TapperMike

We lost two "core" employees this week.....and due to unforeseen reasons my tech job has jumped from 20 to 35 hours a week. The problem is the tech job is salary. I'm trying to get as much pay out of them in the next month because come nov 30 it's lights out. As well I'm incurring a lot of expenses from no where making my goals harder to achieve. Everytime I turn around there is a new expense nickel and diming me to death.

I had that happen at a now defunct music store. (being only allowed to play the amp they chose) I also had the reverse at saime sed store when looking at an amp and only being allowed to play the guitar they wished me to.... Needles to say I stopped shopping there and eventually the place closed.

Next year the models change and the prices drop considerably. They've done away with the Les Paul Hologram and the G-Force tuners. I wouldn't be surprised if Stores are trying to clear out inventory quick for the new ones to come around. Expect serious price drops. Also expect the 2015 models to become collectable very quickly (say 5 years) Limited Run exception models have a niche market.

I've had an occasion or two when I put all music playing in the rear view window while pursuing other things. Fortunately there were always a few turns in life that allowed me to pick it back up and throw it in the car and carry it along in this wondrous journey called life.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel but it's a very dim light. I doubt if it's an oncoming train. I just hope it's not like a ride at disneyland. Where you wait in a very long line and you think your near the end. Then you get to that point and find out they just hid how long the line is by having to go through a door where you see another very long line which leads to another door and another long line and then after that one more door with one final long line. 45 minutes standing in line for a 5 minute ride.

I'm trying to do that but even that is a challenge..... I don't have a car. A friend of mine is a full time working musician who happens to host a blues jam on Sunday nights. I work on Sunday nights. I usually get off work right about the time the show begins. It's a two hour walk with guitar in hand to the show. I'm trying to convince someone to drive me out after work to the gig. And until last week I was relearning many of the blues standards I used to know. But that's faded. Usually I'm just not energized enough for the free time that I have to do much of anything. Just like today. I got up, worked support, Supplied the above post (and a few other online things) walked out to do some grocery shopping dragged my bags and myself home..put everything away and now I've got to do some things around the house (cleaning) and get ready for work. Tonite, it's work, then come home and more work in support then the same tomorrow. My one day off I'm usually beat tired and all I want to do is lay in bed to recuperate from the week.

I'm having a harder time getting motivated to play recently. Mostly I attribute this to burn out. Cook professionally can take a lot of energy out of one. I put in a lot of hours at that. As well I put in a few hours a day both before and after my regular job doing support. I'm finding it harder and harder to do anything with my freetime. I'm dead tired I occasionally make posts online and I'm just not interested in playing guitar. These have never been excuses for me in the past. If anything working lots of hours were an encouragement for me to find the time to play. I'm hoping in a month or two when my internet job is no longer that I'll have the time and inspiration to play regularly again.

Wow, that's a lot of work.

Looks like the decision has been made for me. The ZB2 has been sold. So the linnstrument it is.

The price on the zb2 kept sales down. Also as much as I like Harvey Starr founder of Starr Labs. He's an engineer first and a marketer last. Most of his sales have been for midi wireless units that one can attach or have installed to midi controllers As far as the linnstrument it's becoming more and more popular as Roger Linn is a name to be recognized. It's only been out a year and no one is selling them used on ebay. Jordan Rudess has stated he'll be recording with his soon and making it a part of his touring gear. A good friend and fellow "ztarist" Jeff Moen has been pushing out videos using one.

One more feature is the polyphony. On a linnstrument one is limited to 2 notes per "string" (row) on the ZB2..it's only limited by how many notes you can physically depress per row. ..

Here are a few more things about the ZB2 Although it doesn't have led's the ZB2 can have any section of the instrument act like a Ableton Live, Bitwig or Mixcraft Controller to handle scene manipulation. Somewhat like the Starr Labs Clipper sans the LED's I have the same features on my Baby Z however the BabyZ is limited to 6 string 16 frets The programming is oddly rather simple and straightforward and can all be done via the lcd display. With most starr labs instruments think of a key (or button) as an island. It can be tuned to any note value. And can send other parameters (CC) as well. When one groups keys (anywhere you can draw a rectangle) That becomes a "zone" the unit has 40 zones that can be sent on up to 32 midi channels (16 left / right) That's only where things start. The ZB2 has 48 "songs" think of them as presets for all of your ztar arranging that can be stored to pull up when you want a different arrangement or to call up different instruments from the controller itself rather then reaching over for a mouse or a touch screen.

The ZB2 is based on the Ztar of which I own. having 12 as opposed to 6 strings or rows offers a wide harmonic range. I've tried to lay my ztar flat like a slide guitar but it's impractical. The ZB2 has more properly spaced/sized "keys" which makes it considerably easier to play. It's also pressure sensitive as opposed to simply velocity sensitive. And it has a tactile surface. Regarding the resell value.... ZB's and Ztars have been for a long time made by hand per order. It's not high production and it's all been in the US paying good US money to american workers. This means they are expensive to produce. Consumers have been either unaware or apathetic to this and thus shy'd away from purchasing these "higher end" instruments. Especially guitarists who seem to fight advances of technology where it requires some adaption. The big appeal to me is the grid like layout and the range. Having a grid tuned to 4ths makes it easier for a guitarist to adapt to rather then a keyboard. It also allows for harmonies that would be unattainable via a guitar regardless of tuning and some that could otherwise be impossible on a keybed. There's more I just don't have the time to get into it right now.

It's not all 10 to 12 hour days and it's a six day week. The last two days I had 5 hour shifts. However the next three will be 11 hour shifts in the restaurant. Support is catch as catch can. Sometimes it only adds up to an hour to three a day. Because I'm salary it doesn't matter so long as everything I need to do is done. In years gone by I used to work two jobs one was 35 hrs a week and the other was 40. I did it and felt like a robot after awhile. I don't think I'll be able to coordinate a straight schedule at the restaurant after the support job is gone. I do expect that more workers will be hired in the near future so that will affect my cooking schedule as well. I believe even if more staff are hired I should be able to keep the roof over my head just by working at the restaurant. It's impractical for me to look for a second job.

So I might have some extra money coming my way in the next few months, I'm looking to buy myself something as a Christmas gift to myself. I've got the chance to buy a zb2 which is an instrument I've been in love with since about 2001 but never could afford. It's a 12x24 grid layout tuned to 4ths which is roughly 6.5 Octaves but if you split it in half you get 2 5.5 octaves and you can even split it into three and still get 3 5 octave "Zones" It's finely programable and is based on starr labs ztars (Of which I'm quite familiar with. When starr labs was selling them they went for $5,000 I have the opportunity to pick it up for 2k As far as I'm aware there are only 10 ZB2's in existence. One owned by Alan Holdsworth. It doesn't however mean they are collectors value as I've seen the same one on the market for 3 years now. So the resale value is very low. The other option is the linnstrument. The linnstrument is only an 8x25 is capable of only doing one split and doesn't have the features (knobs, joystick, touch-strip) or the programability of the zb2 What the linnstrument does offer is x/y control within the note region. easy "frettless" slides left and right and two other parameters for up and down (like modulation) giving the linnstrument full aftertouch in ways that cannot be created on a conventional keyboard or even the new "seaboard" instrument. The linnstrument is a brand new instrument released this year. It's mass produced and so far as I can tell they aren't going up for resell on the used market. They are very popular with "touch" musicians (chapman stick et all) And a number of my fellow "ztarists" have made the conversion to the linnstrument without looking back. If I had the financial means I'd get one of each. The ZB2 for harmony and the linnstrument for solo's That isn't going to happen. I've given myself till December to decide. And in doing so the decision may already be made for me. As the zb2 I intend to purchase is up for auction on ebay (even though it hasn't sold in 4 years (relisted)

So this cooking job is looking better then the last two. But it's starting to run me ragged. I'll have a 10-2 morning shift then a 4-close (usually 10 or 11 evening shift on regular occasion. Along with trying to put work in at the software company which is usually a little before I go in during the morning. A little between shifts and a little when I get home. Job security in my cooking position seems reliant on others leaving. I hope I don't reach a burn out level too soon. As much as everyone is nice to me and makes me feel wanted needed I still have aspirations to make better money be it staying or going. I can't say for certain but I think that's why we have a staffing problem. People have asked for more and then are told to wait and see and give it time....With winter around the corner staying is my only option for now. Come spring I'll be reviewing my options.

It's funny you mention Benson. I think he's the most underrated jazz guitarist of all time simply because people pass him off as pop. I love George Benson's playing. He brought the riff back to jazz in a respectable form that had pretty much ended with the big band era. He also could make covers his own by bringing his unique flare of self. It's hard for me to even consider Leon Russel's Masquerade after hearing the Benson version. Same goes with Jose Feliciano's Affirmation. Benson was considered the last of the great chord soloists during his peak. He could simply bust out full chords not just octaves on a whim during a jam and pull it off exceedingly well. Even contemporaries of Chord Melody arrangements like Tim Lerch and Jake Reichbart can't hold a candle to what Benson could pull off on a whim.

Yeay, I get to post some Dan..... Green Earrings - Steely Dan

Blue in Green - Bill Evans

Damn you TC (jk) Here they are by the numbers. Trane would use his four note grouping as applied to the "Dominant Lydian Mode" Yes it's spelled as one would think 1-2-3-#4-5-6-B7 He went to it after studying the versatility of one mode that would work fluidly over Alt chords. He also had a tendency to through out chord progressions all together and reharmonize the entire score for "angular" sounding chords as demonstrated in his rendition of "My Favorite Things" Stanley Turrentine favored the phrygian scale and would use harmonic justification has well to "land" on the chord tone with the melody even though the whole of his phrases may have not fit the alt chord... Check out "Sugar" Elliot Randall and a young Larry Carlton would superimpose a whole tone scale when faced with Alt chords. Eventually Carlton moved away from this practice in later years. You can hear Elliot Randall's approach to this during the ending solo to "Reeling In the Years" Where the cycling G and A chords start getting mashed together and the 5ths are omitted from the background. Which gets back to my statment regarding comping to omit the 5th note. While the later (post heart attack) Pat Martino would use the "other pentatonic shapes" for getting around alt chords. The younger Pat Martino would super-impose different chord structure arpeggios while working with Alt Chords. Personally I find the approach a little too far out of the box for my personal playing and so try to use it in limited doses. Robben Ford - while mostly known for his blues playing Robben Ford had a long history with Arranger/Composer/ Studio Ace Saxophonist Tom Scott....who as a matter of record also had a solo on Steely Dan's Aja not to mention is hother many accomplishments*. When Robben Ford was playing with Scott he used the minor 6 pentatonic scale with a b5 note (similar but not the same as the blues scale) for playing over altered chords. He never worried about justifying the minor/major 3rd. I had this quack teacher once.. (not the one mentioned above) who believed everything could be resolvable using Parallel Minor Keys and superimposing either the bebop scale or the half-whole scale. Damn guy drove me insane. He would expect that I transpose an entire song to it's parallel minor and make adjustments then make more adjustments/embellishments on the melody to emphasis the unique characteristics of the scale tones Didn't matter whether I knew the original score or not. He'd just open some sheet music and expect it all on the fly. It drove me batty. I no longer substitute parallel minor keys. and only rarely do I use the Bebop Dorian scale. Generally when trying to sound "hip" over an alt chord I'll super-impose the half -whole scale which also works exceptionally well over 7b9 and 7#9 In summary. I don't vamp on Alt chords anymore. I did when I had to in order to explore various methods for interpretation. Mostly when you are vamping solely to work out a scalar/melodic idea you lose sight of the fact that IRL arrangements are moving somewhere and you have to be on top of the next chord. I also don't like Vamps in general. I hate staying on the same chord ad nauseam. The only time I'll work through successive alt chords is on "My Favorite Things" and when I do I stick to John Coltrane's approach because... Everyone in the audience is a critic and they are all staring at my hands. When ever I stretch to include elements not within the Trane framework I hear it to no end once I get off stage. They only want to hear Coltrane treatments on songs Coltrane songs. It's freaking annoying as hell. I rarely improvise these last few years. I'm more into guitar "Chord Melody" arrangement which has it's own unique set of challenges and creativity. It pushes out any desire to solo over the head. Rewriting and then trying to accomplish the chord/melody approach (sure call it fingerstyle if you like) is more then enough to keep me entertained. Like I stated in the beginning. I'm more of a Parker type soloist. Focus on moving around the arpeggio with neighboring, passing, leading and otherwise chromatic notes as filler between the strong beats. Occasionally throw in the Whole-Half scale where needed and let the rest work out for itself. When I was still quite new to playing guitar Steely Dan rocked my world. Steely Dan led me to Jazz. At that point I was obsessed with anything jazz fusion. Delucia, Di Meola, Ritenour, Hallsworth, Metheney, Abercrombie If they were under 40 and played some semblance of Contemporary Jazz (at that time) I wanted to be them do what they were doing and do it all. That makes for a mighty schizophrenic player with no sense of self. Through the years I've looked back on various artists with respect and admiration but not always love. I hate Pat Martino's playing. It isn't that he's not good or great doing his thing yes he is. It's just that his playing leaves me cold as there are no cliche's that he resolves to it's just an endless stream of consciousness based on his substitution principles. The same goes for many a jazz luminary such as Miles Davis... Really not into Miles at all though I respect what he has brought to the field. Now I'm older, maybe wiser (the jury is still out) and I've sculpted my sound into "me" I've removed those grand idea's that may have worked just fine for someone else although sometimes I do return to them for "novelty sake" And when I'm approached by some theory zealot who claims my improvisations aren't adherent to someone else's approach(Like Coltrane) I simply say... Hi I'm Mike Chrysler perhaps you've heard of me during the introduction or when I was with so and so (Insert famous local artist) I studied at Wayne State University as well as CCC and the Detroit Recording Institute. I've played at (long list of jazz venues) And I'm not trying to be that famous person. As for the newer jazz player, Sure climb every mountain. Rise to the challenges. Then take what you find uniquely you and disregard the rest. Because it's supposed to be you expressing yourself through music. Not you trying to be a carbon copy of someone else. * Though Tom Scott gets around most any scale adepthly the solo he did on Aja was based solely on the major scale)

Time to turn it back then. Wedding Bell Blues - The Fifth Dimension

Who do you want to emulate should be the starting point. Jazz musicians have certain peculiarities with regard to theory. With Satchmo it was all about the line. He would pick a "tonal center" or just use the key and would play extended lines not phrases that would rest above whatever anyone else would do. The chord changes would come and go and if the line didn't match up wholly with the chord change so be it. It was what I call consonance/dissonance/ Which is my "All in one" theory to jazz. Dissonance creates tension because the notes of the melody may not be inline with the harmony. There are relative values to dissonance in context. Some non chord tones have more dissonance then others. And when you are playing a long line which contradicts the harmony beneath it that makes the resolution of simply changing the chord without changing the line. Eric Clapton on Phil Collins "I wish it would rain" Does the inverse. He plays in context for some chords but does not for others. It is a Consonance to Dissonance to make the solo "sour" as a means or reinforcing anguish. I know it's not jazz but it has been used on more dramatic jazz songs as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsz8xLZCoPI Now we have to consider the chords function in relation to the song. Is it a Vamp? Vamps are common to early rock solos, fusion and as introductions to songs. Basically it's one chord played over an entire or almost entire progression. Most rockers and jazzers get down with working through modes via vamps. Generally the chord stays static with minimal (comped) value and the solo may play each mode correlating to the chord value (major, minor, dominant) So lets say you are playing over an F7 with the 5th C omitted) you might play from the Bb scale, then in another section play from the F half -whole scale (F-Gb-Ab-A-B-C-Db-Eb-F) or for brevity you could use the Dominant 7 pentatonic. Normally when we thing of pentatones we think in terms of the minor 7th pentatonic scale and it's relative major the Major 6th pentatonic scale. Pat Martino super imposes the dominant 7 pentatonic scale (1-2-3-5-7) and the minor pentatonic 6th scale (1-b3-4-5-6) over any chord where he can find two common tones. This is the way he's approached everything after having a heart attack and had to relearn the guitar. Trane (John Coltrane) .relied on 4 note grouping patterns derived from scale tones.http://www.freejazzlessons.com/jazz-patterns/ These come in quite handy if you are playing an extended solo where every 1,2 or four measures the key modulates. Songs like Bluesette and the chorus to Michael Franks (popularized by Diane Krall) "Popsicle Toes" (the verse is a jazz/blues progression) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHdCmNtFZ3w Oddly Joe Pass doesn't color outside the lines as much as one believes. He will occasionally "sour" a Dominant V7th chord that doesn't resolve to the I chord. At that point he subsitutes the 5th of the chords harmonic or melodic minor. Ergo if the Chord was a G7 he would play the D harmonic or melodic minor, Me after experimenting most of my life it always comes back to Bird (Charlie Parker) Although his performances always seemed weak to me his premise remains strong. Focus on Chord tones during the strong beats and connect chord tones with chromatic alliterations such as passing and neighboring tones. I remember when I first learned the Bird approach. I was studying at Wayne State University under a professor who had also taught Al Di Meola and Earl Klugh it's like a light went on in my head that never shut off. I said "Wow Man this is the coolest thing ever" His reply was that many a musician had the same approach and it was all that they needed for their entire career. The biggest thing is ...time Learning these any "approach theory" to improvisation isn't something you do with 5 minutes while your in between studying something else. You really need a long stretch of a full hour twice a week just to improvise over changes. And that's where my usual plug comes in..... Band in a Box by http://pgmusic.com. Load up a standard, mute the melody and solo and then just jam your way through the song (or songs) for a good hour using the same approach. Be it Gypsy's or mine. It's all good and well to talk about theory. However talk wont' ingrain the concepts into your brain like playing them.

John, Now I have since following the information you presented. Really don't have too much time to give SongStuff a good look over. Promise to do so as time presents itself.

Thanks John

It's harder for me to navigate the forums. I don't know if the site stuff forums were removed or I'm just not seeing the link. The links above each forum are like a huge misdirect. It takes a little scrolling to find a post.