Kirk Mathew Gatzka | The Roof Instrumental | CD Baby Music Store

Kirk Mathew Gatzka | The Roof Instrumental | CD Baby Music Store

A melodic Instrumental in the Alternate Tuning DADGAD. Mellow and smooth for Easy Listening, it starts out slowly and builds to a climax ending. All tracks written, played and mixed by myself. Have a listen.

12-String Guitar DADGAD Tuning Instrumental - The Roof

The Roof by Gatzka Music

Two Images Today - Grandson - Old Dodge Truck

I did two images for today's post one of my Grandson and the other of an old Dodge Truck.

The truck photograph was taken by myself and is a favorite motif of mine. I followed a Painter PDF tutorial by John Derry that I had saved quite awhile ago. It included Auto painting of the photograph.

I added the oil brushstrokes from the Painter 8 Wow! Book oil brushes. And by hand painted the rough edges, then added a border and a halftone frame from Filter Forge's Freepack 3 Frames.

The second image of my Grandson, Zeke I used Paint.NET. I applied the Effects> Artistic> Pencil Sketch> with the pencil tip turned all the way up. I saved that file and opened it in PhotoPaint where I also opened a copy of a Mayang's Texture of painted rust. I overlaid the picture of Zeke onto the texture and used the object property Multiply to make the white transparent so as to show the texture.

So here he is "Cute thanks to Mom and Dad." I did finish the image with Filter Forge's Frames using a film frame, adding a border and another file frame. I also used the Tone Curve on the image for depth and upped the saturation by 7 for boosting the colors of the rusted texture.

I hope you enjoy both of these images and explanations as much as I enjoy presenting them and telling a bit about how they were made.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Smooth Riding
via FoxyTunes

Cowgirl Contemplation - Vector Graphics Experiment - CorelTRACE - CorelDRAW

Today's image started out with a photo-
graph That I found in Picasa 3 browsing, without any credits. The photographer is unknown to me. If you recognize it please write me so I can give proper credit to them.

I opened the photograph in Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch filter to it. Saving the large file I opened it in PhotoPaint and adjusted the Tone Curve and saturation. Here I added some Dover Publications clip art and I saved the large file and I took the image and traced it for a vector graphic in CorelTRACE cmx file format. This gave me a posterized vector to open in CorelDRAW.

In CorelDRAW I ungrouped the image vectorized pieces and pulled some apart from the original, providing some white gaps to fill. I used the Rectangle tool to create one that I placed behind the pieces. I added a brown color to the rectangle and had my background and fill color.

I copied this to the clipboard as a grouped image. Reopening PhotoPaint I resampled that to 1200 wide and save as a jpg. Here I added the framing using Filter Forge's Frames. I saved this jpg for display here.

I'm continuing with my trial copy of MixCraft 5 to create some music. I am really enjoying using it and am learning to control the mixing much better. I've done a number of tunes which I am reviewing them as I type this.

I did find out that I can open them in Audacity as MP3 files and I applied the Dynamic Compressor to clear up some of the distortion of lyric singing. I have to find the same effect in MixCraft 5 as I am certain they have the same thing.

Yesterday I recorded an instrumental "Upper Heights," and a Blues song with fun lyrics sung and rhythm and lead played by me called "Come Home Blues." I enjoy playing my guitar and singing along with the arrangements I create with MixCraft 5 using my Toneport and the Gearbox software along with it.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Come Home Blues
via FoxyTunes

Feel like a Number - PhotoPaint - Experiments with MixCraft 5

Just the other day I was listening to some Bob Seger songs and "I Feel Like a Number," came on. So I did a search in Picasa 3 for pictures with numbers in them and found this photograph.

I took this photograph with my older 5.2 megapixel camera and the dpi was 72. So I upped the dpi to 128 in increments to save some detail in PhotoPaint.

I also boosted the depth with the Tone Curve darkening it a touch. Then I upped the saturation by 15. I used the Effects> Artistic Strokes> Watercolor> filter on it. And I added a halftone frame in Filter Forges Frames in blue. I added a border of Navy blue and then the green halftone frame with another border of Navy blue.

I have only a few days left for my trial of MixCraft 5 and I have been having a blast trying to use it to the fullest I can before it expires. I've experimented with 8 tunes so far, ranging from Techno to Country Rock. The biggest problem I have had is during the mixing in of the vocals. I have been getting them too driven and it distorts them. I have tried adjusting the input levels so that doesn't happen, but, I still have some distortion.

I am confident it is my own inexperience with this fine program. I have learned to adapt to making the tunes more my own with help from their library of drums, bass, guitar, organ, piano and other synth sounds and effects.

I also found out at their site that they have a Pro Studio version for $149.00. I very much doubt I'll be able to budget in either of these programs. But if I could I would buy MixCraft 5.

The last two songs I worked on are, "Use it or Lose it," and "Don't Leave Me Alone." Both are Rocking tunes. But the vocals are distorted so I am not real happy with them. I need more mixing experience. It's coming along.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Don't Leave Me Alone
via FoxyTunes

Mexico - Guitar Players - Grunge

I recently received some photographs taken by my friend Brenda in Mexico. Here are two Guitar Players in a local restaurant in Puebla.

I took some liberties with the photograph opening it in Paint.NET and resized it. I then applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> filter for the outlining. I set the color full and the lines to less. I upped the saturation for a boost to the colors.

Saving that file I opened a painted metal with rust texture in PhotoPaint and also opened the guitar players manip. I copied them to the clipboard and pasted them into the textured image which gave me the rich reddish background. I cut and pasted as a new image and resampled it to fit an 870 pixel height for display here.

I used the Object property Divide to allow them to merge together. Still in PhotoPaint I added a film frame from Filter Forge.

I have received some Bosnian traditional music from a contact from PainterTalk's forum, Dragan. He sent both the original styles and newer versions of this wonderful music. So that is what I am listening to now.

Listening --- Bentbasa --- Sinan Alimanovic Quintet --- Ethnic Jazz

John R and Woodward Ave - Pencil - Watercolor - Painter 8

Downtown Detroit, Michigan at the corner of John R and Woodward Ave in the evening. This photograph was taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka.

I opened the black and white photograph in Paint.NET to apply the Effects> Artistic> Pencil Sketch> filter for a pencil based image.

I then opened the file in Painter 8 and used the same Watercolor runny bleach brush as previous posts, in varying sizes. I selected the colors to show the bright lights in the windows and the darkened buildings.

I saved the large file and reopened in PhotoPaint to resize and adjust the Tone Curves to darken and deepen the shadows. These buildings are not decaying but are used everyday Downtown.

Last night I played the 12-string plugged into my Toneport and using the Gearbox software applied a Clean Guitar tone called "Like Heaven" to the following chord progression:

E F#m A C#m repeat 4

C#m F#m repeat 3

A7 on 5th and 6th frets
D E hold

E F#m A C#m repeat 4

C#m F#m repeat 3

A7 on 5th and 6th frets
D E hold

I recorded it in Audacity and added a bass like lead to the tune, making an instrumental. I added a third track using the Gearbox setting for Arch-top Guitar with the bass turned up as a second rhythm.

Listening --- Triad Emaj --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka

Warm Guitar Complete with Blanket - Photoshop

I just got an extension cord for my Wacom Tablet that allows me to disconnect it from my PC and then connect it to my Mac G4. Why would I want to do that? Because I wanted to explore Photoshop version 7 better.

This photograph, taken by myself, was put through some paces in both PhotoPaint and in Photoshop 7. I made a quadtone of it in PhotoPaint and then saved it to my Zip 100 disk so I could port it to the Mac.

In Photoshop 7 I used some of the Artistic filters on it to give it some grain and paint daubs. I adjusted the Curves to deepen the shadows. I was using the jpg file format to move between the programs with ease of use.

The title is somewhat an oxymoron as Blue is not the warmest color there is, but it is a comment on the blanket in the photograph, draped around the guitar.

I brought is back into PhotoPaint and added Filter Forges Freepack - Frames watercolor frame to the piece. I resized it there for the web.

The second image is from Peter Frampton's, "Alive" cassette cover. I had scanned in the image and saved it in tiff format. Using the Zip 100 disk called Ferryboat2 I moved it over to the Mac G4 and used Photoshop on it for a painterly look and feel. The filters are different than what I have in other programs and I like the look of a variety of them. So I applied one here as well. It softened the image, I used Curves on it and adjusted the saturation of it in Photoshop.

Ferrying it back to the PC I added the watercolor frame to it in PhotoPaint.

The third image is one of a sketch I did of my son, when very young, sleeping on a pillow. I scanned in the sketch and using Painter 8 painted it with watercolor brushes.

I also Ferried this to Photoshop and added a Gaussian blur with some texture as well as doctoring up some of the lines of the sketch with a black 2pixel brush. I again used a watercolor frame for it with a 10pixel black frame to finish it off.

I am still learning how to use Photoshop 7 and would love to have CS5 but it is cost prohibitive at this time so I use what I have to the best of my current knowledge and abilities.

Three very different images all done using Photoshop 7 and PhotoPaint.

Listening to --- Move in Time --- by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

Trio - Floral Grunge - Portrait

Today is a cool overcast day here, the lake view is one of gray on gray reflecting the clouds in the waves and movement of the water. Some autumn color from this side and the far side of the lake is attractive and warm.

This image I am presenting today was made using CorelTRACE and CorelDRAW along with Paint.NET and Painter 8 with PhotoPaint as well.

This started as a photograph (taken by myself) of a trio who were at a wedding anniversary celebration. I opened the larger photograph in PhotoPaint and resized it for work on a web based image. Saving that file I opened it in CorelTRACE and turned it into a vector based image cmx format.

Using CorelDRAW I ungrouped the vector pieces and deleted some of the background to give me a white field to work with. I exported the vector - regrouped - to a jpg file format and using PhotoPaint I cleaned up some of the white field to be able to add to that background later in the process.

Saving that I opened it in Paint.NET to use the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> filter on the image for line work. I then used PhotoPaint to mask the white field and inverted it filling it with the floral grunge background from Autumnights.

I opened that file in Painter 8 and Cloned it then using the clone I Auto Painted the whole piece with a Calligraphy pen for a painterly feel. Using the modified photo I had created I further changed the Auto Painted image to add back in details like the facial features and the floral and clothing detail. I used Charcoal brushes in differing sizes to add back the detail.

In PhotoPaint I used the Tint brush to add a bit of the green from the floral background to the trio to balance the colors out.

I added my signature and here is the finished piece.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Basic Dirt - DADGAD
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Floral - Guitar Chords - Vector Graphics

I've been working on using the freehand vector drawing tool in CorelDRAW for creating some swirls and floral graphics. I started with a photograph taken by my son Keir M Gatzka and opened that in Paint.NET. There I applied the Artistic> Ink Sketch> filter to the large floral saving the file.

I copied and pasted that into CorelDRAW and added the swirls and flowers drawn with the freehand tool. I grouped them together and copied to the clipboard. I then opened from the clipboard in PhotoPaint and added the frame.

I selected a chord progression I have been playing with, with modifications each time I used it. the E7sus4 not being a common chord I added the diagram of it and the arrow from CorelDRAW.

It is a simple open chord grouping and can be fun to alter the strumming and order of the chords, up the tempo, slow it down, flatpick it. It has yet to form a basis for a song but it is enjoyable to use for practicing these open chords.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Like I've Never Been Refused
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Grunge Guitar - Chord Progressions II

Recorded yesterday, a tune using the DADGAD tuning with my 12-string guitar and I mixed in some lead using Audacity's program. It was enjoyable to get some recording done even if it was only an instrumental.

Included in the image is another couple of chord progressions if you can make them out. With the Grunge approach to design you can't always read things clearly. But that is part of the fun of it all.

Busy day with company. Keeping the post short. Will try and do better in future postings. Enjoy the image.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Everyday
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DADGAD Tuning - 12-String Guitar - Grunge

"DADGAD Tuning" is a very cool way to play something new on the 12-String Guitar. It sounds so full and compelling. I got out the guitar and decided to play with the tuning the other night before bed.

I truly enjoyed my self. I am listening to a recording of a DADGAD tuning theme I mixed. I used a phaser on it and it is phasing between speakers right as I type. It is pleasant has a good tempo and some lead along with the rhythm of my made up chord progression.

What a great way to experiment with your guitar. Trying out different fingerings and making up chords and repetitions. Its a bear tuning it all back to the regular tuning but it is worth every minute of playing and improvising.

More Grunge in today's image. I just like it a lot, the grunge factor I mean. It has captured my imagination for some time now. Textures, lines, fonts, adapted pieces of art and guitars. So much fun putting it all together.

I used PhotoPaint for the basic image, resampling the texture to fit my size requirements. I used CorelDRAW for some vectoring and fitting text on a path. I have placed flowers in the image too, see if you can find them in the enlarged size (F11 to increase viewing on your browser.) I even added some paint splatters. Great fun!

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - DADGAD Theme
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Muscle Car and Neil Young

Muscle cars were/are gas guzzlers but they sure are distinctive cars. Many people really like these automobiles and love the classic lines. I did this in ArtRage as I have the others I have been showing recently. Also done in 2007 as a series of 12 images.

I watched an American Masters show on Neil Young last night on PBS. It was very well done. Mr. Young has always been true to his music even when others were what he called "collateral damage", at times. The link above is for broadband users to watch some of his performances.

The show covered his career very thoroughly and had great footage of his performances. I have a copy of CSNY's Music Made Easy for Guitar (basically the DejaVu album) and have covered "Helpless" and other songs from the book. I have included them in my recordings for my family and friends.

I had my wife listen to my newest song effort and she likes it as an instrumental. She felt it was smooth and catchy as it stands now. So I may not add any lyrics to it. The lead I play on it is simple and basic. For those interested in chord progressions I used the following:

G D Em Am D for the main verses
C G, C G, C G, Am-D Am-D Am-D for the chorus
Am7 Em7 D7 for the bridge.

With a basic strumming through the song, I did a quick change on the Am-D in the chorus. If you copy it you will find it a pleasant progression to work through. Enjoy!

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Neil Young - Falling Off The Face Of The Earth
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Guitar Dreaming - Want vrs. Need

Those of us who play the guitar are always on the lookout for our dream guitar. I am reminded about Ted Nelson's book Computer Lib / Dream Machines about dreaming of powerful personal computers and the birth of the Internets hypertext links.

How many times have you gone to your favorite local guitar merchant and played the guitars there? It is one of my favorite activities. Playing different types of guitars, both reasonably priced and those way out of reach.

I have played some great Epiphones and wonderful Taylors, Martins, Gibsons, Seagulls, Fenders, etc. I usually pick up the acoustics or electric acoustics and try them on for size. I enjoy a guitar with good action. As I have small hands I select the narrower fretboards and I am partial to Dreadnought size guitars. My 12-string is such a guitar, with a large body for greater volume and depth of sound.

Today's image is of guitars floating on blue as if in a Dream. One is acoustic, another is acoustic/electric and the final one is an electric guitar, all 6-strings. I would love to have another 6-string guitar for lead playing and the sound that you only get from an electric. I did this image in PhotoPaint using Harry's filters for the blue background adding 3 guitars and applying PhotoPaint's Effects> Art Strokes> Sketch Pad filter. I wanted the dreamy effect it has.

I recorded my title song for my next CD of songs entlitled "The Roof", it is an instrumental using the DADGAD tuning on the 12-string. Very mellow, I play some lead to a background of chords I made up for that tuning, they have no names, I also used some harmonics for the lead. It is a pleasant sound with some uptempo parts climaxing at the end of the tune.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - The Roof
via FoxyTunes