JGBE Virtual Jam (Round 77) - Close Your Eyes

[kris]

Good stuff. That explains the lovely acoustic bass I heard

I wonder how Mr.sunny records his backing?Does he use a metronome / he has a earphone in his ear /.

[kris]

I couldn't watch any more coverage of the first mass shooting of the day, and my wife and I have spent enough time for now hoping it would be the last. I just had to sit quietly and play the guitar for a while to cool my head, so I ran off a take of CYE with Mr Sunny Bass.

Very nice jazz lines. Nice chord playing.

[grahambop]

I wonder how Mr.sunny records his backing?Does he use a metronome / he has a earphone in his ear /.

I am sure he uses a metronome, he always gives a precise tempo in the youtube description. I have used his tracks sometimes alongside other tracks e.g. drums in Reaper, and they usually stay aligned to the specified tempo.

[kris]

I am sure he uses a metronome, he always gives a precise tempo in the youtube description. I have used his tracks sometimes alongside other tracks e.g. drums in Reaper, and they usually stay aligned to the specified tempo.

Does he report BPM?

[grahambop]

Does he report BPM?

Yeah he gives it in the description, and counts you in with a big finger (!).

(He looks a bit like Inspector Montalbano.)

[ragman1]

Montalbano

You're not wrong!

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Does he report BPM?

I download backing track audios as wav files. Audacity and many other recording programs and DAWs let you process a track to play in pitch at any speed you want. So you can start slow and work up, or you can slow it down to try a tune in a different style.

[grahambop]

You're not wrong!

I think Mr Sunnybass is Italian, as it happens.

[grahambop]

Here's mine. The B3 organ is from BIAB and the drums are from the Drumgenius app. For a change, I used the direct line out from my DV Mark Little Jazz amp, it records well.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Here's mine. The B3 organ is from BIAB and the drums are from the Drumgenius app. For a change, I used the direct line out from my DV Mark Little Jazz amp, it records well.

Smoky and smokin’ - I love it!

The direct outs work great on both my Blu and my Li’l Jazz. The wonderful thunk and sparkle of your tone (thunkle?) really come through your rig, Graham.

David

[grahambop]

Thanks! I think you’ve invented a new word there, better patent it!

[ragman1]

Graham -

Great, as ever.

The bass man is indeed Italian. Apparently, according some other players, he uses 'Italian fingering'. No comment

Translation by Google:

'He began his studies in his youth under the guidance of Maestro Aldo Lucchini, subsequently graduating in Double Bass at the Conservatory of Castelfranco Veneto with Maestro Andrea Dominijanni.

In addition to classical studies he deepens his knowledge of Jazz music as a self-taught.
Since 1990 he has been present on the Italian music scene alongside some of the best Italian musicians.

He participates in various recordings of jazz bands, has 8 CDs of ethno-new age music published by Azzurra Music, carries out teaching activities in private music schools where he teaches bass, including electric ones.'

Jazzitalia - Artisti: Mauro Sereno

Reminds me of that joke about the Italian drummer who called his daughters One Anna, Two Anna, Three Anna...

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Thanks! I think you’ve invented a new word there, better patent it!

Then again, maybe it's sprunk or tharkle. I shudder to think of the raging debates this will start - the first thread will be based on a blinded test and have a poll called "Thunkle, sprunk, or tharkle?"

The difference in tone between your 16" laminated 175 and my 17" carved Eastman is interesting. Yours seems a bit cleaner and more forward, as I'd expect from a 175 run directly into the DAI, while mine's a bit more subdued, soft, and rounded. Critics would say that my tone is duller than yours, and I couldn't take issue with that. The harshest among them might even call it lifeless, which I'd understand but with which I'd at least mildly disagree. I suspect this is partly because of the stock Eastman-spec'ed "Kent Armstrong" floater compared to your GIbson 'buckers.

That leaves picks and strings. I'm using a D'Andrea ProPlec and picking in the same location you do, at or above the neck p'up. And I'm strung with D'A 13 and 17 singles (because they're a bit fatter than the euro-gauged TI plains) over JS113s with an 0.075" Chrome 7th. What pick and strings do you use on the 175?

FWIW to Eastman owners, fans, and critics, I called Kent a few months ago about another guitar, and I remembered to ask him about the pickup in my 810. He told me that the contract units are very similar to the ones he winds himself. He didn't seem to think the cost and effort of changing from my OEM to the same model bought directly from him were justified, and he suggested letting him make a floater to fit my wants and needs if I really wanted a step up in tone . For those with Eastman OEM "KA" floaters, he told me that some 810s may still be coming out with pickups made by him although it's unlikely. The way to tell whether it's a contract unit or was made by him is to look at the label on the bottom. The OEM ones have a printed label, but there's some hand written notation on the ones he made. I haven't yet removed it to look at the bottom.

[grahambop]

I use D’addario .012 flats and a small Dunlop II pick. I also use a metal tunomatic bridge (I replaced the original wooden one years ago), that may have some effect on the sound.

I like your sound too, sounds great to me!

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

The view out our windows has been getting darker and more threatening all day, and it's practice time. So, inspired by j4zz's track, I thought a bossa might lighten up the afternoon.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

After listening to my bossa track several times, I figured out why it doesn’t sound right. The backing track isn’t suited to the way I played the tune - and it’s my fault for not listening to it completely more than once. The piano and guitar on it play a lot, and the track was probably made to back a wind instrument rather than a guitar. The rhythm is solidly set, and my trying to weave through it only muddies it up. The best way to play along with a lot of these is to stick with what the backing track is doing. Lesson: listen to the backing you choose and play with it, not over it. I haven’t been doing this well.

Part of the beauty of the VJ is the feedback it provides us. After going back and listening to a few of my earlier posted tracks with YT backing, I realize that I’ve been trying to adapt on the fly to what I hear in the backing. I haven’t really learned the backing tracks well enough to play intelligently with, rather than over them. So some parts of them actually come as a surprise because I don’t even recall hearing them the first & only time I listened.

Tomorrow I’ll lay down a bass backing track that better reflects and supports the way I hear the tune. I like to syncopate my bossa lines and chord bossa melodies. That style does not go with the only bossa track I could find on YT. We live & learn.

[j4zz]

After listening to my bossa track several times, I figured out why it doesn’t sound right. The backing track isn’t suited to the way I played the tune - and it’s my fault for not listening to it completely more than once. The piano and guitar on it play a lot, and the track was probably made to back a wind instrument rather than a guitar. The rhythm is solidly set, and my trying to weave through it only muddies it up. The best way to play along with a lot of these is to stick with what the backing track is doing. Lesson: listen to the backing you choose and play with it, not over it. I haven’t been doing this well.

One of the advantages of making your own backing track is you get to vary these things. In jjazzlab (or BIAB) you get to choose from hundreds of styles, but more importantly, within the chosen style their are multiple variations to select for different parts of the tune, plus you get some control, so if you need the other guys in the band to hang back, you can choose a variation where they are less intrusive - and also drop them back in the mix a bit too.

[kris]

I download backing track audios as wav files. Audacity and many other recording programs and DAWs let you process a track to play in pitch at any speed you want. So you can start slow and work up, or you can slow it down to try a tune in a different style.

I would be very careful with changing the original tempo in the wave.

[kris]

One of the advantages of making your own backing track is you get to vary these things. In jjazzlab (or BIAB) you get to choose from hundreds of styles, but more importantly, within the chosen style their are multiple variations to select for different parts of the tune, plus you get some control, so if you need the other guys in the band to hang back, you can choose a variation where they are less intrusive - and also drop them back in the mix a bit too.

When playing bossa-nova with the backing track, I suggest you throw away the piano ... that's what I do.
....bass, drums and nylon string guitar/backing track/ is enough to inspire the musician to play in the right style of bossa.
Bossa -nova has a specific atmosphere and space.

[grahambop]

I would be very careful with changing the original tempo in the wave.

Audacity has a ‘high-quality’ change tempo effect, it works pretty well on most things.

However I find that if the track contains ride cymbals, they often don’t sound so good. I assume it’s all the high frequencies, you start to get a ‘swishy’ out-of-phase sound.

[grahambop]

After listening to my bossa track several times, I figured out why it doesn’t sound right. The backing track isn’t suited to the way I played the tune - and it’s my fault for not listening to it completely more than once.

I often dislike the piano in backing tracks, it’s often too intrusive. The BIAB piano tracks are like that, if I use them I actually cut out some of the piano chords in Reaper to make it less busy!

Alternatively I use the organ tracks which seem to blend better. Or no piano at all, just bass and drums.

[j4zz]

I often dislike the piano in backing tracks, it’s often too intrusive. The BIAB piano tracks are like that, if I use them I actually cut out some of the piano chords in Reaper to make it less busy!

Alternatively I use the organ tracks which seem to blend better. Or no piano at all, just bass and drums.

One solution for intrusive piano (and yeah BIAB can be like that), is switch the instrument to a Fender Rhodes electric and cut it back in the mix.

[kris]

One solution for intrusive piano (and yeah BIAB can be like that), is switch the instrument to a Fender Rhodes electric and cut it back in the mix.

it's not about the timbre of the instrument, but about the way it plays - a dense texture.

[grahambop]

One solution for intrusive piano (and yeah BIAB can be like that), is switch the instrument to a Fender Rhodes electric and cut it back in the mix.

I'm not crazy about the rhodes sound for straight-ahead stuff though. Sounds great for some things, e.g. funky/fusion or maybe latin stuff.

I did use it when we did 'Spain' a while back. I've only got the 'midi' Rhodes on my BIAB though, generally I prefer the 'real tracks' instruments. (Actually I think I've got a rhodes 'smooth jazz' real track).

[Triple_Jazz]

1206585[/URL]]After listening to my bossa track several times, I figured out why it doesn’t sound right. The backing track isn’t suited to the way I played the tune - and it’s my fault for not listening to it completely more than once. The piano and guitar on it play a lot, and the track was probably made to back a wind instrument rather than a guitar. The rhythm is solidly set, and my trying to weave through it only muddies it up. The best way to play along with a lot of these is to stick with what the backing track is doing. Lesson: listen to the backing you choose and play with it, not over it. I haven’t been doing this well.

Part of the beauty of the VJ is the feedback it provides us. After going back and listening to a few of my earlier posted tracks with YT backing, I realize that I’ve been trying to adapt on the fly to what I hear in the backing. I haven’t really learned the backing tracks well enough to play intelligently with, rather than over them. So some parts of them actually come as a surprise because I don’t even recall hearing them the first & only time

I kind of like that bit of the VJ. I see it as part of the challenge, first you have to find a track you want to play to, then you have to play your sense of the song on that given track. It is frustrating that the track is not interacting with you the way that real people at a jam would but when jumping in on a tune with others you’ve never played with there’s a good chance they will play it differently then how you expected to play it.