Tag: Butch Ross

Two New Releases on Bandcamp!

As I write this, it is still Bandcamp Friday, where the site forgoes their cut of the sales, so we artists get more today. For the pricing, I set it to “pay what you want, including zero” which always seems to work out very well.

Most of my output on Bandcamp has been EP releases, with 4 to 6 tracks, but this time I made more of a full album…….11 tracks, taken from older unreleased singles, and some brand-new tunes as well. All in all, this project has been time-consuming, but I’m really pleased with the final mixes and the overall flow of the music.

https://jerryrockwell.bandcamp.com/album/one-shiny-morning

And now for a completely different release! This wonderful EP from the amazing Butch Ross, has a track I’m featured on. This was a long time in the incubator, marinating in Butch’s creative juices. I can’t exactly remember what dry tracks I sent him originally, I only know that he did a spectacular job of transforming the living daylight out of whatever I did!! The other tracks are very powerful too, so be sure to check out the whole EP.

https://butchross.bandcamp.com/album/whats-going-on

Axis of Awesome!

Four Chords for a mess of pop songs!

This Aussie comedy act is really amazing. Butch Ross told me about them in 2007 or 2008, when I was obsessed with my little four chord circular progression D – A – Bm – G… that I used for Light Into Darkness, Tapping at the Edge of Paradise, and Tapping Into The Light on electric dulcimer. I just found more and more melodies that went with these chords – and bass lines with chord inversions to make it WAY more interesting.

Now in 2017 it seems like new ideas are again coming forward when I mess with these chords. I even have a more detailed version now, with sub-cycles of chords on each of the four main chords.

Most of the work I’ve done directly on the mountain dulcimer, but its fun with guitar, keyboard (which I can barely play!), or whatever chording instrument is nearby.

So even if the mountain dulcimer is your main instrument, why not play around on a piano or little electronic keyboard and see what happens? I usually resort to the white keys when I work with keyboard, so in C you have: C – G – Am – F. Good luck and let me know how it goes for you!!