Yow, time flies. Column #13 means that we’ve been talking about this stuff for a year already. I hope all of you have come a long way, or at least closer to being able to do what you want to do. I for one, have managed to drag my sorry ass into the Nineties: I used to write this thing out longhand (on a tour bus at 4 a.m., usually) and then go looking for a store with a fax machine-now I just send it in via E-Mail. Anyway, this month we’ll continue discussing boring and unpleasant things that you need to know if you’re planning on swimming in the murky and shark-infested waters of the music industry. I think that one of the craziest things about the western scale we’ve all agreed to use is that, while there are only 12 notes, musicians come up with new combinations of these notes all the time. What’s really amazing is the number of times only three or four notes have been combined into instantly recognizable and classic guitar riffs. Think about it; you can recognize the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water,” Pantera’s “Cowboys from Hell” or just […]