General Music Chat

new tune up on player, rough draft with some issues, but I am leaning more and more in the direction of trying to write adult contemporary jazz/soul tunes.. the crazy stuff has got to go..
"Another Time You Say" was composed last night in the time-frame between 5:40 PM CST and 11:35 PM CST.. it is rough but you will get the essence of it, just imagine it cleaned up and then using a $80.00 an hour professional grade studio that will really make it "pop"..

http://www.bandmix.com/dayne-nobody-iv/

Now we know who you really are...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-pBkwyUxc

And I'm still willing to put a piano to your (apparently) new-found "adult contemporary jazz" sound. Are you charting any of it? I bet Pat Matheny does. Sister Elena would smack my knuckles for playing by ear (and she did). It's unwise to p*** off Sister Elena...

when jook gets you the Coltrane's Dream tune mp3 see what you can come up with and post it back here or on soundcloud..what is your soundcloud handle?

Not on soundcloud, facebook, have never twatted, don't even own a cell phone (or whatever they're called now). I'm reasonably good at sending and receiving email (the address is on my page here), but so far, it has been an unnecessary skill. I have received nothing, and ergo, have nothing to send.

@Displaced Pianist, Steve Vai transcribed a lot of Frank Zappa's work.. Frank employed him to do it.. it was not like Steve Vai went to all that trouble without some sort of monetary gain, I have nothing to gain charting my tunes, but if you wanted to pay me I might get motivated..

Ahh, but Dayne, they're YOUR tunes. I'm just a bit player. Can't speak for others, but most trained pianists prefer/need something written down--I know I do. See music, play music. Saves a great deal of time. There are guys who can pick up stuff by ear, on the fly (assuming they can hear it), but that is the exception rather than the norm. (And now there will be 20 responses saying, 'I know a piano player who can play anything w/o ever seeing it'...yeah, sure.) For the rest of us, it takes more time than it's worth...unless someone is paying us for our time (and when I offer to do something, I never ask for/expect payment). Whenever I ask someone to play a track on something I'm working on, I always supply either a score or chart, unless it's so basic (for ex., 12-bar I-IV-V7) it isn't needed. While this is close to that, it's a bit removed from a standard blues progression---why I was interested in the first place.

Hope this provides some insight into the warped minds of pianists. Maybe this is why there aren't as many of us around. And why all the guys who can't read music think we're so difficult to work with.

Btw, since you mentioned it, before Irving Berlin, Zappa or anyone else you care to name was rich & famous, they charted all their own work. (Zappa mentioned this in a talk he gave at the OSU School of Music before he died.) When you've made it, you can afford that luxury (and it IS a luxury, rather than the norm), but the vast majority of musicians don't fall in that category. I either chart stuff myself or use someone else's chart/score (assuming they don't mind), and notate any mods I make--like I did w/ Porkpie (I wrote the interlude). But I doubt I'll ever be rich and famous.

A hell of a lot easier to slide up and down a fretboard fumbling for the key than a keyboard. Before I started keeping notation of my chord progressions, I always started my lead guitar tracks with a lot of that fumbling. Do it enough and you learn how to make it sound somewhat entertaining.

Honestly, I haven't sat down and really gone through it yet--just got it this AM--only what I heard here and your track on soundcloud. I gotta review roofing bids (there went the $$ for that new piano I was eyeballin'), and there's the Final Four later, so... But I will. Dunno if it was the limited playback or what, but the pitch did sound off. Both my Korg & Roland have the capability to mod. pitch, but I usually leave them @ A440. And when I tried to play along w/ BM...

Yep, a great pianist can play from notation AND by ear, on the fly...and they wind up in LA, NYC or Nashville...not Tampa. (Unless they're so great they can get musicians to come to them, and can live wherever they want.) I can improvise from a chart or lead sheet, but I gotta have something to see where it's going. It's kinda like driving cross-country to an out-of-the-way place you've never been to--a map sure helps (altho technology has made it much easier). I need to prep more than the greats, altho even they spend galling hours beating on their keys, experimenting w/ this or that. I'm not one of the greats, haven't even gotten an invite to any of their parties. Down here, you can count the number of decent--not great--pianists on 1 hand. And you'd have a thumb to spare.

Don't do as much sight reading as I used to, but I'm not around many guys who do. Horn players do, but I still give 'em something to look at ahead of time--not that there are many of them around here. In Tampa, you get what you get and try to make it work out. If I were in an environment where it was essential, the ability would come back...and both my Dad and Sister Elena would be pleased.

And yes, it's time-consuming to write your own notation--many would say it sucks. I liken it to guys who write code, but who hate documenting their work. But it's in the job description. It's really tough getting decent--not even great--musicians to play your stuff if it isn't notated. But in an era of electronic gizmos, sampling, etc., shortcuts are becoming more prominent.

Damn, this thread really went OT. And as I'm sitting here, the EMS is flashing a banner on TV about a serious storm coming through, w/ 60mph winds and hail, particularly noting the potential damage to roofs. Please gawd, not MY roof...

...and it's not just "classical guys" (which i decidedly am not) who prefer having a blueprint to work from. it ALWAYS saves time to have some kind of musical roadmap to work from. at the very least, i want to have a chord chart when working on other folks' tunes.

obviously it's super helpful and saves a lot of time and guesswork for us guys and gals who play chordal instruments, but it's also helpful for single line instrumentalists too....horns, strings, etc.