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This one's from John A.
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10-06-2022 07:53 PM
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You probably know it but just in case:
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aka John A.’s payback for my recent string of calls!
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All right then, let's get the party started ...
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Payback in the form of taking it relatively easy on y'all, maybe. I guess it's not all that mainstream a jam tune, but I think everybody will find that this is not really a very difficult tune to get under one's fingers. A lot notes and chords, but that's deceptive. The melody is really pretty simple and the harmony is even simpler.
Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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As you say, and you did zoom nicely through it. Did you already know it? Originally Posted by John A.
(I remember a few years back I bumped into a player I knew. He was in a band called James :-))
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I’ve noodled around with it a little before and heard it zillion times, so I kind of knew it, but not cold. I spent a little time tightening it up and filling in bits of the head I didn’t have quite right, and then called it a night. I could definitely play it better with some more practicing, but I try not to belabor these jam tunes. Originally Posted by ragman1
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Rick Beato did a great interview with Metheny, including a segment where Pat explains James
Beato also did his own video on Metheny’s harmony, which starts with segment about James
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It's not very zippy but it's pretty :-)
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I can see that now. Not being terribly familiar with the song the chart, at first glance, is pretty intimidating. Originally Posted by John A.
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I’d say listen (and play along) before you look. It’s basically all major key stuff (A sections in D, bridge in A), with a touch of borrowing from D blues and B minor. The accompaniment does all the cool stuff, and the soloist’s job is basically to play diatonic major lines through that, sprinkled with blues and chromaticism to taste. The hard part is phrasing, melodic development, and musicality, not figuring out what notes to play. At least that’s the way it seems to me. Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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Seemingly simple, yet difficult. (for me)
I'll practice - I promise.
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Seems to me the secret is to know the tune really well because then you know what's coming. If you know what's coming you can play it. Metheny wrote it so I assume it wasn't any great feat for him to improv easily. We only have a week to do something with it, not quite the same thing!
So I don't think anyone should be too embarrassed about not zooming round it in genius fashion, yet I suspect that secretly that's what we're trying to do. There's almost this competitive challenge which, in my view anyway, is so unrealistic.
That's why, personally, I haven't the slightest compunction about slowing it down and simplifying it. No prob there.
(And, while I'm banging on about it, I have virtually no respect for people like Coltrane who practiced Giant Steps for a whole year, apparently, and then walked into the studio, threw it at the band, and expected them to just dash it off. Poor old Tommy Flanagan, great pianist. But he vindicated himself later when he recorded it much later having had time to get it together. And did a great job. Coltrane's not the only villain, of course, there were others. Selfish doesn't describe it).
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It would be rude of me to say something like, "This song reminds me of the theme song from ALF" so I am not going to say that.
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Feel free to play that instead Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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After my first real stab at James tonight I just might have to! This is a tough tune. Originally Posted by John A.
Feel free to play that instead
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You can play almost anything you like over the A sections, it's a sort of repeating riff thing in D. The Bm pentatonic or D maj scale will do it. It doesn't matter too much what the chords are doing. The bridge is a bit trickier.
By the way, the Metheny/Beato interview didn't yield much. He basically said just outline the chords. Wow, fancy that :-)
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I wrote that I would practice, and I practiced.
11 takes. Each one is slightly different. Digging.
After about 2 hours of playing I play without thinking about chords and form.
I hear the changes. A good symptom I suppose.
But that's just the beginning, of course.
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Loved that. I thought of doing it reggae too!
(I once did a reggae version of Honeysuckle Rose here. Didn't go down too well with the purists :-))
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Nice stuff Robespier and Ragman.
But I have to wonder what's going on with the drop-off in participation. Is it the tunes? Are the people who were participating before just otherwise occupied or no longer on the forum? Have some of the dust-ups that happened soured the experience and driven people off? I mean if it's just two or three people putting up posts, I wonder whether this has run its course. It would be great to have something close to the 8-10 people posting we had before, and I'd be interested finding out what might get us there.
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Hi, John. I shall address this issue!
First, absolutely right, but there are some reservations...
When this first started it was new and, like all new things, attracted a lot of energy and attention. One could see the attraction of tunes that weren't the usual GASB fare.
I've looked back over some previous threads/tunes and I have a list of at least 10 players (that's a lot) who were contributing but have vanished. And some others who are still around but no longer post here. And also one or two but only sporadically.
I think it was bound to run its course. Personally, when Jeff asked for someone to keep it going I declined. But then everybody else declined too and I thought that was a shame so I took it over.
I'm not Jeff. I don't have his energy, performance skills, or party manner. I'm really quite serious and reserved despite the humour. That may have something to do with it although I doubt if it's the main reason.
Like I said, I've looked back and many of the players that were contributing in our heyday had already began to fade away before I came along. There were some disputes and all that but they mostly started while Jeff was still here and have been somewhat resolved since.
I can tell you that I had quite a few misgivings about continuing the VJ idea without Jeff at the helm. He'd done it for a whole year, complete, and I felt it was probably better left that way. Anything that came after that was always going to have that 'keeping it alive' feel and would probably always feel second-best. Also, the thought of running a lame-duck thread really didn't appeal at all.
But people wanted to do it so on we went and here we are. I agree, the energy and enthusiasm is not what it was. But I'm not sure that it ever could have been. All things eventually fade naturally and are replaced with brand new things, not mere continuations or substitutes.
Does that answer you? We can either go on as we are - and you never know what's round the corner - or run it till the end of the year and call it a day then.
What do you say? In fact, what do we all say?
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Good points, all. I have been mulling this over for awhile as well. We had a solid, committed group for an entire year—which I think is quite an accomplishment for an online "study group" situation—followed by slowly dwindling participation as the second year has progressed.
I think I am ready for something new. The pattern that has developed for me is one in which I scramble to learn the changes well enough to record something, get really interested in a tune, and then have to set it aside to move on to the next one. I hate to say it, but it's perhaps starting to feel like more of a chore these days, and I am not sure I am reaping as many immediate benefits as I did in the first year. Some of the folks that participate have the chops and experience to bang out truly on-the-spot takes, which is fantastic, and if I could do it more readily, I'd be sticking around.
I will be meeting with my teacher soon and one of the things I want to cover is how to make the little bit of language more accessible in that way. I can see a period of more focused deep-dive tune learning and some shedding of some things I have been neglecting—mainly transcribing and rhythmic vocabulary—and then maybe taking a new stab at this (or a similar) format in a few months.
Rags, you've done a fine job keeping the tunes coming every week. You stated pretty clearly when you took over for Jeff that you didn't see yourself as the "leader" and that tune submission collation was the only role you were trying to fill. Thank you for doing it.Last edited by wzpgsr; 10-11-2022 at 05:52 PM.
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Excellent, so what shall we do?
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Personally, I'm off to the woodshed for a bit. If this group carries on I will still be lurking around probably contributing occasionally. Originally Posted by ragman1
Last edited by wzpgsr; 10-11-2022 at 11:52 PM.
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I guess I’d like to hear from someone other than the three of us. Originally Posted by ragman1
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