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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
 Posted - 06/21/2005 : 20:40:00
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Mike,
Wow... It's going to take me a little while to wrap my head around all of that. I haven't dealt with the minor modes in a long time. I need to go back and get familiar with them again. This is a great opportunity to do that. I just need a little time to read through you posts and sort through the info. Some of it I already know, but some of it I need to see on paper. I'm going to create some scale form patterns for the scales listed in your posts. The "Aha" moment didn't hit me like it should have because I'm a very visual person. It will happen, but I just need to see it.
Thanks,
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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michaeldimin
Forum Admin
99 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2005 : 19:32:32
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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2005 : 22:03:34
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Mike,
I am currently creating fingerboard charts to visualize the pitch patterns. Just to make sure I will have all the "tools" I need thus far, here's my list:
D minor (F Major)
Bb Major
Eb Major
G melodic minor
A H/W
Bb melodic minor
Eb melodic minor
Am I really going to need all of these for the first 8 measures?
quote:
Stella is a difficult tune and we can look at it very simply or much more complicated.
Are we doing the "very simply" or "much more complicated" analysis? Just curious. 
Thanks,
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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michaeldimin
Forum Admin
99 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2005 : 20:31:15
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OK,
you need:
G Melodic minor for the Em7(b5)
Bb Melodic minor for the A7 alt
Bb Major for the C-7 F7
Eb Major for the Eb major (might add a sharp 4)
Eb Melodic Minor for the Ab7#11
try superimposing all the scale charts over 1 position on the neck
Mike
btw, I will be vacationing next week on the wonderful Cape Cod. I am not sure if I have internet access and my laptop is acting strangely
Mike |
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michaeldimin
Forum Admin
99 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2005 : 20:51:09
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G Melodic Minor
Bb Melodic Minor
Bb Major
Eb Major
Eb Melodic Minor
Mike
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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2005 : 20:57:28
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quote:
Originally posted by michaeldimin
OK,
you need:
G Melodic minor for the Em7(b5)
Bb Melodic minor for the A7 alt
Bb Major for the C-7 F7
Eb Major for the Eb major (might add a sharp 4)
Eb Melodic Minor for the Ab7#11
try superimposing all the scale charts over 1 position on the neck
Mike
btw, I will be vacationing next week on the wonderful Cape Cod. I am not sure if I have internet access and my laptop is acting strangely
Mike
Mike,
I appreciate you helping me out with the scales. I am working on the scale diagrams right now. I notice that some of these scales have a 5-fret stretch. I will favor a position that gives me a 4-fret span on the D & G strings. This is where I spend most of my time when soloing. When I venture over to the A & E strings, things get a little muddy.
Have a great vacation in Cape Cod. I wouldn't spend too much time at the computer if I were in Cape Cod. Enjoy your vacation.
Thanks again,
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2005 : 21:00:23
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Nice scale charts! That just saved me a lot of time. Of course I will transfer those patterns to the 14 - 18th frets.
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 11:12:56
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Mike,
How was your vacation in Cape Cod? Bar Harbor was one of the places we went on our honeymoon. We really liked the atmosphere in Maine, but it was cold,rainy,and foggy for our entire stay. I'd like to go when it's sunny and dry. We went out on a whale watch boat and it had to turn around because of the 6' waves. 
Anyhow, I haven't spent too much time actively practicing Stella. I've been spending more time listening to it. I have a dozen versions of it. I have a few from the library: Miles Davis, Ray Brown, and Stan Getz. Oh yea, I also have a Steve Green Trio recording. Then I got some sound samples off the Internet that people posted (including yours). I even have a sound sample of a High School jazz band doing an arrangement of it. Very few of the recordings allow the melody to be obvious. Every version I have is so different. Some are way relaxed while others are smokin'.
Is there a performance of this tune that you like best? I like to listen to as many versions as possible to see what people have done with the tune. For Stella, it seems like the sky is the limit.
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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michaeldimin
Forum Admin
99 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2005 : 08:59:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Q.
Mike,
How was your vacation in Cape Cod? Bar Harbor was one of the places we went on our honeymoon. We really liked the atmosphere in Maine, but it was cold,rainy,and foggy for our entire stay. I'd like to go when it's sunny and dry. We went out on a whale watch boat and it had to turn around because of the 6' waves.
It was cool. We did a lot of cool stuff inlcuding a whale watch. Saw both Whales and Basking Sharks. Did some fly fishing fro stripped bass, hung on the beach - ate way too much fried seafood.
quote:
Anyhow, I haven't spent too much time actively practicing Stella. I've been spending more time listening to it. I have a dozen versions of it. I have a few from the library: Miles Davis, Ray Brown, and Stan Getz. Oh yea, I also have a Steve Green Trio recording. Then I got some sound samples off the Internet that people posted (including yours). I even have a sound sample of a High School jazz band doing an arrangement of it. Very few of the recordings allow the melody to be obvious. Every version I have is so different. Some are way relaxed while others are smokin'.
Is there a performance of this tune that you like best? I like to listen to as many versions as possible to see what people have done with the tune. For Stella, it seems like the sky is the limit.
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
You know ... I don't have a fav. - - actually, I have to admit, that it is not one of the tunes that i tend to gravitate towards. I don't know why, it is a great tune, I just never have seemed to get into it.
There are 2 ways to look at the variation of arrangements that you have encountered. Once can get intimidated by it, "which one should I play" or you can be freed by it, "how do I want to play it.". Perhaps that's where the real beauty of this song lies.
Mike |
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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2005 : 13:27:53
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Fried food is good for you. You can never have too much of that. 
I feel similar about Stella. I'm not in love with it, but I'm trying to increase my musicianship by studying it. Plus, it's a tune that you are currently arranging for solo bass anyhow.
As I listen to the different arrangements I get ideas. I listen to how the arrangement is started and ended. Also, I like to see how close the performer stuck to the original melody. And, how did the performer make the tune interesting? I tend to get lost in some of the arrangements that I hear. They get really out there and turn into space music or something. I tend to like a more pure quality to the music I play and listen to.
I'm going to continue listening. Then, I plan on makine a simple accompaniment so I can practice along. I will probably run the scale forms over the accompaniment. I was also thinking that I'd compose a simple melody to play over the chord changes and embellish that. I've been getting a little lost in the changes and I believe that writing something down will help.
Thanks,
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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gbf
Starting Member
Brazil
3 Posts |
 Posted - 07/12/2005 : 19:16:54
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Hey Mike and Jon Q. I've been reading through the posts and kinda wanted to participate. Hope there's no problem
Mike: Really dig your music and would be very happy to learn from you
Joe Q.: is the version of Blue Bossa with double bass and p-bass yours? the one in mikes site I mean. If so, DUDE! I dig your music
guess this is all... since I'm having a break at school I'll practice through this great thread.
thanks you 2. Bye.
Gotta keep walking |
Edited by - gbf on 07/12/2005 19:22:45 |
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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2005 : 20:00:09
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quote:
Originally posted by gbf
Hey Mike and Jon Q. I've been reading through the posts and kinda wanted to participate. Hope there's no problem
Mike: Really dig your music and would be very happy to learn from you
Joe Q.: is the version of Blue Bossa with double bass and p-bass yours? the one in mikes site I mean. If so, DUDE! I dig your music
guess this is all... since I'm having a break at school I'll practice through this great thread.
thanks you 2. Bye.
Gotta keep walking
Gabriel,
I think that it would be really cool if you join in. Welcome!
How did you know about my version of Blue Bossa? Yes, that is my recording. Thank you so much for your kind words. Before Blue Bossa, my improvisation wasn't very good. Mike gave me techniques that I could use to focus and improve my improv. Mike is a great teacher and a really nice guy.
Stella by Starlight is such a stretch from Blue Bossa. Actually, I'm in a little bit of a rut right now. I spent a couple days away from working on Stella because my creativity felt stale. I get a little lost in the changes and I need to find a way to simplify things for myself.
I realize that I'm not going to be able to put together a solo arrangement of Stella by the end of August for the bass competition. I could, but it wouldn't be something that I'd be proud of. So, I have decided to do a multi-track recording of Stella (similar in process to Blue Bossa). I get a lot out of this process because I get to learn a bass line over new changes, chords, melody, and new improv skills. Right now I am working on creating walking bass lines over the chord changes. In my new recording I want to include different feels; for example: half-time, swing, and maybe even a little latin. I don't want to over do it though.
Mike, what do you think of my new direction?
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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gbf
Starting Member
Brazil
3 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2005 : 10:22:46
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Joe Q: i got the file of your song from a thread @ talkbass. i really dig the part where you start to take some chances in the solo (around 2:42min). Great playing man.
I think I'll start practicing Blue Bossa today or maybe tomorrow. I'll get back to you tonight. Thanks
Gotta keep walking |
Edited by - gbf on 07/13/2005 17:55:45 |
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michaeldimin
Forum Admin
99 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2005 : 15:26:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Q.
Mike, what do you think of my new direction?
I think preparing Stella for the Bass Extremes Contest is ridiculous. Although the extra 10K winnings could, I'm sure, come in handy, music is not and never has been about comptetition. I know from middle school on there are state wide competitions, auditions to get into schools and auditions for gigs and symphony. Not to mention American Idol, as well. In reality, though, all of those competitions are just our human nature, trying to categorize things .... good/bad, pretty/ugly, thin/fat.
How can you truly judge my interpretation of a tune ... only if it moves you ... that's it ...nothing more ...nothing less.
oops, back to your question ... your new direction is perfect! (as if you couldn't tell from my reply).
I thought it was rather funny that the Bass Extremes Contest had a full page ad in BP and in the same issue, Gerald Veasly is trashing music as competition on the Soapbox page.
Mike |
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Joe Q.
New Member
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2005 : 21:00:00
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quote:
Originally posted by michaeldimin
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Q.
Mike, what do you think of my new direction?
I think preparing Stella for the Bass Extremes Contest is ridiculous. Although the extra 10K winnings could, I'm sure, come in handy, music is not and never has been about comptetition. I know from middle school on there are state wide competitions, auditions to get into schools and auditions for gigs and symphony. Not to mention American Idol, as well. In reality, though, all of those competitions are just our human nature, trying to categorize things .... good/bad, pretty/ugly, thin/fat.
How can you truly judge my interpretation of a tune ... only if it moves you ... that's it ...nothing more ...nothing less.
oops, back to your question ... your new direction is perfect! (as if you couldn't tell from my reply).
I thought it was rather funny that the Bass Extremes Contest had a full page ad in BP and in the same issue, Gerald Veasly is trashing music as competition on the Soapbox page.
Mike
Thank you for sharing your feelings on music competitions. I really do feel the same way. I can't tell you how many times I've had to console my middle school students after a performance at an all-county or an area all-state audition. It's difficult to make them understand that the judge scored them on their performance based on what they did one time under stressful cirucumstances. Also, scoring can vary greatly from judge to judge. They may have gotten a tough judge or a judge that isn't even a string player.
Back to the topic at hand... Thanks for validating my new direction. It has taken me on a bit of a tangent. I don't know if you could tell by now, but I am a very concrete/sequential & visual learner. I am working on walking basslines. I am slow at coming up with these on the spot, but I am figuring out common walking patterns. In the past I have done some extensive analytical work on walking bass lines for fun/learning (I love that kind of stuff).
I've come up with one measure walking patterns that are very common. I've been taking one pattern at a time and walking them through the cycle. It's tricky because you run out of strings to continue the pattern. Then, you either have to continue the pattern down or up the fingerboard. I've been exploring the fingerboard with these patterns. A couple of them I can do while having a conversation with my wife. It's cool. The muscles remember the pattern and take it from there.
My next step is to take two of these patterns and alternate them throughout the cycle. We'll see how that goes.
I know that there is a danger of sounding boring with patterns, but it's a good place for me to start. Moving through the cycle without getting stuck is such a rush! Have you ever done anything like this?
Joe
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~Charlie Parker
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Improvisation
