Rudi

Man Smart, Woman Smarter - The Dead

Its probably why the guitar makers are so conservative now. Rarely taking a chance and sticking to the same old designs, woods & specs. The 2015 Les Pauls (& all Gibson solidbodies) have been heavily criticised by users for the G-Force Tuners and the nut & neck mods. Early 2016 models are appearing with complete reversion to the pre-2015 designs. They'll still be making them this way in the 22nd Century unless a real guitar player takes over as CEO.

Dont Want to Lose You - Widespread Panic (who also do 'Can't Find My Way Home')

Showdown At Big Sky - Robbie Robertson

Thanks TC, yes only yesterday (YouTube) did I hear an LP sounding more jazz-like that it has a right to expect. I have no idea what it was used through. ...but I don't have an LP either !

Spirits In The Material World - Police

That is a beautiful gorgeous tone. I know Teles can do this. This might be the best example I have heard though. Well, I don’t have a Tele. I swore off Fenders when I parted company with my strat (Strats are not too bad for jazz tone either). Maybe I could reconsider Fenders? I also swore off Gibsons but have since found I can actually play those little fingerboards after all. I don’t want to go buying another guitar now though. Maybe I can get the Deuce back before the gig on the 20th ?

That don't work for everybody. It might not even work for most people.

Ah... As in Modern Jaws Quartet! (..and why am I humming 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' ?)

Rock 'n Roll Doctor - Little Feat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEOlTZGuLKM

I still haven’t figured out the sound I need for the jazz band. The Hofner is the obvious choice, but during this transitional period I need something easier to play. I would use the Deuce because I built a good jazz tone for it on the Line6 POD HD400, but that guitar is still at the luthiers. He’s had it for 3 months now. A few days back I got an Epi Casino Coupe. That’s in the broad territory of the right sound. It’s far more mellow than the ES-339. I may give that a try at this Friday’s rehearsal.

Well I think it reasonable to defer to a singers choice of key. My vocal range is limited and some songs are beyond my range in any key. I briefly played in a rock band where the bass player would fool the singer into performing in the key the bassist wanted to use. He would change key a couple of time and always return to the key he knew. What an attitude! I cannot follow a person's playing by watching. I am utterly useless at doing that. If I draw a chord diagram, I draw it upside down to resemble my view of my guitar.

I googled this and found nothing. What is jaws?

Melodies are nowhere near as important as they were 80 years ago. A melody used to have to 'suggest' both time and harmony, major or minor all encompassed in its phrasing. Chord usage has changed songs radically.

When doing BGs I try to add a 5th below

Dengue Woman Blues - Jimmie Vaughan

That sort of treatment is out of order. I am feeling mad just thinking about it. So sorry about this Mike.

These guys are ok. They do focus on my weak spots but that is only reasonable. They recorded that first tune I sat in on (described above) and I now have it as a 'memento' It is just as I remembered and described it. There has been a lot of confusion about keys. The others are all readers and one of them is music teacher. The ‘Stone Cold Sober’ tune mentioned above was in neither E nor C, but in D so I had a lot of notes to take because of such rapid transcriptions. To me and the unschooled players I usually mix with, the key is pretty obvious. If nothing else it is the final chord played in the tune. Its weird playing music with people who think about it utterly different than I do. I have been asked to 'join' them beyond the debut date I committed to. I said I would continue with them but would leave my options open. Some of the band have worked to arrangements other than the real book and that caused a problem or two on Friday with everyone comparing chords. There are a couple of tunes I like. One is 'That's All'. I have learned it from listening to this version by Barney Kessle, though of course we do it in another key (Bb). Another is 'Istanbul Not Constantinople' because it suits my penchant for chromatic lines. Ive not heard any version using the rhythm we do, but it oozes mood.

Fashion - Lady Gaga

ole!

There is a rehearsal this evening. It will be my first ‘proper’ rehearsal. The first (& only) previous time was 7 weeks ago when I just walked in and was just asked to sit down and play. The tenor sax & trumpet players agreed the tune was in F. I couldn’t keep up with the chords at all. When I was handed a solo, I began in F. Guess what? It wasn’t in F. After a bar & a half I slid down to Eb and it then sounded ok. Since then people have been on holiday (including me for 3 weeks) and I’ve had to work on this stuff alone. While away at sea I had no proper opportunity to practice. I got back last week. Yesterday I had a reply from the flautist to tell me that ‘Stone Cold Sober’ (a non-jazz song) was in C and not in E after all. I’ve been writing a process plan for work while listening to Killer Joe by Benny Golson on YouTube. It’s the only tune I have not worked on from the Jazz Band set. Mercifully, it sounds straightforward. What could possibly go wrong?

Brokedown Palace

I visited Albuquerque on a coast to coast odyssey across the USA in my 20s. I seemed a good place for a city amid all that desert. Welcome to SS

Lucid Sam, We need more lucidity. Go for it man

Now that August bank holiday has past, I am reviewing the past year critically. A lot of what has happened since is connected to the hole in my life that opened up when my partner Jan died on August bank holiday 2014. My employer sent me home on 2 weeks compassionate leave, during which time I helped clear Jan’s flat of all her possessions. I did this together with her son Ian and her friends Pam & Lorna. I spent ages taking her stuff to charity shops and to the tip. When the funeral was over and the flat emptied I returned home and started all over again. I got rid of a lot of stuff from my house. My mind was somehow preoccupied with this. I couldn’t think of any other way to spend the time I had on my hands. So back and forth to the tip I went. I was almost on first name terms with the totters there. But I got rid of a lot of stuff I didn’t need. I had a lot of work done modernising the house. Central heating installed last year, and a bathroom suite fitted this year. It was done while I was on holiday in the Mediterranean during August 2015. The bathroom still needs some remedial work to finish it. Music: Weirdly my music took an odd turn. I have never been a collector of guitars. In 44 years I had only bought 9 guitars. Of those I still had 7. Of the 7, I only really used 5. Since December 2014 I have bought 5 more guitars (and sold only one in the same period). Do I need these guitars? Of course not. I only need 4: An acoustic, a Spanish acoustic, an electric and a practice model. Am I using them all? Yes, and I don’t regret acquiring them. However, the simple truth is that I am in the same behavioural rut that I found myself in following Jan’s passing. I now have become more knowledgeable about guitars and curiosity has driven the desire to try out more models. The more models I try out, the more likely I am to find another I really like. I have replaced house clearance with a guitar fixation. Not a music fixation. I already had a music fixation since I was a boy. This new thing is quite different. I never knew much about guitars before, beyond playing them that is. Other players knew far more about the history, diversity and detail of guitars in general. They are to me, still just tools, but I now have a disproportionate interest in the tools. Another change is occurring. I am now in 2 bands and am considering starting another. Blown Out has been going for many years now. We are in a rut though. Much of our material we were playing we were doing 16 years ago. We are getting out less and it feels like we are running down. The Jazz band offer came by recommendation from a young drummer who I’d played with once. I have certainly augmented (no pun) my chord knowledge since trying to learn some of this new material. Why a third band? I don’t know. Blown Out’s singer Pete has always wanted to gig more than the rest of us. He has ‘moonlighted’ with other bands before now. He and I came close to doing duo work before, and got a fair few songs rehearsed up. It was just some covers we liked and also a few original songs too. Now, the idea is to launch a blues band. Why a blues band? The simple truth is that its easy music and we won’t need very long in rehearsals. We should be able to get a couple of sets together fairly quickly and get out gigging with minimal delay. Of course we like blues too, but the decision on the genre is mainly pragmatic. If Jan were still about, I wouldn’t be looking outside of Blown Out for gigs and I wouldn’t have 5 more guitars now. I would likely have the Hofner I started with (in December 2014), and perhaps nurse a little curiosity about a couple of others for a while. What else has happened? I have worked a lot of overtime to better afford the home improvements and the 2 holidays. Jan had booked both these holidays for the two of us. One last September and the other this August. I had serious doubts about going on either of them, but I’m glad I did. I met a lot more people and started learning to dance and also to talk pointlessly. Both are valuable skills. Why was I so late understanding that? At 61, retirement is looming, but I don’t really want to retire anymore. Maybe that will change when things get rough at work again. Those things always happen, and it’s only a matter of time before the next crisis descends on us. Based on my parent’s longevity, I reckon I’ve got maybe 16 years left. I need to make better use of it than spending money and working 12 hour days. On Sunday I begin taking more dancing lessons. So eventually I may be able to meet yet more people, talk pointlessly and dance a tango. There’s ambition for you.