Footloose by markmcguigan

This is it, the much anticipated Stay Tuned Album. The listeners have spoken with their guitars and given us all this fantastic album to share. The album is comprised of cover versions of TV theme songs. Please download this album and hear for yourself.

Upon clicking to download you will be downloading a zip file which includes: the full high-resolution artwork, the 16 mp3 files and the full liner notes written by PT, Pipes and each artist appearing on the album.

Thank you to all the artists who contributed. Thank you our families and the families and friends of all the artists who put up with the time spent locked in the studio knocking these tracks out. Thank you to Jim Russell for the fantastic cover art. It fits the project, and the Bliss, perfectly. Thank you to Larry ‘Laughinglarry’ Smith for all your help in spreading the word of this album. And finally, thank you to all the listeners of Six-String Bliss. Even if your name is not on the back cover, this is YOUR album. You keep us going, and your support helped build the community that produced this album. And who knows… maybe your name will be on the cover next time around!

I remember listening to the podcast when the seed of the concept was first put forward and instantly though it was a great idea!. In fact I already had a theme in mind. So I fired up Logic for its first major recording since getting the new iMac and got to work. And which theme I hear you ask? Well it *had* to be:

A-Team Theme by markmcguigan

and from the CD liner notes:

Note from the artist:
“The A-Team was one of my favourite TV shows when I was younger. Brilliantly cheesy and over the top with its slo-mo fight scenes, The making of a tank from little more than a nail and some Gaffa tape to helicopters crashing into mountains and the pilots getting out unscathed at the end!


So when I spotted the TV Theme thread it I just had to have a go!

I recorded all the guitar parts using my fabulous Suhr Pro Series S3 and the bass part on my old Peavey Dynabass, both through Guitar Rig. Drums were programmed using the stunning BFD from FXpansion and the whole lot was recorded using Logic Pro 8 on an iMac.”


Note from Pipes and PT:
“We had not heard a track from Mark before, we weren’t sure what to expect. To say we were pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. This is a great companion piece to Magnum P.I. Mike Post was in on both and they are both highlights of this album!

This is another huge sounding track. We’ve got to learn the secrets of this big sound! As a side note, PT was not allowed to watch this show as a kid, so it was great to finally hear the theme music!”

The whole album is a great collaboration from a great podcast community and was great fun to be a part of. Check it out!

October’s task is to play solo guitar. No overdubs, it’s got to be one guitar from finish to end. You can record more than one take obviously but the one you put up has to be a ‘live’ recording of you on guitar. No drop ins, no fiddly electronic stuff.

With this in mind I went for my archtop again and wrote a short melody which I then harmonized solo jazz guitar stylee.

Gear Used:

Guitar: Ibanez AF105NT -> Carvin Legacy -> Rode NT1A Condenser Mic

Create something original which pays homage to one of your favourite guitarists.

So I quickly ( cramming in some time for the collective! ) came up with the following song, hopefully not too hard to work out who I am attempting to pay homage to

Gear Used:

Lead/Rhythm Guitar: Ibanez Jem 7VSBL -> Guitar Rig 2
Bass: Peavey Dynabass -> Guitar Rig 2
Drums: Loops from Computer Music Mag

Make a piece of music involving a palindrome, where the second half of *something* is the reverse of the first half. This can be the main melody, the riff, the chord sequence, whatever you want… but something has to be palindromic.

I started by taking a repeating two bar chord change for the A section with a B section consisting of a set of descending chords.

For the second half of the piece, I reversed the B section then swapped the two chords around in the A section, ending up with a structure like:

[A] [B] [A] [B] [rev B] [rev A] [rev B] [rev A]

Basically a mirror image hence why I called it ‘Reflection’ .

Also opted to do some filming again and recorded myself laying down the main lead guitar part on camera :

Gear Used:

Lead/Rhythm Guitar: Ibanez RGA321 -> Guitar Rig 2
Bass: Peavey Dynabass -> Guitar Rig 2
Drums: Triphop Loops from eJay

Solo piece, ensemble, vocal, fingerpicked, strummed, nylon, steel; whatever you like. Just try to keep it acoustic and the thought of Summer in your head.

Bit different this time, opted to film it!
So here it is, a little piece about a joyous bird… ‘The ‘Appy Sparra’:

Gear Used:

Acoustic Guitar: Fylde Magician -> Rode NT1-A

Gear Used:

Acoustic Guitar: Fylde Magician -> Rode NT1-A
Lead Guitar: Ibanez RGA321 -> Guitar Rig 2
Rhythm Guitar: Ibanez Jem 7VSBL -> Guitar Rig 2
Bass: Peavey Dynabass -> Warwick Blue Cab 20
Drums: Loops from some magazine DVD probably Computer Music

Gear Used:

Lead Guitar: Ibanez AF105NT -> Guitar Rig 2
Rhythm Guitar: Ibanez AF105NT -> Guitar Rig 2
Bass: Peavey Dynabass -> Guitar Rig 2/ Ashdown MAG-C210T-200
Drums: Fxpansion BFD

Gear Used:

Guitar: Ibanez RGA321 -> Carvin Legacy -> Rode NT1-A