The Gene Genie

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1500145701' post='3335937']
Thanks dmccombe7 for posting The Spiders From Mars Interviews - just finished watching and loved it! Brought back some happy memories of playing Bowie stuff - including The G-G - dep'ing behind a really good Bowie tribute artist at a one-off charity gig years ago.
[/quote]

You are very welcome.
Its been another good thread.

Dave

[scrumpymike]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1500203226' post='3336158']

Its been another good thread.

Dave
[/quote]
Certainly has. So interesting to get the definitive answer from Trevor Bolder to the OP's Gene-Genie question and to hear the ZS & TSFM story from the band's perspective - and . The phrase 'unsung heroes' springs to mind.

[PaulWarning]

I normally don't bother the odd spelling error but it's really starting to piss me off, it's the Jean Genie, not Gene Genie or G G, if you can't spell it right it's not a good start, and if G A G doesn't sound right it's probably because you've got so used to playing it wrong, or, your guitarist isn't playing it right, ok rant over

[dmccombe7]

Can't say the spelling bothered me at all.
"Gings" what difference does it make
Dave
He He

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1500226957' post='3336332']
Agreed, but if I've learnt anything from this thread it's that I've been playing 'wrong', our guitars have been playing it right and it doesn't really matter that much if I play it wrong or right as both work well ��
[/quote]tbh I think they both sound ok, can't really tell any difference, but I've got cloth ears, but looking at the video it's obvious that G A G is the way Bolder played it and he wrote the bass line so that's got to be the correct way, hasn't it?
edit, at the weekend I played blitzkrieg Bop A C D with the Guitarist doing it properly A D E and it was video'd and you can hardly tell, thankfully

Edited July 16, 2017 by PaulWarning

[scrumpymike]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1500225425' post='3336320']
I normally don't bother the odd spelling error but it's really starting to piss me off, it's the Jean Genie, not Gene Genie or G G, if you can't spell it right it's not a good start, and if G A G doesn't sound right it's probably because you've got so used to playing it wrong, or, your guitarist isn't playing it right, ok rant over
[/quote]
Quite right to rant about the spelling! I'm normally not that sloppy - must have inherited a late-onset rogue spelling gene

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1500227648' post='3336338']
Quite right to rant about the spelling! I'm normally not that sloppy - must have inherited a late-onset rogue spelling gene
[/quote]

Could be you're wearing rogue spelling Jeans

I'll get me cote

Dave

[Dad3353]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1500232310' post='3336381']...
I'll get my coat...
[/quote]

Fixed.

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1500235117' post='3336408']
Fixed.
[/quote]

[ricksterphil]

Playing the riff (it IS GAG but either works) and singing the verse is a challenge. No wonder our vocalist suggested I sing the lead on this one!

We very nearly called our band Jane Genie as our singer is called Jane

[dmccombe7]

Also came across this version where Trevor is playing GAG
More noticeable around the 3min area

Never seen this version before and an unusual costume for Bowie that i had never seen before.

http://youtu.be/tP7kHp7yQqs

[EssentialTension]

Is that Dunbar on drums after Woodmansey was sacked?

[dmccombe7]

Didn't actually pick up on that. Was too busy watching Bolder, Bowie and Ronson.

Dave

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1500493695' post='3338278']
Also came across this version where Trevor is playing GAG
More noticeable around the 3min area

Never seen this version before and an unusual costume for Bowie that i had never seen before.

[media]http://youtu.be/tP7kHp7yQqs[/media]
[/quote]bit ropey, not a patch on the TOTP version

[dmccombe7]

Quite a few mistakes made in this one by Bolder and Ronson.
Bolders is more of an ad-lib on the night and doesn't affect the song too much but Ronson solo is a bit suspect to be honest which is a bit unusual for him.

Dave

Edited July 20, 2017 by dmccombe7

[scrumpymike]

Hmmmm... definitely a bit 'loose' - still good though

[drTStingray]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1500495836' post='3338297']
Is that Dunbar on drums after Woodmansey was sacked?
[/quote]

Aynsley??

Ive learned something from this thread - back in the early 70s anyone suggesting playing EEE G#AG# E etc etc would have been considered in the same light as someone insisting on having fish djou rather than liquor with their pie and mash - basically wrong!! However having tried it I'm amazed that it sounds ok and can see why people might - especially if they're very acquainted with the Sweet song.

The other thing is the early jump to B on the bass - Mr Boulder said in a BGM or BP interview many years ago that it was a cock up but Bowie liked it - having now watched the video of the Spiders from Mars attached, I do wonder given the speed that everything was recorded whether he Bowie didn't want to or wasn't allowed to fix the error. Having heard it off and on for 45+ years I'm now getting used to it 👍

Edited July 20, 2017 by drTStingray

[lowdown]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1500564773' post='3338746']

Ive learned something from this thread - back in the early 70s anyone suggesting playing EEE G#AG# E etc etc would have been considered in the same light as someone insisting on having fish djou rather than liquor with their pie and mash - basically wrong!! However having tried it I'm amazed that it sounds ok and can see why people might - especially if they're very acquainted with the Sweet song.

[/quote]

Yep.
Although I have just been listening to that 'Sweet' tune. The Bass is not playing the same as the Guitar.
Over the E & Esus it's just playing E E EBEB (same rhythm of course).
Cue another thread...

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1500564773' post='3338746']
Aynsley??

Ive learned something from this thread - back in the early 70s anyone suggesting playing EEE G#AG# E etc etc would have been considered in the same light as someone insisting on having fish djou rather than liquor with their pie and mash - basically wrong!! However having tried it I'm amazed that it sounds ok and can see why people might - especially if they're very acquainted with the Sweet song.

The other thing is the early jump to B on the bass - Mr Boulder said in a BGM or BP interview many years ago that it was a cock up but Bowie liked it - having now watched the video of the Spiders from Mars attached, I do wonder given the speed that everything was recorded whether he Bowie didn't want to or wasn't allowed to fix the error. Having heard it off and on for 45+ years I'm now getting used to it
[/quote]our guitarist is a bit of a Bowie freak and he reckons the single was recorded as a demo while touring America so the Bolder error wasn't corrected because it wasn't intended for release, sent it back to the UK and the record company promptly released it as it was, similar thing happened to Buddy Holly's That'll be the Day, I believe

[GarethFlatlands]

I've always played G# but the little run down the bass comes in on contains a D and a C# which confuses matters slightly. I asked our guitarist (annoyingly talented, perfect pitch and only 23. Little bastard ) and his reply was:

"Ooh now then*, it's like E blues, I call it, with those maj min notes clashing. Major key with a minor scale over the top!"

Now I'm even more confused!

*he's from Yorkshire

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1500564773' post='3338746']
Aynsley??
[/quote]
Yes.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1500564773' post='3338746']
... back in the early 70s anyone suggesting playing EEE G#AG# E etc etc would have been considered in the same light as someone insisting on having fish djou rather than liquor with their pie and mash - basically wrong!! ...
[/quote]

They (i.e. we) would commonly have known it was GAG not G#AG# because they (i.e. we) knew it came from the blues in a fairly clear sequence ...

[media]http://youtu.be/nLIzRBelEf8[/media]

[media]http://youtu.be/w0NyvFDQPTQ[/media]

[media]http://youtu.be/RYti8CIiOak[/media]

[media]http://youtu.be/p-Ua1kqcmaY[/media]

... and probably further back than that but always a flattened third.

But, of course, Bowie and the band in his/their brilliance do something new with it.

[doonaboon]

Here's a tab I put together for Jean Genie, played at a posthumous Bowie tribute night I organised a while back. Sounds right to me :-) [attachment=249505:11. Jean Genie.pdf]

Edit: weird, forum has changed pdf to ipb file. Is that a usual thing?

Edited July 20, 2017 by doonaboon

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1500566643' post='3338769']
our guitarist is a bit of a Bowie freak and he reckons the single was recorded as a demo while touring America so the Bolder error wasn't corrected because it wasn't intended for release, sent it back to the UK and the record company promptly released it as it was, similar thing happened to Buddy Holly's That'll be the Day, I believe
[/quote]

Bolder tells that very story in the video in post #70 above.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='doonaboon' timestamp='1500579288' post='3338910']
Here's a tab I put together for Jean Genie, played at a posthumous Bowie tribute night I organised a while back. Sounds right to me :-) [attachment=249505:11. Jean Genie.pdf]

Edit: weird, forum has changed pdf to ipb file. Is that a usual thing?
[/quote]

Always happens. You have to save it and rename it as .pdf then open it.

[drTStingray]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1500579160' post='3338905']


They (i.e. we) would commonly have known it was GAG not G#AG# because they (i.e. we) knew it came from the blues in a fairly clear sequence ...

... and probably further back than that but always a flattened third.

But, of course, Bowie and the band in his/their brilliance do something new with it.
[/quote]

I couldn't agree more - to be honest I was a very heavy consumer of all things blues/blues rock from about 68 onwards - items in this 1 b3 4 b3 riff idiom are rife eg

Canned Heat - On the Road Again
Ten Years After - Help Me
Little Red Rooster - Rolling Stones
Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum

http://youtu.be/tOuj6att1UY

As you say all borrowed from the earlier blues guys and probably before that. I didn't discover the earlier people until a little later, particularly wondering who these writers like Willie Dixon were whose names appeared as the writing credit on bands ranging from Cream to Led Zeppelin to Fleetwood Mac etc.

Even things like Fever - Peggy Lee have the b3 in the bass riff (this is a nice thing to play on bass guitar.......so long as the drummer doesn't attempt to turn it into a drum solo!!

http://youtu.be/RI5n-ae01Xk

I was also mightily impressed by Jean Genie - even more so when playing it slightly later on bass and realising the fusion of straight blues riff with the rock take on the Choruses - and those high octave triplet Es towards the end of the solos - quite tricky to nail.

And I guess the other thing here is we bass players seem to have difficulty hearing the difference between two adjacent semi-tones here - I think as ET has said - those of us who came up in the blues rock era would have known it as b3 instinctively - until that Sweet song!!!

E Natural minor scale I think.

Edited July 21, 2017 by drTStingray