Is this the Universe's Way Of Telling Me Not to Play Jazz?

[The Colonel]

I started messing with Apple Loops in GarageBand to make a backing track for jazz improvisation, and came up with something more appropriate for background music in the film "Boogie Nights." Feel free to download it if it's useful to you. Meanwhile, I have to reconsider whether I really belong here.

[mr. beaumont]

Well I like it, and I'll probably try ripping a very dirty solo over this sometime soon.

It's not "not jazz."

[The Colonel]

Well I like it, and I'll probably try ripping a very dirty solo over this sometime soon.

It's not "not jazz."

That’s very kind of you. It may not be “not jazz” but it sure is more funk/blues than it is jazz

[Cunamara]

Well, that is not prima facie evidence that you don't belong here. But it might be evidence of issues in the use of the software.

[FwLineberry]

Put some nylon string over it and call it adult jazz or something.

[rintincop]

Which particular loops did you use in garage band?

[The Colonel]

Which particular loops did you use in garage band?

The third one (obscured is "melodic funk guitar").

[John A.]

You might not want to know if you belong here or not, on account of Groucho's wisdom on joining clubs that would have you as a member, but that's between you and self-deprecation ... but to quote another wise man (Mr. B himself), jazz is a how not a what. As a fer instance ... Not sure what this is, but I think I know how ...

John
PS, I took the liberty of editing it into a 12-bar form, because I can count to 12 but not to 10.

[The Colonel]

You might not want to know if you belong here or not, on account of Groucho's wisdom on joining clubs that would have you as a member, but that's between you and self-deprecation ... but to quote another wise man (Mr. B himself), jazz is a how not a what. As a fer instance ... Not sure what this is, but I think I know how ...

John
PS, I took the liberty of editing it into a 12-bar form, because I can count to 12 but not to 10.

Very nice! And very John Scofield! Thanks for doing that. I thought it was in 12 bar form -- two sets of 12 bars. At least that's what Garage Band shows... What was your guitar/signal chain for this?

[John A.]

Very nice! And very John Scofield! Thanks for doing that. I thought it was in 12 bar form -- two sets of 12 bars. At least that's what Garage Band shows... What was your guitar/signal chain for this?

Yours is 10 bars - you played 2 bars of the i chord up front instead of 4, plus a little silence at the end. When I imported it into GB, I copied and pasted in the first 2 bars, trimmed it to exactly 12 and looped that.

The signal chain is a D'Angelico EX-DC semi-hollow into Garage Band, tweed 4x10 model with the "tube burner" overdrive pedal and a slapback delay. I guess it is a fairly Sco-ish sound.

John

[The Colonel]

Yours is 10 bars - you played 2 bars of the i chord up front instead of 4, plus a little silence at the end. When I imported it into GB, I copied and pasted in the first 2 bars, trimmed it to exactly 12 and looped that.

The signal chain is a D'Angelico EX-DC semi-hollow into Garage Band, tweed 4x10 model with the "tube burner" overdrive pedal and a slapback delay. I guess it is a fairly Sco-ish sound.

John

You're right -- just checked. 12 bars is better than 10. And 24 better than 20, and so on. I've modified mine (one bar of the I chord, one bar of the IV chord back to 2 bars of the I chord up front). It also sounds good increasing the tempo to about 100 or 120 bpm, and raise the key to c minor. I slowed it down because I can't play lead that quickly even on something this simple.

[The Colonel]

And I wonder if there is a way to end the loops at bar 11 and use some sort of midi track for a turn around in bar 12. I'm hearing a Hendrix-like E7#9 chord there.... (if we're still in A minor)

[John A.]

And I wonder if there is a way to end the loops at bar 11 and use some sort of midi track for a turn around in bar 12. I'm hearing a Hendrix-like E7#9 chord there.... (if we're still in A minor)

Those particular loops are audio files (not MIDI data) of real instruments actually being played, so you can't edit the pitches in them. You could split the bass, guitar, and clavinet loops at the bar line (edit->split regions at playhead), delete the regions that consist of the 12th bar, and then play 1-bar parts on instruments for the 12th bar, but it probably won't match the previous bars well, unless you have the chops and instruments to match the parts that already there. The Apple loops are what they are. If you want something different, you have to play it, or buy loops elsewhere that have more variation or are more editable.

John

[The Colonel]

Those particular loops are audio files (not MIDI data) of real instruments actually being played, so you can't edit the pitches in them. You could split the bass, guitar, and clavinet loops at the bar line (edit->split regions at playhead), delete the regions that consist of the 12th bar, and then play 1-bar parts on instruments for the 12th bar, but it probably won't match the previous bars well, unless you have the chops and instruments to match the parts that already there. The Apple loops are what they are. If you want something different, you have to play it, or buy loops elsewhere that have more variation or are more editable.

John

Yeah I figured if I used a mid keyboard I could use it to create a turnaround on just a subset of the instruments. We'll see.

[fep]

This is tongue and cheek, right? You're not going to quit jazz because you pasted a loop into GarageBand, right?

[The Colonel]

This is tongue and cheek, right? You're not going to quit jazz because you pasted a loop into GarageBand, right?

Of course it's tongue in cheek!

[The Colonel]

Yeah I figured if I used a mid keyboard I could use it to create a turnaround on just a subset of the instruments. We'll see.

So this is the revised effort: (1) dropped one percussion track; (2) changed key to Cminor; (3) upped tempo to 100bpm; (4) added a three-instrument MIDI turnaround in the 12th bar. I realize that the timing is slightly off in that turnaround, but I don't know enough about MIDI to know how to edit the notes. I can adjust the pitch, but timing is another thing (especially when those hits are supposed to be on the up-beat)....

[John A.]

So this is the revised effort: (1) dropped one percussion track; (2) changed key to Cminor; (3) upped tempo to 100bpm; (4) added a three-instrument MIDI turnaround in the 12th bar. I realize that the timing is slightly off in that turnaround, but I don't know enough about MIDI to know how to edit the notes. I can adjust the pitch, but timing is another thing (especially when those hits are supposed to be on the up-beat)....

Enable to midi track you want to edit. In the upper left corner of the screen, you should see a scissor icon. Click this, and this will open the editor for the track, which defaults to "piano roll" view. In this view, you can move the notes (the little blocks in the grid) left (earlier) and right (later), up (higher pitch) and down (lower pitch), and extend them or shorten them by dragging the right edge left or right. You can also double click on a note and directly edit other parameters like volume, and after-touch. You might be able to get that to match a bit better.

John

[The Colonel]

Enable to midi track you want to edit. In the upper left corner of the screen, you should see a scissor icon. Click this, and this will open the editor for the track, which defaults to "piano roll" view. In this view, you can move the notes (the little blocks in the grid) left (earlier) and right (later), up (higher pitch) and down (lower pitch), and extend them or shorten them by dragging the right edge left or right. You can also double click on a note and directly edit other parameters like volume, and after-touch. You might be able to get that to match a bit better.

John

Thanks - I'll play around with it. I'm trying to think of the tune where I heard a similar turnaround. ...

[John A.]

Thanks - I'll play around with it. I'm trying to think of the tune where I heard a similar turnaround. ...

It's quite common to end a blues form on a V7#9 chord, but the whole band has to be aware of the ending, and the band you have there is not very good at paying attention to the second keyboard player ;-)

John

[The Colonel]

It's quite common to end a blues form on a V7#9 chord, but the whole band has to be aware of the ending, and the band you have there is not very good at paying attention to the second keyboard player ;-)

John

Doesn't the tune "Sunny" use that at the turnaround? (Or at least the version I've seen on Youtube with David Reinhardt and Rocky Gresset uses it).

[John A.]

Doesn't the tune "Sunny" use that at the turnaround? (Or at least the version I've seen on Youtube with David Reinhardt and Rocky Gresset uses it).

I don't know that version and couldn't say. If you google "Sunny lead sheet" you'll see a few variants. The originally Bobby Hebb version does different things on different choruses (and it modulates a couple of times). In general, I treat all extensions and alterations of a V7 as "legal," or at least potentially so depending on context. I play improvised ensemble music. It's about listening and playing what works amid what other people are playing, not about sticking to exactly notated voicings (except when actually playing a static arrangement).

John

[The Colonel]

I don't know that version and couldn't say. If you google "Sunny lead sheet" you'll see a few variants. The originally Bobby Hebb version does different things on different choruses (and it modulates a couple of times). In general, I treat all extensions and alterations of a V7 as "legal," or at least potentially so depending on context. I play improvised ensemble music. It's about listening and playing what works amid what other people are playing, not about sticking to exactly notated voicings (except when actually playing a static arrangement).

John

Well, IMHO it is one of the finest versions I've ever heard (below), and that is some serious playing. Great tone.

[The Colonel]

Enable to midi track you want to edit. In the upper left corner of the screen, you should see a scissor icon. Click this, and this will open the editor for the track, which defaults to "piano roll" view. In this view, you can move the notes (the little blocks in the grid) left (earlier) and right (later), up (higher pitch) and down (lower pitch), and extend them or shorten them by dragging the right edge left or right. You can also double click on a note and directly edit other parameters like volume, and after-touch. You might be able to get that to match a bit better.

John

Modified without the harsh turnaround (but in 12 bars, as it should be).

[John A.]

Modified without the harsh turnaround (but in 12 bars, as it should be).

Ok, now play some jazz over that.

John