urb Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Hey peeps I'm loving my new loop pedal - a Boss RC2 - it has a built in drum machine that you vary the tempo plus there are a ton of very usable beats - plus you can add your own via a jack input and even use it to transcribe stuff by add a track and then slowing it down to transcribe it - but I have tried this yet. Anyway - here's a couple of jams - one a tune I wrote called 'Early Summer' then other I just improvised - hope you enjoy some of it: Early Summer Jamin' funk thing Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Looking forward to checking that out when I get home. Such entertainment is blocked at work. Definitely a good thing! I was hoping to at least inspect your Sei at the bash, perhaps another time. How's it working out for you now you've had it for a bit? Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted April 4, 2008 Author Share Posted April 4, 2008 [quote name='mcgraham' post='169636' date='Apr 4 2008, 09:43 AM']Looking forward to checking that out when I get home. Such entertainment is blocked at work. Definitely a good thing! I was hoping to at least inspect your Sei at the bash, perhaps another time. How's it working out for you now you've had it for a bit? Mark[/quote] Hi Mark Sorry you missed the chance to try it out - my name badge fell off so I wasn't that easy to spot if you don't know what my ugly boat race looks like - you'd have been welcome to try the bass. It really is lovely to play - and it sounds just wicked with my Epi UL502 head and the EBS 1x15 I'm still using sounds really sweet with it as well. Let me know what you reckon to the vids - I really love setting up my own looped backing as I can make it sound like I want to not some poxing loop in Band In A Box etc - having a lovely bass helps things as well. Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 (edited) Hi Mike I'd tried to catch you a bit too late in the afternoon and time was running short. No worries tho! There is always next time. [size=1][s]First off, that tone is really quite special. It has that sweetened jazz bass quality to it, lovely top end sparkle rather than snarl too. But it's also got enough detail to make each note articulate. And boy does it have attack! The notes really jump out of the instrument. It appears to me to have a sound that will sit beautifully in a mix, yet, when it comes times to solo, has enough articulation and detail to demand some attention and do/fulfil something more than just the bass function.... Congrats! First tune, I'm a huge fan of interesting chord progressions with some pushes and less obvious rhythm choices (i.e. not just repetitive and obvious as to where it'll go) so I was digging the progression you had there. Particular tasteful use of the muted accents to move between parts and keep the flow going. Also I really liked your touch, you varied it quite substantially throughout and got some great tones and accents at good points. Often a difficult thing to nail, it really shows the effort you're putting into your phrasing. Musically it kept me interested the whole way through, or at least most of the way through. (I think as it's a loop and the loop was quite intense at the start, it couldn't be taken many other places dynamically, so I acknowledge that as more of a limitation of the medium of looping.) Your phrases were good too, nice and lyrical, but also with some exciting (but still listenable/musical) flair thrown in for good measure. OH! And I liked how you made many 'ups and downs' in intensity of phrasing and speed throughout. Often when we improvise we start slow, then we get faster and faster til we've got nowhere else to go...then we stop. Only goes in one direction, up! But I thought you had a good amount of push and pull in there, particularly as you went from fingerstyle to slap, and then back to fingerstyle, as well as varying the dynamics of the phrasing. All good stuff. Suggestions... I think you had a really interesting backing loop, with lots of potential for playing off of it, but there didn't seem to be much, if any that I could see/hear. I was hoping to hear you doing some perhaps rhythmic push n pull, tension and release, interplay with some of percussive sounds that were looped, or perhaps add some tensions to the chords, as that backing loop really had a lot going for it. In short I would try to think of the loop as a really repetitive band that refuse to do anything other than what they know, and you're trying to make the most of it. Does that make sense? (sorry for the length!) Second tune.... as a disclaimer, I'm not really that bothered about effects (read between the lines; I really don't like them on bass ) so in that regard it didn't do anything for me. Also drawing on the above, the loop wasn't especially interesting and didn't (to me) hold much potential for doing anything interesting with it. Although it started out less intense, so there was greater headroom for you to add intensity to the tune there. Musically (as I've covered generic comments above) didn't do a whole lot for me, if I'm honest. Although I got the feeling (correct me if I'm wrong) it was a bit more of a noodling type improv than a *serious* 'how can I approach this tune?' type improv (apologies if I've completely got that wrong). Those types of improv or great and cool to see, as they represent a good bulk of well spent (or at least reasonably spent) practice time, trying just to coax out phrases over many hours of practice. I've not really got a lot to say on that one... which I'm sure you're glad to hear. [/s][/size] Really liked the first one, second one not so much You look very comfortable and very happy on your new bass Which is always a joy to see. Mark Edited April 4, 2008 by mcgraham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted April 4, 2008 Author Share Posted April 4, 2008 Thanks for all this - it's a little OTT - though I agree with everything you've said - in future you can just say yeah 'that was good' or 'that sucked' in future - I am my own worst critic believe me! I just wanted to share the lovely sound of my Sei bass doing what it does best. Thanks for the effort and feedback - it's appreciated. Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Fair enough! My apologies for perhaps being a little overzealous. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted April 4, 2008 Author Share Posted April 4, 2008 Cool man - thanks again, M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 No worries, definitely about time that I uploaded some stuff. Although it will be [i]sans[/i] vid. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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