TapperMike

20 a half is shaky I haven't seen that price for years and years. 25 to 35 is reasonable. A teacher isn't pulling a 40 hour work week with a teaching gig.

I keep on wanting to answer this question with a lengthy response but I never do. I just figured I'd give the thread a bump and remind myself to answer you.

I could never get a consistent up/down with a thumb pick. I even tried those ones with the standard triange on the end. I kind of want another ztar with keytriggers as opposed to "strings" I've got two ztars the one in my avatar is the "baby z" which uses triggers. You can't use any pick whatsoever on them but I've developed some variations on standard flat/finger picking and some things that are neither but still do amazing stuff.

That is exactly my treatment with instrumentals. However even within that frame work and the other stuff I've already written there is still a place for motives (motif's) and devices like pedal point, backstepping which move a little beyond simple modulations.

Well I thought about 10 different songs but I'm still in my Steely Dan faze Turn that heartbeat over again - Steely Dan

I just wanted to add one more thing. If you really want to get the down and dirty of writing a good melody start by learning melodies of songs you already are familiar with. I'm not talking singing I'm talking playing them on your instrument (guitar, piano) Learn to play them as an instrumentalist might approach a song. It will give you a better idea about musical direction and articulation and "Singing through your instrument" rather then just playing random notes or a simple chord progression. You'll start to recognize how rhythmic modes are working in a melody line as well as expressive technique that gives your melody life as opposed to just boring dry technical motion. Learn how to invigorate your playing to bring out the soul and the character of the song. And when you have that think about your own melody writing. How can I make my guitar/piano cry or sing. Because in the end it's not so much what you say but how you say it that counts.

Layne has pretty much summerized the majority of my and many other musician songwriters including yours truly (in the past) I'm not a lyricist so melody has a special meaning to me. I have to put my all into how the melody sounds with out the lyrics and the most important part is.... Keeping it musical and repeatable as opposed to simply putting in a series of random licks over a chord progression. There are several ways to actually do chord/melody. (finding the right notes that work well with the progression but also don't become..To sing song Rudi and I cover a lot of ground here - There are somethings I've still excluded which is when the melody doesn't need to be in lockstep with the progression as much. {Which is pretty much more blues/rock/folk (and sometimes country) and less "Jazz" which usually is more chord/melody

If you know your basic scale function you can draw out the chord shapes for yourself with very little skill. Although I doubt you'll have regular use of harmonic extentions such as CMaj#5 It's abit uncommon even in contemporary jazz and gospel both music forms known for use of extended chords. It's hard to really learn chords in a vaccuum. The way to learn them in a fashion that sits is in the context of songs.. In the context of a song you have reference and rhythm. Rhythm in a progression is the key to bringing home those chords. The best reference is really band in a box. Even if you get the cheapest version out there. There are keyboard head's up displays and the styles use very realistic voicings. Ergo when you study via biab you get. The chord voicings, the rhythmic feel and a song all in one. The band in a box community has tens of thousands of songs available for study. And BIAB also sells accompanyment "songs" in biab format. As well as additional educational software. If you really want to get down to brass tacks of keyboard harmony/accompianment really you can't do any better then biab http://pgmusic.com Mike

Night By Night - Steely Dan

King of the World - Steely Dan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A5Tbh_cCSU

Hey Nineteen - steely dan

If only it were regular. My right hand can play any melodic line as a solo instrument but I can't get a bend out of it. I've been thinking of getting an expression pedal and sending a bend control to it. My right hand does okay but it can't keep up with my right hand guitar playing. The neck is very thick on the z6 and it gets stiff. Between the two I've developed several approaches to tapping with hammers. A ztar can be set to hammer ons and pull offs or set to play more pianoistic so that more then one note per string can be active. I've developed several left+ right hand techniques to accommodate this type of playing. It's fast but I have to constantly slow it down to get an authentic "lick/phrasing" happening because it can turn mechanical sounding quickly. Most of that stuff I leave off to the side as I try to expand more of a "Chord consciousness" approach. I have two basic tunings. Standard guitar tuning and standard 6 string bass tuning which is BEADGC. You have to remember I can't play open notes and for me to dig down to a c in the bass note I've got to make some exceptions here and there. I can play a lot of full chords and jazz guitar chords off the right but some of the more simple barre chords are near impossible with hammers off. I try to extend my sense of chord voicings as would a keyboard player especially a contemporary gospel player might approach them with tight clusters. Today I tried to transcribe the piano part to Billy Joel's Just the way you are. It's very odd to try and develop a "flow" when your fighting out the voicings. Some times the right hand works better carrying the bass notes and sometimes the left does. Then there is a matter of figuring out positions and movement. The right hand always works better if I fixate on a position and keep it there. sure I can hop around a little but then trying to figure out the "where am I going to play it and where am I coming from while where I'm moving to can be daunting. It's a slow and aggravating process. The hard part is while I can get a grip on rhythm for one hand and the other one goes out the door. This also true in "Soloist" type performances. I'll learn the right alone just fine and then I'll learn the left alone just fine but when I put them together all hell breaks loose. I can get away with a lot more bass and guitar (accordian style) then my buddy jeff But when I do that my right hand goes out of whack. I want to play more like my buddy Mike Bianco But I also want that Bill Evans thing where he does reharmonization with the right hand and then compliments it with the right. That to me is the epitome of grace and style. especially his sense of meter through it all. usually to pull that off even after I get a clue to where my fingers are going I have to line everything up vertically and tackle things a quarter measure at a time. n Which if you've ever fought for a few hours over a few measures can be quite frustration.

Piano drove me insane. A good deal of that was I really didn't seek out a teacher and I tried to piecemeal what I already knew about reading standard notation Had I tried to cultivate a piano persona it would have prolly worked out better for me. Now I'm trying to cultivate some ideas on the ztar which will prolly engulf the rest of my life of playing although I'm not seeing much reward. This is me a few years ago Notice how I'm able to kick out a single note line with my right hand tapping only while my left had lays down the chords. That's where my journey started but not where it's ending. I'm trying to incorporate different ideas like playing a bassline with the left and melody with the right and I'm also trying out other ideas such as right hand reharmonization playing a chord melody tapped with the right hand only and trying to suppliment it with left hand chords or other things on the left. I've also flipped things around playing basslines with my right hand only and supporting it with harmony on the right. There are somethings that simply having a guitar setup and being able to pick/strum that simply don't come to light when trying to tap especially with the left hand. It's really hard to get a left hand rhythm pattern down when it's all off the left. It's something I struggle with, give it a rest then come back and struggle again with. I want to have a "Complete" soloist approach to the ztar. Unfortunately stick playing isn't the same. and I struggle with adapting keyboard ideas. It's funny. I'll pick up a guitar and most if not all my guitar playing will come back. I feel I'm riding high and wonder why I struggle with the z. But there is only so long can play the same old same old and not long for something new. It's a struggle that's for sure

Rikki don't lose that number - Steely Dan I think I'm going to pull every "dan" reference I can.

Stone in Love - Journey http://youtu.be/944wGt77Br4

Usually brass/horn sections follow the shearing method for jazz and cinematic jazz if you are into writing from either the chord progression or attempting to reharmonize. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-CI9FABTw4 The energy power comes not really from the actual notes but the emphasis you give them. No granted in a classical situation you wouldn't be swinging the notes and you might not be always using a tight shearing structure you might want to reach out and try a red garland "Open chord" with bass fills. This is going to always seem choppy trying to do it all on one instrument or string/brass patch. So you'll prolly have to get the "big idea" down then go back and play the parts individually.. Oddly for string sections nothing beats....Led Zepplin. The upper four strings of a guitar when using "smart voicing" closely resemble how one would arrange Cello, viola and two violins. Note even though there is often doubling of the first violin with the second for re enforcing the melody the second violin and viola do classic fills and the harmonization is tight between first/second violin and the viola. The cello does standard walkdowns and lead in notes as would a folk bassist or all four instruments much like the actual guitar rhythm work of Jimmy Page. With the rest it's really about the overall energy of the piece. Dynamics and Rubato make all the difference.

Well I won't argue with that. Everything you are saying is spot on. Learning notation (which is something I didn't do early on) was the best thing that every happened to me and it sparked a future of successes that I never would have realized elsewise. I wasn't one of those learn to read sheet music at 6 yrs old types. Learning notation taught me things that tab never would not that I read a lot of notation today. It also opened way too many doors as a gigging guitarist both in the studio and on the stage. I'd encourage someone to learn theory but I wouldn't advise that people take it as a mantra. Sure know as much as you can but don't be afraid to experiment thereafter even if it doesn't fit neatly in the collective theory box.

There are a lot of people who... quite simply are gifted. They get things that we have to work out. And because they aren't chained to the system it offers them a lot more freedom simply not knowing..... Like Paul McCartney or James Taylor. Both know a little to get by and make due with the rest. Let's take James Taylor. Can't site read can work a really good song. Especialy in his earlier works he'll go thru a lot of chromatic walkdowns or walk ups with little or no relevance to key. He'll sort of just hang a chord out there and then play a passage and hope he can grab another chord down the line that will align. He also has some idiosyncracies with timing. As a result trying to arrange for him is kind of a bitch. It's like he's got to go in sing and play then everyone else has to come in figure out what he's doing fill in the space without stepping on him and lob it into an arrangement. No one can tell James Taylor...Hey just play it like this and that will give us room to build a riff around it like that. Now I love JT owned every album his was the first concert I ever went to, seen him a million times tried to learn all of his songs but. It's the thing where he has is own way of doing things and if you try to crack down on him and make him fit then it isn't going to happen. Same with Paul McCartney. He'll go on a tangent of which would seem beyond rhyme or reason like the bridge to "And I love her" where it's goes from a major key to a minor key that isn't anywhere near connected and it's a direct modulation but he pulls it off and rolls it back in. This isn't one of those things you learn in music school. Usually when modulating it's always to a neighboring or at least somewhat related key and if not there is usually a cycling method to get to it. The Eagles were one of the few who would try to connect going from a major to a minor key but atleast there would be some connective tissue between them. Like.... The chorus of "Best of my love" These are things that one wouldn't learn to do if one were simply to embrace common theory. There are also these little close to but not quite things that run very well but you have to force your way thru not giving into conventional wisdom and taking one small step out of tried and true to develop a little character. These types of things aren't going to be found in a book of modern chord progressions and they are the type of things if you were learning the songs you would prolly accept only for the sake of the song and not as a vehicle for your own writing.

It's a slippery slope. Studying Theory was a detriment to me in the early years because I took it all at rudimentary face value. When you go down the path of reductionism you can actually find doors closing on you rather then opening. Fortunately the cure for me was to study more theory and precisely jazz theory as a means of "awakening" to the opportunities found in re harmonization and melodic development. While they worked great in jazz and fusion settings they also could work against me in folk/rock settings. There is something to be said for the earnestly of not playing extended chords and not always being a slave to chord changes in your melody lines. In as far as the rest goes. When working with others I'll usually score out the progression and leave some holes. I've yet to play with a bass player where I've had to spoon feed them everything. See the Chord > play the chord (or at least play to the root of the chord) Occasionally I have had to work out a few ideas with keyboard players as to how to get them to blend in without being stale or stepping on the rhythm guitar work. But I've also been fairly good at writing first and second rhythm parts allowing someone to lay the foundational rhythm and then being able to come in with supportive fills. Layne you have what most people who cry for theory need the most...Strong technique. If you are seeking to expand then I would encourage you to expand your technique and broaden your instrumentation awareness. Seriously you have a very very good foundation to work from and I think your concern is that your bored with yourself. Which isn't uncommon. Simple things like taking up the bass or developing different finger-style approaches or embracing other instruments will help to bring it home for you. I realize your band is scattered to the four winds right now but that shouldn't stop you from thinking about playing with others who come from a different perspective. You are in an ideal time of your life to do that. You're not the only musician in your school or area and I think if you have the chance to sit in with others even if they are many years your senior that's what you should be doing.

I am a Rock - Simon and Garfunkel

How did I miss this? May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live.

I haven't had a bass in years (tendonitis) But now with those Kala U Basses I just might plunk down some changed.

America - Simon and Garfunkel

Kings - Steely Dan

Back in the early 80's jazz all but disappeared of the west coast. And shriveled up everywhere including New York. Unless there was some big jazz festival which usually featured fusion artists not bebop/post modern. Legends of jazz were lucky to play clubs with 20 or so people in them stateside. Jazz lives on solely by the love of the form by it's members. People who love jazz by jazz records are usually jazz musicians themselves. Rock has dried up because the medium is overused just as jazz has. If you want kids to listen to rock you'd better raise them on it early and hope that they spread it around to their friends. There are plenty of jazz songs yet to be written as there are plenty of rock songs to be written however they'll never sound "fresh" because it's an oversaturated market.