[solo guitar-ish] 4 AppleJoe Locrian (.mp3)

uncloned · February 04, 2010, 04:32:31

I am having little time for what I want to do this week.
The production on this is lacking.

The scale is b,c,d,e,f,g,a

Fender Mustang improvisation in B locrian through a clean jazz setting on guitar rig and using the simultaneous GR-20 midi to tie in some violins via dimension pro.

MP3
http://clones.soonlabel.com/mp3/daily20100203-4-applejoe-locrian.mp3

Score of the improvisation.

http://clones.soonlabel.com/mp3/daily20100203-gr-20.pdf

Sam_Zen · February 05, 2010, 00:58:23

A beauty. This will stay one of my favourite pieces of you.

My compliments for your electronic skill while playing.
I mean I'm supposing, according to what I hear, that you deliberately play with the condition,
that the violin sound is following the guitar, but with a very slow attack.

So if a next note is quick, the violin sound can't 'grow' enough to be heard.

I didn't hear anything lacking in this production. It's ok as it is.

uncloned · February 05, 2010, 01:07:58

thank you very much Sam!

I believe I used absyth with a similar type of sound (angel choir?) but changed it to violin at the end.

So I used the idea - just not the final form - I also made some adjustments to the guitar sound as well after the recording.

The main goal was to make B the resting note and I did ok though I should have used a B unison or octave as the last notes - the B minor third (d) isn't as restful as I ended up wanting after review.

apple-joe · February 05, 2010, 18:20:08

Clean, pleasant sound. Very good approach to the Locrian mode in my opinion (not that I have listened to many Locrian songs, but I could for that matter compare it to a random song regardless of style, and it'd most likely do fine). I've only listened once so far, and I noticed the b2, but the - to the Locrian tonality - crucial b5 (which distinguishes it from the Phrygian mode) is a little unclear. Since you appear to know what you're doing, I presume this means the characteristic note of the mode was incorporated rather nicely.

uncloned · February 05, 2010, 18:42:21

the main motive includes the diminished 5th

I take it you don't read the staff?

here is the motive by note names

b,a,g,f, c, b

that line establishes the mode (locrian) and everything else is built off of that.

apple-joe · February 05, 2010, 20:21:29

Okay. I saw you included the staff, but I've never really focused on that. I've read shallowly occasionally, and it does make sense, but I can't imagine I'll ever be able to play based on it. I like the idea of being able to, but I'm afraid I just won't bother.

Any inputs about your own experience with this? Understanding is one thing, but then there is the time, practice factor (effort vs. reward). For instance, the time I've spent trying to make sense of some music theory subjects (e.g. tritone subst., modulation, modes, alt. rhythms) is well worth it. For some reason, I've not been sure whether it would be worth learning to play by reading traditional notation. I think about the time needed to master it, and how much it would contribute eventually. That said, compared to for instance tablature for guitar, it would provide for pretty accurate playing and the possibility of grasping the rhythm, not only the melody/harmony. Anyway, your thoughts?

uncloned · February 07, 2010, 00:41:06

I had to think long about an answer.

I don't like telling people what to do and the answer is something only you can know. My thoughts are as follows.

Plenty of people write excellent music without reading a staff, or probably even tablature.

On the other hand the majority of the music in the world is in the form of sheet music. Most music has not been widely performed, let alone recorded. But practically all of it is in the form of sheet music.

Also, I think it helps me to understand music by visually seeing the notes and progression (reference the video of The Rite of Spring I posted here).

And lastly - reading the staff (and the grand staff is good enough) is essential to reading any advanced (college level ) books on music theory. So this has been essential to my serious study of music.

Do I sight read... sadly no. Do I hear the music in my head - barely. But I can sit at a keyboard and pick it out and hear it - or program a computer to play the examples.

I don't use tablature unless I have to. But that is me.

So those are my thoughts.