Too Rolling Stoned

Song:  Too Rolling Stoned

Group:  Robin Trower

I had started by cutting the first four measures of the bass solo at the beginning...

and ending the song just after the vocalist says....

"I think I'll just sit this one out"

(I added an additional 2.5 measures for an ending).

I had also modified a few measures in the song...

to prevent being too redundant...

as playing this solo...

or with anything short of a full compliment of instruments might sound.

I completed this song by transcribing the vocals...

and filling in where I could with the notes of the lead guitar.

I don't know of what the actual musical notation is for a palate rattle...

so I just put in Rattle 

as it is a much faster cessation and initiation of the note (or even a trill) 

than the fingers or tongue can move.

It is to get the intentional raspiness of the vocal at that point.

Also...

on the fall just after some of the higher C notes 

(looks like a downwards slur mark not directly connect to another note)...

it can be accomplished by rolling the head to one side halfway into the note...

letting air escape while simultaneously decreasing air pressure

as you also withdraw the tongue to the back of the mouth...

while running a full octave scale downwards just after the note bends and starts to die out...

unless a note directly follows...

whereupon you may omit the scale run as it may hamper securing the following note.

You may also find in this song...

as with many Robin Trower songs...

that he (Robin Trower...the lead guitarist)...

is famous for using many electronic altering gadgets which give his guitar

that pulsating sound (along with many other sounds such as fuzz, reverb and wow)...

so I find myself keeping time by rocking my head as I play some of the notes...

which gives a subtle pulsating sound similar to his electronic gadgets.

Others may have their own techniques...

I don't know.

I am self taught...

so, I just do what I find works for me.

And, yes...

I would need much practice to play this song at full speed.

As with any new song...

start out as slowly as needed to play smoothly and with full resonance...

as it is all about the purity of the tone.

Speed will naturally come with the requisite amount of practice.

About To Begin

Song:  About To Begin

Group:  Robin Trower

This is a blues based song which I really like.

I had cut out the intro guitar and went right into the vocals.

I had also slightly shortened the ending.

My next song will also be a Robin Trower song.

The Paris Match

Song:  The Paris Match

Group:  The Style Council w/ Tracy Thorn



I was first introduced to The Style Council
in the mid 80s while I was working in Japan.

The young lady who introduced me to their music...
and who had then visited me multiple times once I moved back to the US
 over almost the following 10 years...
then became my wife...
and then almost seven years later...
 the mother of our son...
Alex.

This rendition is my favorite song from this group.

The woman singing was a guest singer for this one song.

Tracy Thorn has a unique soft and sultry voice which
just makes this rendition of The Paris Match...
 not only a great slow dance song...
but one of the greatest unrequited love songs I have ever heard.

The Story In Your Eyes

Song:  The Story In Your Eyes

Group:  The Moody Blues

I had awakened Hana when I turned on the camera...

but she had been sleeping on my pillows while I was at the computer

working on this song at around midnight.

She uses my bed as her bed while I am not in it.

She will ruffle the covers and sometimes move them around 

to make herself comfortable.

I will sometimes cover her using the comforter...

but for the most part...

I just let her do what she wants while I am practicing music...

or at the computer.

I was near finished with the song here.

(I bring up iTunes to play the Youtube song as I transcribe).

I use Musescore software to notate music.

It is a free download...

and it was created by musicians for musicians.

I must input each note or other notation one at a time...

but is far better than transcribing by hand.

I learn more and more with each piece of music I do.

------------

You will notice a large grouping of spaces for 5 measures 

starting on measure 30.  

I did this so a guitar may accompany the music.

This is where the guitar plays solo.

I plan to one day teach myself to accompany myself with a guitar...on certain songs.

I first must save up for one though  :)

The next song I will transcribe is a very beautiful slow dance song...

very sultry, and very soulful.

Something

Song:  Something

Group:  The Beatles

This was written by George Harrison...

and I consider it to be one of the great love songs of modern times...

certainly by the Beatles.

George had written many good songs of the heart.

He was a romantic...and it came through in his music.

I had wanted to do an easy going melodious song...

which I had thought would be fairly simple after frying my brains

on the last two.

But it was not to be.  It was another deceptively difficult song.

For some reason...

 I had a hard time discerning flats in certain areas.

Rock Meets Rachmaninoff

Song:  Rock Meets Rachmanioff

Composer / Performer:  Jon Schmidt (Piano Guys)

This is my favorite song from the Piano Guys.

It is powerful and very upbeat.

Now...

I had a problem in a few places when I had realized that on some runs...

it occupied four octaves...and the Bass Flute only has three.

I had to not only transpose some notes...

I had to substitute some.

 I also had spent many hours trying to figure out some of them.

On some of the runs...

I had at first thought that many of the notes were sequentially spaced...

only to find out that there were many triples spaced out over a full octave...each set.

They had been played so quickly that I, at first, couldn't hear the difference...

and so, why I also had to guess at some of the notes.

I was so grateful when I got to the scale runs...

as they were sequentially spaced.

The Song Of The Golden Dragon

Song:  The Song Of The Golden Dragon

Artist:  Estas Tonne

Okay...

I had heavily modified this song.

First of all...

I start out the song at about 55 seconds into the video.

It just sounded like the start of the song.

As this is also a very long song...

I had dramatically shortened it.

I modified some of the passages 

and took out redundant strumming...

and on some parts near the end...

I simply made up some of the notes to lead it into an early ending.

However...

I had kept the spirit of the song throughout.

I hadn't started modifying it until about measure 26.

I heard this song and I just knew I had to attempt it.

This has a lot of quick passages...

with a lot of quick changes...

so, it is perfect to practice such changes.

My next song will also be a very powerful and quick one

(Maybe it's the coffee in me :).