Been a long time coming...

So I must reach deep in the bowels of my memory since the latest quicktime update made playing MP3s in firefox very temperamental and I lost last night's blog entry...and of course now that it is finally finished, its Thursday's blog entry. Nice.

Useless thoughts of uselessness.

So I have had a slight feeling of uselessness lately. I guess its because I am really not that good at things. My strength was always my ideas, cheesy as they were, rather than my playing. For a while there the formal piano stuff actually stifled the ideas, but I thought it would be worth it in the long run. Now, I just don't know. I have all this gear, and I am not really doing anything with it.

I probably just need to snap out of thoughts like that and just focus on the getting better, rather than whinging about not. Beyond practice, which I need to do more of anyway, I've though of a couple strategies to make me feel better about things:

Firstly, a songwriting partner of some description. The TDN!S stuff sorta fell in a heap because no one was really coming up with ideas that we could do anything with. Matt just wanted to jam with no continuity. I love jamming, but I want to get songs out of it. I was planning to have Jess over to do some stuff, but that just never materialised. I should hit her up again. JP is coming over on Sunday, I think, but he's really at a basic level with the bass. Hmmm. Something will work out, but yes, it would be good to have ideas to bounce off.

The second thing I need to concentrate on is giving my pieces time to breathe. Too often do I find myself trying to build things up and introduce change too quickly. I need to listen to more ultra ambient and try and emulate it or something. We went to the Front Gallery to see a few bands the other night, and there was this dude playing a fat Rhodes with a million effects pedals.

He was barely playing any 'piano' as such, but you could tell he was a virtuoso. Ok, well I had checked out his myspace the night before. I am not sure if it was inspiring or just depressing, but it was a good lesson in chilling the fuck back and building some atmosphere.

Carlos the Midget.

Before going out the other night, I sat down and nutted the first bar here on the EP, later adding the second bar and drums.

I've got an 8th note delay on the EP there. I need more feedback on it, but it was a real effort to record this through the mac and all, so another time. I want to have a 1.5 beat delay on the drums too. Its made me realise what little amount of things I have set up on the computer. I'll set up the delays I want this week and do it again.

I'll have to challenge myself to develop this slowly. I think I'll put some jangly 16ths over the top, and need a bassline too.

The Thursday Song.

I showed Paul the developed Thursday song, and he helped remind me of that two chord interchange I stuck on at the end. I know its not that impressive, but I really like the way they sound together.

We worked it out and it sounded ok. Of course, as usual, it didn't sound right when I brought it home. After a while, I realised it was because I was playing them at slightly different intervals, ok and a slightly different note.

Not sure who was right here when comparing to the original, but I like the second one better either way.



I only discovered this by accident, though. I wish my brain was more open to the concept of intervals - that a C Chord can as easily be E/G/C, but it doesn't come naturally - another area where I need to challenge myself.

I do love them though. They are very useful for playing the Bontempi Junior.

Sigur Ros.

We spent a fair bit of time working on the Sigur Ros song on Tuesday. When we first heard it he figured that I was pretty close. After a bit more listening, we realised I was pretty off. The song isn't in a different temperament or anything, just slightly tuned down. We figured this out using this excellent program called Transcribe! Its a frequency analyser that converts tells you the dominant notes in a selected part of a sound file. Its great for working out chords, too,

We also realised that the song started at Eb, rather than G. What was interesting was that a straight transposition didn't work. Moving one note to the correct spot leaves some notes out. I am not sure if there's a complexity of transposition I don't understand, or just that some notes were more off than others. This might explain why some notes sounded more out than others and why I thought it was in a different tuning.

What gets me is how far off I was. Not just a semitone, but four. When I played along with the tune, I could tell it was off, but it was doing that phasing sound you hear when notes are close, so I figured it wasn't far off. I tried starting at F# and F# instead of G, but it just wouldn't have occurred to me to go all the way down to Eb. And this is a problem. I really don't have an identifying ear. I don't think its something you can train up that much, either.

But all that aside, I've got the intro in key now.

While Transcribe! is great for figuring out the simple stuff, it doesn't really have me much closer to the more complex parts of the song. I know the first piano changes when the second one comes in, I just can't nut out how yet...

Old Song.As planned,
here's something I came up with almost exactly a year ago. Its pretty silly. Not something I will really recover, but it could be good to see if I can easily play it.

Maybe I'd be a virtuoso if I practiced more and blogged less. No lessons for two weeks now.

Well no one told me about her...

So once more it has been almost a week between posts. Still, that all might change now...

Wired for Sound

I finally got things happening studio wise this week. Apart from the carpet being ripped up and the new drums, there's the matter of the tascam and Vista. As my USB Midi interface only has 2 inputs, the lack of the two on the tascam has been an issue of concern, but I managed to succeed through a but of a jury rig: Have the controller keyboard and piano go into the tascam, and then have the one of tascam's outs go into the USB Midi. The drums then go into the other USB input. I don't have four, but at least I have three.

Downsides mean I need the computer on or a rewire to control the synth, but I found an added benefit when I accidentally made the drum kit control the piano. I have been intending to use my digital delay on the drums for both a bit of fun and to help my timing - I was dreading having to swap the pedal all the time though. Because the drums control the piano though, I can trigger the on board drum sounds and delay them. It doesn't sound that great, but its good enough for practising, that's for sure.

The Blues

Paul gave me some useful feedback on the16ths problem. I realised that it was the continuation of nothing but 16ths that was losing the feel of my blues tune. Breaking it up was the key. I've developed that this week by putting more consecutively repeated notes as well.

I have been encouraged to jam out a 'motif' and repeat that to get more of a song feel going on.

I hope to sequence something up soon. I had also hoped to get something recorded tonight, but this blog has taken way too long to write. Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesdays and Thursdays

Last week I posted that piano piece in E Minor. I took it to the lesson with the view of finding some "strategies for making those slow ‘pianoy’ songs more interesting".

The problem I presented was pretty much shifting between two octave notes on the left hand and doing nothing more. Paul suggested I move the left hand up and just find some combinations in they key - more complicated two hand chords. Interestingly, this reminded me of something I did with Jing the friday before where I played a silly little thing using a cheese organ and only the black keys, all up in the higher register. I wish I had recorded that.

Anyways, I tried to take it on board and recorded this song last Thursday:

I didn't break away from the bass notes as much as I'd have liked, but I felt they gave it all structure. Later in the piece, though [1:30+] I do get more into the two handed stuff I was planning on doing.

I like the little piece of niceness I get in the first 10 seconds after 2 minutes. Loses it a bit until 3:40 where I find a pair of chords I really liked. I wish I'd written down what they were, coz now I can't remember them. Another night I'll figure them out again.

Yes, I really like that up and down bit - I do go a bit nuts with it though? God! I have to get MIDI going again! These bungs notes are killing me.

Interpretations

In between getting frustrated with various things this week, I've tried some interpretations. The first was Sigur Ros' Hoppiolla.

I've got a few ideas that sound close, but they are impossible to check against the song - it sounds out of tune no matter where I play it. I suspect a band that sings in a made up language would have no qualms about playing in a made up tuning. I've tried retuning my piano and even playing in some different tunings, but I can't get it.

I've got this going now, at least:

Its close, but not quite there. I know the 'bass'line changes when the second piano comes in, but I can't pick it. They've got some really complicated changes going on there. Even now as I hear it back I am picking things that should shift slightly up or down.Its getting late. Maybe another time.

It almost seems to me like they are fitting new notes in the spectrum. Take the rise on the piano, for instance. I think I've found the highest note for the first run, and the high note on that third run, and there's no semitones between them, yet on the second run in the original recording, it goes higher, but not as high as in the third run. Very confusing. I need to train my ear more.
Another one I've been working on is based on the Zombie's No One Told me About Her. The other day I was sitting and having a listen to some music on random when Malcolm Mclaren's About her came on. I had forgotten about this tune, but when the Kill Bill II Soundtrack came out, I had really enjoyed it.

The two songs are quite different, but I've managed to nut out a bit of the vocal line.

I am getting closer on the first part, but not quite there yet.

I suppose the real challenge is to work on the music itself though. I just don't have enough of an understanding of it all yet, I think. Its like I don't know where to look...

This week I would like to:

Re-record the cheesy organ thing I mentioned above.

Keep working on the Sigur Ros song.

Find an old piece of something that I abandoned to work on again.

Get a final recording on that blues piece I am happy with.

Now we'll see if I can do one of those things!

Late, as always...

No players this week. I've got to go to bed. I'll fix that tomorrow.

Another week of not posting, and these week I had things to talk about. Distractions of the familial and electronic drum kit variety have been holding me back a bit. I was going to post some of the drum kit, but I'll do that another time.

Last week I showed Paul the G# Blues thing. By then I had manged to [but not record] some more advanced versions, either playing quarters on the bass, rather than holding wholes, and also putting a descending bassline in at the end of the phrase. I really meant to record that this week. I will add it to my to do list, but to be honest I am kinda getting sick of that tune now.

One thing that Paul suggested, especially with the clavi sound, was to get some 16th note ostinatos going on the right hand. I have been working on them, but I really lose the feel of the song. I need to get I need to get lighter fingers, or something.

That lead me to try these sixteenths up and down on three semitones - it was quite hard - my fingers keep wanting to play ascending groups of three rather than up and down on four.

I'll try and get back into this tune this week.

The reading, as usual, is a bit of a sore point. Its not that I can't do it, its more that I just can't stick to it - especially when trying to read the two clefs - I wish I could just snap myself into doing it, but...Bah, I don't know.

Not wanting to go a whole week without producing anything of substance, I made something up in a Eb Minor [Dorian but don't tell Elyane] and played it down the phone. Afterwards, a consensus was reached the it so should have been recorded. I gave it another go, but it wasn't quite up to scratch.

A few bung notes in there. I think tomorrow I'll talk with Paul about some strategies for making those slow 'pianoy' songs more interesting, as we've already gone through a lot of ideas to spice up the jazz solos this term...

We can stick around and see this right through...

More reading practise tonight. Its a really frustrating part of my regime, but I am sure it will pay off in the long run. Tried something new tonight. Rather than trying to play it right through, I find a couple notes and figure them out, then I bounce between them, concentrating my vision and mind to one note at a time, saying the note in my head and playing the key. I am hoping this will cement in a visual association between note names [i already know notes on the keyboard almost fluently] and the position on the stave.

Here's hoping.

Breaking away from that frustration I tried some interpretation. Earlier today Amy and I were discussing Peter Bjorn and John's 'Young Folks' while I was packing away the Casiotone, so naturally I tried to figure it out. Later I continued on the piano.

I've got the intervals for the first bit, I think:

Root note, down one town, down 3 semis and back up 3 semis. EG: AAAA,GG,EE,G or DDDD,CC,AA,C.

So I've got the intervals, but not sure where to put the root. I tried playing along but the whistle riff isn't repeated enough. I would normally loop it on the computer, but I still haven't set up my speakers! Paul suggested I build interpretations up from the bassline, but its a bit fast and hard to hear without being able to loop it.

I suppose rather than trying to play it in key I should figure out the rest of the riff. Its a good challenge, and I should apply myself...but y'know...

While doing that I heard the Doctor Who theme from the kitchen. I nutted out the bassline quite quickly, but the synth lead is hard with a standard piano sound. I might have got it - hard to tell. I didn't want to leave the doctor who excursion empty handed, so I had some practise transposing the bassline on the fly. [Its R,up 3, down five, eg DDDDDD,FFF,CCC]

I also played some more on last week's blues piece. Some new solo ideas and I am getting a lot stronger with the more complex basslines, too.

One day I'll be Ben Folds, honestly...

Weeklies...

Another lesson today. Another slightly less than ideally productive week, but there's been a fair bit going on in the non piano realm.

Did a bit more sight reading practise during the week. Tried a few different strategie, but kept wanting to 'hear' the songs - something I am supposed to not do, it seems. Slowly getting over it I suppose. Paul gave me a random piece today and he got me doing two hands at once - I'll have to try that this week.

I also showed him the bit I recorded last week, and explained how I was having trouble soloing over it. As I explained it all to him it became clear what the difficulty wa: It wasn't the straight beat, but the syncopated bassline. I simply couldn't sustain any creative soloing while keeping that in time. I realised that normally I would lay that bass down and record it layer by layer. With the renovation upheaval and subsequent laziness I have not been able to do this, but I am realising its providing an interesting new challenge to my playing.We tried a few different things, with Paul laying down the chords and me soloing and doing various simplified versions underneath. It sounded really cool. Not so cool when I came home, but that's to be expected. Here's a couple things I did nut out though:

Here's an example of the variation between the 'real' bassline and the bassline I can actually solo over. It then develops at around 50 seconds into a go at getting a bit tighter on the solos. There are quite a few stuffups here, but there are also a few ideas that almost get out that I wanted to note - particularly that last 'three note' one.

Here's another one. Short on Clavinet.

And gere's the final piece for the night, back on the clavi. Still gotta work on timing and feel a fair bit, but its a full live recording of both the bassline and the solo, and I don't normally do that. A few glitches here and there, but that's life. Pretty happy with it.

Piano blogs always keep me up too late...

Gotta do something...

So tonight I did a decent chunk of site reading, and then just played around on G# Blues, which has been my latest blues of choice.

I played this little ditty on a distorted guitar and it sounded really cool. As usual when I came to record it was bad and out of time. I guess I get nervous. Not nervous as such, but just concerned with the recording going right...so it never does.

Not particularly happy with or proud of this. Sometimes it feels like I am going backwards, but you gotta keep it up.

Too lazy to even do the stream tonight. My baby thumbs are sore from all those bass octaves...

...between drinks.

Piano has really taken a step back with the room renovations. I now have my piano at an appropriate height, which has good to be good. The renovations should also lead to the recorder being set up within a couple weeks. It would be a couple hours if I wasn't such a procrastinator.

I haven't really been composing much. Paul pointed me towards the Abersold Chord and Scale construction sheet, so I've just been figuring out different scales and playing them. Last night he challenged me to improve my sight reading, so its really slow rythmless reading this week. I get so tempted to try and play the rythm too, though, and end up fudging the melody. Perhaps if I didn't pick 174bpm Coltrane songs I'd do better?