Graham English

Prose

My New BBP Hybrid Messenger/Backpack

I was pretty excited about getting my new BBP bag on Friday. Especially considering I couldn’t take my MacBook Pro anywhere without subjecting it to the dangers of unprotected travel. All in all, I’m pleased. But there’s one major flaw in the design.

My First iPhone Battle Scar!

In my attempt to build the perfect 300 body, I sacrificed the perfection of my iPhone’s body.

I Goofed! And Here’s Why It’s Good For You…

I goofed and oversold our previous Absolute Pitch Power “Green” half-off offer. Since we had to print extra copies, we’ve continued the sale until we sell out, which should be soon.

Having Trouble Ripping a DVD on a Mac?

The blood and gore in the movie 300 was vivid and the fighting was intense. I would need to watch this again and again. So I tried to rip it but couldn’t. Then I figured out how.

Absolute Pitch Ear Training Podcast 08-20-07

Topics covered: The pleasure of finding things out, Richard Feynman, Dr. Kurt Fischer, dynamic skill theory, developmental levels, adult learning, ear training, and much more…

Email Is My Bitch

It was time to make Mail.app obey me. That’s the subject of my latest podcast.

R.I.P. Max Roach

Max Roach, one of the original bebop drummers, died early this morning. He played with all the greatest jazz musicians: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, and Miles Davis. I’ve personally spent many, many hours listening to him swing.

New Macbook Pro

I love the new iWeb! It’s one of a million reasons to buy a Mac. The new iLife suite is so much fun. Sure, iWeb isn’t as flexible as WordPress but it’s so easy and sexy that it’s hard not to play with.

Update Twitter, Facebook, iChat, Adium, And Skype With Quicksilver

I’m a Facebook fanatic. I joined immediately after they opened to the public. In the beginning, there wasn’t much to talk about. None of my friends had joined and there really wasn’t that much I could do there. But since then, the buzz has caught my friends’ attention and Facebook’s extendibility has grown consistently, giving [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 14

Now this pattern is the exact opposite of the twelfth pattern. Every other note is transposed into the “outside key” but this pattern begins in the outside key and is a full bar long.

30 Day Challenge Starts Tomorrow

I’ve been a bad blogger, I know. Here’s what happened. I read The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris and started questioning how I spend my time. As much as I enjoy blogging, I realized that I needed to shift some of my priorities if I was going to be able to improve my current lifestyle [...]

30-Day Challenge To Internet Profits – Without Spending A Dime!

Ed Dale is doing his third 30-day challenge again. The challenge has a modest goal: to earn $10 dollars on the internet with absolutely no out-of-pocket expenses. The entire program is free to join.
I’m excited to see what Ed and his team have in store. I’ve followed Ed Dale a while now and can tell [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 13

This pattern is almost the exact opposite of the previous dominant 7 pentatonic pattern. Every other note is transposed into the “outside key” but this pattern begins in the outside key and is only two beats.

Download the full pattern:
Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 13

What’s New In Landing Pages?

I just found out about some new free software for increasing conversion on landing pages. It’s very interesting and I’ve been coming up with all kinds of ways to use it myself.
Also, they have a great quiz that you can take to analyze your business. It gives you a custom 5-page report with valuable tips [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 12

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern is super squiggly. Every other note is transposed into the “outside key” for superior in-the-moment transposition skills.

Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies For Your iPhone

In an attempt to hack their creativity and artistic output, Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt created a deck of cards they called the Oblique Strategies. Whenever they came up against a creative dilemma–and especially while under a moment of pressure or deadline–they would pull a card and follow the directions.
I’ve used this technique constantly in [...]

Some Outstanding Podcasts For Musicians

Not only am I a podcast author, I’m a podcast lover. And recently I’ve come across some podcasts that I’m really enjoying.
If you’re a jazz lover, then you’ll love both NPR: Jazz Profiles and The Traneumentary. NPR’s Jazz Profiles covers the lives and music of artists like Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. It’s fantastic! The [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 11

The primary purpose of this dominant 7 pentatonic pattern is to force you to transpose keys a number of times during the bar. If you keep your wits about you as you play this pattern and don’t just memorize it without giving it any thought, you’ll start to become extremely comfortable moving between two keys at will. This pattern changes keys 5 times within a single bar.

How To Expand Your Google Adwords Keywords With TextMate

There are lots of tools out there to expand your Google AdWords keywords by adding brackets (exact match) and quotes (phrase match) to your keyword list. Some of them are free, some are not, and even fewer options are available for Mac. But if you use TextMate a lot, like me, then you’ll enjoy this [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 10

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern sandwiches the tonic key with two full beats of the “outside” key on either side. It starts in the transposed key, moves to the tonic key, and finishes in the transposed key.