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Post by bluesbruce on May 4, 2014 16:54:57 GMT -6
This one is the fourth lesson from "Jazzin' The Blues". I'm not very happy with the audio mix on this - drums too loud, lead tone too "rough", lead mixed too loud... Oh, well, practice makes perfect. Anyway, I'm putting these out there so people can get an idea of what's in "Jazzin' The Blues", so they can see if it's something that appeals to them. Still having fun, and I'll keep putting them out there until someone screams "stop". Bruce  |
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Post by bluesbruce on May 4, 2014 16:59:06 GMT -6
Wow, I also see I've become a "full member". That's the best thing that's happened to me today! Cool!
Bruce
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Post by Phil on May 4, 2014 19:30:15 GMT -6
Bruce, I agree that the mix could be better, and the lead guitar is a bit muddy. I think your tone was much better on your previous videos. However, it's a cool tune and your playing is good. And I do intend to get "Jazzin' the Blues" one of these days after hearing these examples. Maybe you could make a business deal with John G. if he ever wants to do video lessons. I'm still amazed that you're making videos of this quality with an iPhone. Yeah, I remember the thrill and excitement when I finally became a "Full Member". The 1st thought that popped into my mind was, "I've posted THAT many times on this forum? Maybe I should spend more time practicing and less time talking about it."  Phil PS. What do the 3 stars mean? |
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Post by TommyD on May 4, 2014 19:39:51 GMT -6
The tune Jazzin' the Blues was fun to learn. The quick slides up and back is a good technique to learn. It looks like you're enjoying the Jazzin' The Blues book as much as me. My favorite tune in the book so far is Alone at Midnight, although Saying It Three Ways is pretty cool, too. All in all, it's a fantastic book.
I always enjoy watching and listening to your videos. You are making me seriously think about recording some of the lessons. Please keep them coming!
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Post by bluesbruce on May 5, 2014 5:58:24 GMT -6
Phil and Tommy,
Thanks for listening and for the feedback. I don't really know what happened on that audio mix - I didn't think it sounded so bad until I turned it into a video. I guess maybe I could spend more time revising these, but that's not really my goal here. If I was out to create a professional product, I'd have to hire someone who knew what they were doing. Phil, my guess is that the stars correlate in some way to the number of posts you've made - I think the third star came with the 100th post - along with the "full member" designation. You probably earn more stars somewhere along the line - maybe at 500 or 1000 posts. You'll have to keep posting to find out!
Tommy, I'd love to hear you post some recordings. I agree, it's a cool sounding book, and that's part of what made me want to post these videos - to let people see what the book teaches. I absolutely love the lessons with both the rhythm part and the lead part - I think it's cool to see how the two parts come together. I'd love to see a second or third chorus on some of these. I think you'd mentioned previously that "Saying It Three Ways" has several choruses. I'm anxious to get farther into it.
Bruce
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Post by Phil on May 5, 2014 8:04:23 GMT -6
I need to get busy on earning my 4th star.  John G. comes up with some very melodic and musically interesting studies. Many of them are variations of familiar themes, but he has the ability to put his own signature on them and add in his own very original ideas to come with something totally fresh. That's what really attracted me to BYCU. I've got a lot of dead time on my hands right now so I might start a thread on why people are attracted to John's courses. I would imagine that when you finish Jazzin' you could go back and turn those studies into chord melody solo pieces. That would be an interesting and challenging thing to work on. Does the book go into playing chord melodies? Phil |
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Post by bluesbruce on May 5, 2014 17:03:48 GMT -6
Phil,
The table of contents lists "chord melody" and "more chord melody" in chapters 10 and 13. I haven't made it that far yet, so can't give you any input about how much of that is covered. I always thought chord melody playing was even pretty advanced for jazz players - sure sounds great when done well (Joe Pass comes to mind).
Bruce
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Post by Phil on May 5, 2014 19:19:53 GMT -6
Bruce,
I don't think it's as complex and difficult as you might think. There are simple chord melody arrangements around. It's not all chords. It's chord connected by single notes and the chords can be 3 notes or even double stops. Keep us posted when you get to that part of the book. I'll bet John G. has written something good and not overly difficult.
Phil
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Post by joachim on May 5, 2014 23:05:28 GMT -6
Nice recording Bruce! I liked it all, but the rhythm part sounded especially nice and harmonic.
Inspired by an earlier post you wrote, I bought BIAB as well. It's really simple to get started and make backing tracks! I bought the cheapest version, so I am missing a few good blues real-tracks, but there seems to be great stuff for jazz. A quick search on youtube pointed to some terrific blues/texas-rock packs that sounds like straight out of the BUCY CD.
Joachim
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Post by bluesbruce on May 6, 2014 6:59:54 GMT -6
Joachim,
Thanks for listening. I really enjoy Band In A Box, but it is pretty expensive - especially to get one of the packages that contains all the real tracks. The MIDI tracks can sound very good, too, but that is dependent on what MIDI synth you use. Of course, for the money you'd spend to get a high quality midi synthesizer, you could buy all the real tracks... It's really simple to set up a 12 bar blues progression, change your BPM, change your key, change the style - you've got a never ending band to play with. You can also turn parts off in Band In A Box - if the style has a lead guitar (or some other soloist) and you're wanting to practice a lead, just turn it off in BIAB. They've also got some Youtube tutorials and an excellent support section on their website. Also be sure to check out their blues jam folder (you should find it in the BIAB directory) - includes about a hundred blues of various styles - an excellent resource just to hear some variations that can be done. Good luck with it, and feel free to PM me with questions. I've used this program for a number of years. I don't consider myself an "expert", but I'm beyond a beginner with it.
Bruce
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John G. comes up with some very melodic and musically interesting studies. Many of them are variations of familiar themes, but he has the ability to put his own signature on them and add in his own very original ideas to come with something totally fresh. That's what really attracted me to BYCU. I've got a lot of dead time on my hands right now so I might start a thread on why people are attracted to John's courses.