Beginners/Intermediates post your recordings here ->Nov.2011

[Bill Mecca]

nice Mark.... I ran thru it last night, but will give it another go Monday. ;-)

[eldavo]

Swapped to rico jazz select 3M reeds and got a bit more mic on me in the gig in the weekend (I still don't contribute much other than the solos to the songs though.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur3zrlpQKdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB8ErFihny0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arGws-4yQ1o

Cheers,

Dave

[Wilbur Weltklang]

G'day eldavo. I only listened to the first 30 secs of each tune for now....what I'd do is get the chord tones and try to come up with little riffs that fit in with the drums.
Easy to say eh?

Bill: thanks for giving it the time of day...actually seriously considering to add this number into the repertoire

[itspman]

Omegaman and the Usual Suspects had some fun last night with a song I used to play with the band. Midi done by a fan of Southside Johnny who gave it to me with a couple otehrs a few, or more than a few years back. I left some of the midi horns in there under the verses.

The Fever

enjoy

Bill - Loving the Southside, can never have too much SSJ. really nice sounding sax, but Im not a fan of those midi horns

[Bill Mecca]

Bill - Loving the Southside, can never have too much SSJ. really nice sounding sax, but Im not a fan of those midi horns

Nor am I, but they filled in as a pad under the vox, so they were mitigated somewhat. ;-) thanks for listening.

mark--- extending the legacy of King Curtis and his penchant for taking pop songs and turning them into fine instrumentals ;-)

[Bill Mecca]

Swapped to rico jazz select 3M reeds and got a bit more mic on me in the gig in the weekend (I still don't contribute much other than the solos to the songs though.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur3zrlpQKdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB8ErFihny0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arGws-4yQ1o

Cheers,

Dave

Dave,

Only watched Higher to Zion, were you playing before the solo late in the game? Aim the mic down toward the bell, it seems off in space, which could cause some feedback issues. back off during the fills, and then you can eat the mic during the solo... what I heard sounded good, but there were a lot of opportunities for fills etc that I didn't hear, and with the dark video couldn't tell if you were playing or not.

[Face Ache Mike]

Once more with feeling.. and energy.. and...

IOWTBWY

I took my eye off the ball for a second but managed to get back in.

[Bill Mecca]

not bad mikey

[Wilbur Weltklang]

Hi Mike, you mean you 'took your eye off the music?'
I'm really trying to knuckle down and commit tunes to memory so I can play them in public.
It's harder than you think. On ABC we only did one tune 'Let's Have a Party' and I had a short one chorus solo.
Now I figured one out before hand and practiced it over and over and over...do you think I could nail it on the night?
But of course if you simply played this with your steel trap memory then forget everything I just wrote and pat yourself on the back.
Excellent tone and not a bad selection as tunes go. Where do you dig up all these midi's?
'King Curtis?' now if only I could tie my OWN shoe-laces

[Rockplayer]

Here are a few tunes from the rock&roll band I'm in. Looking for suggestion on how to improve phrasing with a swing feel (as played on the song Liqour Store). Thanks!

click here

[Face Ache Mike]

Thanks, yeah eye off the music. I`ve been trying to get tunes "in my head" but I have a serious memory issue. To illustrate, I walked into town today and when I got there, someone asked which way I went. I couldnt remember! I can`t even hum a tune all the way through. So, I have a sheet and play it over and over whilst looking away or closing my eyes when I think I`ve got a bit locked into my head. Sometimes it works, usually it doesnt.

Where do I dig up the midis? I just google until I find one thats ok. I think my setup helps in making the instruments sound good - laptop/Sibelius/midi out > midi in/desktop/Sonar/TTS1synth. The laptop displays the sheet like an autocue and sends midi to Sonar which records the backing (still as midi) and my sax as audio. I master with a little reverb, multiband compression and level tweaking. If (when!) I make a mistake I just erase and start again. My pc and laptop spec are quite low but working together like that gives me the best results.

What did you mean by "'King Curtis?' now if only I could tie my OWN shoe-laces" ?

[Wilbur Weltklang]

I'm not having a pop Mike. It's quite difficult to do (as I used myself as an example). The difference from playing a tune from memory as opposed to reading off a sheet is similar to reading from a book and saying something off the top of your head.
There could be a 'subtle' difference but there just the same...
I often find myself walking into a room and then asking myself 'What did I come here for?'
K.C. was from what Bill said: I wouldn't qualify to tie his shoe-laces.
cheers, Mark.

[eldavo]

Dave,

Only watched Higher to Zion, were you playing before the solo late in the game? Aim the mic down toward the bell, it seems off in space, which could cause some feedback issues. back off during the fills, and then you can eat the mic during the solo... what I heard sounded good, but there were a lot of opportunities for fills etc that I didn't hear, and with the dark video couldn't tell if you were playing or not.

Hi Bill,

It's not apparent in the video, but there was a little black SM57 pointing down at the bell. The mic that you can see is for the bass player's vocals.

I'm not sure why I'm not getting into the insertion of riffs/fills - more practice required!

G'day eldavo. I only listened to the first 30 secs of each tune for now....what I'd do is get the chord tones and try to come up with little riffs that fit in with the drums.
Easy to say eh?

Mark,

I definitely have to do a lot more riffing...I'm not holding up my end of the band bargain being effectively just a solo player. I have to get over whatever fear I have and project some riffs out there, rather than just some soft tones here and there. What I don't want to do is be like a lot of harmonica players and be all over the music like a rash! There's a lot of room between what I'm doing and that however.

Cheers,

Dave

[Wilbur Weltklang]

Hi eldavo. Sometimes I think of myself in the same boat. A lot of Ol'55 tunes were done without a sax player at all so I have to come up with something.
I'm usually playing chord tones (usually just the root). The leader did suggest we (the lead guitarist and I) should share a mike to do harmonies which would also be good to work on.
Try listening to some reggae bands and see if there's sax or keyboard fills to give you some ideas.
cheers, Mark.

[eldavo]

Here are a few tunes from the rock&roll band I'm in. Looking for suggestion on how to improve phrasing with a swing feel (as played on the song Liqour Store). Thanks!

click here

I'm probably not the best to answer (ignore if desired) but I think the riffs you're playing sound fine, for a more swinging feel I'd just try to add a little bit more time between the odd and even eighths and perhaps de-emphasise the even eighths (or emphasise the odd...whichever way.) Try to see how far you can swing while keeping time on the odd eighths - though the technique might be better practiced on a slower tune first!

Cheers,

Dave

[eldavo]

Hi eldavo. Sometimes I think of myself in the same boat. A lot of Ol'55 tunes were done without a sax player at all so I have to come up with something.
I'm usually playing chord tones (usually just the root). The leader did suggest we (the lead guitarist and I) should share a mike to do harmonies which would also be good to work on.
Try listening to some reggae bands and see if there's sax or keyboard fills to give you some ideas.
cheers, Mark.

Hi Mark,

As in guitar/sax harmonies or singing harmonies? Guitar/sax harmony development sounds like a good idea ... the guys I'm playing with have lots more experience - would be good to leverage some of it
The long-term plan for this band is to have either another sax or a trumpet so that we can get some horn harmonies going. I'll definitely have to get my act together before then!
I've done some YouTube searching but focusing on sax players (didn't yield much I found useful), but have yet to look at guitarists/keyboarders.

Not sure when the next gig is, but will aim for some decent riffing

Cheers,

Dave

[Face Ache Mike]

I'm not having a pop Mike...

Yeah, I know, I just thought I`d tell you my process of learning/playing a tune so you could appreciate what I`m up against. I see I`m not alone

[The A Train]

I wouldn't qualify to tie his shoe-laces.
cheers, Mark.

Everyone is different, has their own style..it's ALL good..in fact you are MUCH BETTER than King Curtis -since he's dead.

[Bill Mecca]

Dave,

you can double the rhythm guitar, or in reggae just some stabs like a horn section would, on the upbeat ;-) one note, two note, green note blue note..(a bit punchy from editing never mind me)

[cleger]

Hey all, I've been fooling around with the Hal Leonard book "Miles Davis standards" and trying to capture Miles' coolness since I am about as far from cool as a person can be. The neat thing about this book is that they have written out the standards with some of Miles' modifications to the melodies written out. I've tried to use a few of these, some more successfully than others. One thing that has become clear is that the key to Miles' coolness was his sense of time and phrasing (and I'm struggling with those parts). In any case, here's one that I've had a go at today:

Autumn Leaves - Miles style

Some of this I'm happy with, some is a bit of a mess (kind of like my life I guess ).