grahambop

**gggomez** · 01-25-2016, 02:04 AM

Have had a wonderful morning listening to our own grahambop, check him out:

This is in part a departing ceremony for destinytot.

PS We need to increase the positivity around here!

**docbop** · 01-25-2016, 02:14 AM

I think you mean GrahamBop.

Sounds good so right person should get the credit.

Will miss destinytot hate to see the good people leave.

**gggomez** · 01-25-2016, 02:31 AM

thanks docbop. sorry. fixed now. i am a bit scattered at the moment with this busted collarbone, such a drag.

**nick1994** · 01-25-2016, 02:40 AM

such a great tone. He's a great player, one of the few left who actually post clips now that destinytot is leaving. Hope graham posts his version of there will never in February.

**srlank** · 01-25-2016, 02:57 AM

I always listen to Grahambop's music that he posts. Love his bop style!

**Rob MacKillop** · 01-25-2016, 04:17 AM

He's one of the best here, for sure. Always worth reading his comments too.

**gggomez** · 01-25-2016, 04:33 AM

Rob I saw your name on grahambops soundcloud.com. you are next on my list to savour. That will be tomorrow mornings treat. Thanks in advance for sharing.

**nick1994** · 01-25-2016, 04:56 AM

but most good players on this site usually have good advice. I would suggest a favorite player/member thread but that just seems like a bad idea.

**55bar** · 01-25-2016, 05:19 AM

Originally Posted by gggomez

Have had a wonderful morning listening to our own grahambop, check him out:

This is in part a departing ceremony for destinytot.

PS We need to increase the positivity around here!

Beautiful lyrical playing, great time and wonderful subtle vibrato, just great.

I'm a little late to the party have I missed destinytot's departure? What happened?!
Very sad about this he was such a positive influence on this site a great mediator too.

He will be very missed around these parts, hope he comes back.

**Vladan** · 01-25-2016, 06:13 AM

Destinydot leaving?! The last time I was here he was, too, posting. Now, some 8 hours later I hear he's left? Odd. Hopefully he will change his mind.

**grahambop** · 01-25-2016, 08:22 AM

Guys, what can I say...! thank you so much for the appreciation. It does mean a lot to me.

I'm honoured to have one of my tracks dedicated to Destinytot - I too am sorry he's leaving.

I guess when I play I'm thinking more about getting a good sound and some kind of feeling going, not so much about technique and stuff. If that communicates something good to the listener, then I'm very happy with that.

I'll keep trying to do the practical standards, it's just that time seems to run out on me each month!

Thanks again to you all,
Graham

**targuit** · 01-25-2016, 08:30 AM

What happened to Mike? (Destinytot)

He mentioned Fumblefingers in his "departure" thread. Did Mike feel insulted by something?

**targuit** · 01-25-2016, 08:34 AM

Very tasteful playing and wonderful tone, Graham!

Where did your backup track come from? BIAB?

**grahambop** · 01-25-2016, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by targuit

Very tasteful playing and wonderful tone, Graham!

Where did your backup track come from? BIAB?

Thanks Jay! From memory I think that one was BIAB (real tracks), although on a few tracks I've used the SessionBand app on my iPad.

**targuit** · 01-25-2016, 10:00 AM

Sounds great and so did your playing. How do you like Session Band by comparison with Biab. Or to put it another way, which one do you feel sounds more realistic?

**mr. beaumont** · 01-25-2016, 10:02 AM

We can all (me included) learn a bit from following grahambop's posting philosophy here...help, be positive, and back up what you say with what you play.

**grahambop** · 01-25-2016, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

We can all (me included) learn a bit from following grahambop's posting philosophy here...help, be positive, and back up what you say with what you play.

thanks Jeff...left to my own devices, I have always had a tendency towards depressive melancholy, so I have had to develop a positive outlook to counteract it!

**MarkRhodes** · 01-25-2016, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by gggomez

Have had a wonderful morning listening to our own grahambop, check him out:

This is in part a departing ceremony for destinytot.

PS We need to increase the positivity around here!

Agreed on all three counts: Grahambop makes for a good listen, the not-yet-final-and-I-hope-he-changes-his-mind departure of destinytot (Mike McKoy) would be a great loss for the site, and finally, it's best (when possible) to "look for the silver lining" and "ac-cent-tu-ate the positive."

**MarkRhodes** · 01-25-2016, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by nick1994

but most good players on this site usually have good advice. I would suggest a favorite player/member thread but that just seems like a bad idea.

I think so too. It could leave a lot of people feeling left out and stir up rivalries we don't need.

**grahambop** · 01-25-2016, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by targuit

Sounds great and so did your playing. How do you like Session Band by comparison with Biab. Or to put it another way, which one do you feel sounds more realistic?

That's difficult to say, I like them both but they each have pros and cons. They are both sampled from real musicians, so they both sound very realistic.

BIAB Real Tracks has faster entry of the chords I would say, and it has quite a lot of variations built in, so over a few choruses it doesn't sound too repetitive. You can change the tempo over a wide range and it will still sound good. But it is more expensive, and adding more style sets will cost more. It also has one quirk which can be very annoying, namely it will often change a dominant 7 chord to a dominant 7 altered chord, whether you want it to or not. Ok when it's a V7 resolving to I, but when it's a 'static dominant' like 'Killer Joe' for example, it can sound stupid. If the piano player did that again and again on a gig, you'd fire him! Unfortunately there seems to be no solution to this in the Real Tracks version. (In the older MIDI versions there were workarounds for this). Some of the more complex options in BIAB do not seem to work as well in the Real Tracks version. e.g. slash chords (such as Dm7 / G bass), or pedal bass notes. They work, but with a very clunky, clumsy effect, I think they got lazy and cut a few corners when adding samples of these to the library.

Session Band is incredibly cheap (I think I got all 3 apps for a silly price like £5 or something!) and each of the 3 apps has quite a lot of different styles. And the styles are very varied, e.g. swing, ballad, bop, Coltrane/Elvin, ECM, New Orleans beat, Ahmad Jamal, etc., you name it, I think there's stuff that BIAB hasn't covered really. Chord entry is a bit more fiddly, but it plays exactly the chord extension you choose, so there isn't that 'dominant or dominant altered?' irritation that you get with BIAB. It doesn't offer as many chord extensions as BIAB, but most of the usual ones are there. It doesn't do 'slash chords' and you can't vary the tempo too much or it gets a bit 'mushy'. But with all the different styles there is usually one close to the tempo range you want. (e.g. there is "very slow" ballad, slow ballad, medium ballad I think, just to take one example.) Also it has no variations, so each chorus sounds identical. That can get a bit repetitive. But you can add some drum breaks and flourishes which help to disguise that fact.

One final point - BIAB runs on PC (and Mac I believe? but I use a PC). SessionBand is an app for Apple IOS only, I believe. I use it on an iPad. You can export SessionBand audio to Garageband but I have found you need to just trim off a little bit of 'dead' audio at the beginning to create a perfect Garageband loop. That is a bit fiddly to do, unfortunately.

**christianm77** · 01-25-2016, 01:37 PM

Sad to hear Mike (destinytot) won't be posting any more. Really enjoyed his contributions over the past couple of years.

Also - lovely playing as always GrahamBop!