, but I'm not too horrible at the intro at the moment (and I get to use a capo!).

On a similar note, I have learned that if you're looking for guitar tabs and the guitar tabs have the wrong lyrics, chances are the tabs are wrong. I'm glad I know enough to figure that out before I learned the whole song wrong (because some guy named Feng blew up all the guitar tab sites with the WRONG tabs for Seabreeze). I ended up finding an old Youtube Video of Tyrone teaching people how to play Seabreeze. So, this spatially inept girl is learning by mimicking. I'm sure it'll be so easy. :-/

I just wanted to post something happy and positive, because honestly, right now, these lessons are what I REALLY look forward to these days. Although, I wonder if I could apply to be a sponsor child..."For only $xxx per month, you too can help sponsor a fledgling guitar player"...