Latin Rock Music, Part 2

My Writing Process, Part 2

Breaking the Patterns

When it does come time to write the chords to the song, I'll try to avoid the typical 4-chord progression, where each chord lasts for the same length of time. One way is to simply vary the amount of measures each chord lasts. Or, you can go back and forth between two chords; then when you introduce additional chords, they have drama.

Another "trick" I use is to change the chords at unexpected times. For instance, if your verse was based on two chords, it might go like this:

Chord 1 | Chord 1 | Chord 2 | Chord 2 | repeat

But what if you change in different spots? Like this:

Chord 1 | Chord 2 | Chord 2 | Chord 1 | repeat

It seems like a simple modification, but what it does is to put the changes where you don't expect, and keep the chord the same where you might expect a change. It's all about breaking the pattern.

Getting Feedback, and Listening

One of the big advantages of having a working band like Savor, is that when playing as a Santana Tribute Band, we can throw in our own songs, too. As long as the songs fit the style (Latin Rock), many people don't know they're original. After all, beyond the classic hits: Oye Como Va, Black Magic Woman, Evil Ways, Smooth, Europa, and a few others, most people are not familiar with Santana's catalog.

When you play an original song like that for people who have never heard it, the reaction is honest, and, often, brutal. My rule of thumb was: play the song for a few different audiences. If they didn't react (dancing, nodding their heads, clapping enthusiastically afterwards), I knew I hadn't done my job as a writer. I would make changes, reintroduce it to audiences, and keep doing that until I did get a positive reaction.

Frustrating? Yes. Sometimes I think the players in the band consider me a bit loony -- especially after I had re-written one of the songs three times during the course of a couple of years! But in the end, I really believe that we wound up with a stronger, more effective song. After all, the purpose of songwriting is to reach people, right?

Writing vs. Arranging

This is sometimes difficult to explain to non-musicians, and in fact the lines blur. The way I think of it is, the basic, stripped-down lyrics (if it's a vocal song), melody and chord progression together make up the song writing.

What the bass player does, how the drums interact with the percussion, the guitar riffs that go under and in between everything else -- that's the arrangement.

Latin Rock Music, Part 1

My Writing Process, Part 1

Due to the widespread popularity of Amadeus, the movie based on Mozart's life, it's well known that Mozart was a prolific composer -- the music pouring out of him as if by magic.

In more modern times, The Beatles, Paul Simon, Elton John, Prince, and others, seem to be able to create songs at a breakneck pace. Not so with me. (And, from what I've learned, with many other songwriters as well.) In fact, I feel that I am not so much a song writer as a song crafter. I often work for days, weeks or months developing a song, before I'm satisfied.

Over the years my writing methods have changed, but one of the most drastic changes occurred about 10 years ago. I was watching a well-known songwriter speak, and he said that he would start by writing melodies with no instrumental accompaniment at all. Huh? But as he explained, I began to understand: it is the melody that most people connect with, that most listeners remember, that audiences identify and sing along to.


The Songwriting Rut

After that, I began to see the patterns that I -- and, as far as I can tell, many songwriters -- fall back on. It goes like this: using a harmonic instrument (usually guitar or keyboard), write a chord progression. And, what's more, make that chord progression consist of four chords, lasting one measure each. For example: Chord 1 | Chord 2 | Chord 3 | Chord 4 | repeat.

(If you start analyzing songs you hear, especially songs by amateur, independent or "unsigned bands," you'll begin to see that this is an amazingly common formula.)

Next, fit a melody to the chords. That's a trap, because while it's pretty easy to make a melody work with a chord progression, it's much more difficult to write a melody that stands on its own. However, that lack of melodic power is often disguised by its interaction with the chord progression.


Breaking the Pattern

How do I avoid that songwriting quagmire? I have several methods, and I'm sure many songwriters have their own tricks. First, as I mentioned, whether I'm writing an instrumental song where the guitar plays the melody, or writing a vocal song, I create the melody on its own. If it doesn't work on its own, I keep re-writing it until it does.

Another technique I use is to write songs in unusual keys. (This drives our keyboard player crazy, such as when I present a song written in Eb minor -- a very difficult key to play in!) But there's method to my madness: instrumentalists tend to go to familiar places when playing in common keys; without those crutches, we're more likely to create something new.

Latin Rock Music

The Tribute Band or the Album -- Which Came First?

Since our band, Savor, released an album of original Latin rock music after 6 years of playing as a Santana Tribute Band, it would be natural to assume that we were inspired to do so after playing Carlos Santana's music for so long. Actually, the reverse is true.

8 years ago, I was playing in -- get this -- a 3-piece instrumental rock band. The band's goal was to create music that had hooks: actual melodic and harmonic motifs in a pop-song-like format. Talk about a challenge! It forced all of us to stretch, and as the band's main writer, I really honed my compositional skills.

Near the end of the band's two-year tenure, I was starting to try to write songs in a Latin style. (Rather than Santana, I was inspired by Salsa and other more traditional genres of South American music.) What quickly became apparent was that having only three instruments severely limited the possibilities. I didn't really know much about Latin percussion, but something was obviously missing. So, I began to try to form a new band, with the purpose of playing Latin-flavored instrumental music.

Things didn't go so well.

For the previous project (named, ironically, "Hook"), I was lucky enough to connect with a bass player and drummer who, like me, were playing for the love of it. When trying to assemble a larger unit, however, I had trouble getting musicians to commit. One keyboard player I spoke to, though, mentioned a Santana Tribute Band he had played with previously.

"A tribute band?" I thought. That's tacky. But the more I considered it, the more I realized it could be the method with which I had a ready-made unit available to play original songs. I decided to give it a go. The next couple of years brought two surprising (to me) results:

1) Building a working tribute band was a lot harder than I thought!

2) I re-learned the fact that people connect with vocal songs, and began writing those as well as instrumental compositions.

Now, I will say that while Santana was not my original inspiration for my own songs, I did learn some valuable leasons while mastering his music. But that's a subject for another article.

Santana Tribute Band:

What Should Be In A Promo Video?

Seven years ago, when we started our Santana Tribute Band (Savor), we created a promotional video to show agents and entertainment directors what the band looked and sounded like. At that point, we hadn't played any gigs! So we shot the band -- live -- in a rehearsal studio. Later we cut in footage that various cable stations had given us from subsequent shows.

Of course, since then, there have been changes in band members; on the whole, I believe the band sounds better. And, after more than 100 gigs, we have more stage presence, as well.

So, fast-forward to 2010. We just finished a new video, and this one is a bit different from the first one, in the following respects:

1) It's shorter. Two-and-a-half minutes, as opposed to seven;
2) There are more songs (nine; the old one had six); they are:
- Black Magic Woman
- Oye Como Va
- Smooth
- Jingo
- She's Not There
- Savor
- Samba Pa Ti
- Guajira
- Europa
3) There are some "text panels" throughout; and, finally,
4) The band members are introduced.

I'd love some feedback on this. What do you think? Did we include everything we needed to, or is something missing?

Do you hear enough of each song to get the idea, or would longer clips be better?

Some of the video is a little "shaky;" is that a problem?

Please feel free to comment below, and let us know your thoughts!

Thanks.

The Sparkle of Santana DVX Wine

What do you do when you've at least popularized (if not virtually invented) Latin rock, helped to develop an entire culture of amplifier technology, toured the world with a smokin' band for more than four decades, played for half a million people zonked out of your mind, and launched a career renaissance the like of which has not been seen in the history of the music industry?

You launch your own private wine label, of course!

As most people know, the first paragraph refers to Carlos Santana's ground-breaking musical style, first seen by a wide audience at Woodstock in 1969. Not to mention his involvement with Mesa Boogie amplifiers, the legendary Santana live show, and the phenomenal popularity of 1999's Supernatural.

What may not be quite as familiar, though, is the Santana DVX Sparkling Wine that was produced by the Mumm Winery in Napa Valley, California. Issued in 2000, the combination of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vintages was the brainchild of Carlos, his then wife Deborah Santana, and winemaker Ludovic Dervin.

Of course, it was introduced to on a broader scope than it might otherwise have been, due to a little ditty titled, appropriately, "Santana DVX," by a rap/comedy band called The Lonely Island. Complete with clever, albeit raunchy, lyrics, the song became quite a smash in the social media-sphere.

Unfortunately, the wine was issued on a very limited basis, and is long gone. No word of a sequel has been released, although with this run Carlos Santana has been on, you never know!

Drummer Cindy Blackman to Wed Carlos Santana

It must have been a stunned crowd that witnessed Carlos Santana's very public proposal to this then girlfriend (now fiancee): drummer Cindy Blackman. Obviously a lot more than that audience bargained for In Tinsley, Park, Illinois, on the July 9, 2010 show of the Universal Tone Tour.

Blackman, although primarily a vetted jazz percussionist, is possibly best known for her 11-year stint with Lenny Kravitz. As such, she showed she was a master of groove as well as swing. This may be the general public's introduction to the groundbreaking drummer, but in the jazz scene, especially, she has long been a fixture.

And with numerous albums under her belt, she can claim status as a composer as well.

Her gig with Santana's band adds Latin rock music to her resume, and seems to be just another step in Blackman's self-proclaimed goal of virtuosity. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Gregg Rolie

Gregg Rolie

Legendary Vocalist/Keyboardist for Santana and Journey

Santana's 1999 Grammy phenomenon, Supernatural, has sold in excess of 25 million copies. It launched a rebirth of Carlos Santana's career leading to his artist-as-icon status. More recently, he has lent his name to a line of Santana perfumes and colognes, handbags, wine, Carlos by Carlos women's shoes, and more.

But this legendary status now enjoyed by Carlos wouldn't exist were it not for the hits still played on radio: "Evil Ways," "Black Magic Woman," "Oye Como Va," et al. Most of these songs were included on Santana's first two albums, Santana (often called Santana by Santana), and Abraxas.

At the heart of the sound of those classic records are the keyboard playing and vocals of a young musician named Gregg Rolie.

Still a teenager when he and Carlos formed what was at one time titled the "Santana Blues Band" and then finally simply "Santana," Rolie had a distinctive vocal style has been immortalized on those early albums. And he didn't stop there. He and band mate Neal Schon went on to form Journey, a band which initially achieved a cult status among musicians, and then became one of the world's leading pop rock groups.

Rolie wasn't just a vocalist who accompanied himself on keyboards, though. The powerful simplicity of his organ playing is evident in the iconic chord inversions that introduce Oye Como Va, the unusual note (a 9th) that kicks off his solo in Evil Ways, and many other parts. Playing keyboards is something many people do; really good keyboard players is a much smaller group. Creating keyboard parts (both rhythm and lead) that stick in people's mind is a rare skill indeed, and one at which Rolie excels.

To this day, Rolie can be heard on both keyboards and vocals in his own group, the Gregg Rolie Band. Touring the country and playing hits both old and new, Rolie and his band (which includes original Santana conguero Mike Carabello) embody much of the original sound of the early Santana songs that still resonate with listeners, 40 years later.