Guitar Ensemble of Meridian'07 - OneEnsembleOneSound

Next-Generation Blog + Last post??

2008-06-21T09:43:00.001-07:00

halo..
I just visited the blog... just for fun... then I realised tht some of you still visit the blog.

thts cool....

Btw, i dunno if i wanna continue posting, as the GEM 08 has their blog already...

here's the link

It has been a nice experience maintaining this blog since last year, and i hope tht those who visit could benefit from the lessons/stuff tht I post...

yea

'J2s Last Day' Photos

2008-05-20T07:28:00.001-07:00

They are HERE

CCA no more

2008-05-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Well J2s, we got no more CCA, but I hope ur passion for guitar will always burn forever. I hope u will continue exploring this beautiful instrument and be a better musician. Continue learning and practising and enjoy the journey!!

Well, I think this song is kinda appropriate for this occasion

This is how to play it.. pretty simple just C G Am Em F C F G... If u dun want to pluck u can strum , just like the first video

CIP was Fun!

2008-05-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

CIP was fun!! We performed quite well, and the games was quite successful too... not bad for a first try... too bad it will be the last too... Thanks to all who participated in one way or another... those who planned the games, those who practiced and performed, and the emcee, and not forgetting ZY who was in charge... you all have done well and I hope u all feel good after serving the residents at Orange Valley. I hope u all did the CIP not just to get the CIP hours but also to make the residents there happy....yea

Okay, Aaron sent me this video 2 weeks ago n now I gonna show it to you all...It's a video about our lives....

TJC Concert Photos

2008-05-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

TJ concert was fun!!! We played well and made audiences clap along wif the song we played. NICE!
Thanks to all performers, u all hav worked hard.
Thanks to the audiences for ur support.

Here's the photos fo tht day

CIP songs

2008-04-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

YoYo

For our next CIP, we'll be playing for the 'silver generations' ;-]
Therefore, we have to pick songs that they might know (old songs)
just last week, I went for a CIP at an old folks home at simei. We were supposed to befriend the oldies there. Coz I got no better topics, I started talking about music, and then I found out some of the oldies' favourite music!!

Basically, they like all those chinese old love songs, those karaoke type ones
Then for english songs, they might like bands like the beatles, rolling stones, or artists like Elvis Presley. So we gotta perform songs from these kinda artists to them if we want to make some sense there....

So after some browsing around in Youtube, and after some searches like ' best oldies songs of the 60s' using Google, I've found some songs that we can perform. They might be old, but they are nice!!!

Yesterday- The beatles
This song is a must know. A classic that will not be forgotten

Note that u can use 3 guitars playing this: one for the lead( playing the melody), one play chords, one play bass ( I like the bass!!!)

Hey Jude - The Beatles
Nice lah!

The Police - Every Breath You Take
a realli nice song with interesting bass line. This song is the youngest among all previous songs (1983), but I still put it here coz it's so nice!!

Frank Sinatra - Fly Me to the Moon

okay

Actually all these songs can be played using 3 guitars(or more). You just need to decide who play what( for example, pick one player be lead, one be rythm, one be bass) so tht u can focus on playing ur own parts. The problem might be to figure out the parts if u can't find the tab online.

If tht happen, pls contact someone who can n willing to help. U can come to me too n I will help as much as I can.

practice practice

2008-04-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yo TJ performers... 2 more weeks to practice... preserve...
now with ur niibori guitars at home, u can focus on perfecting those parts tht u couldn't master yet. Use metronome to make sure tht u play in correct timing. Link to online metronome can be found under ' links ' .

Now, i'll show u both songs, just so tht u all can feel the mood of the songs...

Ballade

Words tht came to mind : 'Fatherly love'?(coz Paul de Senneville composed the song as a tribute to his newborn daughter Adeline)

Third man theme

Words tht came to mind : fun? lazy? old cartoon? clowns jumping around?

MUST HEAR!!

2008-04-05T04:36:00.000-07:00

First, MUSE's new live performance album, the HAARP live from Wembley stadium. I just bought the DVD yesterday and it was awesome!! This is one of the track, named ' new born'. If u want more, go buy the original DVD, it won't disappoint!!!

Second,Charice Pempengco, a great singer from Philippines. This one I know from Danny when we chat. She's so young yet her voice is so powerfull. Crazy one ah... Here's she singing ' You'll never walk alone' for you all Liverpool fans ( I'm not but the song is nice anyway...)

J2 stuffs

2008-03-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yo....
Last Friday I was walking around Level 4 perimeter during guitar practise, n found out that most of the J2 bands have started practising for our CIP. That is verry nice, continue the good job yeah!! Continue practising so that u all can realli brighten up other ppl's day, hopefully the ppl u gonna visit will have fun together wif u all.

and for the TJ performers, I think the Ballad recording was nice, unfortunately the classroom's speakers are not good enough to play 'good quality lower frequency sound'.... sad sad sad.... we still need to polish up some parts though, especially the fast parts and tremolo...

And for the prime section, come on u all can do it. remember wad they say 'victory belongs to the most perservering'. Practise hard and ask around if unsure of anything. We r all in this together.

For next week

2008-03-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

oops sorry i forgot to update yesterday...

Okay, there will be guitar session next week.For J2s, TJ performers will be practising, then the rest will plan for CIP.For The CIP, we will be performing for the sick in hospital. We r supposed to brighten up their day with our wonderful playing. So, please start thinking of songs tht can make people happy. Dun pick so many emo songs, k?

For J1s, our student conductors are currently planning for ur first lesson

Block Test

2008-03-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hmm... wad to put ah?
Ya... Good luck J2s

If U're stressed, just listen to this song n just relax, forget all ur studies for a while

Orientation photos

2008-03-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

The photos are HERE.

Happy March holiday to all...
For J2s , happy studying and good luck for block test!!
then, performers, dun forget to practice!!! Gotta show em what MJC Guitar Ensemble can do, Okay!!

Orientation again!!

2008-03-01T06:29:00.000-08:00

Yea... O2 has just ended. As u all might know, the recruitment drive was quite messed up because MJ decided to do it before the 'Campfire'. The result was that many ppl went home first without visiting the booths, ours included. For those of you who was not there, here's what happened :
-Our BOOTH was located strategically below our BEAUTIFUL BANNER!!
-Some of our guys walked around the school with our guitars and sing some random song... IT WORKED!!! ;-)
In the end, we managed to get 40+ ppl to be the next batch of GEM. Hopefully they will do well....

Okay, Aiman just told me this good idea to link your blogs into this blog. This way, we can, maybe, bond closer (I hope this works....) . We get more hits n u get more hits too...So, those of you who are interested in this idea and would like ur blog to be linked, please shout or send me an e-mail (febriyan@hotmail.com ,NO SPAM PLS!!)

Oh ya, good luck for next week orientation!! PLS think of games

Pop songs

2008-02-23T05:47:00.001-08:00

Hey...
I heard Darren taught you some simple chords last wednesday.
Please practice them.
Check out the chords of your favourite songs at the net. There is endless resources out there........ Check out the links.... at the right hand side
Then when you know the chords, try to play and sing along.
For the start, just strum down all the time, just try n follow the beat.
As u get used to the beat, n when ur left hand can change chord fast enough, try some simple strumming pattern, like (d,d,u,u,d,u). This way, u can improve.
It might be hard to start at first, but trust me, it gonna be fun when u start improving, coz u gonna want to improve more.

Also, I wanna tell u tht our new banner is done!!!

I just wanna thank all of you who took part in the process of making this banner- the designing, choosing n buying materials, drawing n painting.
U guys r great n it was nice working wif u all!!

New Banner

2008-02-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

Yo!!!
We gonna paint our new banner nexk week!!
The design is similar to the desktop background that i posted a few week ago...
If you have previous experience painting banner, we would like your help!!!
Contact the exco ASAP.....

CNY

2008-02-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!!!
Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!
Had fun, didn't you??
As for myself, we got super heavy dinner these few days.....
Makan - makan, yeah!!

Okay...
For the ensemble, we know that CNY was most probably our last performance for the school, but don't lose heart !! We can still play for the others thru CIP n stuff...
Then the desktop background, it is actually for our new banner, so any suggestions for improvements will be listened and apprecciated...

Okay...
Once again, happy CNY!!
May u be blessed with hapiness and prosperity and good results and more passion towards music and GEM!!! ;-]

....Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Nu....Yeap!!! Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Nu!!....

Good job, everyone!!

2008-02-06T01:40:00.000-08:00

I think CNY performance was good. It was not flawless, but it was good!!! ;-]
We got warm applause frm the audiences, and tht was nice...
Our effort practising for months was paid off by a good performance... not bad eh?
Let's do more of that when we have the chance!!

Here's our photos, presented by Mr.JJ

To thank all of you, here's a little something from me
New GEM desktop background, YAY!!
(To download, click on the pics. U will b directed to photobucket. Download frm there)

CNY is SOON

2008-02-02T05:39:00.000-08:00

It's next week!!!
Possibly our last performance for the school, guys!!
Let's do it ....
Let's show them that we can play well...
We can't possibly sux all the way.
Dun screw up like the rehearsal at the hall, coz that kinda performance was not worth watching.
I mean it.
Dun disgrace ourselves with bad performance.
From now on, treat every practice as if u r performing in the hall.
We have to focus when Chee Ching is conducting. He has worked hard.
Just imagine urself being him... He need everyone's cooperation.
Please focus, so that u will not be so groggy in the hall when performing.
N on the real day, just relax(concentrate though!!). treat it like a combined practice session.

We can do this.
Everyone is important in this.
Let's do this!!!

This is only my own view though
But i hope u all r wif me
ok?

Road Race

2008-01-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

Road race was kinda fun... right?
As expected, canoeing ppl won the sports group and ODAC for the club sections.
Guitar didn't get any medals, but still......... we appreciate the determination and preseverance that our runners gave.... THANKS

Sorry no photo....

Okay, let's change subject
As you all know, JAE is coming and we need good publicity for this one. So if u have any publicity-related ideas,( banner design. poster design,etc ) PLEASE SHARE!! Tell the publicity EXCO (thts me and Sherm).

Now for the guitar related stuff...
I'm not very sure what to put... coz i dunno if u all have benefited from the previous posts... so I need feedback... what kinda thing u want me to put (USE THE SHOUTBOX NOW!!!!)

Somebody please shout!!! I want a vibrant n happening blog here(i hope u do too)!!

Hi J1s

2008-01-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

Hi... JC fun or not?
Here's the photo album for the orientation

For the J2s,pls remember tht there will be test nx week

Nice start

2008-01-12T04:32:00.000-08:00

Firstly....Job well done for the Thirdman theme!! Keep it up guys... dun forget we gonna play with CO also.... Practice gonna be tough, but if we keep progressing like yesterday, I believe that it will be fun.
Okay.

I just wanna know, is there any additional stuff u wanna hav here? Then I can try get for all of you. Or is there any nice song u wanna share wif the rest? Just shout!!(just like mr. arv shown right there..) ;)

For now, I will just stick with the usual stuff...
another song to learn: When You Say Nothing At All

For this song, it's nicer to pluck, but you can strum if you like....
Chords here
For the C, it will be nicer to use Cadd 9(X32033)

Happy New Year 2008 !!!

2008-01-05T04:45:00.000-08:00

Yo yo yo... I am back updating this website after a kinda long break...

Yea, firstly, i just wanna say, 2008 gonna be tough.. but remember...
'victory belongs to the most persevering!!'hehe

Okay, back to guitar stuff... I noticed that even though all of u have joined guitar for about 1 year now, some of you still can not play chords. :-(
So, today I gonna suggest a really simple song: Chasing Cars
The chords are really easy, just strum down all the way, it will sound okay..
N u can also ask ur fren to play the background melody. Playing guitar together IS fun!!

Okay... now for the rest, let's listen to the piece that Mr.JJ is learning now: Angelina by Tommy Emmanuel

This song is actually made by Tommy for his daughter Angelina. Nice eh?

Camp Photos

2007-12-04T23:25:00.000-08:00

Hey GEMmers!
Hope you guys had fun during the GEM camp like ZhiYong. Haha.. To see the photos taken during our camp, go to this web: http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x43/thegemmerz/
Enjoy!

The Third Man Theme

2007-11-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

The Third Man is one of the greatest British thrillers of the post-war era. It was voted the #1 British Film of the 20th Century by the esteemed British Film Institute (BFI). (http://www.filmsite.org/thir.html). It won an Oscar too!! This movie's released in 1949... Quite old, eh? Oh yea, and "The Third Man Theme", released in 1950 became a best-seller, and later an LP (gramophone record >> basically the very big black CD thing ) was released (wikipedia).

So.. this is our new song.... Enjoy!! (but dun forget.. must practice also ah) ;-)

And here is an old band performing the song... See, they so enthu!!

Packing list

2007-11-21T04:51:00.000-08:00

Things to bring:

-Dark colored shirt : 1
-School Based Shirt : min. 3
-Dark colored /School based short: min. 3
-Shoes : 2
-Socks : 3
-Slippers/ sandals : 1
-Torchlight : 1
-Sleeping Bag :Optional
-Toiletries : -
-Towel : 2
-Personal medication : -
-Mosquito Repellent : 1
-Guitar : 1
-Guitar File :1
-Ez- Link : -
+ anything else tht u think u need to bring

Guitar festival 2007

2007-11-17T06:22:00.000-08:00

Ushering
Slots going out fast!!! Slots for 3rd n 4th Dec have been taken, only 1 place left for the 5th, but we still have places on 6th onward. C'mon quickly sign up!! By doing ushering, u get CIP points and get to watch the concert for free, good deal eh?

Tickets for concert
This is the list of concert ticket buyers. If u wanted to buy ticket but your name is not on the list, pls contact Darren.
Buying Tickets:
-Jin Jia
-Joshua
-Nicholas
-Aiman
-Eugene
-Darren
-Junhe
-Danny
-Eunice
-Shimin
-Sherry
-Zhi Ling
-Jia Yi

For the rest, c'mon dun hesitate, just buy your tickets ASAP!! The guitar players in this festival's world class, definitely worth watching!!

Directions
Here's how to go to your various venues:

-3rd, 4th, 5th (10am to 4pm) December – Cairnhill CC
Take to Newton MRT and walk. (RED line)

-5th(7pm), 6th, 7th December – DBS auditorium
Take to Tanjong Pagar MRT and walk

-8th December – NTUC auditorium
Take to Raffles Place MRT

Visit Streetdirectory for more detailed info

Guitar Festival and CIP!!!

2007-11-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

Yeap, as Mr.Darren has told us todae, there will be the '7th International Guitar Festival 2007' from 3-9 December 2007 at various venues. Check out the posters here, n tickets can be bought from sistic.

Other than that, there will be CIP programme. Details below:

Do CIP, Get CIP Points, Watch concert for free....

Here is the video of Flavio Cucchi, one of the guitar players tht will be playing

2007-11-05T22:47:00.001-08:00

practise on this coming fri...9 of Nov...from 1 to 4...important briefing will be carried out that day..

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven

2007-11-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

One of the songs that u all should know

Here's the link to the ultimateguitar page
Try to learn this song, it's quite manageable

Kotaro Oshio - Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence

2007-10-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Cool musical piece, played with various cool techniques

Don Alder - Harp Guitar Acoustic Guitar

2007-10-20T09:40:00.001-07:00

Look at this sick thing!!!

Paul Gilbert - Scarified

2007-10-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

This guy is good.....
n he have lotsa lessons in youtube too ;) go check them ot yourself, he's a good teacher (i think)

Green Eyes- Coldplay

2007-10-06T05:20:00.000-07:00

Quite an old song, but it's nice and quite easy to play too...

Chords:

A E Bm A E Bm
Honey you are a rock, upon which I stand,
A E Bm A E Bm
And I come here to talk, I hope you understand,
Bm D A E
The green eyes, yeah the spotlight, shines upon you.
Bm D A E
And how could anybody deny you.
Bm D A G Bm
I came here with a load and it feels so much lighter now I met you.
Bm D A G Bm
And honey you should know that I could never go on without you.
Bm D
Green Eyes.......
A E Bm A E Bm
Honey you are the sea, upon which I float.
A E Bm A E Bm
And I came here to talk, I think you should know.
Bm D A E
The green eyes you're the one that I wanted to find.
Bm D A E
And anyone who tried to deny you must be out of their mind.
Bm D A G Bm
coz I came here with a load and it feels so much lighter now I met you.
Bm D A G Bm
And honey you should know that I could never go on without you.
Bm A Bm
Green Eyes...green eyes uh oh oh oh, uh oh oh oh..........
A E Bm A E Bm
Honey you are a rock, upon which I stand.

(Click Here for the link to the chord website)

Umbrella (Acoustic Version)

2007-09-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

ela..ela..ela.. eh..eh..

Here's the chords for this version, taken from http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/m/marie_digby/umbrella_ver2_crd.htm

Standard Tuning

Verse:

e --------------------|
B -------6-------2----|
G ---3---6---2---3----|
D ---4---6---3---3----| x2
A ---4---4---3---1----|
E ---2-------1--------|

Chorus
e --------------------|
B -------6-------2----|
G ---3---6---5---3----|
D ---4---6---6---3----| x2
A ---4---4---6---1----|
E ---2-------4--------|

e --------------------|
B -------6-------2----|
G ---3---6---2---3----|
D ---4---6---3---3----| x2
A ---4---4---3---1----|
E ---2-------1--------|

Song lyrics | Umbrella lyrics

You can also view another acoustic version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5paQ9BwFAgI&mode=related&search=

Funny Videos

2007-09-22T05:40:00.000-07:00

I think he is really talented...

AND

funny,funny kid

Tommy Emmanuel, Mr.Bean

2007-09-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

Tommy Emmanuel playin 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'

AND

mR.bEAN 'Taking Exam'(don't do this for promo!!)

'Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.'- Henry Ford

Funny show

2007-09-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

' I dunno what to put.... '

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to learn 'sway' for OPEN HOUSE!!

Quien Sera

2007-09-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

The video Darren was talking about

Sway: The complete collection

2007-08-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

Hi ppl..Here's another E lessons for all of you.... Please practise the song as we have to play it well. Open House is important!Also, we were told that the guitar ensemble is one of the favourites among the Sec Sch students, don't let them down.. Let's give them a good performance!! yeah!!

-INTRO

Guitar parts: pls note tht we did not record the repeat of the song.
-Guitar 1

-Guitar 2

-Guitar 3

-End/ Conclusion

So.. play hard,practise harder, study even harder

Tuning Your Guitar With Paul Gilbert

2007-08-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

One of the best guitarists showing you how to tune a guitar in his style..

visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gilbert for more info

Sway!!!

2007-08-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

One of the songs for open house. Enjoy ;)

JerryC: Alien Walker

2007-08-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

U can watch other videos of him here: http://www.jerrycfan.net/

Cannon rock(s)

2007-08-04T07:31:00.000-07:00

JerryC vs. FunTwo

Another cannon war 1v1v1v1

Who wins? I dunno...

GEM desktop background

2007-08-04T06:51:00.001-07:00

Just a little something for you all.....

Link:http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x43/thegemmerz/gem07logo4.jpg

Asturias(Leyenda) - Isaac Albeniz played by John Williams

2007-08-02T08:30:00.001-07:00

For your listening pleasure.....

(note: Please be inspired by his playing n BE ENTHU WHEN COMING TO GEM SESSION.......) ;)

Home

2007-07-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

The song that we will play on National Day.
Please practise...

T-shirt designs

2007-07-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hi, these are the t-shirt designs that we have discussed on friday + some more.... U might changed ur mind after last friday so we will do a voting... pls send ur choice to the exco(those ppl who sms u about guitar stuff)Format(f?-b?). ALL MUST SEND,K!!!
(note: it's okay to choose differrent colour for the front and back part of the t shirt as u all hav decided to have black t-shirt... we will edit the design as necessary)

f1

f2

f3

b1

b2

b3

b4

please choose properly..

Cool guitar performance by Mr.Student Conductor

2007-06-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Marriage de Amor!!

The Last Lesson (for now..)

2007-06-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yo.. this is the last of 4 lessons we have made... This lesson is about the c major scale.. use it to practice and improve your dexterity....Thank you to all of you who have viewed and practiced these 4 lessons...

Lesson No.3

2007-06-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! We are now at lesson 3 already... IF you have mastered the basic chords taught in lesson 1 (Em,G,C,D) and the E and A chord from lesson 2, you can use those to play some songs. If not, keep practising your chord changing,coz you must be able to change chords quite fast if u wanna play songs...

In this lesson, we gonna teach you some plucking techniques-which gonna be useful when you play only individual string.Have fun.. the lesson no.4 will be up tommorow.

The Second Lesson

2007-06-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

Hi...This is the second lesson, which is on barre chords. This gonna be more difficult than the first lesson, so don't be discouraged if you cannot do the barre chords right now... coz i'm sure you'll be able to make it nx time(if u practice)... the third lesson will be posted tommorow,so... just be ready.

Online lesson 1

2007-06-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hi gemmerz.... this holiday we gonna post some FREE guitar lessons online.... please check 'em up and practice them....YOU MIGHT BE TESTED ON THESE LESSONS WHEN SCHOOL REOPENS...HAHAHA...-no worries though...the lessons are manageable.. here is the first lesson on basic chords...