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Though I'm a huge Gibson fanboy, I also love budget archtops, especially Epiphones. So I have made a clip playing basically one page of the "Wave" solo on each of four Epiphone Archtops:
Made in Korea/Peerless Epiphone Broadway (Seymour Duncan Seth Lover Pickup)
Made in Japan/Epiphone Elitist Broadway (okay, not a "Budget" archtop but cheaper than an L5ces)
Epiphone Zephyr Regent Re-Issue (Seymour Duncan Seth Lover Pickup)
Epiphone ES175 Premium
I play through the solo playing about a page on each guitar. Final result is that they all sound very close, they all sound really good (to my ear) and a person could really do well acquiring one of these if they wanted a nice archtop but didn't have a lot to spend. Only the Elitist Broadway is more than US $1000. The rest are easily found much lower than that.
Enjoy!
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11-19-2018 03:23 PM
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With the support of my dog Alfie, I have caught up. bars 1-32.
andyb
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That's a great dog! And a nice job on the solo too! Glad to see we have a remnant forging on with this project.
Originally Posted by andyb
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Interesting demo Lawson. I listened to your clip a couple of times and with my eyes closed I honestly couldn't tell when you switched guitars. It goes to show that good music is more about the player than the guitar. But we knew that! Thanks for sharing. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Well done Andy! Originally Posted by andyb
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It has been ages since I played my old Made-in-Korea/Peerless Epiphone Broadway, and I also haven't played around with the Real Book Tracks backing track, so I thought I'd take a run at the tune and the solo up to the octave section at the end. I just kind of fake some octaves there at the end. This Broadway has a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickup in the neck slot, and I really like how it sounds and plays. This "budget" archtop punches way above its class.
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You weren't kidding Lawson. The guitar and guitarist sounded great. Your last two videos have me wondering why I blew so much dough on the Gibsons... Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Also, congrats on almost completing Project 2.
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You guys sound great! I've been so busy with family and work obligations that I've hardly been able to pick up my guitar during this session, but I'm going to try and jump on board now. I found a chunk of time last night and got the first two pages down, (with music). Memorizing it properly will be another matter, but I'll make it happen. I'm glad the TTI thread is still going!
-Chris
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I love these TTI’s. But I admit one big issue I’ve been having is that the solos don’t reference or relate to the tune’s melody in any way. I’m sure if, like Conti, you’ve heard Ella Fitzgerald or even Frank Sinatra sing these a thousand times and you’ve played the same tunes daily for fifty years you can’t help but hear that melody as you play.
But I’ve found that my audience doesn’t know these tunes any more than I do. Like me, I think there is a new generation of people who appreciate jazz for its musicality, sophistication, and inventiveness. But not necessarily out of love for pop tunes from the ‘20s and ‘30s. Beyond that, I always enjoy improvised solos that play off the melody rather than just be contrafacts.
I know Conti’s assistant monitors these threads, so to you I say: “Keep them coming! But if we could have one or two of the project really focus on playing off the original melody, that would be GREAT!!!”
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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Never fear! The Gibson Magic remains undimmed! Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
You weren't kidding Lawson. The guitar and guitarist sounded great. Your last two videos have me wondering why I blew so much dough on the Gibsons... Also, congrats on almost completing Project 2.
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The ES175 was jealous and wanted to play too, so in keeping with upholding the Gibson Fanboys:
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Hey Lawson, Your performance gets better with every video! Makes me want to un-invite the in-laws for Thanksgiving and get back to practicing. You have the tune ready for prime time. And yes, both Gibsons sound terrific. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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hey thanks so much for that. This is pretty much the only audience I play for, so it counts! I still am having trouble with the octave passage on mm. 41-44, and I have memory blanks generally on page 5. But overall this solo is hanging together nicely. Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
Part of the fun here is that I just adore "Wave." It was one of the first chord-melody projects I ever undertook 'way back when I first started playing jazz guitar in the 1990's. It took weeks to learn a Steven Crowell arrangement of it--a really good one--but when I was done I had something fun to play. But I never got comfortable soloing over it, though it's actually a pretty easy progression. This Conti solo is helping me with the soloing aspect of this tune.
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Here is my first "Final" post with the head and complete solo, including that infernal octave passage at the end, which I get about half right.
Anybody else having the problem in m. 42, when the finger on the 4th string 12th fret doesn't mute the 3rd string but produces a harmonic? This is driving me nuts. I don't want to "pluck" my octaves, but mute/sweep them because I like that more Wes-like, swooping sound. I'm thinking about re-positioning mm42-44 to avoid that 12th fret problem.
Anyhow, I hope to get this more polished, but thought I'd post now so you could say "Well I can do better than that!" ;-)
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Well played Lawson! I'm having all kinds of trouble getting the octaves at speed. I've tried strumming and plucking the octaves, as well as repositioning them. I need more time in the shed! Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Octaves what octaves, I haven't got that far yet.
Seriously though Lawson you are sounding great, this a really nice sounding solo. I am also enjoying hearing all your guitars being played, and wondering just how many do you have?
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Good point Andy! We're only suppose to get through measure 40 this week. I still have 2 more weeks to practice... Originally Posted by andyb
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Needed to get something on tape despite the long Holiday weekend. I took a few liberties with the solo as written. Too many notes to memorize!
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Well done! I think you nailed the solo as written, with a couple of very nice touches of your own. Solid job on it all the way around. Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
What amp are you using? I'm always puzzling around on the best way to record my guitars.
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Thanks Lawson. I have a fairly crude recording set up: Originally Posted by lawson-stone
- Guitar: 1957 Gibson ES-175S (single pickup; newly re-fretted).
- Amp: Brunetti Singleman (16-watt 1x12 combo Class A with two 6V6 tubes).
- Microphone: Blue Yeti USB Microphone.
- Backing Track: Band In A Box; Played from the PC headphone jack through a Yamaha G100 (solid state) amp.
- Recording Software: Windows Movie Maker.
Path: Guitar => Amp (no pedals) => Microphone (set on floor between the Brunetti/guitar and Yamaha/BIAB amps) => Windows Movie Maker (Windows PC).
If you look at the latest video you can see the Brunetti amp and Yeti microphone on the floor behind me. You can only see the corner of the Yamaha, which is to the right of the mic.
There is no multi-tracking, just a single live mix. While crude, it truly is WYPIWYH (What You Play Is What You Hear). There is no post-production work on the sound. But I admit, it would be nice to be able to balance the backing track with the guitar track without having to re-record each time. Maybe I'll find some time over the holidays to experiment.
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thanks for the information! Currently I ended up with 2 DV Mark amps, the Micro50 head and the Little Jazz, so I plug the backing track into one, the guitar into the other, run them through a PreSonus AudioBox iTwo-which was the cheapest 2 track Digital converter I could find-and from there into my iPhone via USB/LIghtning. I get both tracks separate in the iPhone file, which allows me to adjust the levels. Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
On the guitar, sometimes I mic the cabinet and I have the same mic as you do, but also use a beat up of Shure SM57 sometimes. Other times I use the XLR out from the amp. Odd thing, I rarely can tell the difference in the recordings!
It's always fun and interesting to hear how every body does this. You're getting IMO very good results from your set-up.
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I managed to get the whole solo done today, there are a few mistakes and the octaves are not there yet.
If I get chance I will have another go, or perhaps try to make my own solo.
andyb
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Great job Andy! A very clean take and I think you navigated the pesky triplets with style. And I liked the way you plucked the octaves. Congrats on making it through the whole 44 bar solo! Originally Posted by andyb
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Here is my take on the full solo (bars 1-44). In bars 41-44, I ended up plucking the octaves and changing some of the positions.
For this recording I used my 1957 Gibson ES-175 through an early 1980's MiniBrute II (12" speaker; No reverb). I added a touch of reverb via a tc electronic Hall of Fame Reverb pedal. As an aside, I notice that I dial all of my amps and guitars to sound about the same...
I hope to post one more take with the head and the solo.
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Unless I have some major breakthrough with the octaves, this is my final take on the solo. Still not happy with the octaves, still getting that 12th fret harmonic on the "D" octaves. I should re-position, but I hate thinking that every time I play octaves I can't use the 12th fret.
Otherwise, I'm happy with the solo and enjoyed learning it and playing it. I likely won't do another post with the head+solo unless you guys want to do that too, then I'm happy to play!
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