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[Rudi]

16 hours ago, TapperMike said:

So I finally got a raise at work.  Nothing earth shattering but at least I can pay most of my bills.  (still really need to fix the minivan)

 

 

Great news.

 

 

[Just1L]

On July 1, 2017 at 10:33 AM, Pahchisme Plaid said:

Now that I've got that out of the way,  how about songs you've written with a comical spin on them?

 

I've got this one. In college there was a house that had a dog whose name was DeeOhGee. Didn't realize for a while that it was merely D.O.G.

 

 

[Pahchisme Plaid]

38 minutes ago, Just1L said:

 

I've got this one. In college there was a house that had a dog whose name was DeeOhGee. Didn't realize for a while that it was merely D.O.G.

 

 

Hey, Just1L, the tune on this is really fun and I catch some of the lyrics, but some places whoo! you sing pretty fast and I can't catch the lyrics.  I like a good laugh, so if you're comfortable with it, could you post the lyrics to it?

[Just1L]

12 minutes ago, Pahchisme Plaid said:

Hey, Just1L, the tune on this is really fun and I catch some of the lyrics, but some places whoo! you sing pretty fast and I can't catch the lyrics.  I like a good laugh, so if you're comfortable with it, could you post the lyrics to it?

 

Thanks - Sure thing. Randy

 

D.O.G.
Randy Drilingas - Just1L - ©2013

 

So I guess I should say off with your head.
But no. I think I'll just forgive you instead.
I just wish you could admit you've done wrong.
But no. You just sit there with your head in the ground.

 

One of these days.
D.O.G.
I always say
One of these days.

 

When you see me coming down the walk you run and hide.
Can't help but notice and I wonder what is up inside.
Then I see a scene, a scene that I'd seen before.
Another fresh set of scratches on the back door.

 

Then I go into the bedroom it's a total mess.
I can't deny that what I'm seeing is a protest.
I'm so tired, I really want to go to bed.
But no, I'm cleaning crap instead.

 

So I guess I should say off with your head.
But no. I think I'll just forgive you instead.
I just wish you could admit you've done wrong.
But no. You just sit there with your head in the ground.

So I guess I should say off with your head.
But no. I think I'll just forgive you instead.

I just wish you could admit you've done wrong.
But no. You just sit there with your tail wagging proud ('round?).

 

One of these days.
D.O.G.
I always say
One of these days.

 

When I wake up I get shaken up at what I find.
Trail of laundry laying on the floor and thrown aside.
Chew toy dripping wet with dog slobber.
Sitting on the remote for my DVR.

 

Then I go into the kitchen and I find you there.
your looking at me with a paw inside the Frigidaire.
I caught you red-pawed and all dismayed.
I really want to know just what do you have to say?

[Pahchisme Plaid]

Ha!  This did make me laugh and I can so picture it because I had a dog who misbehaved if we were away from the house for too long.  We always knew when he had done something he knew he shouldn't have because he would not greet us at the door and we would find him in his dog crate in the bedroom.  He would not make eye contact or if he did, his eyes would flutter like he couldn't quite look at us and was usually a brief look before he'd drop his head and look behind him.  He would either get into the garbage or mess on the floor--rebellion for our absence!  One time he smashed a crock pot of spaghetti sauce and meatballs on the floor and ate the sauce.  It freaked me out because I couldn't tell if he had cut himself on the shards of pottery or if the red was just sauce.  He also ate a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies cooling on the counter one time.  Chocolate is bad for dogs, but when I called the vet to find out what to do, he said a dog the size of mine would have to eat a lot of chocolate for it to bother him.  Other than that he was the best dog--well besides following me around so closely I'd practically trip over him.  This made me smile--it made me remember him.

[Pahchisme Plaid]

Pretty skanky stuff @HoboSage! I can picture a bunch of guys at a bar laughing at this one--and maybe identifying with the possibility of it happening to aaaa....friend.

 

[Rudi]

A pal of mine used this sort of definition of Skank in the 90s. Other than that I just thought it was a dance style. This this the fisrt time Ive seen it similarly used since.

[TapperMike]

I'm seriously thinking of hosting a jazz tabs site.  It drives me nuts the routines I have to go through for decent transcriptions.  I'm not a good transcriber.  I'm often most angry when I have to actually write scores out because I've traveled the long way round.  First I'll surf for transcriptions endlessly.  Then if the transcription is for crap sometimes I'll through the baby out with the bath water and finally I'll get down to brass tacks to arrange a score for chord melody playing.  

 

On those few occasions where I do find a decent arrangement I cherish it.  It's getting harder and harder to find them though.

[starise]

You could probably print the tabs from your midi guitar sent to something like Forte. Just a thought. 

[TapperMike]

True.  I've done a little of that so far using guitar pro.  It's still work a lot of work.

 

Everything is turning into work or distraction or both.

 

As an example.  I've been trying to walk away from Band In a Box.  Band in a Box is great fun.  The yahoo users group has the largest collection of jazz standards on the planet.  I know I have them all.   When one studies using BIAB or any other software the focus is on reading... Not performing.  If you aren't going to be performing with the software then it's important to practice without the software.  I'll get so addicted to just playing along I'll lose sight of the indended goal.

 

BIAB does allow for midi conversion.  This is nice if you need to do arrangement.  As I do.  However trying to port the melody into a guitar track on something like Guitar Pro is a pain at best as it does a poor job of laying out where to position the notes.  You also need to go back and lay in the basic chord names per beat because this is will be a chord melody arrangement.  Then try to add the harmony to the melody in a meaningful way.  Often I'll find myself guitar in lap trying various approaches while having to manually punch it in on the computer keyboard.  It takes forever to get an arrangement that isn't too crowded yet... "Hip"

 

Band in a Box does have a feature when one pulls up the fretboard called "CH SOL"  Chord Solo.  Where by it will analyze the key, chord movement and try to recreate a chord/melody based on playing styles of famous chord melody players such as Joe Pass, Johnny Smith(my favorite) and a few others.   While it does serve as a good "Foot in the Door"  I've tried it with various standards that the artist played and compared the output of biab.  It's a joke.  But it's also a good foot in the door to understanding various approaches.  

 

By the time I've nearly got the arrangement down to something I can perform.... I have this overwhelming desire to earn my name.  I'm a tapper.

Sure, I started out like all the young guns on EVH style tapping like a cat chasing it's own tail.  But my style since then has completely evolved into something quite different.  Combining finger picking and tapping.  Usually this means I'll try to get the arrangement down twice.  Once with conventional technique and then again with tapping.  The entire process is too time consuming.  Which leads me back to looking for decent transcriptions of standards where someone else has already done the hard work of arranging the piece so I can concentrate on playing.

 

 

[starise]

Sorry I took so long to respond to this Mike. It seems the older we get the more complicated life is. 

 

I almost bought BIAB. I've come close. I haven't bashed the program, but I have voiced my reasons for not seeing a real need for it. This can turn into something like a Mac/PC debate.

As I understand it, in order to really benefit from it you need to get the versions with the better audio files and all of the "styles"that suit your genre.

 

I suspect it might make me lazy. Instead of actually playing the parts I would be throwing all of my time into making arrangements in BIAB. Looks like cheating to me lol. I know a guy over on the Cakewalk site who uses it for country demos. It is VERY convincing. I can see how it would work wonders to see all the chords for jazz music.Probably the fastest way to throw a musical recipe together.

 

Have you looked at Forte? Forte plays well with Studio One since Presonus owns both.

[TapperMike]

BIAB is available in both Mac and PC formats.

 

If it were not for my desire to turn everything into a chord melody arrangement BIAB would be all I ever needed.  For years it sustained me doing jazz but not much else.  I'm more than happy to write in BIAB and perform using biab as a backing track.

 

You have tonnes of styles even in the least expensive version and you don't have to run off and buy more.  With midi files you can choose to use your soundcards midi or third party plugins to play in the background.  BIAB also has SFZ format for swapping out your standard midi player sounds for those in SFZ (soundfont) plugins (yes it works on macs) So if you ever want to use ...Garritan orchestral sounds or DSF (Emu) Rompler sounds https://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/soundfont_products  or the hundreds of other plugins offered in SFZ format you can use it directly in BIAB.   I use the IKM sample tank patches for my instrument sounds.

 

With any song in any style you can have melody embellishing.  With Super Styles you get style embellishing  it's like Artificial Intelligence.  Rather than some dorky sounding auto arranger keyboard the instruments vary the arrangement as it progresses.

 

Real Styles

I've used two of the ones supplied in my version of BIAB for actual recording (rather than simply playing along)  As cool as they sound and as many times that I've thought to purchase more real styles or buy the upgrade.  I've always stopped short.  I don't want to be overwhelmed by them and find myself always reaching for real styles.  Real Styles are great but they are frozen by nature.  You can't embellish with them or change the voicing/ rhythmic feel on the fly like you can super midi and standard styles.

 

 

 

Standard Midi Styles

Standard midi styles refers to the older styles that date back to the earliest days of BIAB.  I love them and still use them.  I have about 4,000 of them in various musical genre's.  This is because back in the old days people would make their own styles and share them freely online.  The MegaPak version (which I have) comes with 2300 standard styles.

 

Super Midi Styles 

Real Styles use a midi track that doubles what is performed with the Real audio track.  The only major differences are that Real Tracks use real audio that is heard with Super Midi running in the background for transcription.  

Super midi has a higher ppq than standard midi style tracks.

 

Both super and standard style tracks can be embelished or not.  They can also be simplified or expanded.  

 

If it were not for my desire to turn everything into a chord melody arrangement BIAB would be all I ever needed.  For years it sustained me doing jazz but not much else.  I still use it as a learning tool to help me develop different approaches to Chord Melody.

 

About Harmonizing Melody (and solo)

While I joke about some of the chord solo functionality for the fret board view.  It's really an amazing tool.  You can pick an artist (say Joe Pass or Ed Bickert or Johnny Smith (or others) apply it to a melody and it will try to represent a performance that they (or that individual) would have used in arranging the piece.  What's more is that it's not limited to Guitar Harmony. The harmony function can harmonize in a multitude of styles. Four and Five piece brass sections,  Various different approaches based on artists preferences  There are 227 harmony arrangement methods with various instruments.

 

Melodist and Soloist

In the Melody section there is this thing called Melodist.  It will try to compose a melody based on a given artists approach.  They same is true for Soloist.  You can have it generate the chord progression or use the existing one.  It can load the preferred style for the melodist/soloist or you can work with the existing one (though it will caution you if one is in straight time and the other in swing (and vice versa)

Again if you have ever wanted the "secret forumla" for writing a melody or solo based on the characteristics of a particular artists.  This is a goldmine.

[TapperMike]

The other day I was sparked by the idea of flipping (selling) guitars.  Buying cheap cleaning them up and then doing minor work before reselling them.   Which lead me to rethink my skill level with guitar tech work.  Some I know but don't do often.  Somethings I've never had experience in.

Then I came across this link which is a school for guitar repair, building and design  http://www.galloupguitars.com/school.htm

 

Just some whims running through my head right now.

[symphonious7]

3 minutes ago, TapperMike said:

The other day I was sparked by the idea of flipping (selling) guitars.  Buying cheap cleaning them up and then doing minor work before reselling them.   Which lead me to rethink my skill level with guitar tech work.  Some I know but don't do often.  Somethings I've never had experience in.

Then I came across this link which is a school for guitar repair, building and design  http://www.galloupguitars.com/school.htm

 

Just some whims running through my head right now.

I've always wondered, is that stuff as hard as it seems?  I always just assume you gotta go to school for it and it's way out of reach, but what if that's just an assumption?  What if it's as easy as watching some tutorials and learning what bolts to tighten etc.  I used to think I'd never know anything about a car engine but necessity made me learn a few things...  You've got me thinking about it now too lol

[starise]

I've seem guys make money with that Mike. Buy low and sell high.

 

Since I have been known to have GAS ( gear acquisition syndrome). All it would take now is a 50% off sale. I'll admit it is tempting. The program does a lot. I'm trying to deal with my GAS problem though. Your aren't helping any in telling me all the cool things it does lol.

[Just1L]

Here you go buddy!

 

[TapperMike]

55 minutes ago, symphonious7 said:

I've always wondered, is that stuff as hard as it seems?  I always just assume you gotta go to school for it and it's way out of reach, but what if that's just an assumption?  What if it's as easy as watching some tutorials and learning what bolts to tighten etc.  I used to think I'd never know anything about a car engine but necessity made me learn a few things...  You've got me thinking about it now too lol

 

If you watch a lot of pron does that make you better at sex?  Actually female pron stars are quite open about the fact not only do they not enjoy the experience but it can be quite painful.

 

But hey get an expensive guitar that needs work see how closely you can fix everything then go in to a guitar store and get an appraisal.

 

You wouldn't believe the amount of times alleged cooks didn't work out after going through the interview process.  One guy broke his arm in seven places checking the dough incorrectly on an industrial mixer.  He saw someone do it on a video so he tried to do it with the machine on.

[img[img

 

I can't begin to tell you how many issues I've had with alleged cooks in the past as a cook and a manager.   They see an opportunity to make a little money than they do currently and try to weasel their way into the system.

 

Sorry getting too serious.

[Rudi]

The guitar lutherie option might be great option for you Mike.

 

This fellow does pretty much just that

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/sam_deek?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

 

I was close to buying one of his 'oakcasters' at one time, but he began solely by making average guitars into very playable ones. He seems to do ok at it. He has made a lot of videos of the guitar 'transformations' in his workshop. I suspect that his vids and blogs help a lot, because people can see exactly what he does & know what to expect.

 

Now I have retired (3 weeks now) I expect to do something beyond simple setups myself. I have collected a few tools such as fret dressing files and a notched straightedge. What I really need is a workshop. I usually use a spare bedroom.

 

[starise]

On 7/31/2017 at 3:00 PM, Just1L said:

Here you go buddy!

 

 

Will this work on a 64 bit system win 10? HMMM????  I don't think there's a cure for GAS. If there is, I don't want to know about it.

[Rudi]

I just read this from the 'Persona' thread by Pahchisme Plaid.

 

Quote

 I've had some doozies when it comes to dreams--I've had some I wasn't even sure were dreams--can be a little freaky, especially nightmares!  But the good ones are comforting.

 

Well I dreamed of being here on songstuff and hearing an excellent recording of 'Popcorn' played by Tapper Mike. He played it on a Fender guitar which sounded exactly like a chicken.

 

I awoke determined to try and get the chicken sound, and incorporate it into something of mine.