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Post by Phil on Sept 17, 2015 18:36:16 GMT -6
Well, here's my submission of "More Minor Blues." Choruses 1 and 4 are by the book, 2 and 3 are my additions. I spent a stupid amount of time on this, but I think it was worthwhile. Worthwhile for the experience of trying to come up with something of my own to add in, that is. I'd like to get some critical feedback on this one - dynamics, attack, did my part fit in with the original? - stuff like that. The nit-picky stuff. More Minor Blues Extended
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Post by bluesbruce on Sept 17, 2015 20:12:48 GMT -6
Phil, way to go, man. I enjoyed listening to that - especially having been playing "More Minor Blues" myself (although I didn't try to add any verses this go around). I thought your playing on the two "stock" choruses was excellent (1st & 4th). Your two choruses (2nd & 3rd) had a "busier" feel - more notes, more runs. Sounds like you had some playing in octaves in there - always reminds me of Wes Montgomery to hear that, which of course carries a "jazzier" connotation than I'm used to hearing in a minor blues. I thought your choruses fit the "feel" of the tune well, stayed within the minor pentatonic thing pretty solidly to my ear. I loved your transition back into the 4th chorus. If I learned one thing from the last BYCU review, it was an appreciation of how difficult it is to add choruses to a basic blues. I expect this kind of thing would grow easier the more you do it. One thing I've heard is that you should have some "quotes" from the original melody to "tie into" the tune. That's probably more applicable if you're soloing over a well-known melody, but I think it would apply here, as well, because our small audience all "knows" this melody, so to speak. One other criticism I just have to put out there is that your video production really sucked. You've really got to work on that. Nice job! It's fun to see what everyone does with some of these tunes. Bruce
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Post by Phil on Sept 18, 2015 4:37:16 GMT -6
Thanks for the feedback, Bruce. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for. You mentioned that my choruses sound "busier." This is a good observation. You should have heard my earlier ideas before I cut out half the notes. It's difficult for a wannabe like me to not fill up every space with notes. I think it's one of the (many) things that separates the pros from the rest of us. Hopefully, it's something that will come with maturity in playing. On the next one I'm going to try to do more with less notes and leave out my attempts to play flashy runs and cliche licks. Yeah, those were octaves and they do give it a jazzier sound which is kinda what I was after. They didn't come out on the recording as "up front" as they sounded in my headphones. It's probably due to me not being in total control of picking dynamics. I also should have put new strings on. I noticed that my strings tend to go out of tune when they get old and I sound a little out of tune in spots on this tune. Of course there were still some flubs even after dozens of takes. The Clapton-like "twiddle" lick in the 2nd chorus didn't come out very well on this take. But, since most of the rest finally came out OK I didn't feel like doing yet another take. I would like to take a crack at a video one of these days. Right now I think it would just be even more frustrating to get a good take with having to start the recording of both audio and video over and over again. The most frustrating thing about recording is making little minor mistakes on the easy parts after I've got the hard parts down. Things like a missed or a dead note or even losing my place in the song. I really envy the session guitarists who could probably come up with 2 good interesting choruses in about 15 minutes of studio time. One question: do the choruses flow well? In other words do they sound like a collection of licks strung together willy-nilly or does everything fit together well? Once again, thanks for the feedback. Phil
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 18, 2015 6:23:46 GMT -6
Phil, wow...just...WOW! That was truly extraordinary! The mood is utterly superb, you can feel the sadness just dripping off your every lick. The flashy stuff works perfectly because you're kind of using it as fills between the more emotional stuff, or as a little moment of climax, sort of like a professional guitarist might do (was that a Cheap Runs lick I heard in there?) Your note choice is as superb as the mood, I especially liked the stuff at the end of chorus 2 / beginning of chorus 3, it really dug into the emotion of the song. And all those bends...just excellent. Your playing was professional level throughout. About my only criticism would be that the end of chorus 3 is a bit repetitive compared to everything that came before it. Maybe a little more interesting right hand technique than basic triplets, or maybe a bit more intimate interaction with the underlying chords or something was needed? As far as video, I just loop the backing track in Reaper and hit record - it automatically records my (numerous) takes on the same track, with no action needed on my part, and I just let the video camera run the whole time. If you've got the camera's microphone turned on, you'll see bits of silence between the takes on the audio track, which makes it easy to identify the individual takes. I totally hear you about the frustration of recording - on Two Chord Stroll I got all the way to the end of a nice take, then missed the easiest friggin' note that I'd never missed before in 100 takes. And of course it stood out like a sore thumb. GRRRRR
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Post by bluesbruce on Sept 18, 2015 6:43:22 GMT -6
You should have heard my earlier ideas before I cut out half the notes. It's difficult for a wannabe like me to not fill up every space with notes. On the next one I'm going to try to do more with less notes and leave out my attempts to play flashy runs and cliche licks. I noticed that my strings tend to go out of tune when they get old and I sound a little out of tune in spots on this tune. The Clapton-like "twiddle" lick in the 2nd chorus didn't come out very well on this take. I would like to take a crack at a video one of these days. Right now I think it would just be even more frustrating to get a good take with having to start the recording of both audio and video over and over again. The most frustrating thing about recording is making little minor mistakes on the easy parts after I've got the hard parts down. Things like a missed or a dead note or even losing my place in the song. I really envy the session guitarists who could probably come up with 2 good interesting choruses in about 15 minutes of studio time. Yeah, I think wanting to throw in every lick we know is something we all have to fight against. If you cut out half the notes, I think you were on the right track. Sometimes less really is more. Phil, I'm the master of never changing strings. I've always kind of thought it's a waste of good practice time. I got that Ibanez for my birthday in March, and haven't changed the strings on it. Was noticing just the other night how it wouldn't stay in tune worth a darn. Go figure. I'm going to put some new strings on it this weekend... really, I swear. That particular "twiddle" lick in the second chorus was part of the "busier" sound. It also serves to increase the "energy", so to speak, where the basic chorus (your 1st and 4th) is pretty much a lesson in laid back, sparseness (is that a word?). I think it works because you kind of want to "take it up", then bring it back down. What I'd encourage you to do (with video or audio) is to record one single take. If nothing else, I think this really forces you to ask yourself "can I actually play this?" It's kind of humbling. You don't have to post it if you don't want to, but just watch it and listen to it. Gives you a real appreciation for people out playing live. Now session guitarists are true professionals, and they've probably played for hours every day for many years, probably a lot of them have music degrees and way more training than you or I will ever have. I don't play golf, but if I took it up, I wouldn't have any hope of competing with the PGA players - especially if I was just doing it as a hobby. That doesn't mean that a golf hobbyist can't get enjoyment from the game, can't work on improving their game, can't buy new clubs (the equivalent of GAS), or that they should be forbidden from playing does it? As to your question about flow, I think it did flow and avoided the dreaded "collection of licks strung together" thing that we all must combat. Bruce
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Post by Phil on Sept 18, 2015 6:49:57 GMT -6
Thanks, Jack. I appreciate your comments. I hope you didn't rip your shirt off, beat your breast, and wail lamentations while listening. That was most definitely a lick from from "Cheap Runs." After having spent so much time on getting it smooth, I've been waiting for a chance to use it somewhere. It seemed to fit in well on this tune. I'm sure there are a couple of other licks from BYCU, but that's the only one I can clearly identify. Tomorrow is the deadline, so I hope there will be some more submissions of "More Minor Blues." I initially thought that doing these projects was taking too much time away from my "real" practice. I'm now convinced that it is a very productive use of time. The learning that goes on while doing this is extremely valuable.
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Post by Phil on Sept 18, 2015 8:05:15 GMT -6
Phil, I'm the master of never changing strings. I've always kind of thought it's a waste of good practice time. I got that Ibanez for my birthday in March, and haven't changed the strings on it. Was noticing just the other night how it wouldn't stay in tune worth a darn. Go figure. I'm going to put some new strings on it this weekend... really, I swear. I'm with you on this. I hate changing strings and usually only do it when I break one. The problem is that since I've gone to cheap generic strings that Jack recommended they never break! However, I think they should be changed at least once a year whether they need it or not.
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Post by joachim on Sept 18, 2015 8:12:15 GMT -6
I also thought that was outstanding - you guys are setting the bar awfully high for the rest of us!
Great feeling and emotion, as Jack wrote...
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 18, 2015 10:31:23 GMT -6
Thanks, Jack. I appreciate your comments. I hope you didn't rip your shirt off, beat your breast, and wail lamentations while listening. That was most definitely a lick from from "Cheap Runs." After having spent so much time on getting it smooth, I've been waiting for a chance to use it somewhere. It seemed to fit in well on this tune. I'm sure there are a couple of other licks from BYCU, but that's the only one I can clearly identify. Tomorrow is the deadline, so I hope there will be some more submissions of "More Minor Blues." I initially thought that doing these projects was taking too much time away from my "real" practice. I'm now convinced that it is a very productive use of time. The learning that goes on while doing this is extremely valuable. Well I tried ripping my shirt off but I just ended up with one of my arms stuck through the neck hole and then I had to yell for somebody to help get me untangled, but...anyhow Totally agree about this being a great learning exercise; I'm so lazy about writing because it can be so frustrating - it's not uncommon at all for me to spend a whole evening "writing" and at the end of the night have absolutely nothing to show for it, or get half of it written and then decide I don't like the beginning, or write three bars in five minutes and then spend two hours trying to fill the fourth bar, etc. So this is great as far as "forcing" me to do it and hopefully as we do more of it I'll get more efficient and organized.
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Post by cunningr on Sept 18, 2015 10:45:20 GMT -6
Phil, I think everyone has said it all excellent rendition, nice smooth transitions from and back into the book portions. I hope John G is checking out some of these renditions it is proof that his studies work.
Rich
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Post by Phil on Sept 18, 2015 11:21:00 GMT -6
Phil, I think everyone has said it all excellent rendition, nice smooth transitions from and back into the book portions. I hope John G is checking out some of these renditions it is proof that his studies work. Rich Thanks, Rich. Glad you liked it. John G. is around somewhere because he updates the lick of the week on the main page regularly. And, I might add, he puts up some very interesting licks there. When I get through MBYCU I plan on going through those. However, he doesn't show up on the forum very often anymore. He used to drop in from time to time.
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Post by wannaplayblues on Sept 18, 2015 12:53:10 GMT -6
Once again Phil has to show-off at being an AWESOME blues player
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Post by Phil on Sept 18, 2015 13:10:12 GMT -6
Once again Phil has to show-off at being an AWESOME blues player Thanks for stroking my fragile ego. You guys are very kind.
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Post by blackcountrymick on Sept 18, 2015 15:05:58 GMT -6
Once again Phil has to show-off at being an AWESOME blues player Thanks for stroking my fragile ego. You guys are very kind. I'm gonna stroke it some more Phil , I really loved what you did with extending JG's lesson, and yes, I also noticed the mad lick from "Cheap Runs" . I thought the musicality was spot on and I also liked what you did adding some rhythm guitar bits towards the end, it worked for me!!! Great job Phil.
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Post by jack1982 on Sept 19, 2015 4:59:51 GMT -6
Phil, were you adding in chord tones to the pentatonic minor scale? 'Cause whatever you did you really got some great moody stuff and I want to know how you did it
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Post by Phil on Sept 19, 2015 10:42:37 GMT -6
Phil, were you adding in chord tones to the pentatonic minor scale? 'Cause whatever you did you really got some great moody stuff and I want to know how you did it I don't know if I added in chord tones. I'd have to sit down and analyze it to see if I did. I know I added in some notes from the natural minor scale, specifically, the 2nd and the b6th. On this one I noodled around over the backing track, got a few ideas and tried to work it out in my head. Then I tried to find those sounds on the guitar. On the 3 tunes we've done so far I've been able to come up with something for the 1st 4 bars without much problem. It's the next 8 bars that stop me in my tracks, especially the IV chord. I just tried to maintain the melancholy mood that the minor blues has.
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