General Music Chat

I have a G-Dec modeling amp for a prac amp. Not quite enough gumption to play with a drummer but 100 presets. I was a dummy (and still married) so to keep cost down I bought the model that lacks a line out so I can't hook it to the PA.

For doing the big stuff I got a Fender Mustang V to drive my 4x12 Marshal. The Fender head is much like the G-dec and lets me pick and choose just about any sound I can think of. For instance, I fave a Zak Wylde sound for a lot of things and this gets very close to want I want.

The odd thing is that the big amp sounds much better at low volume than the prac amp which I assume has something to do with more air going across speakers. That's great for me since I tend to work on songs late at night and I want it sound loud without being loud.

If I were to buy a prac amp now it would be Line 6 - I have friends with them and they're very nice. Also coming around just a little toward Orange.

And Mike, Jook, et al, what's with the heavy picks and finger style? We all seem to going that way. I ask because I've found myself leaning that way over the last couple years. Seems to work better for me and I'm used to playing with my fingers on bass and I watch Jeff Beck videos.

Talbot

And Mike, Jook, et al, what's with the heavy picks and finger style? We all seem to going that way. I ask because I've found myself leaning that way over the last couple years. Seems to work better for me and I'm used to playing with my fingers on bass and I watch Jeff Beck videos.

Talbot

big picks for me because:

1. i can't use a skinny pick that flexes and takes a millisecond or three to return to it's shape when fast picking.
2. easier to hold on to a thicker pick
3. thicker picks get the strings moving more which translates to getting the top of the (acoustic) gtr or mando moving more.....i.e. better tone
4. they yield more volume on acoustic instrs

fingerstyle because:

1. i can do more w my fingers than w a pick.... such as walking a bass line while comping chords, bringing out certain notes in a chord, and creating rhythmic things that are harder w a pick
2. the tactile connection to the instr....i feel "connected" to the instr when using my fingers, less so using a pick.

A couple of years ago, when I was working on getting a duo going, I met up with the guy at an open mic to do a few song we had worked on - only to discover I had no picks with me. I asked to borrow one form him, it was somewhere between a thin and medium, and flexed so much I missed a shitload of notes during my leads.
On acoustic (not plugged in), I think thin picks make more pick noise (or maybe its just less guitar-string sound).

alright...enough with the "pick talk".

time to get back to the chord progression in question. i couldn't let jook be the only one to actually take a stab at it! what's w you deadbeats? (and i include myself in that category)

so, i've been a busy boy this morning recording a version of the progression. i'll get my excuses out of the way right up front.

i had too much coffee...or was it too little?

all the parts are first take one offs. punch and play.

all trks recorded w one Shure 57 w no phones, playing along to previously recorded trks played back in the room thru monitors.

oh, and i have a broken bone in both my left AND right foot.

I'm calling the tune " A Rose By Any Other Name" for my 4th and 5th grade teacher Mrs. Rose Simon, a very important figure in my life.

tune here: https://soundcloud.com/user-318778600

I'm listening to our 30 minute stab at this from Sunday. Some stuff works. Hoping to get another track recorded on this. I can't post stuff without accompanying instruments on sc anymore. It's a waste of my time and every one else's.

all the parts are first take one offs. punch and play.

all trks recorded w one Shure 57 w no phones, playing along to previously recorded trks played back in the room thru monitors.

Those aren't excuses, man!!! Ninety% of my stuff is recorded that way!!
Can I now use these 'excuses' to justify my crappy stuff??

you may....just don't lay it off on me and tell everyone "i'm only doing this cos Mark said too!"

I'm editing my entry right now. Sounds like I have 2 left hands!

I envy you in a way because you can turn on that 'rosy' switch as well as playing 'out'.
Your approach here is very straightforward and you concentrate on embellishments.
Me? Not much into embellishments but very analytical. Sort of stuck in analytical mode.

you know, i like to look at a tune and think of all the wacky and different clothes you can dress it up in as much as the next guy.

cos' lets face it.... that's an interesting and fun challenge, and jumping off point to be creative w right there.

but, just as often (or more so) i like the creative challenge of coloring WITHIN the lines and seeing what can be done within the parameters of a given harmony, even if it is a simple blueprint.

the embellishments an "ornamentation"....that's a big part of the gypsy jazz thing.....the approach i was going for here.

Where ARE my manners???? Thanks for checking it out and the thumbs up, Jook!

Funny you mentioned the analytical approach. Truth is, there actually was a fair amt of that going on here.

First w the chord progression (which was the first thing i came up with)...

there's the simple move of a IMaj(DM7) chord to it's minor ii (Em7).

then that DMaj gets modified to a Dm7 (the minor ii of the next key "C" to get us to "C" land)

then to get back to the key of "D".... the "CMaj" section finishes w the Dm7 Em7 move to get back to the orig key of "D" major. (Em7 being the minor ii chord of DMaj)

finally, the turnaround F#m7 Em7 section is a pretty standard and obvious move. sometimes in this recording i tossed in or suggested an A7 at the end of that part to get back to the DMaj7 at the top of the page.

...and then there's the melody which actually came about from an academic and theory based place when i needed a melody line for fiddle gal....

at Mere Mortals (bluegrass) prct last night i busted out that chord progression and handed out chord charts to everyone. the fiddle gal was bitching that i didn't have a melody line and "what do i play???!!??!" (she's a great player but really not big on winging things or coming up w parts on the fly).

after we got the chords lined out and came up w a feel that worked for everyone, i suggested she and i play a descending scalar line in harmony.

so that's what's going on w the melody line in "A Rose By Any Other Name".

it begins w a descending DMaj scalar line from the root in 1/4 notes....answered by a descending DMaj line in 8th notes from the 3rd....then, move that "formula" to Cmaj...rinse and repeat!

because i was trying to dress this up in gypsy jazz clothes, the melody/soloing incorporates a lot of scalar lines and arpeggios.

i mostly improvised scalar lines over the DM7 Em7 and CM7 Dm7 sections and went for more of an arpeggio approach over the F#m7 Em7 bit.

wow...reading this it sure sounds like a pretty "calculated" approach and i suppose it was. that's pretty much how i approach most things though.... being very aware of the nuts and bolts ( the theory...what's going on in a tune at any given ppint) and then operating within that framework.

so, w my playing and writing....it's never a matter of just ignoring the "rules". i'm phsically/mentally unable to do that!!!!

and this applies to when i'm playing "outside" and atonal as well.

the key is to avoid "sounding" like we've taken a cold blooded theoretical and analytical approach!

yeah, like the music publishers would write back to me on my song submissions 25-30 years ago, "sounds manufactured".. take it for what it is.. ,