Joe G

No word as of yet.

Hey Phil--I've been listening to your CD this last week. Sounds even better than when I first got it! B)

And me with the demonic eye!

Bloody Hell! I got my money's worth from that post.

Chuck--all right if I lay the cash on you at the gig Sunday? B)

Looks like Keith and Gary were doing the "brickwaller" thing long before it became the backdrop of choice for rock band promo shots.

Thanks Chuck. It's a chronic battle, unfortunately. Are you sure you want to waste your time with a bunch of "lily-white funk wannabes"?

Far out, man! Or wait--am I supposed to take offense?

Sorry fellas, I hated to disappoint you, and I was looking forward to the hang and the concert. But the wife is pretty sick, and I don't want to be two hours away with the cell phone turned off with her like that. Like Mark said, we'll be able to hang out at Docker's very soon. Enjoy the show!

Cripes! Glad to see you missed the door marked "Exit".

Just caught him live right here in Lansing (Okemos, actually). With Rodney Whitaker and Randy Gilespie. Very good show, with a nice mix of blues ballads and cookers. Good feelings all around.

Why do we do this??? I've been resting my hands this weekend, as I hurt my right wrist shoveling snow a week ago. There's no pain when I play the guitar, or when I move my hand in the proper hinging motion, but any twisting motions bring quite a bit of pain. Also lifting and gripping at times. I went cross-country skiing yesterday, and the wrist was pretty sore this morning. It was a beautiful sunny day today, so I had to force myself not to hit the trails. My job involves a lot of repetitive motion, so every half hour or so I stop and do a good five minute stretch. Regular qi-gong practice helps a lot as well. Good luck with your recovery, Robert.

Does this mean it's okay for me to play that Gb chord with both a major and minor seventh in it (one on bottom, one on top) that drives Joe nuts? Little inside joke there. I play such a chord in one of our original tunes... Brrrrr.... :rsly: One of these days I'm going to up and change the melody there.

Mathieu wrote two other fine books before Harmonic Experience. Homepage Highly recommended. Even for dummies. If Uncle Skid hadn't busted me, you'd be none the wiser....

Nice! Are those your own or are they from Harmonic Experience (it's been a long time and I never finshed reading it anyway). They're from Harmonic Experience. Those books changed my musical life, I tell ya!

Thanks BW, I am quite familiar with the overtone series (I'm a guitarist, after all!). My hesitation about calling the Lydian/Dominant scale the "Overtone scale", is that it's simply not quite accurate to say, or helpful in the conception of it. This is an absolutely fascinating topic for discussion and study, though, and one that I think all musicians should check out. And by that I mean, all musicians should be able to sing the overtone series, and be able to sing (or play, if they play a variable pitch instrument) in just intonation. You mentioned that the notes of the overtone series are out of tune with an equal tempered piano. That's because the twelve tones of equal temperment are an out of tune approximation of the pure harmonies of just intonation. This allows us to modulate freely to any key, but the analogy has been made with electric light: extremely useful, but it separates us from the natural cycles of the sun and moon. As an example of just how submerged these harmonies are, consider that entire African villages can sing nightlong rituals beautifully in tune, but Americans can't sing Happy Birthday at a restaurant in tune. An example of a note played in just intonation against equal tempered accompaniment can be heard in Miles' solo on Freddie Freeloader. Check out where he plays the seventh degree on the IV chord. You will notice it's quite a bit flat from the piano's note. That's because he's playing the seventh partial of the overtone series (BTW, don't confuse the term "partial" with "degree". The two do not always match up). It's hipper than hell, but there's a real art to making it work. 7/4 knows about this stuff too, so hop in there buddy!

Now hold on! :rsmile: Why can this chord/scale have only one type of 3rd, but two types of the 2nd degree (sharp 9/flat 9)? From the chapter on Parallel Borrowing in Harmonic Experience: Jazz musicians use the term "altered scale" to describe the scale shown (G, Ab, Bb, B, Db, Eb, F, G)... Its strange name persists because its true derivation has not been understood. In our view, tonal material should be identified in terms of the target tonic. Accordingly, the tones of the altered scale are described as follows: Ab, Eb, Bb, and Db are borrowed from C Phrygian; B remains from C Major. The note C, although it could be included in the scale, is typicaly omitted for the same reason that the tonic is usually absent from any dominant-function harmony: One avoids the punch line during the setup of a joke. The tonic is the punch line, and it is best reserved for the end. The altered scale is then redefined as a C Phrygian scale, perceived from G, with two forms of seventh (B flat and B natural) and the tonic unspoken. In other words, it is an especially sonorous form of borrowing from Phrygian. I know it's hard to read that out of context, but the basic idea is simply adding new tones to a dominant V chord in order to heighten the dramatic effect, but that for clarity (something that jazz theory is not especially known for), the added (or altered) tones should be viewed (and named) in relation to the tonic. The key we are in, not the root we are on. I would ask again, what do your ears tell you those tones are? If a chordal player is comping behind a soloist on a blues in G7, and on the third or so chorus adds that Bb on top of the seventh chord, the soloist will likely play the "G Blues Scale", with that minor third up in there. And when it's in the V chord, we hear it as a minor seventh, not an augmented sixth. I'm loathe to come across as correcting you, Paul, especially since I'm going on the assumption that you are the superior musician, and probably by far. So I share all this (if it makes any sense) in all humility. Re: the "Lydian/Dominant" scale, this is listed as the "Overtone Scale" in Mick Goodrick's book (don't know why), and in tetrachord nomenclature as "Mixolydian over Lydian" (Mix/Lyd), as well as "sharp-four flat-seven" or perhaps more correctly, "aug-four minor-seven" in Harmonic Experience. Haven't come across any other names for it. It is a very beautiful scale. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the end, sounds are just sounds, as Jim said, and one should analyze if one also doesn't analyze. It's good to think things through; but also learn to let ourselves hear things without naming them.

Because we want gigs? Do ya wanna gig with me? Well, do ya??

Well, I guess we'll need to cut him some slack, after all, he's a bass player!! And I love it when people quote your post before you edited it!

Because Bill's a bassist.

I don't have much time at the moment, but I'm pretty sure that C flat is the minor third of A flat, not Cbb. More later.

I know Jim put this nit out there so I could pick it. Everybody calls this chord G7#9, but if the note in question is B flat, why aren't we calling it G7 flat 10? That's is in fact what that note is: the minor third of G. And so the chord is a seventh chord with both forms of the third. Simple as that. More "proof": in the context of a II-V-I chord progression, in the key of C, the B flat added to the V (G7) chord functions as the minor seventh of the upcoming tonic. Calling it a #9 (or A#) means that, veiwed from the tonic, it's being labeled as the augmented 6th. Does the ear really hear that? Not mine at least. If that's not clear, let me know. My source: Harmonic Experience, by W.A. Mathieu.

Help me out here; what's the album from the 70's with the Brazilian musicians (Milton Nascimento, I think)? The title escapes me... I heard a bit of it on a radio show a couple years ago, but still haven't tracked down a copy. Sounded good to me at the time--what do you guys think?

I'm with B3er on Miss Keys. She sang consistently sharp (albeit not a far out as Mary J. Blige usually does), and her voice seemed strained. One thing I will give her is that she was downright understated compared to that ridiculous exhibition of oversinging by Christina Agulera. Sheesh. Too bad about George Clinton. I thought he looked old and tired and a bit out of it. Haven't seen any mention of Robert Randolf and family band. Great energy, and it was nice to see a band in there, although they seemed to be bashing it pretty hard all the way through. Relax into the groove a bit, guys!