alibabu

A well deserved win, congratulations to Mr. Smalls!

Firstly, there are multiple clefs, and for brass and wind instruments, the staff is often transposed. This means that the same written note can produce different sounded notes. Secondly, when learning an instrument, you must first interpret the actual note and then determine how to play it on your instrument. As your reading improves, you begin to bypass the note interpretation step, transitioning directly from the written note to its corresponding fingering or position. With further progress, you no longer read individual notes but recognize sequences, allowing your hands to instinctively find the best positions and fingerings for familiar patterns.

I have had iReal Pro on my phone for umpty years now, it is not free, but costs less than what most people would happily spend on a night out. Has a huge library of songs you can download, and you can also input your own songs. It has selections for style, key and tempo, you can turn on and off instruments etc. What's not to like?

There are a couple of apps available where you can input music by tapping on a virtual guitar or bass fretboard, and have the result transcribed to standard notation or tab. It could be a good start to use bass lines you know, see how it looks in notation, and eventually you will be able to go the other way around. I do not have any special recommendations, but I think Garageband and Guitar Pro are two options. There is also an app called Notion that can do this. As several others have suggested, reading rhythm is a good start, and then move on to reading note values. Good luck!

I have been away from the compo challenge for quite some years, busy with kids and work and life in general. I recently bought a new Mac Mini, and am currently in the process of relearning Logic. This months entry is more of a short interlude than a full song, but it is a start! Track info: Guitar track: GL S-500 2 Bass tracks: Both with a Sire V7 5 string Synth solo: Midi keyboard into a Logic ES M synth lead Drums, strings, piano: Logic session player Enjoy! :-a

Here in Norway, there is an education with a title corresponding to "sound technician", but the every-day term is more like "sound guy". I have prepared a list of suggestions for you, starting with the guys and girls who know what they are doing, and ending up with the ones that don't: Sound wizard Sound engineer Sound guy/girl Knob turner/ Slider slider/ Buttoneer Knob noob Knob

Kurt Elling has been one of my favorites the last years.

Yeah, I love that record too. I know I have it somewhere, probably on CD, I’ll check when I’m back from vacation in a couple of weeks😀. Haven’t found it online on any of the usual streaming services. Cheers

You could try out some of the great bands and musicians in Paris, with Carribean or African background. Some suggestions: Sixun, with Paco Sery on drums and Michael Alibo on bass. Etienne Mbappe, especially his two first albums. Linley Marthe, played with Zawinul and a lot of other guys. An example of a Sixun song with Alibo: http://youtu.be/FOAYb2bTGSY

In my experience, it is safely placed in the «too good to be true» category. I’ve tried it a couple times, but it has not been even close to giving a useful result. I always end up in good old Transcribe. Much more manual work, but at least most of the time pretty good at guessing chords.

One can always hope, but she never sang that afaik?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=yellowjackets+new+bass+player :-)

It is my favorite Yellowjackets tune, Geraldine. Studio version on The Spin, and a brilliant live version on Live Wires.

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1459825368' post='3020033'] Truth. Bottom line - this groove is great...but isn't difficult in the grand scheme of things. These guys live on playing that kind of stuff, so it's second nature to them. Anyone who finds what I've just said controversial or offensive - or indeed, has taken offence at anything Blue has said - simply needs to grow the fk up; musically and otherwise. [/quote] It's not about true or false, it is about how and when things are said. As an analogy, if your girlfriend cooks you a great dinner, do you compliment her, or just go: oh that's easy. You just bought some ingredients in a regular shop, and followed a recipe. And besides, you have done it before. Big deal. Although true, might not work wonders for the relationship. And back OT: Great musicianship and a catching groove!

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1454076943' post='2966198'] The current composition challenge doesn't require any production skills, not as a prerequisite anyway. [/quote] Hehe, I know that, I have entered myself, with a complete lack of production skills. But the OP's concern was that people would not enter in the CCC, because it would require too much effort creating a complete "composition", following the established standard (not necessarily the prerequisites). Hence my suggestion.

How about providing a short drum track that everyone has to play along with? Then it would be easier to compare the tracks, as they would have to relate to the groove. The only problem with this approach is of course that it would require all to be able to merge the drum track and the bass track in some way or another, but it will at least not require any production skills.

Nothing from me this month I'm afraid. Busy with work and kids at daytime, and building stuff at the evenings. Promise to vote though!

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1452121002' post='2946812'] Normally in the band I play everything with a pick, but recently we've written some stuff which for lack of a better description is country-rock-esque and would perhaps be better served using fingers. However, if I just jump from pick to fingers without changing anything else then I find the tone a bit...muddy/muffled (??? I hate describing sounds) I guess. [/quote] It is not clear to me what your reason is for wanting to change from pick to fingers for one song. Is it the aesthetics of the country-rock style (if such a thing exists), or is it that you do want a different tone, but not quite as muddy as the one you are currently getting? If it is the former, then I cannot help. If it is the latter, you will have to experiment with positioning and attack I guess. In general, playing as close to the bridge as possible will give you a "thinner" and less boomy sound, but also requires a bit more attack to get the same volume. I also find it odd that you dismiss RhysP's suggestion to try a felt pick, if the aim is to even out the differences between pick and fingers. Of course you would have to adjust the eq accordingly to get back to the pick tone you want, but that would at the same time give you a brighter sound when playing with the fingers. Which is exactly what you wanted, or am I missing something? [i]Disclaimer: I have never played with a pick.[/i]

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1451659334' post='2942161'] Congratulations Bleat & Alibabu, and sorry Alibabu for confusing you with some very English references on Soundcloud [/quote] Not at all! Those comments were just added value:-)

[quote name='Bleat' timestamp='1451608563' post='2941863'] A rather large CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS Alibabu, a very worthy winner! [/quote] Thanks, and right back at ya! Another day of voting, and you would have cruised solo across the finish line... Happy new musical year, everyone!

Here is my attempt this month, no actual playing, all written out in Musescore, just as an exercise. I normally score in Sibelius, but just wanted to test how well the free program performs. I missed some of the functionality in Sibelius for sure, but when it comes to value for money, Musescore is really impressive! Sorry for the somewhat abrupt ending, but I did not have time for more this month... https://soundcloud.com/alibabu/light-and-space

Congrats to Skol, again a worthy winner!

Voted! In every competition I have taken part, I seem to do well the first few days, and then drift into mediocrity during the week of voting. Considering starting to label my music "Best before xx.xx." or even "Use by xx.xx"

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1448567291' post='2916565'] Your review of mine kind of hit my concept right on the head, Dad. 'That which a tree would sing to itself'. [/quote] And your bass sounds lovely. Nothing beats the real thing!