Sometimes when I want to write a tune and lack an idea to start with, I pretend an artist has contacted me to write a tune specifically for that artist.
In the case of this tune I imagined an assignment from guitar master Larry Carlton, whom I admire greatly. I would love to hear what he would have played on this tune. I can always dream, can't I?

Private Songs 2022

In The Eye Of The Beholder

I was having fun with programming sounds for AmpliTube 5 and came up with a clean sound that reminded me of the great clean sound that was used by the studio session players from the 80s and 90s. Players like Michael Landau, Steve Lukather, Dann Huff, Bruce Gaitch and Steve Farris to name a few.
While finalizing the sound I came up with the initial riff of this tune and the rest flowed from that. It felt like I was painting a soundscape with a guitar colors.
All the sounds in this tune (except for drums/persussion) were made with AmpliTube 5. Great amp plugin!

I Have Just The Thing

I just wanted to play some happy funk so I wrote this little ditty.
I had a hard time finding the right lead sound and just then Michael Scuffham released S-Gear version 3 which gave me just the sound.

There's Also That

Mezzoforte from Iceland has always been a huge favourite for happy popfunk tracks. Nice melodies combined with interesting harmonies on top of a groove that just doesn't quit. All performed with instrumental mastery.

So it's not surprising a few of my tunes shows an obvious pointer to what they do.

Not In My House

Mark Lettieri is a really big influence and after hearing his thoughts on composing and hearing a lot of his tunes, I wanted to try to write a tune to try my funk out.

Long Story Short

This is a ballad I wrote hoping to incorporate some of my Nordic musical heritage into my own music. While this was the aim intellectually, I'm not at all sure there any Nordic elements here at all.

And Yet Here I Am

I really like John Mayer's clean guitar sound. So I wrote a tune around that kind of sound and this is what I came up with.

Private Songs 2023

I'm Painting The Silence

I have always loved Larry Carlton's playing and his sounds are sometimes out of this world. So in an attempt to write a tune where I could try to play in his style using a clean tone, I wrote this.

It Was You

For years and years I've been looking for a country picking sound that is twangy and fat at the same time. I can get it with a pedalboard and amp but it's been impossible for me to find in a hardware modeler or in a DAW plugin.
Until now when Scuffham Amps release the SGS compressor within their S-Gear amp sim plugin.
For this clip I put two instances of the SGS in front of the Wayfarer and I think this really sounds good. Now I need to learn some more stuff.

Hat Gets Bigger

I wanted to write a blues for some students who wanted a basic 12 bar blues but with slightly different chords and not in the usual keys of E or A.
I took inspiration from Steely Dan and wrote this i the key of C.

Let's Try This Again

I got to try the SkyDust 3D synth from Sound Particles and that was much fun and I was inspired to write this tune.
I don't know what to call the style so I will just say it's sort of a pop synth funk thing.

Hitting The Concrete

I just got my hands on a very intriguing and good sounding synthesizer from Sound Particles called SkyDust 3D. The sounds I created in SkyDust made me write this song.

I'm Just Me

I wanted to write/record/play something with a mix of funk and the style of 80's fusion so this what I came up with.

Punching A Hole

I wrote and recorded this in 2014 when I started listening to Nashville based guitarist Joe Davies.
As I now publish one blues + backing track per month for a local blues association, I though I would revisit and remaster this tune so this is the latest version.

Portable Food

I was listening to a few guitar clips on YouTube and saw some interesting chord voicings I wanted to get into a tune and then the same evening I was listening to old tunes never finished and found the drums and the bass line in a project from 2020. So I transposed the original tune to fit the new guitar ideas and rerecorded the bass to fit the new chords changes and took it from there. 
There are just two synth tracks here so many of the "odd" sounds you hear starting at 3:26 are actually heavily treated guitars.

Ambitious Ambiguity

I never know where the idea for a tune will come from. In this case it was from a former school friend who is now an art teacher. She painted a painting saying "keep calm and be groovy". I realized that these words very much described how funk music is when it's at its best. So I just adapted the words for the song title and wrote this. So thanks to Jill St. George for the inspiration.

Keep Calm And Groove

My first recording using the Fender Tone Master Pro modeler.

Anywhen Now Maybe

So once again my writing takes me back to the 80's and the influences of Larry Carlton (sound) and Michael McDonald (writing/arranging). I just love playing this stuff!

Extenuating Circumstances

I was programming some presets in the Fender Tone Master Pro and I wanted some Pink Floyd style tones. When I was done programming, I wanted to check out how they sound in context, so I wrote this piece.

For The Sake Of An Argument

I have loved Larry Carlton since I first heard him play back in the early 80s. I especially love the sounds he's getting so when I got the Tone Master Pro I've been working on a preset that allows me to play with dynamics both from touch as well as from working a volume pedal. 
I know the Mr Carlton uses a Dumble ODS style amp since many years and I also know that at this time there's no Dumble model in the Tone Master Pro. But there was a time before Mr Carlton started using the Dumble and IIRC he was using a Mesa/Boogie with an EV speaker or a Fender Princeton.
So for this preset I used the Boogie amp for a warm and clean rhythm sound and then I set up other pedal models to create the overdrive so I would get a dynamic mid focused and smooth overdrive. An overdrive so smooth that it's almost clean in how I perceive it. I know it doesn't have that initial "chirp" in the attack but feel wise I think this is very close to most of the ODS-style amps I've played over the years. Above all it's a very enjoyable preset to play. At least to me.
When I was done making the preset I wanted a tune so I could tweak it in a musical context and thus I wrote this tune. All guitars in this tune used one and the same preset for both the OD lead and the clean rhythm.

Morning Train To Arizona

I realized one day that I don't have enough chops or musical knowledge to make the most of the instruments I have. But as I still love making music more than almost anything else, I still keep at it.

I Don't Have Enough

I have had the Kemper for more than 5 years and I'm still finding new ways to improve my sounds. I'm also getting better at profiling. So when I profiled an amp I didn't exactly have this sound in mind. But when I played it, I immediately thought that it would work for this fingerstyle arrangement.

Amazing Grace

Got the Blue Cat Axiom amp modeler for my computer. What attracted me was the new Re-Guitar functionality but I soon realized the entire plugin is very good. So the sounds inspired me to write this tune.

Motor Almost Running

This is a demo track I made to show what kind of sounds I get with the rigs/profiles in my Black Goop Rig Pack for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier.
The rig pack is available at www.nermark.com

Black Goop Rig Pack Demo

This is a demo track I made to show what kind of sounds I get with the rigs/profiles in my Bonus Rig Pack for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier.
The rig pack is available at www.nermark.com

Bonus Rig Pack Demo

This is a demo track I made to show what kind of sounds I get with the rigs/profiles in my British M-style Rig Pack for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier.
The rig pack is available at www.nermark.com

British M - Style Rig Pack Demo

This is a demo track I made to show what kind of sounds I get with the rigs/profiles in my D-style ODS Rig Pack for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier.
The rig pack is available at www.nermark.com

D - Style ODS Rig Pack Demo

This is a demo track I made to show what kind of sounds I get with the rigs/profiles in my D-style SSS Rig Pack for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier.
The rig pack is available at www.nermark.com

D - Style SSS Rig Pack Demo

This is a demo track I made to show what kind of sounds I get with the rigs/profiles in my Tray Noir Rig Pack for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier.
The rig pack is available at www.nermark.com

Tray Noir Rig Pack Demo

This is a demo track I made to show what kind of sounds I get with the rigs/profiles in my Weird and Unusual Rig Pack for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier. 
The rig pack is available at www.nermark.com

Weird And Unusual Rig Pack Demo

I do enjoy writing and playing funk tunes. And when I can get some brass in there, I'm really into it. 

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did recording it.

Private Songs 2020

Things Go Sideways

An acquaintance of mine is on Facebook every day telling jokes to ease the tedium of being in a serious pandemic. But she has a recurring message every day about staying safe, taking care of yourself and your loved ones and keeping you physical distance.
That repetition of a theme is called Ostinato in musical terms and this inspired me to write this piece based on an ostinato.

Mats Nermark

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