funkle

I meant to say this is another great article on ear training. I'm working it through it slowly, as well as working on the Charlie Banacos exercise. [url="http://www.miles.be/articles/7-ear-training-a-direct-and-logical-path"]http://www.miles.be/articles/7-ear-trainin...nd-logical-path[/url]

[quote name='Faithless' post='1084869' date='Jan 10 2011, 09:22 PM']Ok, its the first evening I sat at the piano for the Banaco thing.. Now, while I wasn't not total deaf with guessing the notes, when I hit some 'awkward' notes (like Db or F#, I was in C tonality..) to the scale, I would instantly loose my tonality (C, that is..) Is this normal for beginner and I should just keep going? The other thing is that I have quite good grasp of piano, and, while I try as much to really hit the random note, I sometimes 'feel', [i]where [/i]did the pencil sat on, which makes the game not completely fair, if that makes sense..[/quote] This is a hard game, don't worry, keep going! You're hitting some chromatic tones which are pretty awkward to hear. I used software to do the sounding of the notes because then I would have no way to know what had been hit. The 'Ear Trainer Basic' at miles.be which I linked to above is perfect for this. I spent a while working diatonically (in major) before adding in b3 and b6/#5 and b7. Subsequently I added in b2, b5. The hardest ones of all to sing/hear for me were b5, #5, major 6th, and strangely enough b7 - weird. Keep going, this will take a months but the free Ear Trainer software linked to above is really helpful. I have worked on solfege over the last few years at the Players School and at home - stuff which included sight singing major, melodic minor, harmonic minor tonalities before I was ever allowed to get near chromatic solfege. If you want to know the benefits, earlier this year, I transcribed 35 songs for a soul/funk covers gig I had to do in about two weeks (working on the charts part time) and while only some of it was done away from the instrument, all the hard work on ear training definitely made it quicker. Delberthot has a point about getting out there and working stuff out by ear. Transcription is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools in the musician's arsenal. I would simply say that learning all the 'extra stuff' like chord tones and chord structures, functional harmony, etc. has made playing music a heck of a lot easier for me, though. Pete

[quote name='TKenrick' post='1083234' date='Jan 9 2011, 03:59 PM']I totally know what you mean about work getting in the way of serious practice. I'm a full time musician and still find that work interferes with my practicing and takes me away from the things I want to be working on. Tom[/quote] Thank god I'm not alone in feeling that. It's frustrating sometimes. Although at least I enjoy my day job! Becoming a full-time jazz musician still doesn't look like a terribly viable career option to bring home the income, although I'd love to do it, so if I want to play jazz I've got to pay the bills somehow...how the heck does everyone square the circle? Pete

[quote name='TKenrick' post='1079237' date='Jan 5 2011, 10:00 PM']Am I right in thinking that Charlie Banacos is pretty much the guru when it comes to ear training and jazz improv exercises? Any chance you could shed some light on what the exercises focus on?[/quote] Where to start? Here's a link to an ear training one: [url="http://www.miles.be/articles/14-the-charlie-banacos-exercise"]http://www.miles.be/articles/14-the-charlie-banacos-exercise[/url] Here's the link to software to help you do the above one if you don't have a piano: [url="http://www.miles.be/software/4-functional-ear-trainer-basic"]http://www.miles.be/software/4-functional-ear-trainer-basic[/url] You'll have to move to the next step for the later parts of the above exercise: [url="http://www.miles.be/software/5-functional-ear-trainer-advanced"]http://www.miles.be/software/5-functional-...rainer-advanced[/url] I would point out I've done a lot of solfege over the last 2-3 years and have only in the last year or so been able to do the first part of the Charlie Banacos exercise of hitting one note then another and correctly naming the interval 99% of the time. This is with the key changing every time I do the exercise, so that 'do' keeps moving. I haven't had time yet to tap into doing 3 notes yet; it's the next step. In terms of exercises on the instrument, there are a ton. Nonetheless they are awkward to come by; you have to find someone who's studied with Charlie or with one of his students e.g. Jeff Berlin. An 'early' one would for instance be playing approach notes to all notes of a given chord in all keys: e.g. approaching the root two half steps from below, the from two below and one above, then from two above and one below, then two above and two below, and so on. This would be then repeated for the 3rd, the 5th, the 7th, once again in all keys and for the chord tonality you desire. Later on the exercises move into tensions, chord pairs, pentatonics, 'hexatonics', and a lot of other fancy stuff that I don't know how to name (see [url="http://www.charliebanacos.com/moreinformation.html)"]http://www.charliebanacos.com/moreinformation.html)[/url]. Scales also feature but are not particularly important in the way that chords are. When I read through Some of Jerry Bergonzi's stuff, esp vol 6 from his series of books, it looks familiar. Not surprsing, he was a Banacos student. When I read through 'Forward Motion' by Hal Galper, it also looks familiar too. I get the flavour that 'the good stuff' goes by a lot of different names, but that at the root of it most of it seems to relate to chords and working with chordal material. I would point out that by no means am I an expert, I am simply a passionate hobbyist as opposed to a working pro. My day job eats time and gets in the way of serious practice at the moment. But I squeeze in the time/gigs where I can. Pete

[quote name='Doddy' post='1078383' date='Jan 5 2011, 11:12 AM']It doesn't sound daft at all. There are so many players who can't name the notes on the 'board,even those who have been playing for quite a while. To me this is a very basic part of learning the instrument.[/quote] I agree. I would point out that you will learn the notes on the neck reasonably quickly whilst practicing the right sorts of exercises, e.g. those found in Chord Studies for Electric Bass (or the older version of the same book, Chord Studies for Trombone). My favourite way to do these is to take an exercise and move it through all 12 keys. You can't fail to learn the neck that way... [url="http://www.scribd.com/doc/25321271/Chord-Studies-for-Trombone-1968-by-Phil-Wilson-and-Joseph-Viola"]http://www.scribd.com/doc/25321271/Chord-S...nd-Joseph-Viola[/url] I've done everything up to and including 'A' in all 12 keys, and am currently working on a lot of other Charlie Banacos exercises as opposed to this stuff, but I intend to return to this and finish off everything from Ab onwards as time allows. My neck knowledge isn't perfect but it's a lot better than it used to be. Pete

Getting into 'deep practice' when you practice and how to practice correctly is another topic in itself. What I took away from studying with Jeff was: 1. Practice slowly - forget the metronome - you are allowed to practice 'out of tempo' as long as you still count your timings properly - sorry, this is easier to show than it is to talk about. 2. Mistakes are useful, and not be feared - when you make a mistake, slow down and go over the material so that it you get it right - correct your mistakes straight away. 3. Don't noodle (When I start noodling, I know it's time for a break) - it's fun but it's not practice. 4. Don't worry about speed. If you practice slowly and correctly, speed will eventually come on its own. It is not an end in itself. 5. Many things you practice will not be directly applicable to a gig, but are nonetheless important building blocks to 'regard'. Even if you don't understand why you are 'regarding' this information, do it because your teacher tells you to. There's more, but that's all I can get down here for now. There's some great info in 'The Talent Code' by Daniel Coyle on 'deep practice' and all of it sounds like what 'good practice' feels like to me, when I'm 'in the zone'. Enjoy. Pete

[quote name='Tandro' post='1076386' date='Jan 3 2011, 03:49 PM']I would love to get a teacher and was going to start looking, but things are coming up and for the sake of saving my pennies this might not be possible (I'm not a young Spring chicken anymore and I got responsibilities). As an economical spin to it, I was even toying with the idea of doing a few lessons just to 'get me on the right track' and get some advice on what I need to do. What about a 1 hour lesson every other week, is that too little? I dunno if I can even swing that. The going rate seems to be around £25-30 an hour? (As I'm out in West London, I had called Techmusicschool and they quoted £40 an hour, which seems a bit high).[/quote] An hour a week should give you plenty of material. Though it depends upon the teacher, as well as how much you are able to practice. If you can't practice that often, once every two weeks might give you enough material to work on. A good teacher is worth the money. A good teacher wil focus on: reading written music (no tab), chord charts, functional harmony/analysis, ear training/solfege, chord tones + (later on) tensions, chord subs (also later), correctly interpreting rhythms + basslines correct for a variety of styles. Real musical information, in other words. Slap you can teach yourself - most situations don't call for it. Transcribing is excellent stuff to do and can also be done alone (though learning to notate everything can take some time, and it's helpful to get others to check it over). You can teach yourself only so far, then you need someone to shed some light on what you don't know you don't know. Best of luck. Pete

Get a teacher! They'll get you to work on the things you need to work on (as opposed to the things you THINK you need to work on), and will greatly spped up any proces of learning you intend to undertake. This is undoubtedly the most improtant step you can take. You will then know how to spend that vital 60 mins per day. I spent a lot of money/time studying with Jeff Berlin. It was worth it. Pete

[quote name='SMV' post='1063849' date='Dec 19 2010, 06:48 PM']My interpretation... classic solo! Listen to it here: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5X6juXuook"]Willie Weeks y'all[/url] Play it here: [attachment=66794:WW_Solo_...cription.pdf][/quote] Thanks for this. I love this album. So tasty.

BTW these days I'm a 4 string player only!

Just chiming in with a little Acme love... I own a single 4 ohm B2. It's great, and has served me well for soul, jazz, funk. Plenty loud enough for my needs with 450-500W of power going into it. I currently kick it's butt with a Markbass F1 or the TC RH450 (I prefer the latter a touch, though appreciate having the lightness of the F1). I'm trying out Alex's Barefaced Midget T today though (lighter, more compact, might be just the thing for rehearsals) and I can't wait to see how the two compare. Pete

thanks bilbo. nice work!

[quote name='funkle' post='878018' date='Jun 26 2010, 10:47 AM']Did you ever get to try out a medium scale (32") Fender Jazz (MIJ)? They look pretty tasty... [url="http://compare.ebay.com/future/250653255158?var=svip&sort=BestMatch"]http://compare.ebay.com/future/25065325515...;sort=BestMatch[/url] I'm looking at the Ibanez AGB200 recently too - great value for money...[/quote] I'll answer my own question here. I bought a Fender MIJ JB62M 32" medium scale Jazz from Ishibashi recently. Pics are here - [url="http://isbs1484.kir.jp/ikebukuro/127288/"]http://isbs1484.kir.jp/ikebukuro/127288/[/url] It sounds just like a good Jazz should to me. I've strung mine with DR Nickel Lo Riders 40-100s and given it my usual 'very light touch' setup. A real plus is slightly sweeter tone on the higher strings/frets when soloing. Plenty enough low end for me too, losing 2" from the scale doesn't seem to have changed that (although given the Jazz is basically a mids machine, it may not be that surprising). 8.3 lbs, so easy on the shoulders. The body and peghead are appropriately downsized from the full size Jazz, so it looks proportional. Neck dive not an issue. I'm very pleased, and I suspect most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this and a full size 34" scale Jazz either by looking or by listening. Pete

Thanks for the responses guys! Really helpful. Alex, your input is much appreciated. Your website has been really useful, though I don't pretend I understand all of it. I had surmised about the driver quality given the prices of the cabinets. I also worked out some of the box volumes, as in my limited understanding of these things stuffing a driver into a cabinet too small for it results in potential boominess. So, basically, I think it's come down to the Acme or the Midget T. I'm using 4 string only, having previously played 5 and moved back to 4 string Jazzes. The true low end out of the Acme is wonderful for a Jazz, even if I don't need the low-end extension that I used to. I moved from a Flite 4x10 to the B2 and was shocked at how much true low end I was actually missing! When I'm gigging in the jazz band (tenor sax, piano, drums, me) it tends to be fairly quiet, so max SPL concerns me a bit less than warmth of sound. I roll off both single coil volumes and the tone knob for most standards/swing, but for more modern pieces will swap back to tone knob fully up + both pickups back to 100%. Rarely do I go for the Jaco back pickup sound. There isn't anything I'd change about the Acme B2 tone. I find it very faithful to what is put into it, and the colouration of the RH450 + Fender Jazz is pleasing together. I usually keep the B2 up off the floor if I'm doing a funk/soul gig (receptacle for a mount was installed by Andy), no probs with boominess from stage coupling to date. Thanks for you comments chaps. Pete

Thanks, that was a really helpful review. Have you used your Midget for jazz stuff at some point too? And what about for upright? Pete

Thanks Gareth. The Epifani UL112 was a cab I was interested in, but it's pushing the form factor just a little beyond where I want to be. Space is at a premium in my boot...I'm trying to aim for something not much bigger than the old TE Boxer 30! TBH, the Hydrive cab is pushing it as well size-wise....

FYI (and for everyone else's info), the other cabs on the shortlist as it stands are: Eden Ex110 (cheap, bit of an unknown quantity) Eden Ex112 (ditto) Schroeder Mini 10+ (again, not sure how much the published specs match real-world) Hartke Hydrive 112 (reasonable inexpensive) TC RS112 (strange form factor though) Most other things appear too expensive for what they are, or the form factor starts getting a bit bigger than I can afford space-wise. Pete

Hi Alex I'm looking into getting a smaller sized cab for small jazz gigs. I have successfully gigged with my current band (sax, drums, piano) using my ancient Trace Elliot Boxer 30 practice amp, which should give you an idea of the fairly gentle volume levels. I generally run a TC RH450 into a 4 ohm Acme B2 for a bigger gig - e.g. a funk/soul gig. No volume problems in that context either. I'll be using the TC RH450 for the new smaller cabinet as well. I'm in the market for as compact a cab as possible, and have been running down the possibilities. A lot of the 1x10's out there don't appear to have the low end I'm used to out of my Acme, at least according to their published specs. I've broadened the search to include 1x12's because of this. I'm wondering about how the Midget T would compare to an Acme B1. Based on the published specs, it seems larger in size, smaller in weight, and more efficient. Price-wise, an Acme would prob. cost about the same (maybe a little cheaper), given the exchange rate. Pete

I put Hipshot Ultralights on my CV Jazz. Works a treat. Pete

[quote name='eude' post='939683' date='Aug 29 2010, 11:22 PM']Now that's very cool, and great value! I don't think you can go far wrong with Eden... Eude[/quote] I'm well inetersted in the Eden ex110. Anyone seen a review or played through one?

Thanks! Between this and the Paul Desmond solo, I'm getting a *ton* of phrases to play around with an all 12 keys. Band In A Box has become really useful again lately... There are some tasty augmented lines here. I'm also loving how both Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond resolve 13ths. Happiness.