The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Whole thing is not out until late April but here's the song "Far Away."

    Not sure who all is in the band here. Quite a groove!


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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Nice tune!

  4. #3

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    not bad...sounds more like -the band- than booker t...vocals are a bit tough...but croppers great understated tele chops remain (he actually used an esquire early on)...good to hear from the old master

    cheers

  5. #4

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    Grandad Rock. Really, it did nothing for me, and I'm a fan.

  6. #5

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    those are some pretty cringeworthy lyrics, whew!

  7. #6

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    at near 80 years old, it's more like great grandad rock!

    fact that he felt inspired during/after 2020 gains him some leniency! hah

    btw, lyrics and vocals by Roger C. Reale


    cheers

  8. #7

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    just to remember the masters 4 in their prime...

    duck dunn supposedly kept those same heavy flatwound strings on that bass for decades!

    funny, cropper bends himself way out of tune during solo! hah...60's gear tech!

    dig the marshalls


  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by wintermoon
    those are some pretty cringeworthy lyrics, whew!
    Oh man. Steve oughta do a Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar album. That could be something.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    duck dunn supposedly kept those same heavy flatwound strings on that bass for decades!
    Carol Kaye said she never changed her bass strings---she just got a new bass every time they needed changing!

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    Carol Kaye said she never changed her bass strings---she just got a new bass every time they needed changing!
    tho for many a year now..clever as she is..she uses & endorses thomastiks!!..

    you can't stop hip!

    cheers

  12. #11

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    Cropper preferred big, heavy-gauge Gibson Sonomatic strings, generally using ten and eleven or two eleven-gauge strings on the top two strings of his instrument rather than the more typical spread of nine- and twelve-gauge strings used by most of his contemporaries. This was important for the two-note sliding figures he commonly played on his highest strings.

    "It sounds better when they're closer matched," Steve explains. "I hate new strings on a guitar. There are guys I love and respect that change strings after every solo. Mine, I change them when they break. I even put Chapstick (lip balm) on my strings when I put them on. I just rub it into the strings. It sort of gives you the effect of two or three days of playing them where you get the grease in there and the dirt."



    From Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records
    Rob Bowman
    Schirmer Trade
    2011

  13. #12

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    In Green Onions there, Steve's second solo is rather bizarre...I like it!

    Duck was solid. He never fell asleep.

  14. #13

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  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Litterick
    Cropper preferred big, heavy-gauge Gibson Sonomatic strings, generally using ten and eleven or two eleven-gauge strings on the top two strings of his instrument rather than the more typical spread of nine- and twelve-gauge strings used by most of his contemporaries. This was important for the two-note sliding figures he commonly played on his highest strings.

    "It sounds better when they're closer matched," Steve explains. "I hate new strings on a guitar. There are guys I love and respect that change strings after every solo. Mine, I change them when they break. I even put Chapstick (lip balm) on my strings when I put them on. I just rub it into the strings. It sort of gives you the effect of two or three days of playing them where you get the grease in there and the dirt."



    From Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records
    Rob Bowman
    Schirmer Trade
    2011
    Stephen Stills said he used to rub barbecue sauce on the strings of his bass to deaden them.

    I had a bandmate who used to habitually borrow my back-up guitar because "My strings are dead." After one gig playing my guitar, so were mine.

  16. #15

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    listenin to the get shorty soundtrack...scored by john lurie of the lounge lizards...but with some additional tracks

    including this booker t & the mg's burner- can't be still...with the original (pre duck d) bassist lewie steinberg...



    cheers

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    great clip and hopefully revelatory to those unfamiliar with the true workings of the record biz!!! past & recent.. hah

    great that sun records faves billy lee riley (by default) and respected scotty moore were involved

    cheers

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    listenin to the get shorty soundtrack...scored by john lurie of the lounge lizards...but with some additional tracks

    including this booker t & the mg's burner- can't be still...with the original (pre duck d) bassist lewie steinberg...



    cheers
    Cool! Thanks for that. I hadn't heard it before. What is that beat called? It reminds me of Charlie Watts on the Stones' "Get Off Of My Cloud." The Cramps used that beat a lot. Hell, legions did. Does it have a name?

  19. #18

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    One of my favorites by Booker T & the MGs


  20. #19

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    "What is that beat called?"

    I played drums when I was a kid (1964-66) and that was the only "beat" I knew! I think I thought of it as a "surf" beat.

  21. #20

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    yes "surf beat" was my first thought as well!!

    the ventures used it a lot!

    cheers

  22. #21

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    Gives warm feelings to hear n see that `Play it, Steve`is still at work for us.
    Remember to have seen him with Booker T and the MGs in 1993 playing a set with Neil Young in Roskilde.

  23. #22

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    I must say, before I was humbled and influenced by all the jazz artists--like Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Jim Hall, Herb Ellis, and Joe Pass--I was floored as a kid by Steve Cropper and the Memphis sound. Green Onions, Hip Hug Her, Tic Tac Toe, etc., just pushed me into taking up the guitar--more so than did The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.

    FWIW, the "beat" that folks associate with the Stax/Volt records that feature Al Jackson/Duck Dunn/Steve Cropper/Booker T. Jones contains an elongated third beat in the 4/4 time signature. The musicians would hold off on the "4" until it got just a bit tense--then FOUR! [I read this in an article with Cropper, once.]

    The other thing, of course, is massive under-playing, with a slavish devotion to the groove. Jackson was a jazz drummer. Jones, Dunn, and Cropper had chops to burn. Yet, each musician would hold off and underplay parts. Nobody would "blow." Let the end-of-measure fill be expression enough of what's what. Solos were typically efficient and served the song. If it could be expressed in an ensemble theme, rather than a showy solo, so much the better.

    Check out "Time is Tight," the full song on the soundtrack of the film "Up Tight." (not the single, which is abbreviated):

    This is what Jones, Cropper, Dunn, and Jackson were all about.

  24. #23

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    Oxford defines ‘surf beat’ as ‘the slow rise and fall of sea level at a shoreline at a frequency lower than that of ordinary wind waves, attributed to the interaction of waves of different wavelength.’ Elsewhere, it is described as a standard rock and roll pattern, but "with an extra snare hit on the & of 2, producing the memorable kick/snare pattern, “boom, duh-duh, boom, duh.”

    It
    is amazing what one can learn when searching for a clip of the Ventures playing to an audience of chewing girls:



  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greentone
    I must say, before I was humbled and influenced by all the jazz artists--like Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Jim Hall, Herb Ellis, and Joe Pass--I was floored as a kid by Steve Cropper and the Memphis sound. Green Onions, Hip Hug Her, Tic Tac Toe, etc., just pushed me into taking up the guitar--more so than did The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.

    FWIW, the "beat" that folks associate with the Stax/Volt records that feature Al Jackson/Duck Dunn/Steve Cropper/Booker T. Jones contains an elongated third beat in the 4/4 time signature. The musicians would hold off on the "4" until it got just a bit tense--then FOUR! [I read this in an article with Cropper, once.]

    The other thing, of course, is massive under-playing, with a slavish devotion to the groove.
    Great post! Elongated third beat, eh? Hadn't heard it put that way before but I know what you mean.

    I love the playing on those records. I liked it when I was a kid too, but I didn't realize then how long a shadow it would cast over my musical taste as an adult. I still love simple things played just-right. (Some of my favorite country music is like that too, though it's a different groove.)

    As much as I listen to jazz, and it's a lot, I often think (though rarely say, and never before here) I think improv is overrated. A solid groove that runs 3-5 minutes (and James Brown gave us a multitude of those too) is a wonderful thing in itself. Blowing over the changes is not what that music is about.

    "Time Is Tight" is a desert-island tune for sure.

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by Litterick
    Oxford defines ‘surf beat’ as ‘the slow rise and fall of sea level at a shoreline at a frequency lower than that of ordinary wind waves, attributed to the interaction of waves of different wavelength.’ Elsewhere, it is described as a standard rock and roll pattern, but "with an extra snare hit on the & of 2, producing the memorable kick/snare pattern, “boom, duh-duh, boom, duh.”

    It
    is amazing what one can learn when searching for a clip of the Ventures playing to an audience of chewing girls:


    Johnny Smith, a jazz great, wrote that tune in 1954. VERY different feel!