TapperMike

The Hustle - Van McCoy

All very valid. What's funny is that my ear training developed due to poorly written sheet music. I'd read a song and play along with it and a little voice in my head would be saying "This isn't right, why isn't this right?" I thought transcribers must have some super power and were so skilled beyond all else that they couldn't be wrong... Well I thought wrong and the more frustrated I became over not sounding like the record the further along the path to true ear training began. But I didn't stop reading all sheet music as a result and part of that ear training and experience and general listening helped me when "interpreting" sheets. The riffstation app is far from truth all the chords shown are "foot in the door" chords forms not to be taken literally (same with bad fake books) I used to teach guitar. I was let go because I couldn't hold on to enough students. Back then working in a music store meant you taught by the half hour and part of your earnings went to pay the room rent for that half hour. Teachers were a dime a dozen and no cost to the store owner. However it was income added to his business. There were those types of students who needed little inspiration and mostly some guidance / instruction. They would take what you taught them, come back in a week, be happy to show off how they mastered it and showed me how they were using it. There were students who applied themselves less and needed much more inspiration but caught on over time and you could see progress and pride follow. Then there were what I call "wish-a-be's" Wish-a-be's those below wanna be's would show up and would retain nothing from the last lesson. Would want to watch you play more while not participating and would never practice the material I'd have to offer them. I never felt my role as a teacher was to be a babysitter. A few of the teachers I knew were exactly that. They would keep the student on charging the student every week even though the student refused to apply himself/herself. And hey, it's money. But I would often turn away these wish-a-be students and it left me with too few students to teach. These students would have everything available to them (at the time) and use little to none of it to better themselves. The same goes on today. There are apps that promise to do everything including "write the music for you" like cringe... songsterr. No it won't make them songwriters or performers or "real musicians" mostly it's something that is there to pass the time. Now that I've played riffstation for a day or two here's my takeaway. There are songs that used to be part of my repertoire back in the 70's they were some of the first songs that I'd ever played. They helped me get my act together with rhythmic patterns, changing chords, developing a sense of melody and singing. I played those songs everywhere. Brought my guitar to high school, played on the grounds. Brought my guitar to parks, met girls singing those songs. played them at my girlfriends, campfires, and trying out for bands. Many I haven't played since the end of the 70's. All that time playing those songs that were eventually replaced with other songs and... I couldn't remember the early ones. So I saw a video on youtube.. plugged it into riffstation it was instant recall. As soon as I saw the chords I remembered the song (for the most part) And happy to play and sing along. It was great fun for me. I don't have the records for those songs anymore nor do I have the sheet music. Although way back when I had both. Could I have easily found the score or a video online and sat down to figure out the song without riffstation. Well yes. As easily and having instant gratification,,,no. On the negative side of things the display is not laid out like a sheet. Big pill button boxes sliding by aren't the same as being able to see the sheet in front of you. So while I could play along with the display I couldn't retain as well when I walked away. That's a very negative. For me, the purpose of learning a song is to learn the song all the way through well enough to perform it without looking at the sheet. After that other qualities can come from it which can enhance one's writing skills or other skills. So it's a nice little program that could be used effectively to enhance one's repertoire if one already khat to look for. Same as the crappy sheet music many have to endure. Even more advanced tools such as guitarpro http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php and same with any tool for learning songs much depends on the development of the musician learning the song and the transcriber. Some G-pro songs are quite terrible in regards to accuracy while others are amazingly true to form. Having the education/discipline to know the difference takes time effort understanding. Does this make me lazy as a musician to use such a tool? I've got ears, I've got experience, I've got knowledge. Maybe, it does. Then again maybe it doesn't as I do have wisdom which I apply when working out a song and I do have to apply that. And maybe it doesn't because I do take the time to walk away from the monitor and see what I've really learned along the way and faced with that empty moment of what goes here it forces me to think out what I'm missing.

Generally I don't get into "instant transcription" software. I have but never fully realized the downloadable version, now a new version is available that transcribes songs on the fly from youtube. http://play.riffstation.com/?v=XonFZjuyc6E Then again remembering my youth as it was, back then all we had were our records and our ears. Okay not entirely true we did have fake books that usually had poor transcriptions often in the wrong key. This has been a fun little web app for me. Simply pull up a youtube listing and riff station does the rest. When you don't want to get serious about transcription and just want to knock out songs quickly and easily this is proving to be a wonderful...toy.

Kick out the jams...#@%$^^"? Freeway Jam - Jeff Beck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcRk81VVc7U

Shakin all over - Johnny Kidd and the Pirates

Shake Rattle and Roll - Big Joe Turner

The quality is bad? Are you too close to your computer? Are the levels set correctly? Is your computer loud? Is it about latency (time delay between recording and hearing the recording) I've got much older 16/44.1 recorders that sound great. Much of what it sounds like could be the environment (room) and treatment.

It's simply a midi controller however it does receive midi also which means you can do a little light chow and change tunings. Egad I thought I linked to a different video for the second one. I've since noticed some things that may be quibbles. Do to the precise need for center attack (placing the finger smack dab in the center or the light. It is very easy to get out of tune chords. There are a lot of techniques I've developed for the ztar which could not be applied to the linnstrument. Many are "finger painting" maneuvers like rakes / sweeps. think of them as vertical rather then horizontal slides. I've also noticed in one video where Roger Linn is standing with the instrument... It needs a brace / bracket to move the instrument which is essentially a neck of a guitar but not the rest..away from a persons body so you can put your thumb behind it. As you'll notice in the video below Roger Linn doesn't move his under (left) hand very up the neck at all. Another thing is "key size. The squareds are larger then your average or even wide string guitars to accomodate for up/down/ left/right technice in the square. A mini12 which has a twelve row (string) or a z board which also is a 12/24 layout has less distance because it uses smaller keys. The linnstrument is 8x12 If given the chance I could come up with many more things that a ztar can do of which a linnstrument can't.. That being said the things that a linnstrument can do of which a ztar can't make it an interesting proposition. Current (not in development) keyboards with what they consider full aftertouch pale in comparison to the linnstrument, Usually the type of responsiveness is only available on the very top end workstations. It's very cost prohibitive to try and get all that aftertouch range of motion onto each key onfo the keybed such as per key poly pressure sensitivity which is continuous where as velocity which is only initial attack. Even units today (save ztars) which to have pressure sensitivity are channel wide not on a per key basis. The Linnstrument is expected to cost between 1 and 2k USD. Which for the control it offers would be more then worth the price. What's funny is back in 2007 when I got my first ztar I was in regular communication with the starr labs crew. I had proposed a concept which was a combination of their existing technology into a single component. Highly doable and smart was the response I got from Harvey Starr but he never implemented it. Yep, that's me.... Before starr labs developed string triggers that were actual strings they had these "buttons" that are/were rubberized ridges.they are known as key triggers or string triggers and sit on the body where one would strum they are velocity sensitive but not pressure sensitive. Moving up the body there are 6 smaller ridges known as expression pads which are pressure sensitive. Underneath that is a touchstrip. Imagine if you will string triggers with pressure sensitivity and touch strip for bend slide up down. and then a separate column of pressure sensitive pads before the neck. That way you could get almost all the features of a Linnstrument AND retain picking technique.

I've been watching the development of the Linnstrument for a few years now. It's expected out in the fall of this year. I find it the perfect balance between the ztar and eigenharps. It is a poly-pressure 8x25 grid surface (almost 5 octaves when tuned to fourths) with up/down and left/fright control for pitch and modulation, not something you could do with your average touch screen surface.

Back when I was in my late teens. I'd developed this left hand approach to scaling diatonics using only two fingers. I got really good at it and thought I'd figured out something new. I'd also play all downstrokes. which made for an interesting timing effect. I thought I ruled the world new crazy technique no one else had. Back then guitarists of all ages used to hang out in parks. One old guy looks at me and says... Wow never seen someone use "jango" in a rock setting. I didn't know what he was talking about. Then another and another commented about my technique. And finally I found out who "Django" was and how he used two fingers on the left hand and all down strokes on his solo's .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZBPcXTXPEA

Guys,,,, This thread is more fun - http://forums.songstuff.com/topic/37223-the-guitar-show-show-yours/

My point in all the above is this.... While "The Clipper" is more powerful for use with Ableton Live then any other midi controller on the market (including Push and Maschine) It does so at a cost to functionality over generalized midi control that standard ztars have had in the past. As well Having only two products for the market (wireless midi and the clipper) puts pretty much the entire workforce at starr labs out of work as other ztars are made to order.

It's always been thin ice for starr labs. They've never had investors and everything is made to order with an american workforce. Made to order means even though they say 6 to 8 weeks it can be up to 6 months for a highly specialized ztar. This pushes all production back as opposed to having a single product (like they have now with the clipper) where you can't get add ons and it may indeed be built in china and shipped back to so cal. I know for a while Harvey went shopping overseas for a manufacturer paid up the wazoo and the company disappeared. Same thing with the original iTar. Harvey contracted a company to program ztars for ios through lots of money at them and then they ran for the hills. It was only until the next installment of the itar that he hooked up with a company willing to work out iTar kinks.. But still that thing has yet to come to market. The midi guitar market is a strange one. People are so obsessed with a guitar looking and feeling like a guitar that they'll throw away the possibilities and accuracy of which a ztar has to offer. No glitches no unwanted ghost notes no latency, no pitch issues and a million and one other problems that arise from using a pitch to voltage system. While I do complain about my z6's recent failings take a good look at my avatar. It's my baby z This is the clipper (the model they still sell) Believe it or not... My Baby z sans the light show is more powerful then the clipper. The clipper limits midi output to three midi channels one of which is dedicated to controlling the live environment which leaves two for actual playing. The baby Z has 32 midi channels (16 left and 16 right) While the clipper does have more frets (24) then the baby z the baby z has six "string triggers" and 6 expression pads. expression pads used to be available on the clipper they aren't any more. As well while the demo shows a clipper with 6 pots (an extra that is no longer available) my baby z has 8 pots as a standard feature. While it's somewhat of a time consumer I can map the fretboard for live just like the video the only difference being the lack of a light show. The top panel shows access to the 32 "songs" (presets) 8 at a time. As a song stores the value of what everything does one can easily have my 8 pots access 64 different values by simply clicking the soft keys associated with the name. Imagine a midi controller device with 64 pots for mixing and effects just a push button away. Not to mention all the other zoning and button features. I've had it for years and while I know how it all works it still amazes me the versatility of this little baby. I got the first baby z ever released and it was 1100. Before they discontinued it the product was selling for 600+ shipping. My only issue with the baby z is lack of frets as the baby only has 16 frets and not 24. The reason this is irks me so much is because I've developed several techniques/approaches which require the full 24 frets. See this guy.... I've copied from Jeff a lot. Notice how he plays melody with the right hand while the left hand plays bass set to a bass patch and harmony set to a different channel. I've expanded on that to where I'll split the 12~24 frets again at the 18th fret so I'll have one channel for a melody line and another one for a lead sound. That I can't do on a baby z. nor could it be done on a clipper. For that I'd need a real ztar (eg: z5,z6,z7 or most preferably mini z the version jeff plays in the above video) What's funny is I also developed an approach for "lap" ztar playing which would be similar to playing a z-board. http://www.deviantsynth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/zboard.png

So this is interesting ..... After I open the forum I visit Starr Labs and find out. 6 of the 7 ztar products have been discontinued.as well as several other products. Now all they offer is "The clipper" and wireless midi

http://tappermike.com/forums On average twice a week I get a private message from a fellow ztarist asking mostly about "Song" (the ztar system for patches) setups response curves and requests for more vids or tutes. It seems like I'm the only one offering this stuff aside from Starr Labs (maker of the ztar) I'm hoping that it will encourage other ztar players to share their knowledge as well.

Those who know my fascination with Steely Dan will understand why.

If you are moving to Japan. I would suggest that you wait till you are there to consider what you might purchase. In japan you most probably will find cheaper deals then you can get where you live. As well there is the cost of transporting what you have to japan (shipping/moving) And finally there is a consideration of electricity (getting power convertors as opposed to not getting power convertors.

John, I think the main point of the composers forum going to pay is exclusivity not as a part of financial compensation. While I can't speak of knowing your experience handling this forum for so well and long. I am acquainted with the labor of love it takes to build a forum and maintain it. I'd rather not get into my past experiences or for that matter current endeavors with forum operations in this reply.. Quite frankly vimeo is better geared for the working videographer / musician and maybe too much so to be of interest to the general public. DailyMotion has been steadily increasing in content over the last few years with many a youtuber whom has become disillusioned with youtubes previous tactics. There are more user contributed video sites however the general public is slow to move away from youtube. I'm guessing / hoping that the subscription based concept will sink youtube. As both consumers and providers deserve better then youtube.

My review is up for the Tele here - http://forums.songstuff.com/blog/159/entry-1499-review-fender-modern-player-telecaster-plus/ Thanks for that link DM I've been trying to take a few idea's and ingrain them on a daily basis rather then trying to master and forget everything in one fell swoop. I just wish I could find more (I've found a few so far) lessons in guitar pro format. It's nice when you can loop, play along and build up speed slowly. Usually when I try to play something the first time at tempo some of the articulation is lost. or I'll revert my playing technique to flatpicking only when it requires travis/hybrid picking.

Artists make money by selling t-shirts and gigging. Gigging for a signed act is the way that most labels make money off of it's stable of performers. I've had a few accounts with youtube over the years, received many hits, not recieved a dime in compensation. Youtube operates on advertising same as broadcast radio and television. Public radio and television have a more equitable return for performers then youtube. If you say... go on a tv show you will be financially compensated by that show. The show is paid for by the producers who in turn make money from advertisements. Not so for youtube. Going to a subscription service will not return more money for artists as John points out. It will make things harder for signed acts on indie labels to make money and their take will be less then what it was before. I've always had mixed feelings about youtube from both a viewer and uploader perspective. I'd stop watching youtube today if more content providers would switch to a youtube alternative such as dailymotion. Unfortunately the eyes go to youtube so the uploads go to youtube. It's not free if advertising exists. Advertising pays for the operations just like television, radio, print. The news stand price of a magazine doesn't begin to cover the cost of the ink let alone the paper or the content or the distribution. The news and magazine subscription service is a service to advertiser so they can show numbers. The internet does not require a subscription to show circulation numbers as there are more then enough tracking information on who watches what when. Google is just greedy. Which is fine for it's competitors. Hulu was formed by american television broadcasters (fox, abc, cbs, nbc, cw) As a means to combat piracy. They have a graduated system allowing one to choose subscription vs free. Because it's structure the pay content is value added. Both Hulu and the producers make money on hulu's free service due to advertising just as it works in american broadcast television. It's a good deal all the way around for content providers, viewers and advertisers. Whats more Hulu Plus which is a subscription upgrade offers more Value added for pricing. They way it should be. If the value of plus is not up to ones standards one can choose not to use the service. This is the way it should be, rather then forcing people to pay for what they've already gotten for free without any added value (youtube) Before the advent of high speed internet Cable had no true competition. Generally if you wanted a different provider it meant moving to a different part of the country. As a prime example.... Locally the only cable provider is comcast. My apt complex had it's own satellite and you had to use the complexes service for cable type viewing. This also meant one couldn't get comcast or any other cable companies broadband. The village(apts) had crappy cable with poor reception and no broadband. They also did not allow for satellites, So crappy cable subscription service or no cable subscription service. The only game in town for broadband was ATT. No true choices and not competitive. As a consumer there are four pizza places in walking distance to me. All of them compete with one another and I the consumer am the winner as each has to really make it worth my while for me to buy someone's pizza. This type of competition does not exist for me in the cable or broadband internet. I get what the one provider has to offer at the price they have to offer. If both youtube content providers are getting screwed and youtube visitors are getting screwed by google / youtube with no say in the matter I say Leave youtube. The internet doesn't change because someone has a perception of how they want it to be. There may indeed be a shift but not as intended. Interest in youtube has begun to diminish overall. People would rather spend time on facebook then youtube as it is. Vloggers and Vlog content are diminishing on youtube. Once a subscription system is enforced it may indeed drive the last of us uploaders and viewers to different public video sites such as dailymotion and others. Before facebook there was friendster then there was myspace while they still exist they have considerable less viewers and therefore advertising revenue. The same could be the case for Youtube. Here's another story.... I used to belong to a composers forum. I thought it would present a unique opportunity for me to gain some classical composition insight. Instead it was a bunch of composers who would constantly rag on other composers. A very bitchy place with some highly accredited classical composers. All quite pompous. Weekly I'd get emails and pm's suggesting I financially contribute to keep the site open. That site offered nothing for me. Later they tried to make it a subscription service forum where by members had to pay to be members. That was past the point of no return for me, so I left. Within three months of being a pay/subscription only thing, the site closed down. Good Riddance My thoughts are the same regarding youtube. If youtube loses viewership because of going to a subscription based service (which has failed time and time again on the web) then it's fine with me. I'll simply spend my viewing time elsewhere. I'm done with being an uploader and getting screwed on financial returns from youtube.

Gary that is a sweet Taylor I thought I posted this... If not a second time won't hurt. Here's my latest Tele It is a Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus Folks can read my review here - http://forums.songstuff.com/blog/159/entry-1499-review-fender-modern-player-telecaster-plus/ Strange how the neck seems way different then my blacktop. I checked the specs on both and they are identical Aside from the fact that the blacktop tele has "Medium Jumbo" frets and requires the action a little higher as opposed to the Modern Player which has only "Jumbo" frets and the action can be set ridiculously low. The difference between them is only a few mm in height. It's near candyland in regards to playability.

Thanks Rudi, That's a great link from a great player. I've played a lot of blues, rock, and jazz and I've studied them in school.....But, never country or bluegrass. I've always admired great country and bluegrass players from a far. The one thing I've learned when entering a style is always to respect and embrace the style rather then simply try to hack your way through. Having this tele has made me really want to make the most of it. When I got this tele,,,, Everything changed. It's so different then anything I've had previously owned. I'll save that for my blog. But I will say you were 100% right about Chinese made guitars. The only thing I had to do was adjust the neck 1/8th of a turn and everything fell into place. No messing with the action, no setting the intonation. The fit and finish is stunning. It is nothing like my blacktop (which I still value) or the Rondo SX Furrian.

Two years since my last visit but it was literally just Captiva for a wedding (my niece) and back the next day. Prior to that I'd lived there from 85~91 My Brother in Law has an investment firm (he's rich, I'm not) He just got done having a house built in Ft Myers Riverfront area (i'm guessing 3mil)

If you work with a booking agency, their job and income is dependent on getting you gigs. This has pluses and minuses aside from the fee. The pluses are... they are probably more comfortable dealing with clubs then you are and they'll do a really good job getting you a press pack together (even if some of the information may be ...less then honest) The minuses are that ...well they kind of own you. You don't get a say in where you will play. Kid's birthdays, shotgun wedding receptions, hole in the wall hotels/motels. Business conventions. You may not be loved and your agent will be quite clear on what material will get you more gigs. And many times...they aint coming to see you... you're musical wallpaper. How are you going to get a following..... When you play a gig come with cut outs / table tents. Talk to everyone in the crowd before the show, during your break and after the show. Sometimes it's called "Glad Handing" or "Pressing the Flesh" (shaking hands) Get them to like you for liking them back. If you don't have a next gig lined up somewhere local to them... Tell them that your playing out of town or that your taking a break after a lot of touring and working on some new stuff that will be released on your next CD. Until then you want to clear any events to concentrate on your new music.

I'm sure much has changed since I lived there. The only thing Cape Coral really has going for it is the canal's if you are a boater. The two big minuses of Cape Coral.. Monitor Lizards and Alligators. Don't even get me started with Ft Myers. I used to live in what was then "Dunbar" which has now been incorporated into Fort Myers. Hell of a lot rougher then Detroit. As I recall Lehigh Acres was actually a really nice safe place. Pine Island is kind of strange. It's so safe many a resident will leave their keys in the ignition and the window rolled down when they head into work or shopping I lived and worked on Pine Island for a while. Don't even think about getting loud. A Lee County Deputy will come a knocking. Second visit your spending a night in jail. I wasn't that loud, honest but after the little visit I chilled out and never used that amp in my apt again..If you go to a bar do it late and expect to be hit on. Most of the male population are fishermen. They leave early in the morning and come back in a fighting mood. For them fighting is the best entertainment in town. (Like about every sailor I've ever met) The women folk like to stay up late. Your and their marital status isn't that important to them. And they love to gossip. Everyone knows everything everyone else is doing all the time. It's a soap opera fishbowl existence. I always liked Ft Myers Beach. It's more campy then flashy. Although I can't say anything of what it's like now that the Casino is there. It was great for sitting at a beer garden and watching the world go by. And the bars / hotels would have all these different acts. Hair metal act at one place walk a little further and you might run into a new wave act. There was one place that I gigged at more then a few times with a piano jazz bar inside (told that story) and a folk rock act on the roof. If you haven't yet... Drive out to Sanibel/Captiva. The trip across the causeway is worth the toll alone. Stop in at The Lazy Flamingo. You'll never develop "a' favorite at that place, They all will be. When I worked on Captiva that was my watering whole. They didn't have a regular menu instead the specials of the day were the menu. They don't like to stamp out everything they like to mix things up. The people on Captiva and Sanibel are really nice warm, friendly folk. It kind of through me for a loop when I first moved there. If you want to take your wife out for something different take her on a day cruise... But if you do there is something you should know about visiting Cabbage Key http://www.captivacruises.com/sched_cruises.html#CabbageKey Don't drink the water or have the ice tea. Stick to Beer. The islands water is reverse osmosis so it has that rotten egg/ sulfur taste to it.