Bilbo

There is no ramming going on (I don't teach so there is no opportunity to ram anything anywhere), I am just saying how marvellously helpful it is as a learning tool over and above the 'sight reading on a gig' idea. Obviously, there are great players who don't read. Good for them. They found another way.

I think we can have an unrealistic expectation of ourselves where reading and learning are concerned. Classical soloists often work on individual pieces for months to perfect them. We think a couple of run through should be enough.

This is about the ACTUAL flat notes as opposed to the key signature. If there is one flat (F major), the flat is a B. If there are two flats (Bb major), the flats are B and E and so on. I learned that 4 sharps is E major years ago but struggled to remember which four sharps whilst reading.

Invent a key signature acronym. Flats = Boys Eat And Drink Guiness Crisps Freely Sharps = Frank Carson Gets Dad An Elephant Bugle ...or whatever sits easily in your mind.

You have to teach yourself. The 'learning how' is quite simple: notes, note values, accidentals, key signatures and rhythm. Could teach it in a couple of sessions. Learning to actually DO it is just sitting at home in a room banging away for years!.

It certainly isn't a put down. It's just like Marcus Miller said, 'why wouldn't you'?

If your budget can stretch a little, those Paul Brett parlour guitars have a great press (I am thinking second-hand prices). They are quieter but not massively but, of course, you can play them quietly. What you really need is a Yamaha silent guitar but they are a lot more expensive.

Yes, I know. Here we go again. There is, however, a point to this. I have been trying to work on getting a wider musical perspective recently as I am finding that my composing is suffering from a significant lack of useful and effective knowledge of harmony. I also play a lot nowadays with people who are a lot better than me and I am trying to 'catch up' as it were. I know the basics but I was finding that most of my tunes were following a very narrow pattern in terms of harmony and I wanted to find some other places to go. I also find my solos on gigs are clumsy and full of clinkers. In an effort to address these shortcomings, and knowing that there is no such thing as a quick fix, I have spent a lot more time playing guitar recently and, more to the point of the thread, learning to read treble clef so that I can look at music which is fully formed instead of just bass lines. I have been at this for a few months now, using a few 'how to read guitar music' books and, intermittently, dipping into transcriptions by people like Pat Metheny, Al DiMeola and Ralph Towner (books of transcriptions that are, for me, quite challenging). As a result of this, I am seeing a considerable improvement in my guitar playing, my knowledge of the fretboard and the ways in which these master musicians put their tunes together. This concerted study has resulted in improvements in playing and understanding that I have not seen since I was able to practice more consistently when I was a kid (I am 54). I cannot sight read treble clef yet and my reading is still slow but I am beginning to find that I can find my way around pieces much more quickly than I used to without the hassle of playing things back and forth on a transcribe software interface. My technique is improving as well which is entirely a peripheral and unlooked for benefit. I have said this before on here; for me, reading the dots is not about sight-reading on gigs. I need that occasionally but not often. For me, it is about being able to access vast quantities of study material quickly and effectively and learning to be a better more rounded musician.

This was during my Charlie Haden phase

I am ready for my close up....

Gig last Friday at Fleece Jazz in Stoke By Nayland

I think it depends on what you mean by 'listen'. Most of my listening is an ipod on shuffle but I do always listen to any album I buy all the way through without skipping. After that, it is all on shuffle again. I am also mostly listening whilst doing other things so am rarely paying as much attention as I did when I was younger and had more free time. I could listen to all of the Yes catalogue without skipping anything until, say, 90125 but even that is not that bad. All of Genesis would be easy. All of Al DiMeola and Weather Report would be a breeze to.

Works for me.

Hate: For me, it's Prog tunes with guitar solos based around two chords a whole tone apart. Awful. Have they no shame? Nostalgia Jazz. Loath it. Completely misses the point. Circumstances occasionally force my hand but I am deeply uncomfortable with the approach. Also not a massive fan of the Increasingly Tedious American Songbook. Love: French Horn. Always have since I was a kid.

Seems to me that there are a lot of folk around the 45 to 55 mark. It would be interesting to do some work on demographics. Do young guys gig more than older people etc. Pay rates for the gigs we all have, sizes of bands etc. There is a dissertation in there for someone.

They are from a cd called Blues In A Hotel Room by a guy called Andy Fernbach. He recorded them at Jacobs Studios in Farnham in the late 1990s.

I have been using Rotosound Solo bass groundwounds for decades on my Wal fretless and have negligible wear on the fretboard. They sound great and feel great. FLat wounds sounds dull as fcuk to me. All of these tracks are the same bass with the same strings.

Just downloaded a live album by the Michel Camilo Big Band called Caribe. Anthony Jackson plays an absolute killer gig. Great Latin grooves and unison lines absolutely nailed.

I have three gigs next week with three bands, two of which I have never played with. Estimated 50+ tunes over three nights, most of which I don't know, and no time for rehearsals. Of course I use a music stand :-D

My important albums Heavy Weather by Weather Report. What's Up by the Dixie Dregs. Journey To Love by Stanley Clarke Product by Brand X Champions by Jeff Berlin Grasshopper by the Wayne Johnson Trio Iron Maiden 1st. Machine Head by Deep Purple And 1m more

I have been working on a Latin version of Bach's second Cello concerto all month. The themes are all written out but it is too complicated for me to play and my PC is playing up and I couldn't record it in sections so I didn't enter it. Sorry guys. I bit off more than I could chew!!

It's been a few years since I did one of these but I always find this interesting. I have done 34 gigs this year. My best year ever, numbers-wise, was 120 (about 8 years ago?) but I decided to separate the wheat from the chaff and now only do gigs that I want to do because I like the players and know the music will be good. This year, I have played with Adam Glasser (chromonica), Chris Batchelor (tpt), Delta Groove (blues band fronted by Richard Everitt), Derek Nash (sax), Paul Higgs (tpt), Pete Long (clarinet), Gareth Lochrane (fl), Alan Barnes (sax/cl), Sara Dowling (V), Kate Williams (p), Joanna Eden (v), Jazz at The Movies, Brandon Allen (sax), Brigitte Beraha (v) and a host of good quality musicians from the East Anglia/London region. I have long sought quality over quantity and can now say that, whilst I could not even begin to say that I was anywhere near making a living from music, I genuinely enjoy every gig I do. I am looking forward to next year as I have some nice stuff in the diary, both live and in the studio. How is everyone else doing? Are you working a lot? What gigs are you doing? What venues? Any highlights?

Just thinking this through. The reason I do it is because it allows me to mute all four strings whilst still allowing for some degree of facility. Pianist do a similar thing when muting the strings inside a grand piano. It's a lovely additional texture.

I find a lot of beauty in Anderson's lyrics. They work for me in the way that James Joyce's stuff did. Depth in implication rather than literal content. Life changing? Probably not. Life affirming? Definitely.

To my mind, any suggestion that original compositions are not as good as covers is a ridiculous position to take. My material rests on me and me alone to guarantee it's value. The 'covers' contingent can call upon every composer and songwriter ever. What possible chance have I got to convince anyone of the value of my scribblings if that is the baseline for comparison? :-D