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Wasted £15 on Stranglers songbook


daz
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I spied a [i]Stranglers songbook[/i] [it was the one and only one I could find] for sale on the interweb and although i could not really make out what it said on the little pic of the front of the book, I just foolishly assumed that it was either a complete arrangement, or for guitar [i]and[/i] bass or bass only. Well I mean, The Stranglers were a famousl bass fronted band. Did they even have a guitar player? I know they had some freaky deaky keyboard abuser. But guitar? I cant remember hearing one.?

Anywaay..... The book appears this morning and yes you have guessed it. I open it up and is for "guitar treble clef" only. Wot a rotten poxy snotty swizz! :) Maybe I can get a bluey for it on fleabay, at least thats something.


Oh wait hold on....... it has [i]'Bass arrangement for guitar '[/i]on the song [b]Peaches[/b]! Phew! that makes it all worth it. Like all bass players I have not the foggiest idea how the bass line to Peaches was notated. Its a total mystery. But now thanks to this songbook I can finally play it. I'll let you know how i get on.

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[quote name='daz' post='1138502' date='Feb 23 2011, 01:16 PM']Oh wait hold on....... it has [i]'Bass arrangement for guitar '[/i]on the song [b]Peaches[/b]! Phew! that makes it all worth it. Like all bass players I have not the foggiest idea how the bass line to Peaches was notated. Its a total mystery. But now thanks to this songbook I can finally play it. I'll let you know how i get on.[/quote]

Sarcasm,right? :)

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Seems strange to me. Bass - yes, keyboards - yes, but guitar?

Not knocking Hughs guitar playing, but it really was the equivalent of root-note bass playing, and exactly what the band/songs needed, given the proficiency of both the bass & keys.

Sensing your sarcasm there Daz, once you`ve worked out Peaches, can you let us all know please :)

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[quote name='daz' post='1138502' date='Feb 23 2011, 01:16 PM']I spied a [i]Stranglers songbook[/i] [it was the one and only one I could find] for sale on the interweb and although i could not really make out what it said on the little pic of the front of the book, I just foolishly assumed that it was either a complete arrangement, or for guitar [i]and[/i] bass or bass only. Well I mean, The Stranglers were a famousl bass fronted band. Did they even have a guitar player? I know they had some freaky deaky keyboard abuser. But guitar? I cant remember hearing one.?

Anywaay..... The book appears this morning and yes you have guessed it. I open it up and is for "guitar treble clef" only. Wot a rotten poxy snotty swizz! :) Maybe I can get a bluey for it on fleabay, at least thats something.


Oh wait hold on....... it has [i]'Bass arrangement for guitar '[/i]on the song [b]Peaches[/b]! Phew! that makes it all worth it. Like all bass players I have not the foggiest idea how the bass line to Peaches was notated. Its a total mystery. But now thanks to this songbook I can finally play it. I'll let you know how i get on.[/quote]

Most of these books are aimed at musically untrained teenagers who are learning their favorite bands tunes through power chords, its how I started :)

I would also guess that anyone who can read the whole arrangement, and has the skill to play those lines, wouldn't really need the book to work out stranglers songs

Not sure I've got the drift of this thread, it might have gone over me head a little

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I know a couple of piano players that write these books. They are given a recording and told to knock the charts together for piano and vocals with those awful chord box things. One middle aged balding guy told me he had done the Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollocks for piano a vocals. He played it for me - how we laughed.

HC's guitar playing was perfectly congruent with the ensemble sound.

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[quote name='Bilbo' post='1138682' date='Feb 23 2011, 03:19 PM']I know a couple of piano players that write these books. They are given a recording and told to knock the charts together for piano and vocals with those awful chord box things. One middle aged balding guy told me he had done the Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollocks for piano a vocals. He played it for me - how we laughed.

HC's guitar playing was perfectly congruent with the ensemble sound.[/quote]
:) slayer for harmonium anyone?

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[quote name='mart' post='1138778' date='Feb 23 2011, 04:31 PM']Don't joke! I came across this at the weekend: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/AC-DC-Ukulele/dp/0825637422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298478571&sr=1-1"]AC/DC for Ukulele[/url] :)[/quote]
Some one should do 'George Formby for Gibson SG and Marshall Stack'. That would be a seller.

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[quote name='mart' post='1138778' date='Feb 23 2011, 04:31 PM']Don't joke! I came across this at the weekend: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/AC-DC-Ukulele/dp/0825637422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298478571&sr=1-1"]AC/DC for Ukulele[/url] :)[/quote]
We have that in the shop.. it inspired me to have a crack at Rosie on a uke while demoing such a thing. Well, I laughed anyway :)

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[quote name='lettsguitars' post='1138692' date='Feb 23 2011, 03:24 PM']:) slayer for harmonium anyone?[/quote]


I had a dream the other day that I'd formed a Steam-Punk band. The band were dressed in the peak of Victorian fashion and played punk and metal covers on old instruments, including a Harmonium. The next day one of my mates, who was in the band in the dream, said he was thinking of buying a harmonium! :)

I had an awseome looking bass though, Carl Thompson-ish style with all darks woods and brass.

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[quote name='lojo' post='1138627' date='Feb 23 2011, 02:37 PM']Most of these books are aimed at musically untrained teenagers who are learning their favorite bands tunes through power chords, its how I started :)

I would also guess that anyone who can read the whole arrangement, and has the skill to play those lines, wouldn't really need the book to work out stranglers songs

Not sure I've got the drift of this thread, it might have gone over me head a little[/quote]


Yes some 'tab' books are aimed at people wanting a quick way of learning their favourite tunes and nothing wrong with that. However i also have some highly detailed songbooks which show notation for the entire band. For instace i have a Rolling Stones one that gives music for about 6 or 7 instruments.
I might also dispute your inferance that Stranglers songs are somehow straightforward to play. I assure you that some are quite complex, even the bass lines. I belive what makes the bass interesting in the Stranglers is that before picking up the bass, John was a talented classical guitar player trained in the Spanish style since he was 12 years old. This lead to him having a busier more experimental style than the usual [i]root note [/i]Pub rock and later Punk bands they were competing with.

Edited by daz
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[quote name='daz' post='1138950' date='Feb 23 2011, 06:12 PM']I might also dispute your inferance that Stranglers songs are somehow straightforward to play.[/quote]


I certainly don't think they are easy to play, some of them are in line with trying to play hit me with your ..

What I was trying to hint at though, was if you have the ability to play some of the faster, more intense JJ stuff, then the ability to work them out without a book is most likely within the abilities of said player

Very hard to play, yes, very hard some of them, but not so hard to work out the notes maybe



Re: Ukulele, didn't Hayseed Dixie do some ACDC :)

Edited by lojo
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[quote name='mart' post='1138778' date='Feb 23 2011, 04:31 PM']Don't joke! I came across this at the weekend: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/AC-DC-Ukulele/dp/0825637422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298478571&sr=1-1"]AC/DC for Ukulele[/url] :)[/quote]

NOW I have GAS for a Ukulele........... this site is driving me mad!

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[quote name='bartelby' post='1138935' date='Feb 23 2011, 06:01 PM']I had a dream the other day that I'd formed a Steam-Punk band. The band were dressed in the peak of Victorian fashion and played punk and metal covers on old instruments, including a Harmonium. The next day one of my mates, who was in the band in the dream, said he was thinking of buying a harmonium! :)

I had an awseome looking bass though, Carl Thompson-ish style with all darks woods and brass.[/quote]

What a great idea for a band!

I have a kids plastic toy chord organ from the 60's that does a passable harmonium sound......

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Yep i'm afraid that most of the books you come across are all "Piano,Guitar,Vocal" wonders. You can trawl through and find some "Bass recording " versions (usually Hal Leonard) where the bass player in the band is popular at the time, but otherwise forget it. A long long long while ago in the murky depths of time (26 years to be exact) I bought a Rush Anthology and couldn't figure out why the bass parts were weird. Finally I understood that they were phrased for Piano left hand and not bass guitar.

Don't bother looking at most TAB sites either they are mostly wrong, or the notes are right but you have to adjust them to a better way of playing (positional) to avoid jumping up and down the neck needlessly. Similarly Youtube is a mixed bag of "watch me Play" videos. Some are excellent but some just demonstrate bad technique.

check out some of these sites for a few good lines to start with;

[url="http://www.thebassment.info/"]http://www.thebassment.info/[/url]

[url="http://www.basslinepublishing.com/"]http://www.basslinepublishing.com/[/url]

[url="http://playbassnow.com/"]http://playbassnow.com/[/url]


You can also download software (the amazing slower downer I Think??) or buy a bass trainer (tascam) to slow down bass tracks without losing pitch and work stuff out yourself. Always trust your own ears.

cheers

Al.

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