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Bilbo

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Posts posted by Bilbo

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    i have bit more space now, Dave, so I will try and make sense of it for you. A head refers to the tune's melody. If you take something like the Wynton Marsalis tune on the website called 'Play The Blues And Go', the head is the first 44 bars. In reality, it is and 8-bar intro followed by 3x12 bar heads repeated (first piano only, second and third with horns). After that it is just a band playing fairly conventional 12-bar blues. A head chart would just have the 12 bar tune with something like 'solo over a C blues'. A 'chorus', in this case, is 12 bars i.e. once around the chord sequence. Sounds complicated written down like that but it's simple enough once you understand the principle. It then translates to any tune however simple or complicated. Many of the tunes on the website are of this type; round and round the same chord sequence with someone soloing over the songs changes. 

      

     

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted · Edited by Bilbo

    This is a head chart. It contains only the melody and the chords. Everything else, you are expected to know e.g. how to play a walking bass line over those changes (chord sequence), how to voice the chords on a piano or guitar, how to solo over those changes, what chords and scales work, how to start the tune, how to end it etc. My charts tell you exactly what was played on a recording. These head charts are as much an aide memoir as anything and are a guide to get you all working together on the same tune. They are useless if you don't know what is required of you.

     

     

    https://images.app.goo.gl/ftUV6PMZp2r4f8cH6

     

    • Thanks 2

    Tinnitus!!!!!!!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I have it quite bad but, as my relationship with really loud music is minimal, I have put it down to my diabetes so there isn't a lot I can do about it. It's just there. Not debilitating but I do find myself occasionally wondering what real silence sounds like as opposed to the silence that goes 'WEEEEEEEEEEEEE......'

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    Something really special - no chops, just beautiful bass playing on a beautiful tune. This is the complete Jay Anderson bass part to the stunning 'Walking By Flashlight' from the 2015 Maria Schneider Orchestra album, 'The Thompson Fields'. I saw this band at Cadogan Hall some years ago and it sticks with me as one of the most exceptional evenings of music that I have ever witnessed. Thanks to my old friend Paul Hornsby for turning my on to this lady's work. It's not hard to play but I challenge anyone to match this performance.

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/walking-by-flashlight-maria-schneider/ 

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    I guess I shouldn't really post this here but I can't help myself. This is a complete solo guitar performance of the Astor Piazzolla tune 'Romantico' from the 2008 Al Di Meola album, 'Diabolic Inventions And Seduction For Solo Guitar Volume I (Music Of Astor Piazzolla)'. It's actually playable (unlike most Al Di Meola solo guitar). It's reading the chords and the contrapuntal voices that makes its challenging. I have to say that the concerted practice I have done with the guitar reading (another 'lockdown' project) has really paid dividends. 

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/romantico-al-di-meola/

    • Like 1

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    Here you go, Dave - the Richard Sinclair part for 'The Sleeper'. The Breathless album (hereafter known as 'The Pointless Album' was from 1978 and I have to say it completely passed me by (as did a lot of Camel, it transpires).

     

    The guitar charts are few and far between, Dave. I am working on my guitar reading and find the same problem that I always had with learning to read bass parts; there is a dearth of interesting material to draw upon (outside of classical guitar which can be a bit, well, naff). So I decided to try putting together charts of my own. It takes a lot longer and, whilst I can do most bass charts without a bass in my hands, but I cannot do the same with the guitar so the process is much more laborious. As for how, I have learned that patience and tenacity are my super powers and, if I start something, I generally keep going until it is finished, even if it is a long drawn out process. I can't complete with the young gunslingers and I don't live where there is a massive amount of Jazz happening but this I can do any time of the day or night with no pressure. Once it is done, it is there forever. 

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-sleeper-camel/

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    I have finally got to a Marc Johnson transcription. This is the tune 'Dingy Dong Day' from the 1997 Johnson led album 'The Sound Of Summer Running'. I love the tune and I love what they do with it (have a listen if you haven't hear it before, you'll see (hear) what I mean). Not a massively challenging tune to play but 'that' section will throw you if you are not ready for it.

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/dingy-dong-day-marc-johnson/

    • Like 3

    Band members in other bands

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I was 'in' 9 bands at one point 1990s). Jazz works very differently to most other genres and rehearsals are rare so the only conflicts are gigs. Everyone makes sure they have a selection of competent deps so all basses are covered (see what I did there). There are charts and dots and everyone uses a basket of skills to make it work. Knowledge of the repertoire, the ways in which music is put together, the ways endings work, certain genre expectations etc. Jazz musicians generally have big ears so they can pull off something that, to an untrained ear, can sound miraculous. There are a million formulas for these things. Most of the best gigs I have ever done have been with musicians I have never met before let alone rehearsed with. Obviously rehearsals have the potential to make everything better but the realities of gigging for professional musicians makes frequent rehearsals economically unviable.

     

    In my experience, one rehearsal can even make things worse sometimes as you end up confused by details that impede your thinking. 

     

    Also, reading dots and preparing quality charts can make rehearsal time incredibly productive. 'Learning' tunes can be overrated.

    • Like 3

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    Unmistakably Camel. I will put it on the list. I have been working on a guitar chart this week and it it exhausting. I did the Haden charts for a break and have a Marc Johnson chart that I should finish today. My next target is 646 transcriptions which would be 200 since I came back on line.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Why were older basslines so much more interesting?

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    I am guessing that one of the problems is that so much music nowadays is manufactured on a software platform of some description by people who may not even be able to play any instruments let alone a bass. Lowest common denominator is a single not drone/ thump. Older music was produced when there was more money around to pay musicians to perform (and to contribute ideas) instead of relying on sequencers and samples etc. 

    Covers that 'made' the Original

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I personally like a truckload of Beatles covers more than the originals. Examples include:

     

    Got To Get You Into My Life by Earth, Wind and Fire.

    Julia by Medeski, Martin and Wood.

    With A Little Help From My Friends by Al DiMeola.

    I Am The Walrus by Jim Carey.

    It's For You by Cilla Black (not sure if this was a cover or 'written for'.

     

    The list goes on and on. You can't say the covers made the originals, though. Very few could compete with the success of The Beatles.

     

     

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