Jules Shear?

Inspiration comes from left field sometimes.

Tonight, as usual, at 9 pm, I strapped on my guitar for some tunes. Sometimes I go to the Guitar Grimoire for practice on scales and pentatonics, just like I used to practice scales and arpeggios on the piano. (I can still hear the piano and feel my fingers go over the C major–C minor–A flat major–F major–F minor arpeggios spanning as many or as few octaves as I wanted, as per instruction by my mousy, shy piano teacher, Maril Morris.) Sometimes I combine that with tunes I'd like to play on my own, which as any guitar player will tell you, is just as important as the didactics. Keeps me connected with the unadulterated joy I had as a kid playing my acoustic guitar.

Tonight, I just struck out on my own and played whatever I wanted. Started with "Mandinka," after reading a spirited, inspiring review of The Lion and the Cobra from the brilliant altrickchick. Realized it was far more straightforward than I had originally thought, which was a great revelation, so onto my practice list it went. I then went to "No More" by Neil Young, which utterly captivated me from the first few seconds of that hook decades ago, despite the sobering story of an addict struggling to tear free from drugs.

And the pop continued. I sometimes try to conquer the riff from the Bangles' version of "Hazy Shade of Winter," which is far superior to the original by Simon & Garfunkel—a super high bar to clear, but those ladies do it almost effortlessly. And that riff is especially difficult in that key! You know the story of how Ginger Rogers did the same thing Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels? Yeah. That's what happened here. The Bangles took that simple D–C–B flat–A progression that starts this song off, then transposed it up a minor third, to F–E flat–D flat–C, to accommodate their vocal range. No open strings you can depend on now! I bow to them.

Anyhow, I chose instead to play "If She Knew What She Wants," which is another shining cover the Bangles do beautifully. Who did this one originally? A not-so-well-known brilliant songwriter named Jules Shear, who also gave Cyndi Lauper "All Through The Night" for her fourth top-five hit from She's So Unusual. Not only did they do a great job interpreting it, they toned down the overwhelming synth pop sheen and gated drums that obscured the original. Not to mention that the recording could have used a few more days of rehearsal...the synth player needs some lessons in legato, while the drummer could use a lesson in maintaining a steady beat, and yipes...Jules needs to listen to his own pitchy singing and adjust accordingly.

Hey. I never said I was unjudgmental. I've never been accused of that, honestly. Quite the opposite—and it has lost me a fair bit of goodwill and friendship over the years.

Anyhow, playing "If She Knew What She Wants" reminded me of Shear's excellence as a songwriter. Back in high school, I was inspired to grab The Great Puzzle based both off a glowing Rolling Stone review and a few listens of the gorgeous "The Trap Door" on 93.3 KTCL. Though the album as a whole fell a bit short of expectations, three songs hit me hard enough to land on my summer 1992 mix, "THIS is REAL LIFE!?" Obviously, "The Trap Door" made it on, as did the title song and "The Sad Sound of the Wind."

Tonight's guitar jam ended with "The Trap Door" and two passes at "The Sad Sound of the Wind." While I was playing the latter and looking at the chord tabs on Spark, I noticed that there were an awful lot of barre chords ... in fact, there were practically no chords with any open strings. It made me wonder...what if I used a capo on the first fret? I grabbed my capo, played a few chords to inure myself to the chord change (having perfect pitch requires that bit of calibration), then started over again.

That second pass was like magic. Suddenly, everything flowed like honey. Kinda like when I discovered using the capo on the first fret of "Closer to Fine," one of my favorite songs, bar none.

I always learn something new whenever I sit down to play. Tonight's lesson was sublime. And a great reminder to listen to The Great Puzzle again at some point.