2015 Coming to a Fast Close

Gosh, it's already October! And yeah, I haven't worked on any music this past summer. I think now is a better time for me. Did I mention that where I do most of my musical work is extremely hot during the summer? It is and this past summer was no exception. It is much more conducive to creating now and I will get back to it.

I had toyed with the idea of recording an entire Christmas album this year. Obviously, that did not happen and it's safe to say it will not. I may yet make another new song and perhaps a few covers of public domain ones.

Can I still put out another album of non-Christmas material in 2015? I would love to! A goal of mine would be to release a new album each year. So is it realistic for me within the next 3 months to put together another record of original music? Most likely not. But I do have to crank up the gears in terms of creating music for the remainder of the year. I had plenty of song ideas this year thanks to a particular band I spent a lot of time listening to.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be releasing albums at the end of the year anymore. A Christmas album, sure. But otherwise, no. See, the thing with releasing an album in December is that the next year comes up in 30 days or less and then your album starts feeling old. So it's January of the new year and you start thinking, "I released my album last year," or "My album is from last year." And it was just a month ago but it still feels older than it should. Thus, henceforth I will be releasing albums in the spring or early summer. That will be the goal but I will not hold myself to that rigidly. I will allow myself the period from January to October of any given year to release a new record but will try to target specifically the March-June period.

There is nothing more thrilling to me than recording music. To be able to play back something--a moment in time--and listen to it endlessly is absolutely amazing. Playing live music is great too but most of the time live music is not recorded, whatever the setting happens to be. A recording can be played over and over again and it is what really sticks in people's minds. As someone who has played live many times I have felt those moments of musical ecstasy where everything is just so perfect and complimentary. But I have experienced that even more often through the magic of recording and manipulating sound. Maybe I should do experimental music! Well, I'm open to doing all kinds of music except the kinds I'm not open to.

Anyway, I am intent on spending the rest of this year doing some serious recording.

Barney Miller Them Guitar Solo Tab (And Horn Part)

Today I finally tabbed out the guitar solo to the Barney Miller theme. It's was a lot less complicated than the bass tab and a lot shorter.

The tab I made is a little different from my YouTube video where I'm playing the song. On the video I pretty much kept the entire passage around the 12th fret and higher. On the tab I brought the first few measures down to a lower position on the fretboard.

Here is the video:





As I mentioned in the video description the guitar was out of tune.

Now here is the tab:

E  :--------------------|-------------------------|
B  :--------------------|-------------------------|
G  :--------------------|10----12^-12-10--13-10-10|
D  :--------------7-8-10|-------------------------|
A  :------------8-------|-------------------------|
E  :--------------------|-------------------------|

E  :-----------------------------|-----------------------13-15^-|
B  :9----11----9-9---------------|-----------------13-15--------|
G  :--10----10-----10-----15^-15^|--13----13-15-15--------------|
D  :-----------------------------|-----15-----------------------|
A  :-----------------------------|------------------------------|
E  :-----------------------------|------------------------------|

E  :13-13----13-16-18^-16-16----16------|---------------------|
B  :------15-----------------18----18-16|18----18-------------|
G  :------------------------------------|---17----------------|
D  :------------------------------------|---------------------|
A  :------------------------------------|---------------------|
E  :------------------------------------|---------------------|


In the video I also play the trumpet part after the guitar solo. I don't start playing it at the very beginning because the guitar is just about ending when the trumpet(s) comes in. So I skipped about a measure and-a-half before I start to play along with it. I tabbed out the entire horn part for guitar and here it is:

E  :-------------------------|-------------13-----------|

B  :-----------13-15-13------|-----------------16-13----|

G  :--------14----------14-12|---12---------------------|

D  :-------------------------|15----12-15---------------|

A  :-------------------------|--------------------------|

E  :-------------------------|--------------------------|

E  :---------------13-----------|------------------------------13-------|

B  :-------------------16-13----|------------------------13-15----13-15-|

G  :15-13-----------------------|15-13----------12-13-14----------------|

D  :------15-13-15--------------|------15-13-15-------------------------|

A  :----------------------------|---------------------------------------|

E  :----------------------------|---------------------------------------|

E  :------13-14------13-------|-------13-14-13----13-------|

B  :13-15---------16----16----|-13-16----------16----16----|

G  :--------------------------|----------------------------|

D  :--------------------------|----------------------------|

A  :--------------------------|----------------------------|

E  :--------------------------|----------------------------|

E  :------14----13-14----13-|--------14----13-------|

B  :---------16-------16----|16-13------16----16----|

G  :------------------------|-----------------------|

D  :------------------------|-----------------------|

A  :------------------------|-----------------------|

E  :------------------------|-----------------------|

E  :----11-12-13-----------|

B  :-13--------------------|

G  :-----------------------|

D  :-----------------------|

A  :-----------------------|

E  :-----------------------|

There it is! The horn part is actually longer than the guitar solo. The very last measure of the horn tab is different from what I played in the video but it's still all the same notes. 

There are several versions of the Barney Miller theme but I have always preferred this one which is the one that was used exclusively through to the final season. There is another version that was used in a few episodes in the late 70's that sounds a little funkier. 

As a musician I believe having a song of yours as a theme song for a television show is an excellent way to get heard. In some cases I think people will actually remember the song from a show more than they remember who was in it or what it was about. It would be wonderful to get a song placed as a theme!

Come and Get Your Love Bass Tab

I've been listening a lot lately to a song called "Come & Get Your Love" by Redbone. Not because I just discovered it as a result of Hollywood's having to dig deep into the vaults for their lack of modern-day creativity. But because I've known this song for many years and it's been in my iTunes library for a long time. And because I like to revisit some of the songs in my library from time to time and I end up getting hooked on them either again or even for the first time. With this song, this is the first time I've been hooked on it.

It is a shame that great songs such as this one can only get new life by getting placed in a movie or commercial. It's nice that younger generations can hear it for the first time. Heck, this song isn't even from my generation so I had to discover it some way. I personally do not watch any new movies so I had no idea this song was recently featured in a flick. The only reason I now know is because I searched for some info about it online and I came across these repeated phrases which made no sense to me. Eventually I learned that the phrases were the title and character of the movie the song was in.

Anyway, this post is not so much to rag on Hollywood or the entertainment industry, though I have plenty I could write about that. It's actually because I have been listening carefully to the bass line of 'Come and Get Your Love' and trying to figure it out. I think I now have figured it out and I thought about uploading a cover video on YouTube. I decided to check out if there were other bass covers of this song already on there. Lo and behold, of course there were. I checked out about 5 videos and only one is by a guy who's actually old enough to have been around when that song came out. The other 4 were without doubt way too young. Again, odds are they know the song because of the film. That's the power of Hollywood. But I'm going off course again.....So the thing is none of the 5 videos feature them playing the bass part as I am hearing it on the original recording. A bit different in fact. Now I don't know if their intent is to just play their own version of it or to show others how to play it. But as for me, I think I have figured out the bass line and I want to show how to play it. While I haven't made a cover video yet I have tabbed it out and it is included here. Once I do make the video I will link to it here.

Here is the intro. I don't think there are any debates regarding this part:

G  :----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
D  :----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
A  :5---2-0-5---2-0-|--5-2-0-5-5-2-0-|5---2-0-5---2-0-|--5-2-0-5-5-2-0-|
E  :----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

Note that the intro does not have to be played all on the A string. I myself prefer to play the B & A notes on the E string. I tabbed it out this way because it looks as though Pat Vegas plays it all on the A string.



Now the verse part. This is where I'm hearing different notes from what everyone else on YouTube is playing. I listened to this very carefully before checking out anyone else's interpretation. I tabbed out the first 4 measures because the 2nd and 4th measures are different by one note. But after playing measures 1 through 4 you keep repeating measures 3 & 4 up to the chorus.

G  :----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
D  :----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
A  :--------------4-|5---5---2---2-0-|--------------4-|5---5-4-2---2-0-|
E  :0-2-0-3-5-4-5---|------2---------|0-2-0-3-5-4-5---|----------------|



Here is the chorus part leading back into the verse.

G  :----------------|----------------|---------------------------|
D  :----------------|----------------|---------------------------|
A  :--------------4-|5---5---2---2-0-|---------------------------|
E  :0-2-0-3-5-4-5---|------2---------|0-0--0-2-2--2-3-3--3-5-5--5|

G  :----------------|---------------------------|----------------|
D  :----------------|---------------------------|----------------|
A  :5---5---2---2-0-|---------------------------|--------------4-|
E  :------2---------|0-0--0-2-2--2-3-3--3-5-5--5|0---0-3-5---5---|

G  :----------------|
D  :----------------|
A  :5---5-4-2-------|
E  :----------------|

So you would play measures 1 & 2 once and then measures 3 & 4 several times followed by measures 5, 6 & 7 which take you back into the verse.

That's pretty much the whole thing and I believe it's pretty close to the original so I'm sticking to it. Video to come soon.

EDIT--Here is the video:

'Song For A Friend' on YouTube

I still want to post here with some level of regularity despite the hardship I am going through right now. Writing here and focusing on my music is actually quite therapeutic. I just wish I had all the time and energy necessary to be devoted to these things. I notice that many of the blogs that I follow post a lot more frequently than I do. I really do hope that things work out to a level where I will have the necessary means in all respects to keep all this going.

Recently I uploaded to YouTube a song I made several years back. This song has been on soundcloud for a while but I never really spread it around that much. This was a special project creation for a young friend who died from cancer in his teens. Some mutual friends decided to create a tribute to him on what would have been the commemoration of his birthday. I decided to contribute a song. Some songs come fast--words and melody--other songs come very slow. This one came fast and it's a good thing it did because the target date for this tribute was his birthday which was not very far off. The recording and everything was finished rather quickly and in time.

I have thought several times about changing some of the lyrics to make for less specific details and perhaps creating a wider audience appeal. I feel the song has tremendous pop sensibilities and I drew inspiration from at least 2 songs--'Leaving Ninety-Nine' by Audio Adrenaline and 'February' by Ten Shekel Shirt--that I like very much. (In fact, the title of the Ten Shekel Shirt song influenced me to originally title the song in a similar fashion. I have gone on to change the title several times). However, as I mentioned before, I'm not very keen on trying to re-work old songs, or at least old songs which have already been recorded. There are a few things I could do to make the recording sonically superior. But as far as a re-write, there are no plans for that unless I received a professional suggestion to do so.

As it stands the song is officially called "Song For A Friend." Here it is:




On this recording I used 2 guitars which I no longer own. One was the emerald green Carvin CT-6 and the other was a Rickenbacker 350V63. I'm not completely sure but there may have been a third guitar used. I did not keep recording notes at that time so I can only go by memory. Bass used was a Fender Jazz bass. This song also features some prominent slide guitar playing which I incorporated during a slide phase I was going through. I certainly do plan to add more slide to my recordings as I see fit.

So what do you think of the song? Someone upon hearing this song for the first time said it sounded like the Beatles. I found that to be interesting.