biab under glass

Something will go wrong!

2012-02-25T15:03:00.000-06:00

I usually try to do something on biab daily. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you expect. Last week I fired up bb and it seemed to have taken longer for it to open than usual. I received an error stating that there were a few important dll's missing and that I needed to re-install it. The next moment it fired up normal and I proceeded to loaded up a tune I had been working on for sometime. There didn't seem to be any problems that I could see and the program worked just fine. I did some work on it and then saved it as I would get back to it later.

The other day I fired up BB and loaded up the tune I had been working on and clicked on play. When it got to measure two, BB stopped functioning but the music kept on going. I couldn't stop it as the page had just froze. I could access the very top of the page where I could minimize or close the page down, so I tried shutting down using the X. Nada, got an error box instead stating that if I closed the program down immediately I would lose any unsaved information. I had two choices, either end the process now or wait until BB decides to wake up. Ok so I decided to wait. About 5 minutes later as the music still kept on looping and BB was still in stuck mode, I decided to close it down irregardless of consequences. Nothing happened, not even a warning like before.

Well, I knew another way to end the process; Ctrl+alt+delete. A window opened up and all I had to do is to find bb.exe and click on end process. It did instantly with another box asking me if I wanted to send the info to Microsoft. So I obliged even tho I knew Microsoft wasn't going to do anything about it anyway. They could care less!

I now needed to restart my computer for a fresh start and then hook up my external drive where my BIAB install was located. When all was done and I go looking for the external drive in My Computer, it was not to be found. It wasn't recognized by Windows. I tried different usb ports with the same results. I contacted BB support thru their web site, filled out the lengthy questionnaire, sent it and then waited for a response. I got a fairly quick one with a couple of questions; Is there anything unique about the computer that it is failing to show up on? Is it a laptop? are you using a USB hub of some kind? Are you plugging in both USB plugs that come supplied with our hard drives. Are you able to try plugging it in alone by itself without any other USB devices plugged in nearby that could compete for power.

Well, I thought that I had already gone thru that and replied back once again answering the questions above. That was the last I heard until I had figured it out myself and rectified the problem. Where was the response stating that they were working on finding a solution? Why was I left hanging? Sure, when I wrote them back to say forget it, I took care of it myself, they immediately wrote back stating that they were glad that I was able to find the problem myself and if they could help me with any other problem with the program to give them a holler. I think not! I've dealt with them before on another issue and ended up getting some lame bs and had to take care of the issue myself.

So what if I was a lamo who knew nothing about computers, I'd still be waiting for my first issue or pay to have someone try to figure it out. So, I have a couple of heads up for you. Do not use the ext. drive as the main BB unless you don't have the memory it needs. Use the ext drive only as a backup. Ext drives have a tendency to peter out and you've just lost everything including the installation backup which is on the ext drive along with all the Real Tracks and Drums. Install it on your main drive. I installed all the drums and Real Tracks onto a second hard drive to save space on the main. It's always easier to get a replacement for the program but trying to get back all of your lost files is another story.

Try to figure out your issue yourself at first if you have the knowledge or ask someone knowledgeable other wise you may be waiting a while before the support at bb will get to you and then tell you that you will have to reinstall BB. Oh screw it don't even bother just re-install it and save yourself some time and aggravation. Usually a re-install will take care of it. Contact support only as a last resort!

_

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

So how many of you are into blues?

2012-02-22T13:32:00.001-06:00

This part isn't really related to BIAB in the usual sense but you can use the information below and create your own backing tracks using the chord progression if you like.

I see a lot of hands going up. So what scale(s) comes into your mind when playing the blues? Probably the same as for most of you, the blues scale. Right? Well for me it's not the blues scale, although its pretty cool but, used to death. What comes into my mind when someone mentions blues, are all those alternative scales that I can use to make my solos a little different from everyone else's. You could use the bebop scale, Dorian, Harmonic minor, Aeolian, Mixolydian and even Phrygian.
I did some blues tunes back in 2009 for another site (now defunct) where I was doing a similar thing with scales and modes in their forum (I didn't have biab back then so its got nothing to do biab. But you can take those chords and use them in your biab). On those tunes I very seldom played using just the blues scale. I do often intermix it with other scales especially if certain chords repeat themselves often.

Let's take a look at a tune called Requiem For The Blues. Its really easy when it comes to chords and is made up of three: Am, Dm, E7. I created a 1 4 5 progression in the key of Am. We could go into how they relate to specific scales and key signatures but we won't for the moment. I simply took Am as the key signature. Obviously Am=C=no sharps or flats so how did the E7 come in play? I looked at the 1 4 5 as i iv v7 in Ami so the i= Am, iv-Dm and the v7 being a dominant seven chord simply became an E7 instead of Em7. The i-iv-v represents a note of the Ami scale: i=A, ii=B, iii=C, iv=D, v=E, vi=F, vii=G, viii=A and I just built a chord (triad) 1 3 5 starting on each of the letters. V is usually a 7 in blues, thus v7.

Ok so what scales did I use? As you listen to the tune below play a few scales along with it just to see what you can use on it first. Start off with the A minor scale. You know the C major scale starting on A= Aeolian. Next move up to B and do the same and then right up the scale; C D E F G. Each time you begin on a different note you are using a different mode in the key of C. Let's review those modes real quick: I=Ionian, ii=Dorian, iii=Phrygian, IV=Lydian, V=Mixolydian, vi=Aeolian, vii=Locrian, viii=Ionian. So you got Major, minor, minor, Major, Major or Dominant 7, minor, diminished, Major equivalent scales.

Ok , Ok so what did I use? Dorian, Phrygian, Dominant seven=Mixolydian, Aeolian, Harmonic Minor and yes even blues scale.

Once again if you want to submit your own audio using the chord progression and scales other than just the blues scale as above, read the info in the NEWS section.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

taking a look at a progression C2-Fsus-Gsus-F2 in biab

2012-02-17T11:35:00.006-06:00

For some reason whenever you mention a suspended chord whether a 4 or a 2, things seem to get complicated for many a musician. And, to make things worse, then comes along the C2 chord for example. Let's see how Band In A Box deals with these chords.

First of all the suspended 4 chord is simply taking the third and raising it to a 4th i.e 1 3 5 triad now becomes a 1 4 5. In C the chord being C E G triad becomes C F G....easy enough. A sus2 takes a third drops it down to a second making the chord let's say in C, a C D G. If you notice that chord is simply an inversion of the Gsus4

A C2 chord on the other hand uses the entire triad C E G and adds a 9th to it which in this case is a D. Making the chord C E G D. Its also called Cadd9. The open voicing is easier on the ear if you are not used to listening to clusters. A cluster in this case would be C D E with G further apart.

Biab won't recognize a sus2 if entered into the chord field but does recognize a 2. Biab automatically changes lets say an entered Csus2 chord into a C2 instead of interpreting it as an inversion of a Gsus4.

Several years ago I had created myself some simple short progressions using two chords and sus chords and wanted to see how biab would handle one of these for soloing. So let's see how it handled it. Below in figure 1 is the progression I used and entered the chords into biab. You can click on the figs to enlarge.

Fig 1

In Figure's 2 and 3 are the scales generated by biab for the above progression.

fig2

I had biab generate the scales in a walking pattern in fig 2 using jazz scales. In fig 3 below, I changed it to ascending pattern and this is what I got.

fig 3

Ok so both use major and mixolydian scales. major scales are used on the two chords and the mixolydian on the sus4 ....interesting. So I wanted to see what kind of solo biab would generate just for kicks. I spent about an hour generating various styles using the soloist in Band In A Box. Supposedly what I gather from the styles in soloist is that the solos are created using specific artist style making each solo unique similar to the specific artist. Well.....that's a crock....most solos sounded just like the preceding repeating the same licks using the same phrases. On top of that there was nothing in there that even came close to some of the artist styles I have been familiar with for the last 5+ decades. I have to say that all of the solos generated by the soloist SUCKED and sounded just terrible. Some of them just had way too much going on and others obviously didn't bother using biab's recommended scales. It was obvious that biab didn't know how to handle my progression. So.....I was going to have to create my own solo.

Usually if a chord was a C7sus4 or a C9sus4, there are a few scale choices to work around. One being the mixolydian (dominant 7 scale) which we discussed earlier. Another is a Major Pentatonic starting on b7 or the Bebop scale. But we aren't using a dominant seven or a ninth, we are using simple triads so... here's what I came up with below:

The file below is one you can download to use to practice to. See what you can do to it. Let me know what mode scale you used for it. I know what I used but how about u?

Got a link to your solo using the above background? or create your own and then turn us on to it. If you don't have a place to upload your music, go to SoundCloud and get your own page free, then send me the link to it in the comment section.

Conversely you can also upload it into my drop box and I'll post it here. But as CR/ Clarence Reed Quartet states in the comment area, you're better off setting up your own account which is much easier and takes you less time to do. Apparently you have to go thru plenty of hoops to use the drop box. But use the link to get to the site and get your own account. It's a cool site and it's free.

Send me your sounds
Clarence from Clarence Reed Quartet sent me the audio file below. He and his buddies just used the progression for it. He took the tempo at 150bpm. The audio consists of piano acoustic bass, drums and trombone. He did not state what scales were used for the solos. Perhaps he can tell us later.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

ii7,ii9 to vi7,vi9 progression

2012-02-11T13:39:00.015-06:00

In the continuing effort in helping you to become a better soloist with the help of yours truly and Band In A Box used as a backing band to practice with, this is the second part of try this for that. The preceding post shows all of the needed scales for this post. It may be a good place to review some of them.

When I was practicing 6+ hours a day, I also created many useful chord progressions for me to practice to. At the time I didn't have Band In A Box so I used the midi/sequencer capabilities of my Korg keyboard. Ok let's start off with a simple chord progression.

One of the easiest minor progressions for me in learning the usability of modes in soloing was a simple ii7 to vi7. So if we were in the key of Bb as many of the chords in the previous section are, a ii7 would be a Cm7. A vi7 is a Gm7. In this progression I use this: |Cm7|Cm9|Gm7|Gm9|x6

You can take these chords and enter them into biab, set the bars from 1-4 and the repeat to what ever you like. I did it 6x's. The tempo is 105, but you can use what ever is comfortable for you to start off with. You can use almost any style you wish along with Real Tracks, if you have them. If you don't and have biab, you can download the audio file, import it into biab and follow the chords in the chord view. The tempo can be changed in biab to a slower one, without losing quality of the audio....that's cool!

When soloing, there are a few scale choices: C Dorian, C Pentatonic minor, C Bebop minor (use the E natural on an upbeat as a passing tone also add a passing tone B between Bb and C. You will see why when you do). Another mode you can use is a D Phrygian. The D Phrygian is related to the key signature Bb being the scale starting on the third tone of Bb scale: D Eb F G A Bb C D. I like using this one to start off with and mixing others with each repeat. Another usable scale here is the blues scale.

Often times what the keyboard player or rhythm guitar does can influence what you use in your soloing.

Above is a downloadable audio file which can be imported into Band In A Box audio. I've left one bar empty so it can be fitted in nicely with a setting of -1:1 Note: Bar -1=start of lead in and Bar 1=start of song. When using this audio file in biab it can be slowed down or sped up without it losing anything. You may use this file for practice. I created it for those of you that do not have the Real Tracks or Band In A Box but want to take advantage of my knowledge.

Below is a full piano part showing the notes being played with the chord notation above.

When practicing and learning various scales to use for certain chords, I recommend that you start on a predetermined note on each measure. Try the 3rd or 7th or find one in the piano chart and go with it.

right click and choose open in another window or tab for best view

We'll do another progression with audio and charts in the next post.

Get involved with this site and this post. Want to show the world what you can do with this progression? Download the file, create a solo and if you have a place to upload it to send me a link to it and I'll post it. If you would rather create your own backing track using the above progression, that will be fine too. If you don't have a place to upload it, get yourself a free account at SoundCloud and upload it there. Once you have done so send me a link. Also be sure to go and click follow me there. You can send me a message thru the site.

Below is one which Clarence Reed Quartet did for us. He says it's a bit different from the above in that the tempo was taken to 136 bpm. Danielle Reed plays a trumpet solo on it. She doesn't recall what scale she used as it just came out natural. "When you play solos as often as I do, it just becomes automatic and you end up playing by feel and by listening to the background closely". She says.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

© Markku Vuollet

try this for that part 1

2012-02-10T14:35:00.005-06:00

Due to many comments requesting minor scale choices, I'm going to talk about them in this post. There will also be a style along with a demo, I picked up from Band In A Box. We are also going to build a progression that you can use in biab for you to practice with. It's always a good idea of practicing things slowly at first increasing speed as you progress. It is also recommended that at first you have a predestined starting note for each measure for any future and preceding progressions. This will make it easier for you to learn to think horizontally. In the first measure you can start off with the root of the chord or key signature if you like. For the rest of the measures it doesn't matter as long as you play a mi 3rd or b7 somewhere in there to establish tonality.

NOTE:
I am assuming once again that you already know your scales and chord building. If you don't I would suggest that you learn them first in all keys because most of this is for advanced players looking to enhance their soloing.

There are hundreds of sites on the web that will teach you the basics.

Try This for That

The underlined notes below show the basic triad of the chord. The bold shows the third and seventh.

In this Scale Syllabus, all chords are shown in C only to keep things as a standard reference point, however the corresponding scale/mode may be in a different key.

Cm, Cm7, Cm9 etc. Chord Notes: C Eb G Bb D ... Scale Choice=minor (Dorian): C D Eb F G A Bb C... W H W W W H W This scale is actually called C Dorian because it is built on the second tone of the Bb scale..see the Bb and Eb, 2 flats = key of Bb

Cm, Cm7, Cm9 etc. Chord notes: C Eb G Bb D ... Scale Choice=Pentatonic (Minor Pentatonic): C Eb F G Bb C...-3 W W -3 W This scale is called Cm pentatonic....notice the two flats Bb and Eb=key of Bb. It's similar to the blues scale except here we have 5 notes instead of 6. Unfortunately this scale is often used to death because it has many uses and fits in many styles and chords.

Cm, Cm7, Cm9 etc. Chord Notes: C Eb G Bb D ... Scale Choice=Bebop (Minor): C D Eb E F G A Bb C ... W H H H W W H W C bebop minor=key of Bb

Cm, CmMaj7, CmMaj9 Chord Notes: C Eb G B D ... Scale Choice=Melodic Minor (ascending a.k.a jazz minor): C D Eb F G A B C ...W H W W W W H C melodic minor actually has 3 bs in the key signature but in ascending the Ab and Bb are cancelled. It is still considered to be in the key of Eb...but then you already knew that...Right?

Cm, CmMaj7 Chord Notes: C Eb G B D ... Scale Choice=Bebop Minor No 2: C D Eb F G G# A B C ... W H W W H H W H also good to use on a Cm6

Blues scale...everyone already knows that one I won't get into it.

same chords as above with same notes ... Scale Choice=Harmonic Minor: C D Eb F G Ab B C ... W H W W H -3 H

same chords with same notes ... Scale Choice=Diminished(begin with W step): C D Eb F F# G# A B C ... W H W H W H W H also works well with the Cdim7 chord

Cm7 Chord Notes: C Eb G Bb ... Scale Choice=Phrygian: C Db Eb F G Ab Bb C ... H W W W H W W Obviously it's in the key of Ab since it's got 4 of em.

Cm7, Cm9 Chord Notes: C Eb G Bb D ... Scale Choice=Aeolian: C D Eb F G Ab Bb C ... W H W W H W W Key of Eb since it's got 3 and C is the sixth tone from Eb.

The second part can be found here: http://biabunderglass.blogspot.com/2012/02/ii7ii9-to-vi7vi9-progression.html

The song above is part of a demo style used in biab. Its a Sass style originally in the key of B which I transposed it to Bb to coincide with the above. Everything in this tune includes things I have discussed so far starting from what-modes-to-use-for-jazz-chords The melody area is mostly Maj7 chords with a mix of m7 and m9. There are also a few suspended chords which I haven't gotten into yet. The tempo is 95 and there is a time signature change which goes into a 2/4 from a 4/4 and back. The solo switches tempo to 136bpm and stays in the key of Bb where it utilizes some 6th chords (inverted mi7), mi7, dom7 even a dim chord.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

what modes to use during improvisation part 3

2012-02-03T11:04:00.007-06:00

This section will show major scale choices as shown in the first basic category of the previous post. You can enter these chords into biab and have it play while practicing the scales. Use biab to your advantage when it comes to practicing. It really can be a great tool!

Remember the days when you were learning to play your instrument and your teacher had you doing scales and arpeggios until you were blue in the face. They were boring as hell and you figured that other than learning the fingerings you'd probably never use them again. Well my friend the time has come where you now need that experience of playing those scales and arpeggios you were forced to work so hard at for so many years. If you haven't kept up with them in a while I suggest that you refresh yourself with them.

Below you will find some chords with related scales to solo on. I suggest that you learn the chords well in all keys and use the old arpeggio method to do so. Then refresh yourself with these scales/modes as they will be a very important aspect in soloing.

You will notice that the chords are pretty much the same for some of these; C, Cmaj7, Cmaj9. That's because you can use a variety of modes for the same chord. Jazz musicians often use more than one mode during a given solo. As you go down the list the sound gets a bit more dissonant.

A good way to practice this is to input a chord into your Band In A Box, pick a jazz style of your liking and first have it repeat several times while playing the various modes/scales. Start off by playing the notes of the chord first. You can always speed it up or slow it down or even change keys. Once you get used to the modes, add another chord in the key signature with perhaps another maj, maj7 or maj9 so you end up with this as an example;

||:Cmaj7|Cmaj9|Gmaj7|Gmaj9:||x4

Use a different mode each time it repeats or even on the different chord. It may even be helpful to write out the mode for that chord for a visual crux until you become familiar with them. You can also enter the notes into biab note view window and then view it in the lead sheet window. BIAB is a great tool not only as a visual one, but for creating a background to practice to..use it as much as possible. It's fun and you won't be bored!

These chords will deal with major scale choices.

Use this scale for this chord:

Cmaj, Cmaj7, Cmaj9... Chord Notes=C E G B D...Scale=Major: C D E F G A B C (don't emphasize the 4th)

Cmaj, Cmaj7... Chord Notes=C E G B...Scale=Major Pentatonic: C D E G A C

Cmaj7, Cmaj9... Chord Notes=C E G B D..Scale=Lydian(major scale w/ +4): C D E F# G A B C

Cmaj7, Cmaj9... Chord Notes=C E G B D...Scale=Bebop (major): C D E F G G# A B C

Cmaj7, Cmaj9... Chord Notes=C E G B D...Scale=Harmonic Major (notice the b6): C D E F G Ab B C

Cmaj7#5, Cmaj9#5...Chord Notes=C E G# B D...Scale=Lydian Augmented: C D E F# G# A B C (Cmaj7#5 is just a E major chord w/C in the bass also written as E/C. Cmaj9#5 is an E7 w/C in bass also written E7/C)

Cmaj, Cmaj7, Cmaj9...Chord Notes=C E G B D...Scale=Augmented: C D# E G Ab B C

Cmaj, Cmaj7, Cmaj9...Chord Notes=C E G B D...Scale=6th mode of Harmonic Minor: C D# E F# G A B C

Cmaj, Cmaj7, Cmaj9...Chord Notes=C E G B D...Scale=Diminished (begin with half step): C Db D# E F# G A Bb C

Cmaj, Cmaj7, Cmaj9...Chord Notes=C E G B D...Scale=Blues: C Eb F F# G Bb C

Below is a sample audio file of a chord progression: |Cmaj7|Cmaj9|Gmaj7|Gmaj9| , I had suggested above, for practicing some of these modes. I went ahead and threw in a solo. I worked around 5 of the above scales to create it. I started off with the Major Pentatonic, Major, blues, bebop and the Lydian w/+4.

Below is the other audio file I promised. This file has a few more notes crammed in there and uses a couple more modes than the above. The chord progression is identical I only changed the drums.

Next time I'll get a little more involved with dominant 7 scale choices. Yes I did a section on it but there's more believe it or not!

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

what modes to use during improvisation part 2

2012-02-02T14:49:00.003-06:00

Many years ago I learned the association between certain chords and their relationship to scales/modes. I also learned that depending on the voicing the keyboard player might use, allows me to expand the use of the modes. So in this post, I'm going to expand the selection from my previous post involving the V7 chords and give you a few more which hopefully will point you in the right direction. These are also used in biab's generated solos.

I learned about 5 categories of chords and can be broken down into different sub-categories. These are more well known chords such as major, minor and dominant 7th, half dim. and diminished. All will be in the key of C or its parallel i.e CMaj-Cm. The root of each chord is C. The rest will have a 9th in it whether it's a major or minor 7th. The ninth will give you more options but I will indicate it as I break down the chords. Below are the five which will be broken into sub-categories.

Use these scales for these chords:

chord=CMaj7, CMaj9... chord notes= C E G B D... C Maj scale:C D E F G A B C

chords C7, C9... chord notes C E G Bb D... C7 Mixolydian scale:C D E F G A Bb C

chord=Cm7, Cm9... chord notes=C Eb G Bb D... C Minor (Dorian) scale:C D Eb F G A Bb C

chord=Cm7b5... chord notes=C Eb Gb Bb... C Half Dim.(Locrian) scale: C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C

chord=Cdim7... chord notes=C Eb Gb A... C dim. scale: C D Eb F Gb Ab A B C (Bbb)

There you have it, the 5 categories which we will break down into sub-categories starting off with the majors first in my next post. These are a good reference point to start from. Bookmark these pages and refer to them often.

The major scale choices in the next segment is in part 3.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

What modes to use for jazz chords during improvisation part 1

2012-02-01T11:54:00.003-06:00

I often get asked how do you know what modes to use when soloing? We understand that in western music as in jazz and pop, the use of major, dominant 7th, dorian minor, scales and chords and the blues scale are predominant. There are others we use less often such as, half-diminished and diminished, but used never the less.

The Major scale is obvious for chords such as C major or Cmaj7 etc. Since I got you started on building a chord progression on the C7 chord earlier, I thought that I would begin with the Dominant 7th tree of scale choices. BIAB uses many of these scales to generate their solos. Since these are dominant 7ths, I am obviously using a chord in a parallel key signature. Remember that a dominant 7th chord is V7, built on the 5th tone of any major scale. To find the Root go up a perfect 4th or down a 5th from the root note of the chord i.e. C7=key of F. Below are the scales and have the 3rds and 7ths underlined. The altered notes are in BOLD.

The dominant 7th = C7 or the notes; C D E F G A Bb C. This is a basic dominant scale. Use the 4th only as a passing tone.

The Bebop = C7 or; C D E F G A Bb B C. Play the B only as a passing tone on the upbeat. never on a downbeat.

Lydian Dom. = C7#4 or C7b5; C D E F# G A Bb C. The #4 or b5 is a favorite note. a.k.a melodic minor scale ascending.

Whole Tone scale= C7+; C D E F# G# Bb C. Symmetrical scale with 6 tones

Diminished = C7b9; C Db Eb E F# G A Bb C. Michael Brecker used this often.

Dim. Whole-Tone = C7+9; C Db Eb E F# G# Bb C. The altered notes create a lot of tension.

Spanish a.k.a harmonic minor = C7 (b9); C Db E F G Ab Bb C. Good to use in a minor key.

Chromatic = C7; C Db D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C

Learn these scales in all keys. A good way to get started is to transpose the notes into a generated chord progression using dominant 7ths in BIAB.

A bit more on the Bebop Scale: The scale is usually played descending and the B natural is played on the up beat. There are also BEBOP scales that are played over major, minor and half diminished chords. Remember to use the chord tones on the beat rather than all over the place. When you begin using this scale most people will notice a huge uplift in their jazz lines almost immediately.

MAJOR = C D E F G G# A B C

MINOR = C D Eb E F G A Bb C

HALF-DIMINISHED = C Db Eb F Gb G Ab Bb C

But what about the Mixolydian that I talked about earlier?
Well, the mixolydian works well most of the time with V7 chords, especially in rock, blues, funk, soul and r&b. I like to use it to add a little bluesy feel to my jazz rather than using the blues scale. I began using it to get me out of the rut of using the same blues and pentatonic scales.

If you take an even closer look at the scale and compare it to the Dorian mode in the same key, let's say C, you will find a similarity. If you relate the dorian minor scale to the related major key in this case C = D minor (dorian) it is identical to G7 (dominant 7th or mixolydian). You see, anytime a C major scale is played for 1 1/2 octaves or more you are sounding the D minor (Dorian) scale and the G7 (mixolydian) scales. In this case they are all related because they have no sharps or flats. When ever you use any of these modes use the chord tones on the beat.

C major scale in an octave and half = C D E F G A B C D E F G

Dorian=d minor scale= D E F G A B C D....F is the minor 3rd or b3 in a minor

G7 Mixolydian= G A B C D E F G ....F is the b7 in this case.

More can be found in my next post part 2

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

how to start implementing modes in jazz part 3

2012-01-27T17:33:00.008-06:00

I'm going to expand the chord progression to a full 32 measures in this post. A good way to work it is a section at a time, perhaps adding a measure or two to the file from the earlier post. Using your biab will allow you to slow it down or speed it up, change styles, keys signatures etc.

I also have an audio file that i created and played a solo on for some of you non believers. Later I plan on having another audio file with an expanded version of the chords by 2 speeding the thing to 200bpm. The current speed is 100bpm. That will be for those who still think that this is kid stuff but, I need to wait a few days for my right hand to heal up. It seems that I am unable to even hold a pick in my hand at the moment. It is getting better and is better than a few days ago but it probably will take a few more days for the swelling to go down......arthritis.

So let's take a look at the screen shot:

click to enlarge

We left off just with the first line with the last chord being a BbMaj7, all built off the C7 chord. Now I'm going to build a set of chords off the Gm7 and it will be my first chord. It doesn't have to be but for now it is. Instead of going up a third to the next note from G, I'm going to go up a fifth....no specific reason, just because. I could go up to the 7th if I wanted to but chose the 5th. The 5th tone from G is D so I just built the chord based on D in thirds, giving me a Dm7.

The next chord I'm going to build off the 7th tone, again for no specific reason. The note is F. If I go up in 3rds from F I get F,A,C,E or Fmaj7. Now I'm going back to my 2nd tone from G. A third up from G would be a Bb. But isn't the third from G a B? Yes, but since there is a Bb in the key of F, it's Bb. See how simple this is.

The next chord set I'm taking off the Em7b5. I also changed from style A to B simply for my own amusement and could have left it at the style A or for that matter I could have had the first measure set at B style. So the notes in the Em7b5 again are: E, G, Bb, D. I already have the chord set in place so my next chord is, I threw you a curve here and went with the third from E which is Gm7. Once again no reason just to mess with you. The next one is based on the 7rh tone from E which is......D hence Dm7 followed b the BbMaj7. Since the next chord is BbMaj7 at bar 13, I simply decided to make the transition easier by using the BbMaj7 at bar 12. It makes no difference how you group the chords.

Take a close look at bars 13-16. Notice anything? The first note of each chord spells out BbMaj7. Once you have all these chords figured out and a solo worked out, take and mix the chords around a bit. Start off with maybe an Fmaj7 or even the Am7 and see what you can do with it. It'll be fun.

Below is an audio using the above chords exactly in the order written. The very first note I started my solo off was a Bb and went down the scale actually leaving out the 5th or the D. It really makes no difference what note you start off with, but it's always interesting to see what one comes up with, by starting in a certain mode. I just happened to start on the Lydian mode because that's the position where my fingers were at the time.

Here is, how a simple inversion can change not only the chord but how it effects the backing track. It can be used as an alt. chord progression. The guitar solo has not changed although I could have done one a bit different giving me a few more note options. But I wanted to show you the slight difference between the two.

The snapshot below shows some inversions using the same chord progression. Instead of starting with the C7 chord, I just added a 9th to it to make it more interesting. The Gm7 inverted becomes a Bb6. The Em7b5 now becomes a Gm6 etc. At measures 9-16 and 25-32, I left the chords as they were.

inverted chord progression

Here's the other audio file I promised with drums, B3 and guitar.

It's for you unbelievers who think this is kid stuff. The tempo is 200bpm, still using the exact same chord progression. The measures have been doubled i.e. 2 bars of C7, 2 bars of Gm7 etc. etc. along with the tempo by biab.

below is a transcription of the solo in three parts, written as close to what I play as biab shows it. Bb shows it as fake sheet mode. You can view them in a larger mode by clicking on them. Notice I started on the 5th tone in the first chord and then went into various modes for the rest of the exercise.

page 1

page 2

page 3

In the next part I will begin with; what-modes-to-use-for-jazz-chords part 1 which starts off with the Dominant 7th tree of scale choices.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

how the scale generator in biab can help your improvisation

2012-01-24T11:53:00.005-06:00

I wanted to point out a cool feature of bb called the scale generator. I don't know how far of versions it goes back to but it is available on the 2011 version on up.

When you have chord progressions whether generated by biab or entered by hand, you can easily see what scales might be good to work around. Many players don't have an idea what to use for the chords and end up using a basic rock/blues scale which don't always work out. With the scale generator, you have some choices. Here is a snap shot explaining the scale generator which I found in the help section.

click on the pic for larger view

click pic for larger view

Whether you use the ascending or walking really doesn't matter and is just a preference but sometimes I suggest perhaps using them both. You can have one on the melody track and the other on the solo track muting the one not in use. The advantage of that is that the ascending will be easier to recognize the scale as it starts on the root of each chord. The walking scale pattern will continue going up or down into the next chord using the following sequence of notes making an easy transition into the next chords. (see pics below)


ascending (click on pic to enlarge)

walking pattern (click to enlarge)

Both of the above screen shots show the scales in the Lydian b7 mode as I did not click on "Scale Tones Diatonic to Key Signature" - If diatonic, minor scales will be according to the key (VI minor is Aeolian etc.). Otherwise all minors will be Dorian.

click to view larger

If you look at the next sequence in the chord progression we started in our last post

how to start implementing modes in jazz part 2

which can be seen in the above screen shot, you will notice that the Bbmaj 7 (ionian) scale has an Eb. That's because the scale has been built around the chord which is actually in the key of Bb which has 2 flats...Bb and Eb.

The second chord Dm7 where BB has generated a Dorian scale where we have no sharps or flats, is in the key of C. Remember that Dorian is always the second mode so therefore if you have no sharps or flats it's obvious that we are in the key of C.

Since now BB is generating the minor scales from minor chords using Dorian mode scales, the Dmi7, now in the key of C again has no sharps or flats. The Am7 again generated as Dorian scale you will notice the F#. That's because the Dorian in this case is in the key of G.

Looking at the Em7b5, you will notice the Bb. The chord is based on the Locrian scale (7th tone) in the key of F which has one flat in its key signature which is Bb. For some of you this may be confusing as hell and that is why it is essential for you to know and understand chords and how they are related to scales. In jazz there is no one simple scale to work around and uses many in one song.

So what I have started you on is merely a small step in some basics in jazz improvisation without getting you more frustrated and confused. Use biab as much as you can as a tool to move yourself forward with a little help.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

how to start implementing modes in jazz part 2

2012-01-22T12:59:00.004-06:00

Hopefully you have read; how to start implementing modes in jazz part 1 and know the fundamentals of chord structure, scales and modes etc.

So you've practiced scales for years and studied chords and theory but you have no place to go with your knowledge. You don't know how to implement them in your improvisation. Here's a little help.

O.K so lets fire up your Band in a Box first. Set the key signature to F and the tempo to 100bpm. Choose a style from the stylist. I like _SLOBOSP.STY. Slow Perc Bossa w.Pno&Bass(85RS)
All RealTracks. Trio.
RD: BOSSABRUSHESPERC^1-CONGAS,PERC :
RT711: Bass, Acoustic, Bossa Ev 085, Neil Swainson
RT714: Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Bossa Ev 085, Miles Black

Enter the first chord as a C7 leaving the sub style as a blue box. Here's where your knowledge of chord structure and understanding it comes in. We are going to build a progression around the C7 chord. The C7 is a V7 in the key of F. The notes in C7 of course are C,E,G,Bb. We are going to take each of those notes of the chord and build a different jazz chord based on the key of F using E,G and Bb. C7 is already entered in the first box so the second chord will need to be entered next. Instead of using E as our next note lets use G instead for variety and build a 4 note chord in 3rds starting on G. Remember that in the key of F, you have a Bb so the notes would be G,Bb,D,F or a Gmi7. Go ahead and enter it into the second chord box in BB.

Next let's go back to the E and do the same. The notes in the chord are E,G,Bb,D making the chord an Emi7b5. Enter the chord into the third box. The final chord is built around the Bb: Bb,D,F,A making the chord a BbMaj7. That chord goes into the fourth box.

Change the bar setting from 1-32 x3 to 1-4 x6 so that BB will repeat measures 1-4, 8 times or as many as you need. You can find those numbers just above the 3rd measure by clicking on the white boxes.

here's what it looks like when all is done

Ok that takes care of the background music for us to jam to for the time being. Now, let's get to the playing aspect. The most important notes in music, in general, are the 3rd and the 7th. Both set the tonality of a song. The same goes for improvisation. Anything other than the 3rd and 7th are simply fillers. Now, we need to go back to bb and change the view to staff view. Click on the editable notation mode and then enter these notes: the fifth tone, third and seventh of each chord in the appropriate measures. So it may look something like this:

note view

The first note of each measure is the 5th tone of the chord or the mixolydian. The other two notes are the third and seventh tones of the chord. All you have to do is fill in the areas between the first, second and third notes of each measure playing notes using the mixolydian scale.

I could have started each measure with any note but I chose to use the mixolydian to show you how it relates to the key of F. The exercise is in the key of F, right? As a matter of fact the C7 chord is the mixolydian (5th) of F so I wanted to use that particular scale within the exercise. So basically I'm using the mixolydian within the mixolydian. Here's the cool part. Often times when you hear talk about jazz players playing in many different modes within just a few measures, so are we in this exercise. What you talkin' bout?

Since I'm starting off with the fifth tone of the chord or the mixolydian I'm using that scale to fill in the measures using these notes of the scale; G,A,Bb,C.D,E,F,G. Look familiar? In relationship to the key signature, isn't that the Dorian mode? In the second measure, once again I'm starting off with the fifth tone or mixolydian and filling in the notes between the third and seventh. In relation to the key signature, you're actually playing in the aeolian mode. D,E,F,G,A,Bb,C,D. D is the sixth tone in the key of F. The 6th mode is aeolian.

In the third measure we are starting off with the Bb, again the 5th tone of the chord; Bb,C,D,E,F,G,A,Bb. Bb is the beginning note of the Lydian mode. The final chord/measure has the starting note as F, again the 5th tone of the chord. Here the notes of the scale are; F,G,A,Bb,C,D,E,F or ionian. Isn't that the major scale in the key of F? Now you got it. It's also called the ionian.

There you have something to practice on until the next part, how to start implementing modes in jazz part 3. When you practice the rest of the measures try to have your notes fall in line with each note of the first measure so that you don't have huge jumps between the measures. If you look at the last note of each measure they are within a few steps from the first note of the following measure giving it a smooth transition.

Pretty cool huh? And guess what? You are playing in these modes; Aeolian, Dorian, Ionian, Lydian and Mixolydian.

Now check out Part 3.

Comments always welcome!

how to start implementing modes in jazz part 1

2012-01-22T10:09:00.002-06:00

A comment that I hear often and read from followers is; "although I know chords and scales/modes, I just don't know how to implement scales into a chord progression for improvising". So in the next few posts I'm going to give you an exercise which helped me to get a better understanding and a better foot in the door so to speak. It will probably blow your mind and once you get the hang of it, you will feel much better about yourself and your accomplishment.

There are probably as many ways to learn jazz as there are jazz musicians so what I'm about to teach you, you may not not find anywhere else. This is only a minute aspect of learning and is intended to help you better understand and rid the frustration of figuring out how to incorporate scales into your playing. Will you get frustrated again? No doubt! Learning to play jazz is like walking up a hundred flights of stairs, for those of us who are not geniuses or prodigies. Sometimes you might take three steps forward and the next two steps backwards. It's a slow climb, frustrating sometimes, but also a fun one at that.

What makes it fun is having BB create the backing tracks for you. If you have the "Real Tracks', you have actual known recording artists helping you out. When was the last time you had an opportunity to play with some recording artists? How cool is that? When I was learning, there was no BB and had to rely on actual jazz musicians or record the parts myself using my synth. That was a lot of work which took away from the time I used for learning the art of improvisation. Fun also, in that you will actually learn something useful and hopefully not be confused.

Before I continue, you will need to know your key signatures, chord structure and all scales including your modes. I'm assuming that you already know these as they are very important for these exercises. If you don't, you will be confused, frustrated and will not have a clue to what I'm talking about. The other important aspect is having the ability to read music atleast to a point where you know the notes in a staff. I'm not going to start teaching basic fundamentals. You can find those anywhere on the web. Learn them first. You can always save the pages in your bookmarks and then come back to them later.

With that said, we can continue in the next post, how to start implementing modes in jazz part 2.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

So what do I think so far?

2012-01-20T11:22:00.000-06:00

A few of my friends outside this blog, who know about my in depth look at biab, have asked me what I think about it so far?

I think that it is a great tool even with some stuff lacking which I've encountered so far. I suppose that I was looking for things that it is not capable of doing yet. I say yet because the software is constantly being upgraded, twice a year. New updated versions come out usually around June and December with plenty of discounts to go around. They have some good deals provided that you don't mind dealing with a few problems that have not been ironed out prior to its release. But of course they have plenty of free updates to download to address the issues.

Whether you are a jazz musician, a rocker, into country or folk music, a newby to music, weekend warrior, hobbyist, a seasoned musician, a piano, banjo, guitar, bass, horn, string player, you could benefit from biab. It all depends on what your purpose for it is. You have to ask yourself "What do I want it to do for me?" But keep in mind that it has its limitations. It's only as good as you make it out to be and how well you know the program. I've probably spent more time exploring and learning biab in a short time than most would in a year.

If you are looking to improve your playing abilities in any genre, if you know how to use biab to your advantage, if you focus on the task at hand instead of being distracted with other things and if (lots of ifs) you actually spend time practicing (notice I say practicing) instead of just playing, you could just turn out to be one hell of a player. But, like many an artist, most are too lazy or just don't know how to take advantage of biab to become a better player.

I've heard plenty of players say that they are in a rut and can't get out of it. Some have said that they want to learn modes, progressive chords (jazz chords), how to improvise without using the same old licks over and over. I've heard folks say that they play by ear. But, you only play what you are accustomed to playing because that's what you have trained your ears to listen to as you play. I've heard some say that they play vertically instead of horizontally (no I don't mean that they can't play laying down), and are having difficulties in getting to that point (thinking ahead). But as with anything, it takes patience and practice. Sometimes you just have to forget or try to, all those bad habits you've learned all these years. Slow down a bit, you're trying to do too much at once. I think that biab is a program that may be able to get you out of that funk.

I too was in a rut many years ago. I had to stop listening and playing blues. A friend of mine got me involved with blues and the more I played it, the more I became accustomed to it and began forgetting everything else. It was a lot easier dealing with 5 notes rather than a shit load involved with using modes. Everything I did was around the blues scale and I just couldn't get past it even tho I was a jazz musician in my younger days. When I tried to get back into playing jazz, much of what I had learned, I had forgotten and when it was time to play jazz, I was confused and tried to do too much at once. My playing suffered. When I slowed down and began to think differently (in jazz you have to think differently) due to its complexity, I learned to play horizontally again and think ahead. But that took some time and plenty of practice. If I had biab at the time, I could have sped up the process much faster rather than having to create my own songs one instrument at a time to practice to. The great thing about biab is the ability to create anything almost in seconds, change key signatures, tempos, styles. You have the ability to create solos instantly to study the notes for chord progressions. Yup, so far, all in all, I'm impressed by it!

Band In A Box has plenty of teaching material. Some come with the program when you buy it. For more info on biab go to their website;

http://www.pgmusic.com/index.html

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

down n' dirty

2012-01-16T17:23:00.004-06:00

About the only thing "down n' dirty" has to do with biab is that it has Neil Swain-acoustic bass,Miles Black-piano and Terry Clarke who has recorded stuff for biab. I actually wrote this and performed on it back in 2008. I had several versions of it and didn't know where I wanted to go with it until I had the opportunity to have these guys on the tune.

I remember Howard Roberts many, many years ago had an album titles "Howie is a Dirty guitar player" or something like that. I've got the album here someplace. Anyway, the title was on my mind when I began working on the piece but just couldn't get the right people to do tracks on it. Then one day, one of my collaborators turned me on to these guys and before I knew it, it got done. I had the tune on my computer but the hard drive went bad and I had to replace it, I had it backed up on another external drive but for some reason it stopped working.

A couple of days ago, I decided to connect it up and turn it on. Lo and behold it fired up allowing me to access a whole bunch of stuff I thought I had lost. I copied everything and saved them on my current drive. Now I just need to back them up. I'm just elated that I can actually finish some of them that I had started back in 2008.

Anyway, "down n' dirty" is a mix of jazz,blues and bossa nova. Neil Swain does a sweet acoustic bass solo about in the middle. I do a kind of George Benson influenced thing on it similar to "ez does it".

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

ez does it

2012-01-14T15:52:00.003-06:00

I wanted to create something quick and somewhat easy for a change. Since I already had a guitar part done from 2008 and the chords written down, I thought ez does it would be a great piece for me to whip up fairly quick.

All I had to do was to enter the chords, point the biab to the guitar audio file so it would load it up and then pick out some instruments. I figured that I could create an entire arrangement just using biab. So I thought! But it ended up being a bit more complex than that. What made it a bit complicated was that I had the guitar part all set from an earlier recording and there was no way for me to cut and paste parts to various locations in biab.

I wanted to have the guitar do the melody line followed by a little solo, then have trumpet and sax do a solo and then go back to guitar. But the guitar part wouldn't allow any space for other instruments as it played straight thru so I had to do some preliminary cut and paste of the guitar part in my Sonar before resending it to biab. Once I got that done the rest was quite simple and I had the thing done within minutes.

I individually set the Real tracks for the instruments rather than just picking out a style. This was much easier as I already knew what I wanted. So here's what I did with this jazz bossa with George Benson influences. Muted trumpet solo by Ron King, alto sax by Eric Marienthal, acoustic bass by Neil Swainson, piano by Miles Black and percussion by Craig Scott. Obviously biab doesn't have muted trumpet in the Real tracks so I used e.q. to create the Harmon mute sound.

Craig Scott, is also an accomplished vibraphone player and percussionist. As a drummer, he has performed live dates with a who's-who of Canadian Jazz artists including Oliver Gannon, Tommy Banks, Ian McDougall, Hugh Fraser, Campbell Ryga, PJ Perry, Alan Matheson, and with international artists Randy Bachmann, Frank Wes, Pat LaBarbara, Natalie McMaster, Dianna Krall, Herb Ellis, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Clark Terry, Larry Goldings, the HI-LOS, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Rosemary Clooney, and Charlie Byrd.

Craig's discography is equally impressive, with session credits on countless albums including Randy Bachmann's Jazz Thing. Other credits include television, film, and radio on programs including Almanac, Hot Air, Jazz Beat, West Coast Performance, and Gabereau.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

biab chord interpretation is it accurate?

2012-01-14T00:14:00.001-06:00

According to biab here's what it is:

MIDI File Chord Interpretation Wizard

"Many people who play music by ear think of songs in terms of "Chords and Melody." However many MIDI files lack chord symbols, so they become difficult to learn without the user having to figure out the chords in a time consuming process. Now you can open up any MIDI file in Band-in-a-Box, and Band-in-a-Box will automatically figure out the chords of the song for you. It automatically analyzes the MIDI file, figures out where the bass, piano, melody and other tracks are, and then figures out the chord changes for the song. The chords are written onto the Band-in-a-Box Chord Sheet like any other song. This allows you to quickly learn how to play a song from a MIDI file - just read it into Band-in-a-Box and you'll see the chord symbols, and then learn the Melody! You can also read tracks into the Melody and Soloist tracks."

Once you've selected the file, you can press the [INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button. When you do that, the chords will be interpreted from the MIDI file, and written onto the Chord Sheet.
Prior to pressing the [INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button, you might want to make some custom settings.

When you load in the MIDI file, Band-in-a-Box interprets many things from the MIDI file for you automatically. Normally you'd want this to happen, but if for some reason you'd prefer to make the settings yourself, you can set the "Auto interpret settings from MIDI file" to false.
The settings that are determined automatically for you are:

- The Key Signature of the song (MIDI file). Some MIDI files contain a special event that states the key signature of the file, but most don't. For the ones that don't, Band-in-a-Box analyzes the tracks and makes a "best guess" at the correct key signature for the song. It usually gets it right, but if it’s wrong it’s likely out by a 4^th or 5^th interval.

- Tempo,

- Time Signature

- The channels used for the Bass part, Piano (comping) parts,

- The channels used for the Melody parts.

- The Number of Bars in the song to import, including the number of lead-in bars in the song.

Once you have loaded in the MIDI file, (by pressing the [Open (Change)] button), and assuming that you have the "Auto Interpret" set to true, you'll see that the dialog displays the settings that the Chord Wizard has found in the MIDI file for the key signature, and channels used for the song.

***************************************************************

It's quite obvious that biab's "interpret chords from a midi file" whether it is off a clip board or direct midi is incapable of interpreting them accurately especially if it comes to a more complex midi file.

I began working on something from the past that I had done way back in the 90's and I wanted to update it. I had something worked out and had it saved onto a memory card for my Korg. I fired the Korg up and transferred the midi files over to my Sonar where I could make an arrangement for it. The first part is in a tempo of 95 bpm in 4/4 time with a couple of 2/4's thrown in. The second part kicks up to 136 bpm in 4/4 and then goes back to 95 bpm. Everything is in the same key, Bb. Since originally I had created the melody and solo's on the Kork, a keyboard it should not have any problems picking up the midi data. I saved it once I felt that it was the way I wanted to go. The tempos were entered and saved at specific measures. When I went to the tempo box in Sonar, I could verify the tempos.

I then opened up biab and opened up the midi file which was in Sonar thru biab. I went thru the process and filled out what it asked and then it opened up the file. Everything was on one track even though the midi file was saved as separate tracks. It did show the correct chords for the song but only showed the first section at the 95 bpm except at 94bpm instead. There was nothing for the rest of the file except empty chords. Ok so the next thing was to go into files and click on interpret chords from midi file. I once again had to click on a few questions and then it proceeded to insert everything on to separate tracks, this time with wrong chords. There was nothing again beyond the first section of the tune.

I went back to Sonar and then clicked copy all to clipboard and went back to biab/file/interpret chords from midi file/clipoard. This time it interpreted the entire piece,but not with the right chords nor did it figure out the tempo changes even though it was saved and copied to the clipboard. No matter how many times I went back, the same thing happened. Not only that, but each time the chords were different.

Ok back to the drawing board. This time I wanted to see how accurate it really was so I created something on biab, saved it as a MGU in biab and midi file on Sonar. I cleared the biab song and proceeded to start from scratch once again going into file/import chords from midi file/open/c:sonar song file making necessary clicks in the open question fields and then clicked on INTERPRET CHORDS NOW.

The song was generated once again at a wrong tempo, wrong chords, many of them missing and there were no tempo changes anywhere. Now mind you, this was just created using biab and it couldn't figure out its own creation.

So much for biab chord interpretation accuracy, it sucks! How disappointing!

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

flirtation

2012-01-10T11:23:00.002-06:00

In keeping my focus on biab and requests for some traditional style jazz here is one of the very first tunes I created using biab. It's called "flirtation".

I had a melody in mind and also the chords so it was a matter of writing in the melody and entering the chords. I wanted to write in the notes so I could explore the feature, chord soloing of biab. Several years ago, I did quite a bit using chord soloing so I wanted to see how biab would handle this. The only way it would work is if it had the notes either in the melody or solo track. The input of the notes was a real pain in the ass at first as biab did some crazy stuff where I didn't know what was going on. But once I got the hang of it, things went fairly quickly.

I found the "generate guitar solo" in the very top menu under melody since I entered the notes in the melody track. Click Melody/Edit Melody Track and then Generate guitar solo which is third from the bottom of the list. The "generate guitar solo" is also found in the Solo track in the same menu. Miraculously within seconds biab generated the entire melody line into a chord solo using appropriate harmonies from the chords I had entered. Now it was just a matter of choosing a style. I generated several and then decided that a bossa nova would be cool. It was a style I first learned on the guitar back in the 60's.

I chose "Style is _B140_AS.STY (Bossa Brazil Quartet (140 RS))" but ended up changing it by choosing individual instruments; Bass-921 acoustic Bossa EV 110, piano-925 acoustic rhythm bossa ev 110, drums-Bossa Terry Clarke. I even had Bossa guitar and bossa alto sax solo. This was done just as an experiment to see how things went along. Naturally when I found the style Bossa then swing, everything changed. I had the entire tune repeat 2 more times and making the second repeat a solo in swing time. I kept the acoustic bass, changed the drums to "BossaThenSwing", eliminated the piano, guitar and sax solo. I decided to do the piano part myself using electric piano. I also wanted to add a bass solo and a short drum solo so this was going to be a bit challenging having it all be in the same page.

I discovered that if I right clicked on a chord there is another menu with several choices. I chose bar settings. In there I have several options. I can change the style, real tracks, tempo along with many other options and made my choices. I also discovered that if I wanted to change the middle chorus to swing I had to go into Edit and then convert to one big chorus, then right click on the chord at the second chorus, choose bar settings and then a swing style. I also needed to go to the last chorus and change the style back to the bossa style the same way.

Ok the basic layout of the song was completed except for the solos. I went to the area where I wanted the bass solo and then had to insert 12 bars to the song, copy and paste some chords, choose acoustic bass soloist by right clicking a chord, choosing bar setting/RealTracks/Bass. After the bass solo, I needed a transition to go back into a bossa nova style from a swing gently so I decided to do a 4 bar thing with drums. I once again added 4 bars and then just entered any chord, right clicked on the chord and chose chord settings. I chose "rest only all except drums" and clicked ok. Now only the drums would play for the 4 bars.

I also had to make a style change from A to B within the song structure by clicking on the blue boxes making them green. The green is a substyle giving it a different feel. I wanted to use the substyle B during the solo areas and in a bridge. By the way I also needed to change to the B style two bars before going into the swing style to make the transition smoother. So there you have it now all I had to do was to export the whole thing to my Sonar where I could play the guitar parts and then do a mixdown etc. I could have also done everything right there in biab by recording my parts by clicking on Audio/ record audio which is at the top horizontal menu. To see how this is done refer to the help section of biab.

My final thoughts: The process took a bit of doing and a lot of experimenting however, biab did make it go fairly quick once I found out how to work the thing. For first time users, biab can be overwhelming but if you follow the tutorials in the help section it will get you on the right track. I'm one of those that don't like to follow tutorials and only use the help section when I'm stuck. I learn things much quicker by exploring things on my own.

Much of the chord soloing created by the generator was almost impossible to execute unless I had extra fingers on my left hand and could stretch longer than an average guitar player. Obviously everything was created for midi and for a piano player rather than for guitar. In areas where it was impossible to play the chords, I had to make changes which were more realistic to a guitarist. It takes a bit of knowledge both with harmony and the fingerboard of the guitar to do most of the generated chord soloing. Use it only as a guide, don't depend on it to do everything for you. As biab is concerned, don't rely just on biab for anything for that matter. Use it as a tool to enhance your music. Otherwise, you will get the impression that it's worthless kid stuff.

Acoustic Bass-Neil Swainson and drums by Terry Clarke

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

something of my own

2012-01-04T15:09:00.003-06:00

I call it "I'm not into you". It was pretty easy to just insert my own chords and pick a style. The smooth jazz style I picked out was individually chosen by instrument starting off with bass; a solid bebop bass style, with a warm acoustic jazz tone played by Neil Swainson. He played with Woody Shaw frequently in the 1980s and also gigged with James Moody, George Coleman, and Zoot Sims. A member of Moe Koffman's quintet during 1978-1982, Swainson went on to gain his greatest fame when he started working with George Shearing in 1988, an association that continued into the late '90s.

Neil's recording and performing associations also include Ernestine Anderson, Ed Bickert, Pat Coleman, Herb Ellis, Joe Farrell, Oliver Gannon, Slide Hampton, Pat LaBarbera, Rob McConnell, Ian McDougall, Jay McShann, PJ Perry, Zoot Sims, and Sonny Stitt among others..

Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Jazz BeBop Sw played by Miles Black. Miles Black began his professional music career in 1980 (at age 14). Miles has achieved prominence as an arranger, producer, composer, session musician, guitarist, bassist, saxophonist, songwriter, musical theatre director, music therapist and college level music instructor. He has performed on countless albums, and has played with many music greats around the world, notably with the Juno-nominated fusion band Skywalk and the Oliver Gannon Quartet. His CD releases include solo piano, duos, the Miles Black Trio and the Miles Black Quartet, including many of his own compositions. He also writes songs with lyricist/vocalist Glenda and they have released the CD "Another Day."

Miles is co-leader with Tom Keenlyside of the Modern Jazz quartet Altered Laws. Their album "Metaphora" was nominated for a 2008 Juno Award as Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

Get the latest news and information about Miles Black online at http://www.milesblack.com.

Drums, Smooth Jazz Swing 16ths style, often refered to as 'Hip-Hop' (though very different from authentic urban Hip-Hop). : Franklin "Third" Richardson is a stalwart of Florida's Smooth Jazz scene, performing in club dates, festivals and recording sessions with such notables as Jeff Lorber, Warren Hill, Nate Najar, Marion Meadows, Paul Taylor, Brian Simpson, Nils, Bobby Lyle, and Eric Darius, who enlisted "Third" in his all-star band for a recent Japanese tour. Blending Jazz, R&B, Gospel and Rock, Third's sound is described as "unique and refreshing."

See Franklin "Third" Richardson's promotional video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF4nrnQEuwk.

Rhythm guitar played by Dwight Sills. Smooth Jazz Guitarist Dwight Sills came on the scene with the Jazz group Axis in Houston, TX during the 1980s. In 1990, Columbia Records released his self-titled debut album which made the R&B charts and was followed up with Second Wind in 1992. Dwight spent the rest of the 90s touring with Wayne Henderson & the Next Crusade, Kirk Whalum, Anita Baker, Boney James, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Brenda Russell, and Bette Midler. He was also featured on many sessions produced by Babyface. In 1999 he released his third album, Easy, on Citylights Music.

Dwight is also a composer and producer who has been involved in several television, movie, and studio projects. These include The Michael Jackson Tribute, Jay Leno, “Ali”, and TLC’s “Crazy, Sexy, Cool.” As a writer, Dwight has co-written songs for Jessica Simpson, Rebekkah, Will Downing, and several new artists.

Based in Houston, he continues to tour with Richard Elliott, Guitars & Saxes, Jazz Attack, Jeff Lorber, and Rick Braun.

For additional information about Dwight Sills go to http://www.smoothviews.com/archives/ontheside/onthesideAug06.htm and http://www.smooth-jazz.de/Artists3/Sills.htm

Tenor sax solo by Eric Marienthal. His profile can be found here http://biabunderglass.blogspot.com/2011/12/gs208-pt-4.html

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

gs 208 final

2011-12-31T13:40:00.001-06:00

Gs208 by jazzunderglass

Up Date 01/15/2012.

It's done! I decided to go without the brass and organ. Instead I added piano and acoustic bass. Piano is by Miles Black and acoustic bass by Neil Swainson. The song is just above this post instead of on the main player. By doing it this way, it allows me upload other tunes on the main player instead of having to delete them when space runs out. Enjoy!

**************************************************************

Solos by Eric Marienthal, Ron King and Iian McDougall. The guitar solo was a blast and a lot of work went into it as well. I'm surprised that I managed to get through it especially with some current health issues, but it did keep my mind off the pain.

I also would like to acknowledge Terry Clarke on drums. Following formal study with noted drum teacher and author Jim Blackley, Clarke left his native Vancouver in 1965 for San Francisco. There he spent two and half years working with legendary saxophonist, John Handy III, playing on the Grammy nominated recording Live at The Monterey Jazz Festival. In a dramatic change of direction, Clarke then joined the world-famous pop vocal group "The Fifth Dimension" at the height of their popularity.

Clarke left "The Fifth Dimension" in 1970 to establish himself at the heart of the Canadian music industry in Toronto. Primarily playing Jazz, he worked legendary clubs like George's Spaghetti House, Bourbon Steet, and Basin Street with top Canadian artists like Don Thompson, Ed Bickert, Jim Galloway, Sonny Greenwich, Moe Koffman, Peter Leitch, Rob McConnell, Ted Moses, and others. He also backed visiting international stars including Jim Hall, Thad Jones, Barney Kessel, Jay McShann, Don Menza, Blue Mitchell, Art Pepper, and Frank Rosolino. His versatility as a Jazz and Rock drummer kept him in constant demand for studio dates. Clarke was an original member of the Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass Jazz big band, recording and touring with the world-acclaimed ensemble for 25 years. He also toured extensively in Japan and Europe with Jazz guitar great Jim Hall and the legendary Oscar Peterson.

In 1985 Clarke moved to New York City where he worked and recorded with The Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, Helen Merrill, Toots Theilemans, Ann Hampton Callaway, Red Mitchell, Marvin Stamm, Jim Hall, Bill Mays, Roger Kellaway, and Joe Roccisano, to list just a few.

Returning to Toronto in 1999, he reunited with Rob McConnell in The Rob McConnell Tentet and released a tribute to Canadian Jazz guitar legend Ed Bickert titled Bick's Bag in a trio with Bill Mays and Neil Swainson. More recently, he has been voted Drummer of the Year at the National Jazz Awards for five consecutive years from 2004 through 2008.

With a discography of more than 300 albums, Terry Clarke continues to perform and record with leading international artists including Nancy Wilson, Bill Mays, Renee Rosnes, Jim Hall, and Helen Merrill, as well as with an exciting line-up of Canadian musicians, among them David Braid, Jake Langley, Don Thompson, Nancy Walker, Neil Swainson, and David Occhipinti. Clarke is an enthusiastic Jazz educator, and is member of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.

For more details of Terry Clarke's outstanding career, visit the Canadian Jazz Archive at http://www.canadianjazzarchive.org/ and the Canadian Encylopedia http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

gs208 pt 4

2011-12-30T10:33:00.000-06:00

I spent another 6 hours working on the brass parts and decided that I'm done with them. It's time to move on as I could probably spend another 30-40 hours hopelessly trying to make them sound more real. In the meantime, as I continue working on the guitar solo parts, I decided to add other solos to the piece using the Real tracks in biab. There are an abundance of real tracks that came with my version with some great sounding solos.

One negative aspect I came across was the repetition of licks. If there is a chord, lets say Cm7, for a duration of 4-8 measures, a previous lick keeps repeating itself for the next 6 measures. Another negative I find, is that I can only get about 8-10 fresh solos from any of the solo Real tracks, before biab starts repeating stuff over and over. It's almost as if biab remembers what it had generated before and just keeps repeating some of the crappier licks in an effort to make it real in other chord sections. The same goes with the midi solo maker. There are only so many possibilities for the program to generate solos under the given circumstances of the program.

I generated a solo using Eric Marienthal on the alto sax. It isn't every day that you get to have a Grammy winner play on your tracks.

A native of California, Eric Marienthal's career started with the legendary New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt before a stint in the Disneyland house band introduced him to the world of LA session players, and, ultimately, Chick Corea. With the Chick Corea Elektric Band, Eric recorded six albums, two of them Grammy winners. A long affiliation with Chick Corea and GRP Records followed, with Eric releasing eleven solo CDs and playing on over 50 GRP albums with artists like Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, David Benoit, Don Grusin, Dave Weckl, John Patitucci, GRP All-Star Big Band and The Rippingtons. Eric regularly charted in the Top 10 on the National Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts and the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart, notably with his album "Oasis," a collaboration with Jeff Lorber and Russell Ferrante of the Yellowjackets.

On stage, Eric has performed and toured the world with legendary artists, starting with Chick Corea and including Elton John, Barbara Streisand, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Aaron Neville, Johnny Mathis, Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, David Benoit, The Rippingtons, The Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band, Patti Austin, Lou Rawls, David Lee Roth, The Yellowjackets, B.B. King, Ramsey Louis, Patti Labelle, Olivia Newton-John, and many others.

Get the complete story at http://www.ericmarienthal.com/

Another soloist I used was Ron King, one of three trumpet soloists on biab. Trumpeter, composer, band leader, and Grammy nominee Ron King is one of L.A.'s top studio players, as evidenced by awards from the IAJE, NAJE, ASCAP, and the RMA. He has been heard on gold record performances by George Benson, Ricki Lee Jones, and Marvin Gaye with other credits including Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Keely Smith, Jeremy Lubbock, David Foster, Jeff Lorber, Michael Bolton, Queen Latifah, Brian Simpson, and Michael Paulo.

Ron has played for countless movie, television, and commercial soundtracks, including "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, "The Jimmy Kimmel Live" television show, ABC's "The Next Best Thing", and the movies "Children of a Lesser God", and "Ocean's 11." Onstage, he has performed with The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Bill Holman, Clayton Hamilton, and Don Menza big bands while also leading his own big band and quartet.

A California native, he graduated from California State University Los Angeles with a Major in Music and a Minor in Musicology. For more about Ron King, please visit his web site at http://www.ronkingtrumpet.com/

The third soloist I used was Iian McDougall on trombone. Ian was born in Calgary, Canada, and grew up in Victoria, leaving there in 1960 to tour in Great Britain with the John Dankworth Band. Returning to Canada in 1962, he began a lengthy career as a freelance player, composer and arranger in Vancouver and in Toronto where, until 1991, he was also the lead and solo trombonist with Rob McConnell's Juno and Grammy award-winning Boss Brass.

During this period Ian also was also lead trombone and composer/arranger for The Brass Connection, winners of the 1982 Juno award for best Jazz album. Since the early 1980's McDougall has become even more involved in composition, and his works have been performed by the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, the Lafayette String Quartet, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Rob McConnell Tentet, and the Toronto Cantata Chorus among others.

The past decade has included tours in Canada and abroad to Ireland, Scotland, Australia, Denmark, Holland, the USA, Germany, and England, where Ian was music director for two BBC Big Band broadcasts.

Ian now resides in Victoria, where he continues to play, compose, and teach. He taught trombone, composition, and Jazz studies at the University of Victoria, leaving there in 2003 as Professor Emeritus. Ian was awarded the University of Victoria's "Distinguished Alumni" award in 2004.

Recent CD releases include "In a Sentimental Mood" featuring Ian and his quartet playing the music of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, and "No Passport Required" - a Jazz concerto in 3 movements for trumpet and trombone.

Ian McDougall has been named as the recipient of the Phil Nimmons Established Composer Award, sponsored by SOCAN and IAJE.

On July 1, 2008, Ian was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions to Classical and Jazz music as a renowned trombonist and composer, and as an innovative educator and mentor.

Ian McDougall's web site is at http://www.ianmcdougall.com.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

gs208 pt 3

2011-12-28T12:54:00.003-06:00

I've been going back and forth between the guitar solo and the brass working on one or the other depending on the fingers situation. I decided to use a brass part that I had done in the past and adapt it to gs 208. I probably have about 40 hours into it, total so far, from the time I created the original.

One would think that after 5 years and hundreds of hours working with JABB, that I would have it down perfect by now. I've come to the conclusion that you can't create a real sounding brass band using JABB. One can only create a simulated sound with it. There are too many lacking variables, one being the lip factor and the special tone created by a human's embouchure. I don't care how many hours a person puts into a piece of work, a real sounding brass band just ain't gonna happen. I get frustrated more often than getting anything actually accomplished, using JABB. But I keep trying. As the saying goes " it doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop!" (Confucius).

I've tried comparing real brass with the one's I've created using JABB and although there are many similarities, there is still that certain thing missing. I keep looking for it and try to emulate it without success. What I'm talking about, is the fullness of sound of each of the trumpets, for example. The sound is weak, thin and lacking full body unlike real trumpets. I've played around with timbres in JABB, added EQ, used variations in intonation, tone quality controls, phase controls, pitch bend, everything involved with JABB and then some and yet nothing can create the sound of lip control. Perhaps some day I will stumble on the solution. In the meantime I'll just have to deal with half mediocrity, but, then it is much better than a synthesized midi sounding brass instrument.

to pt 4

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

gs 208 pt 2

2011-12-24T13:03:00.000-06:00

Once again, the base backing track through biab was generated in seconds so there wasn't a whole lot for me to do in that respect. As I began working on the guitar part, I find it quite challenging and must say that it isn't for the average player. What makes it difficult are the succession of chords within the solo making it difficult to move the fingers from one chord to the next that fast, especially the way the chords are voiced. I don't know whether I would have been able to execute them when I was much younger without arthritis. So....I'm going to have to make a few alterations in the voicing to make them playable.

Another thing I want to add to the tune is big band brass sound. I've played around with it before but found it quite difficult to get the sound I want, using Garritan Jazz and Big Band software synth. It can be used as a plug in or a stand alone. It's ok but seems to lack the depth as real instruments are concerned and sound a bit thin. JABB has many ways to manipulate nuances but lack the actual how to's, so it's a learn by trial and error. Sure, they give you a spiel on what to use for certain things but the actual,"to get this sound you need to do this" tutorial is lacking. It's a very challenging and time consuming process to create brass sounds using JABB especially if there are many instruments involved. But I'm going to attempt it once again just for my own amusement. But first, I need to be able to execute the guitar parts by spending some time practicing, provided my arthritis won't cause my fingers to lock up as they often end up while playing. But then again, I can always work on the brass section, 15 psce, in between.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

Jazz Guitar solos-swingin Vol 4

2011-12-23T12:10:00.001-06:00

I'm going to change things a bit and get away from smooth jazz for the time being and do some traditional style jazz. As I was exploring biab's content I came across an area called "Jazz Guitar solos-swingin Vol 4". I had done a solo from there in an earlier tune and this time I wanted to see what I could do using just the solo from the section. I chose a random solo and here's what I got:

GS208

This up-tempo swing style solo is in the key of C Major. For the first chorus, the guitarist starts out using a "call and response" technique: playing a phrase, then responding with a chordal figure. Chorus 2, 4 and 5 feature some nice jazz-chordal passages

****** Song Summary *************
Title: GS208
File:GS208.MGU
Key=C , Tempo 181, Length (m:s)=4:17
No intro. 32 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 32. Repeat x6 choruses
Melody has 1259 notes, saved patch is Jazz Electric Guitar (27)
No Soloist track.
Song is saved with Pan, Reverb, Chorus,
Style is J_MILES2.STY ()
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic String Bass (33), Acoustic Piano (1),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)
*******************

So that's what I'm going to be dealing with next. Let's find out how playable it really is and what other options I have instead of midi. The solo sounds pretty complicated especially for the tempo...so I don't know.......

pt 2

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

bump to the beat

2011-12-19T10:36:00.000-06:00

That's just insane! It took me no more than 10 minutes to create a live sounding backing track for "Bump To The Beat".

I decided to see how quickly I could create the backing track for this tune by using just midi. When I was in biab, I chose the style TekHarp.sty:

Tek Harp - Slow, ev.16 Techno style

Slow, soft, even 16th Techno style with Atmosphere 8th note quasi-random obligato, TR808 drums, Syn Bass2 (short spacey), and Ice Rain pads. In this demo, the Koto is used for the melody.

Drums 26 TR808 Drums
(RealDrums were substituted :TechnoHarp^02-CyclePartMarker)

Bass 40 Syn Bass 2
Piano 100 Atmosphere
Strings 97 Ice Rain

After I saved the tune as midi into my Sonar, I opened it and located a soft synth called Dimension Pro which came with my Sonar 8.5. It's something I've very rarely used as I had no use for it but now am finding it very interesting. I used Dim pro to create all of the backing tracks except the drums which were from bb. Creating the individual tracks were a synch since all I had to do was mute the unused tracks and then "bounce to tracks" the one I want to use. Within seconds a wave file was created for the track. I started off with bass and worked my way down using the same method for all the tracks.

This process just amazed me and at the same time kind of pissed me off since after all these years, I've had to play the parts or find someone else to play them. Now all I have to do is to push a friekin button and an entire track or even a song is generated automatically. Where's the musicianship in that? Why the hell did I study music, practice all these years, go to music college and get a degree in music education, when all it takes these days is to push a damn button to create a song and then call yourself an artist? Fuck that! Pardon my French! But certain things just get my goat and that's one of them!

But.....on the other hand if I look at it simply as a tool, with the intent of bettering myself at my craft or using it for practicing purposes, rather than trying to accept credit for something I personally did not create by playing the parts, I can accept that. As in this song the only part I will accept credit for is the nylon string guitar parts which I worked so hard on and practiced for hours to create it. After all, I did not actually create the backing tracks personally, Band In A Box did that along with generating the chords from the melody along with Dimension Pro using samples to create wave files from midi.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

audio chord wizard pt 2

2011-12-18T12:40:00.000-06:00

Audio Chord Wizard: Chords from MP3

"This amazing wizard automatically figures out the chords from any MP3, WAV, or WMA (Windows Media Audio) file and displays them in Band-in-a-Box", Claims biab.

To open your audio file in the Audio Chord Wizard you can click on its toolbar button or use the File menu command to Open Audio w/Chords. Use the Launch Audio Chord Wizard command if you already have a file with audio loaded in Band-in-a-Box. Info on this wizard can be found in the HELP section.

Amazing? Perhaps! Accurate? Hardly. But it is a cool tool to re-harmonize an existing audio track for creating a different background for it. If you are trying to figure out the chords for a specific song accurately...forget it!

I found the guitar part that I had in mind which uses the open c and f tuning and then exported it into a Band In A box folder I had created. I opened up BB and proceeded to use the audio chord wizard. I clicked on the tool which is a white box with a white wave form and grey background on the top half and a chord symbol Dm on the bottom half. Another window opened up and I had to locate my guitar part (wave file) in the folder I had created earlier. Once I clicked on it, it asked me a few questions about the track and then the track was imported into the audio chord wizard and chords began building around the guitar part.

But the tempo was not correct, so I had to keep clicking on a button that would regenerate the process in a faster tempo. I thought that this process was too time consuming especially since I already knew the tempo. There was no way for me to take a short cut and enter the tempo so I had to go thru the entire process. When I finally got close to the original tempo, the wizard attempted to create some chords in some other key signature other than that of the guitar part. It also asked me to pick out the first bar of the track. Once I did that a new set of chords were created.

The chords weren't even close to the original but I figured what the hell, let's see what happens next. The next step was to send the whole thing to biab and after agreeing to a few questions and steps the guitar part along with the chords showed up on the main screen of bb. Once I clicked on play, about the only thing I could hear was the guitar playing at a slower tempo than I had picked out. That was an easy fix as I simply made the adjustment at the tempo select tool. But still all I heard was the guitar.

I noticed that the style was some sort of midi with a bunch of x's so I decided to try one of the styles from the style picker. Once I did that and again agreed to a few questions, everything seemed to be working pretty cool. The guitar part was in the audio track playing away while the bass, keys, drums, guitar and strings were doing their thing. Now that I knew that it was working all I had to do was to find an appropriate style for the guitar part. I played around with a few and chose the one I liked, went into the drum part and found a real drum part which I thought went quite well with the song and generated it.

Ok so the song sounds pretty cool at this point and it was now a matter of saving the whole thing as an .SGU file (SGU's don't have melodies and MGU's do), then as a midi and export it into my Sonar. That was the easy part and now onward to creating real backing tracks from the midi tracks. The entire process thus far has only taken me 30 minutes. Most of that 30 minutes was trying to figure out how to use the audio chord wizard.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

audio chord wizard

2011-12-17T11:32:00.001-06:00

It's always nice to see some comments and for those of you who have taken a few minutes to do so, I thank you!

I'm going to post a couple which has given me a few ideas for my next project.

jz said...

it's a shame that you deleted this version of sensual trips. I know you didn't care for it but it would have been nice to have both. I liked it! Anyhow, I'm somewhat curious about your tunings. Do you have other applications for it? I would love to hear some tunes created using the tuning. Maybe even more nylon string stuff.

Sue K said...

I too enjoyed the nylon string guitar and am intrigued by your tuning, sounds interesting! Yes, more nylon string guitar maybe with the open c,f tuning. P-L-E-A-S-E!

ok so for the next project, I'm going to do something on nylon string guitar and using my open C,F tuning. But, the guitar parts will have to be from something I did last year since my nylon string is out of commission at the moment. I'm going to use another feature of biab. It's called audio chord wizard. BB claims that it can pick out chords from an audio track automatically. I'm going to take just the guitar melody and create a backing track for it using bb. Let's see how well it works!

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

sensual trips one last time

2011-12-16T12:32:00.000-06:00

It's finally done! I had a bit more fun with this version of it as I didn't have to fight with the bb harmonies. I did want to keep things related to bb so I decided to use a bb solo. It was not generated by the soloist. Instead, I used one from what came with my version of bb. My version came with Jazz Guitar Solos (swingin Vol 4) another great practicing tool. I took a solo GS224 .MGU. Here's the original scoop on it:

GS224

During this medium tempo solo in A minor, the guitarist demonstrates how to improvise over a sophisticated set of chord changes in a soulful and bluesy manner. Note how the first chorus is almost entirely based on the A Blues scale (A/C/D/D#/E and G). Note also the use of dynamics during the solo.

****** Song Summary *************
Title: GS224
File:GS224.MGU
Key=Am , Tempo 140, Length (m:s)=5:32
No intro. 32 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 32. Repeat x6 choruses
Melody has 1129 notes, saved patch is Jazz Electric Guitar (27)
No Soloist track.
Song is saved with Pan, Reverb, Chorus,
Style is J_MILES2.STY ()
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic String Bass (33), Acoustic Piano (1),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)
*******************

The first thing I did was to reduce the duration of chord by 1/2. Next I changed the tempo down to 101 bpm to match the melody. Then I changed key signatures again to reflect the melody which is in A. Since now there were quite a few chord changes in one measure, I used the re-harmonization tool in bb and had it build chords to 141 *BeBop - Slow -4 Trombones and ended up with the chords in my previous post back to sensual trips. The re-harmonize tool is in the tool bar just above the chord entering area on the right hand side. It's marked with 4 blue eighth notes with G7 below it. If you don't see it, click the arrow on the far right second from the bottom of the row of tools. You will see a list of stuff in there all useful. The final change was the style. I created my own using the Style Maker. I first chose Jyda as the main style as it was fairly close to my own and then built around it. I clicked on Styles at the very top, then Make a Hybrid style..., picked out some styles for each of the instruments, saved it and bang!, it began to play it.

It took me several days to learn to play the solos. Just because it sounds good in bb doesn't always mean that it's playable. I had to make some minor adjustments to make it work for me...to many notes in one beat...again to make it sound good in midi.

I saved the solo as midi and exported it to my Sonar 8.5 where I opened up the solo in the piano roll window and began creating the brass parts. I could have just done the same using the staff view but was more interested in seeing how a person unable to read music could accomplish the same task. I chose my writing tool and began creating a single part around the solo. Incidentally one could also use the piano roll view or the guitar window to learn to play the parts. When I finished one of the brass parts, I then copied and pasted it into the solo track and utilized the thru harmony (altF11) where I chose the harmony parts. After that I had to save the song again but this time only the solo track by muting the others and exporting it back to my Sonar. Once that was done, I opened it up in my Garritan JABB and finished creating the rest of the brass parts.

Yes, there are many steps involved but in actual time to create all the parts from the solo to the brass only took a few hours. The learning and playing the parts on real instruments is what took most of the time.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

Did you know?

2011-12-15T11:48:00.000-06:00

That biab has an actual jazz practice sessions with various licks. To get to it click

OPEN/bb/101Riffs jazz (all instruments)

You will see a folder at the top showing All 12 Keys Jazz all instruments a must to check out! Below that are some other cool files. If you click on the first one it will be;Essential Generic Jazz Phrase #1. 4 bars repeats 10x's. The second one is, Essential Generic Jazz Phrase #2 again 4 bars repeats 10x's. The cool thing is that you can change the tempo, the instrument and even the backing tracks. key signature? no sweat just change it. The existing file is midi, you can change it to Real instruments if you like. If you don't like the style change it!

Another great find:

Open/bb/JAZZPRAC/

In there you will find: 1_6_2_5 MGU, 251_Bosa MGU4, 251_CYC4 MG1, 251 Minor MG1, 1625 Bosa MG4, BEBOP_1 MGU, CY_4 Dom MG1, TRANE_SW MG1, TRANEBOS MG4

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

back to sensual trips

2011-12-14T18:11:00.001-06:00

With this crappy, miserable weather we've been having, I decided to take advantage of it, stay inside and work a little more on the backing tracks for Sensual Trips. Since there were several, personal issues I've been having with it, I've decided to do a remake. The guitar parts will be redone on my electric instead of the nylon string. The brass will have a few changes as well especially during the solo sections. I've had to put my thinking cap on and go beyond biab for the solo sections since, let's face it BB lacks a lot when it comes to generating some solos. I'm not too keen on using BB for guitar harmonies either, especially when they are randomly electronically generated.

I did decide to stick with using the BB harmonizer to create the brass parts from another, which I created. BB only created the harmonies. The random harmonies work out just fine for individual instruments playing single notes. I still had to create the actual separate horn section parts using JABB.

In the solo sections, now 2 instead of just one, I decided to change some of the chord structure a bit. Instead of beginning the section with an Amaj7 as in biab, the chord will be:

|F#m6 | | Am7 | D7 |Amaj7 |G#m7b5 C#7b9| F#maj7| C#7+ |Amaj7 |F#m7 | Am7 | D7 |Dm7 G7 | Bm7 E7 | Em7 A7 | Dmaj7 G9 | F#m6 | | Am7 | D7 |Amaj7 |G#m7b5 C#7b9| F#maj7| C#7+ | Em7 A7 | Dmaj7 G9 |

The second solo at the end will be:

|F#m6 | | Dmaj7 | G#7 | Bm7 E7b9 | Amaj7 C#7b9 | F#7b9 | Bm7 |

G#7#9 | C#alt | G9 | Amaj7 | F#m7 | D7 | Amaj7 D7C#7| D7 |

D7 |

Those chords should make it a little more interesting! But, I'm going to do it so cleverly that you won't notice it very much.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

final on sensual trips

2011-12-11T18:19:00.002-06:00

I did a re-make on the tune which can be found on the player. Information on it can be found:

http://biabunderglass.blogspot.com/2011/12/back-to-sensual-trips.html

and

http://biabunderglass.blogspot.com/2011/12/sensual-trips-one-last-time.html

"What a bunch of bull shit! It's obvious that biab simply generates some unplayable harmonies at random".

I could look at it that way, but as a musician, I don't expect nor do I rely on software to create the human element. If I did rely on biab to create everything for me, what's the point of being a musician? Why not simply have biab create everything while I sit back and vegetate and never learn anything from it or become one of the several million wanna be's?

The harmonies are random indeed and there is no thought of playability for the guitarist. BB wants to create harmony for every single note, including runs and grace notes. Some of the harmonies work out well while others have fingering issues even for seasoned guitarists. I came across another feature in biab where it will create chord soloing for guitar. Looking at this makes me cringe as I think of the no thought for the player process of the generation aspect. But that's something for me to look into another day.

Getting back to the song, I increased the tempo from 95 to 101bpm as I felt that it was too slow and dragged, using my own style. The harmonies biab created for the guitar at first didn't work out. I went thru several of the setups in the harmony maker and became equally disappointed as nothing was really for guitar. Everything is for keys or one or more single instruments which sound quite good. I decided that I was going to see if I could use similar harmonies as I did with the brass section and then work around the issues. I used the 6ths and 3rds and even ended up with a few 2nds. Got me how they ended up being there since obviously a second is not a third nor a sixth.

I had to make plenty of harmony changes in areas that were impossible to execute making them flow a bit better. I could have just left out many of the harmonies, but decided to spend quite a bit of time practicing and working out playable harmonies in the melody. When I got into my solo, I decided to forget biab madness and add my own where applicable.

There was another route which I could have gone for the entire song. Last year I had come up with a new guitar tuning which would have made most of the harmonies playable. It also gave me a little better tone than with normal tuning for some reason. The idea is: C,F,C,F,C,F in octaves.

The vocal in the beginning and at the end was simply for fun. I also created some percussion using another program, again for fun and not because they were needed. I used my old, cheap Yamaha nylon string guitar as it gave me a better tone than my Ovation...crazy!

All in all, I ended up being very dissatisfied with the guitar parts. Not only for the unplayability of the generated harmonies, but for the crappy tone I ended up with, using nylon strings. I guess I've never been satisfied with the tone I get when using standard tuning on my nylon string guitars. Since I am a musician and a guitarist concerned with quality, I'm going to have to see if I can re-do the guitar parts using my Goya in the very near future. But for now, it is available for comments.

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

change of plans

2011-12-09T10:05:00.000-06:00

I was planning on posting Sensual Trips this morning but......
Last night after listening to one of my favorite current smooth jazz guitarists, Peter White, I heard him do some harmony in his melodies. I thought this might be a great time for me to check out more of the harmony feature of biab to see how well it might work out for guitar. I used it for brass, which worked out quite well, but I'm thinking, how playable is this stuff on guitar.

After messing around with the harmony feature of BB for a few hours yesterday, I had to render the parts on to the melody track to see the notes. Taking a closer look at it, what I saw was unplayable on the guitar. The execution of the harmonies would be ridiculously slow as they are not close together on the fretboard. These harmonies might be ok for piano or single note instruments, but for guitar? I don't think so.

I need to find a harmony that would be below the melody line for most part with a few exceptions such as 3rds. So....that's my plan for now. I will post the song soon one way or the other in a few days. Check it out!

Comments always welcome!

visit the jazz shoppe

More on brass

2011-12-08T12:27:00.002-06:00

There is also a vst soft synth called Dimension Pro, mine came with my Sonar, which uses Garritan's Pocket Orchestra. In there are some very impressive sounds some of which include brass instruments such as trumpet, sax and trombone for use for brass section. The instruments have falls, shakes and do a much better legato than JABB, even after drawing in the animation. There is a seperate section for brass and saxes in the main program from the GPO but still uses GPO programming.

I wouldn't use these brass and sax instruments for soloing but sound very convincing for horn sections without having to do a lot of extra work as in JABB. The instruments still need to be on separate tracks as Dimension Pro does one brass instrument at a time and doesn't have an actual brass section. If you have the tracks separated with harmonies its very easy to create the wave files by simply bouncing to tracks. This saves all kinds of time and processes the midi file to a wave in seconds rather than having to record it manually.

After I create the individual brass parts, I like to slide each track anywhere from 3-7 ticks so that they aren't playing exactly at the same time. If you had real musicians playing the parts and recording them individually and then taking a close look at the wave file, you would find that none of the parts fall exactly in place with each other. The separation can be between 6-14 ticks depending on the settings for ticks per quarter note. In biab the default setting is 120 ticks per quarter note. In my Sonar, ticks can be set per project from 48 up to 960. The default is 120. I can also nudge each of the tracks by a setting of 10 ms each nudge. Nudging or sliding gives the brass sound a little slop than a mechanical sound.

The tracks go thru their own bus, where I add tape simulation up to 30ips and also add warmth which then goes thru the master bus. I can also add a small amount of delay to the brass sound if I want. On each of the individual tracks, I like to use a little phase for widening the parts. When adding phase, you have to be careful not to add too much as it can totally invert the sound and when in mono it will sound hollow. I keep my eye on the phase meter and the vectorscope to make sure it's within the boundaries. I use Ozone for my mastering tool which has that on it. I use Ozone in the master bus where I can make all sorts of adjustments in the final mix.

The entire tune is next...coming up in my next post.

visit the jazz shoppe

creating realistic brass parts using JABB

2011-12-07T14:00:00.000-06:00

basically the harmony parts are 3rds and 6ths below, worked around the main brass line. The second harmony part is simply an octave below the first (3rds and 6ths below) harmony which I use for trombone and tenor. The first harmony parts are played by trumpet 2 and alto sax. The main brass line is played by trumpet 1 and tuba. Yes, I said tuba. Tuba gives me that special sound I can't get from trombone and by having the main line played at the very top and bottom, gives the main line importance. The tuba line is played two octaves lower from the trumpet. If I was going to eliminate the tuba, trombone would play the main line with trumpet 1. If I was just going to use trumpet, alto, tenor and tbone, trumpet and tbone play the main line and the saxes play the harmony in octaves.

I chose this set up for brass, because after many years of trial and error, with Garritan's Jazz And Big Band (JABB), I find this to work the best for me. Since it's almost impossible for me to play my keys and make it sound like a real horn even if I did have all those extra controllers, I prefer to do the animation by drawing it in.

The thing with JABB is that you can't just load up an instrument in the player, set the track for JABB and click play. You won't hear anything. The first thing you need to do is to open up the piano roll, click on the drawing tool, select a midi cc controller such as cc1, which controls volume and expression in JABB. The default is set to zero so if you click play, nothing is heard.

What about velocities? They are simply for attack and accentuation. Other controllers; cc64-used for tongue and slur articulations, Pitch bend, portamento, after touch for vibrato and cc17 controls speed of the vibrato. Other controllers; cc12-air flow noise, cc13-key click noise, Var 1 cc22-random tuning, Var 2 cc23-variation in tibre. There are even more controllers to make it sound realistic. Depending on how realistic you want the sound to be, each of these cc controllers need to be added to each track with drawn in animation. Since you have different instruments for the parts, each instrument will need their own special touches. Otherwise, it'll just sound like another synthesized brass part.

One of the aspects that I could never understand is why they don't have a tutorial to make it easier for users. Sure they have some things on their web site but nothing such as...if you want to do this to the sound, then you have to do this....showing the necessary automation. Everything has to be painstakingly done through trial and error and later through experience.

more on my next post......

visit the jazz shoppe

sensual trips

2011-12-06T10:19:00.001-06:00

moved along plenty quick just like the others. The backing tracks and guitar parts are all completed. I decided to add some brass to it. BB has another cool feature called harmony. I played some parts on my keys using a midi, saved the parts copied and pasted the brass track into biab, once it was opened to the original demo. I placed it in the solo track as it wasn't used and then clicked on harmony. A window opened up with a selection of choices. One was melody harmony, at the top and below that was thru harmony. Thru harmony is for the solo track so I clicked that. Another window opened up showing 227 different choices.

I went through several brass selections, some which were just too much and others just not appropriate for what I was looking for. I could have chosen #42 - 3rds and 6ths as that is something I like to use with my brass. The 3rds and 6ths are randomly used harmonies around the track. I could have also chosen #43 which is the opposite 6ths and 3rds but prefer to use that selection in a minor key or in blues. I decided to choose #44 generic 3 part harmony. The third part is simply an octave lower of the second harmony part.

Once the harmony parts were generated I saved the track as a midi on to my Sonar. At this point in time I have to back up just a bit and go back to a set up so that each of the harmony tracks are saved on a separate track. You need to open preferences, click midi and then check both write harmony to midi file and midi file harmony on separate tracks. If you don't you won't see the harmony on the saved midi track or you will see both parts on one track. For some instances having both parts on on track is ok but not what I'm going to do with it.

I have another program called Garritan's Jazz and Big Band (JABB) which allows me to create some fairly realistic sounding brass parts. It is not polyphonic and it is important that each part is separate. I will be creating individual parts; trumpet, sax, trombone etc. Each will have their own special needs in creating a realistic sound versus a synthesized one. The how to's etc. in my next post.

visit the jazz shoppe

Sensual Trips - R_HHFunk.sty demo

2011-12-05T09:28:00.000-06:00

I moved out of the smooth jazz demo section and went right over to the funk styles to see what I could conjure up. As I went down the list a style caught my eye and decided to load it up and click play. Here's the scoop on it:

Sensual Trips - R_HHFunk.sty demo

R_HHFUNK.STY Funky Hip Hop in Swing 16ths
Memo: Rock Hip Hop Funk style in the Rock-Pop ballad vein with el. piano, slap. Bass muted. G & drums.
Tempo = 95.
This style has 4 instruments.

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Sensual Trips - R_HHFunk.sty demo - -
File:R_HHFUNK.MGU
Key=A , Tempo 95, Length (m:s)=4:11
No intro. 32 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 32. Repeat x3 choruses
Melody has 4284 notes, Melody harmony is < no harmony >(0)
No Soloist track.
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Soloist is saved with the song : Jaco, slower Pop 16ths (87)
Style is R_HHFUNK.STY (Funky Hip Hop in Swing 16ths)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Slap Bass 1 (37), Rhodes Electric Piano (5), Muted Electric Guit (29),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :RockEven16
*******************

Once again, I think I'll use the nylon string guitar for this one and hopefully what I plan for the song will work out. Sometimes things just don't seem to go as planned so we will see. More on this later!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

2011-12-04T22:27:00.000-06:00

Got my friend set up with his version of biab. After the initial set up, naturally we had to go to the PG website, locate, download a current 25mb update and install it into biab. Biab won't automatically do that for you so you need to go to their site every so often and search for new updates,download it and install them. Believe me when I say that they have plenty of issues with their software which seem to always need some sort of a fix.

Things went pretty smooth with my help especially when I'm fairly familiar and know what to expect with biab. For someone unfamiliar with bb it probably would have been a bit more overwhelming. Not that it's complex, it's just that there are many variables between midi input/output drivers, file associations and synth sound card set up. Once that's squared away, things went well. Going into preferences and making necessary choices starting from display to daw plugins is very important initially, not only for looks but performance.

Once all preferences are set you are now ready to get started. You can always go into the help section of the program and find tutorials, but I like to explore things on my own and use the help section only when I get stumped. You could start off with generating a style in the style section but remember to load it and then click on play. The load button is at the top and the play is down below. Or, you could go into the create melody area and generate an entire song from scratch in only a few seconds in one of several styles. The best way to learn bb is to explore it and generate your own progressions /songs using one of the many styles in bb.

Remember that bb is only as good as you the user controlling what is generated and how well you know how to use it. Take your time and learn it well, you won't be disappointed.

visit the jazz shoppe

helping out a friend

2011-12-03T13:11:00.000-06:00

A good friend of mine went out and bought biab and wants me to help install it and set it up tomorrow. I don't know whether it's 2011 version or a 2012 which is supposed to come out this month. If it's the 2011, he's probably better off, especially since most of the bugs have been resolved by now, hopefully. With new versions, just like any software program, will have a shit load of problems ending up with update after update. Hurry up and get the program on the market....we'll worry about fixing it later! This seems to be a typical idea in the industry.

Biab also seems to nickle and dime ya to death with new updated versions coming out twice a year. They can't seem to make one decent one a year which doesn't need update after update. Of course, they give you a substantial discount when the new version comes out, probably to make up for all those updates you have to do...they aren't automatic like other software companies have. You have to go looking for them. If you don't, you won't have them and the bugs in the program will drive you nuts.

I had a few issues with my biab even after updating it. I got in touch with the tech who seemed to be interested in my issue but blew me off when he couldn't figure out what was going on with the software.

visit the jazz shoppe

conquering note values

2011-11-29T14:00:00.000-06:00

PJ said...: yah nice touch on the nylon string guitar. Wow 2 days? Sometimes it'll take me a month or more to do a song. Must be nice to be able to read music as well as you. I can read some but still have problems with note values. What's a good way to learn them?

Note values are mathematical. But even if you are not a mathematician note values can be easily mastered. Many years ago, I had extreme difficulty learning them because I had ADD. I won't get into that, but I will tell you that I did train myself to learn them and have taught many after that.

If you break them down into smaller pieces it will be much easier. Just as if you had a pizza and needed to cut in many equal sections. Think of a whole note the same way. In common time (4/4), as an example you have one full pizza that needs to be shared with 4 people equally, thus giving you 4 equal pieces, hence 4/4. Or, you could just say that a whole note = 4 quarter notes. If you were tapping your foot to a specific beat, you would play one note each time your foot would hit the floor. Rests are figured out the same way except you are not playing as your foot touches the floor. You could even say that those pieces are already missing from the pizza.

A dotted half note can be thought as three equal pieces. A half note = 2 pieces and a quarter note = 1 piece.

In 3/4 time, you have one big pizza that has to be shared three ways equally thus giving you 3 equal pieces. Hence if you are tapping your foot three times, you would play a note each time your foot hits the floor.

In Band In A Box everything is displayed as either 8th note based, or 16th note based styles. What's that mean?

Lets go back to the full pizza. In an 8th note based song, you have to think of the pizza having to be cut into 8 equal slices, twice as many as before. The 16th note based has to be cut into 16 equal slices, 4 times as many. One would then think that the meter would change to 8/8 or 16/16, especially since you are cutting the 8th note based into 8 equal parts and the 16ths into 16 equal parts, right? I think of it in that manner, even tho it's not written that way, because it's easier for my brain to grasp. In reality, it's still written as 4/4 but thought of as 8/8 or 16/16ths.

So, if you were once again tapping your foot to a specific beat, in the 8th note feel, you would be tapping your foot twice as fast and in 16th note feel, 4 times as fast. Each time your foot hits the floor, you would play the note. Again, in reality, it may be impossible for you to tap that fast so its written as 4/4 meter and we either have to rely on listening for the drummers hi-hat or ride for the beat. Otherwise, you need to count it to yourself and tap your foot at a slower pace equal to the tempo. Most of the 16th note based songs in BB are much slower than the 8th note based due to playability.

For every quarter note (quarter slice) in an 8th note based, you could count 1,2 (the quarter slice of pizza sliced again equally, now giving you two pieces) or in a traditional way 1, and. So if you were tapping your foot, 1 would be when your foot hits the floor, and 2 or and is when the foot is up. If you were counting the entire measure, you can count either, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 - 1,3,5,7 would be the down beat and the 2,4,6,8 the upbeat, or 1,&,2,&,3,&,4,&. The & is the upbeat.

In a 16th note based song, you can count it either; 1,2,3,4 for each quarter note or the more traditional way, 1, e, and, a. For an entire measure/bar you would count it as; 1234,1234,1234,1234 or 1234,2234,3234,4234 or 1e&a, 2e&a, 3e&a, 4e&a. So, if you were tapping your foot, the down beat would be on the first number of each group and the up beat would be on the 3 number or &.

That's just a quick rundown on a few basics of note values in common time using an even feel. It doesn't matter what the meter may be as long as you break it down mathematically. Practicing it in that manner will help you master note values in no time.

visit the jazz shoppe

so much better

2011-11-28T11:34:00.001-06:00

was actually completed in just a matter of 2 days. It is really easy to create these BB tunes especially with my sight reading ability. I can see where someone could probably create several a week if they wanted to...it's just that easy once you get the hang of it.

The tempo is 106 bpm and the instrumentation; drums, bass, electric piano, muted guitar, soft pad, atmosphere, flute and nylon string guitar doing lead. My nylon string guitar had been just sitting there gathering dust, so I thought I'd use it on a few songs just for something different. I've never been satisfied with the tone of my nylon string guitars and will never get a decent sound on a cheap instrument. But for now, until I have a chance to re-do it on my Goya, which will be in the very near future, it's up for you to check out.

I did not use any of the BB Real tracks except for the drums nor did I just generate wave files from midi and exported them to my Sonar, which by the way is also an option in biab using the Roland VSC DXi soft synth, or with one of the Coyote DXi's. Here's the scoop on that;

DirectX Instrument Synthesizer (DXi plug-in) Support

Software synthesizers allow Band-in-a-Box to play high quality sounds directly through your computer sound card, without requiring any external MIDI hardware. Most new software synthesizers are released as "DXi plug-ins," so they will work in a standard way with many programs. Connecting Band-in-a-Box to the software synth as a plug-in provides several advantages over the previous method of connecting as a MIDI driver. The plug-in allows Band-in-a-Box to merge/synch in any existing audio file (vocals etc.) with the synth output. You can also directly render your performance to a .WAV file using the DXi plug-in. Sampler-based synths allow you to assemble a huge, customized library of instrument samples to use with Band-in-a-Box. Examples of popular DXi synths include the RolandED VSC-MP1 and HyperCanvas

In my case each part was played on real instruments since I know how. I'm a big believer in the human element but also utilize given tools when available. I did not use the solo generator this time. Instead I wanted to see how well the scale generator (available on the newer versions) could help me with it. I also wanted to prove that utilizing this feature and learning the process can definitely help anyone stuck in a rut, playing the same old licks over and over. If you have it on your version of biab, it's worth while to spend the time to check it out.

I generated the scales to the solo track where different modes were created for each of the chords in the song. I then simply built my solo around those scales/modes. For me it was easy since I'm used to doing that and have done it so many times that it just comes natural these days.

visit the jazz shoppe

Comments always welcome!

How to use the scale generator to your advantage in biab.

2011-11-27T11:31:00.001-06:00

Sue K said...: I went into my "BB" and generated the scales for the original style....lots of notes and plenty of different scales(modes?)in there. I just couldn't play a solo using them yet, but I'll keep at it. Maybe I need to go thru it and learn the scales by playing them first? What's a good way to start?

RF said...: having the scales is one thing but to create a solo using them is another story for someone at my level of playing. I know jazz players do it all the time but a bit too complex for me!

Using modes can be difficult at first if you are not used to using them. Many of us as we learn to play an instrument and venture into the improvisation zone, as I call it, begin with either the blues or the pentatonic scales. Both are easy and a good way to learn basic improvisation both in blues and rock. The problem is that most of us never get beyond those two scales and base everything on them whether the notes fit or not. We get into a rut and play the same licks over and over because that's all we know.

Many years ago, I was in the same boat. Today, I use many of the modes in creating my solos and very seldom use the blues and pentatonic scales. If I do, I will also use other scales with them for flavor. It's just like cooking, food will taste quite bland without a mix of spices and herbs. The mix is what gives it that delicious taste. That's what modes do for solos when properly used.

Here's a great way to use the scale generator to your advantage and to learn how to create some of your own using it. This feature apparently became available in 2010.

Instead of trying to create a solo for the entire piece and becoming overwhelmed with different scales, start off by using only a couple of chords. Alternate the chords for 4-8 bars. If you take the song I'm going to be posting "So Much Better", the intro has two chords; Fm9 for 2 bars and Bb9 for two. It is again repeated at bars 13-16. Use those two chords only and forget everything else for the moment. You can have that section repeat as many times as you like.

Now for the fun part. First, I would generate scales into the melody track to see what scales go good with the two chords. Since I'm not overwhelmed by all of those other scales and chords, I can now play the scales without frieking out. If it's too fast, no problem, I just slow down the tempo. Once I'm comfortable playing those chords, I can now , the second part, generate a solo using biab solo generator into the solo track. But wait! If you look at the style, it is a swing 16th style. If you generate a solo, it will be played double time, which may be too fast for you. The soloist also has the default notes to one beat set to 255.

The default soloist is also #55 Pat Martino-16ths. That can be changed if you like, but I'm going to use that for now. Go into the editor. You will see P Martino's 16th note style, for tempos up to 150. Check 'Double time' box in the memo. Below that are two columns. About half way down in the right column you will see the default note value for 1 beat, 255, change it to 2 or 3. 4 will give you more notes per beat and is more elaborate. 5 and beyond will give you grace notes and some unrealistic notes for single note instruments and guitar. 2 or 3 might be easier to start off with just to see how the generator uses those notes from the scale it generated. The solo won't be great but it will get you started in thinking how to use them. The same process can be used with any of the soloists. Play the generated solo and add more notes to it from the scale provide in the melody track or change some of them. (If you click on the little staff with the two eighth notes which is between options and print, it will take you to a lead sheet window. By pressing down Ctrl while clicking on the melody and solo tracks with the mouse, it will show both tracks to compare...a feature in more recent versions of BB.)

Once you have got the two chords down and can play a solo add a couple of more chords to it and do the same as above. keep doing this until you've done the entire song. Don't try to rush the learning process. You will only end up being frustrated and quit. It may be a slow process for you to learn jazz improvisation but a good one which will stick with you and become easier with time. That is the way I would use it with my students. We didn't have biab in my day to make learning fun and a lot easier, we had to do it the hard way.

visit the jazz shoppe

so much better

2011-11-25T10:22:00.000-06:00

Here's the scoop on my next project:

Fairlana style demo

smooth jazz style -- swing 16ths

e.bass/drums/perc/synth strings pad/ac.piano/muted gtr.
@'b add extra perc and higher pad chords

melody=bass lead
solo #55 jazz guitar!

tempos 80-120

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Fairlana.sty demo - "So Much Better"
File:FAIRLANA.MGU
Key=Eb , Tempo 106, Length (m:s)=3:19
8 bar intro, 26 bar chorus, from bar 9 to bar 34. Repeat x3 choruses
Melody has 672 notes, Melody harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Soloist track has 240 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Soloist is saved with the song : P Martino -16ths- (55)
Style is FAIRLANA.STY (Fairlana - Smooth Jazz)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Slap Bass 1 (37), Rhodes Electric Piano (5), Muted Electric Guit (29), Slow Strings (50),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :HipHop
*******************

Once again, the above is only the original info from the song summary page. I will use my own settings along with creating my own solo. I will, however use the scale building feature of the program and then create a solo using the scales built around the chords. This will be quite interesting to see what I come up with. Instead of using my electric guitar, I will be using my nylon string one instead.

visit the jazz shoppe

something different

2011-11-23T22:51:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about how I'm going to do my next project. I want to do something different on the next tune irregardless of the style and melody. It's been quite some time since I played my nylon string guitar so that will be the instrument for sure. Nylon string guitar goes quite well in smooth jazz as heard with one of my favorite recording artists, Peter White.

Instead of using a generated biab solo, I'm going to create my own with a twist. A feature of biab is the ability to generate scales within the song's chord structure. In other words it will generate the scales for the specific chords. I'm not talking about one scale as in rock or blues, but many, usually modes. I want to see how well these modes work and how accurate they may be in creating my own solo. Modes aren't new to me as I've been using them for the last several decades in my solos. I'm interested in seeing which modes are widely used in biab. Are they the same as I would use, or do they suggest something else? It will be fun!

I will reveal the style and melody in a few days.

visit the jazz shoppe

the pan is up

2011-11-21T10:31:00.003-06:00

The Pan is another one of those rare, fine melodies, perhaps even ignored by many BB users. I discovered it in the smooth jazz demo section. It is one of those smooth jazz melodies that many of us smooth jazz enthusiasts should study before beginning to write our own. It has all the elements of a good melody.

Since the style was very close to my own, I decided not to make too many changes on the backing tracks. I did give it more of a current, hip hop feel and used electric bass rather than acoustic. I also used a thumpin' sound on the bass rather than a full fingered sound. The drums are played with sticks rather than brushes. I didn't use any other percussion but did use muted guitar and wah wah pedal to enhance the rhythm. The e.p was played on my Rhodes using the soft pedal for most part. Instead of strings, I used warm pad which was on my old Korg 01/W pro. The melody is played by the guitar and my Armstrong flute. Obviously, since I am an old flute major in college, I like using flute whenever possible. Flute is one of those instruments rarely used today like trombone especially in smooth jazz.....hmm gives me an idea, maybe! For the most part I prefer to use a clean guitar sound with little delay, nothing more. I don't try to hide behind effects. I will occasionally use sustain but only as an enhancement and not because I need it to sound good. I'm old school jazz guitarist. Maybe even a purist when it comes to my guitar sound.

The solo part was not changed and was very respectable and very playable for BB, something which is lacking in the generator.

visit the jazz shoppe

_

No need for extra musicians!

2011-11-20T23:50:00.000-06:00

I was talking with another one of my musician friends, a trumpet player. He has a duo, trumpet and sax. They do gigs for a living and play several nights a week in jazz clubs and in casinos. We somehow got into a discussion about Band In A Box. To my amazement, he tells me that he uses bb for the backing tracks when he plays live. Somehow he's got it all figured out on his lap top which is plugged in to the sound board. All he has to do is generate the saved songs and off they go. Both also sing. Apparently they use all Real tracks that come with BB i.e; keys, bass, drums, guitar, trombone etc. Wow, no need for extra musicians, no head games, no worries about someone not showing up or being late. If one of the two members of the group is ill or too tired to play that night, no sweat.....just generate a part. Sounds to me like it has a lot of potential for solo acts.

Don't quite know what to think about that....putting musicians out of work! But then again the more I see what club owners are doing to us these days, the less musicians we have to split the money with, the more we have for ourselves. Times are tough and musicians playing for a living have to think creatively or not eat!

visit the jazz shoppe

How do you know what scales to use in jazz improvisation?

2011-11-19T13:12:00.001-06:00

I've often been asked how I create my solos and what scales are used for certain jazz chords. Several years ago, I used to go around doing jazz improvisation clinics at various high schools throughout the country and Canada.

I found something in Band In A Box which may be very useful to those interested in learning or becoming better at improvisation. It doesn't matter whether you play violin, guitar, piano or a wind instrument. The information is useful to everyone. If you have BB use this.

First, either generate some chords via Melodist or input your own progression. Pick a style you like. Go to the top of the page and find Soloist in the main menu, click on it. A window will open and you will see a list of items. Click on the second one from the bottom which is, generate scales. BB will generate proper scales for improvisation to use for those chords. You can have them diatonic to key signature and direction. You can also pick an instrument.

Another step you can take once you are familiar with the scales, is to click on Auto re-harmonize melody or solo for entire song. It will show you other chords which these scales are usable to.

I've known many musicians who use the blues or pentatonic scales for just about everything because they lack the knowledge. Here's your opportunity to change that!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

The Pan

2011-11-19T12:02:00.000-06:00

I picked another tune at random and it just did nothing for me quality wise so I picked another and then another. After a while the pickings became slim. I just wasn't impressed by the melodies and thought that they weren't as good as the previous ones. As a matter of fact I was a bit disappointed as even many of my students could have written better melodies. I had to go through several before finding one that I felt was decent.

Here's the info from the song memo pad:

Jyda.sty demo

Jyda - cool smooth jazz

brushes+perc
acoustic bass
strings
detuned el.piano

add muted gtr and extra percussion @ 'b'

tempo 75-125

jazz guitar melody and solo

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Jyda.sty demo - "The Pan"
File:JYDA.MGU
Key=C , Tempo 109, Length (m:s)=3:44
4 bar intro, 32 bar chorus, from bar 5 to bar 36. Repeat x3 choruses
Melody has 358 notes, Melody harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Soloist track has 258 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Soloist is saved with the song : C Parker - Alto Sax- 8ths (28)
Style is JYDA.STY (Jyda - Cool Smooth Jazz)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Finger Electric Bass (34), 5/1 Detuned Electric Piano 1, GM2 Bank 1, Muted Electric Guit (29), 51/1 SynthStrings 3, GM2 Bank 1,
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :JazzEven16
*******************

I've already written out the parts and began working on it. The background is done and I've begun working on a solo. The solo already built into the song was very respectable so I decided to use it. If you have bb familiarize yourself with it and then later check out what I did with it.

visit the jazz shoppe

_

just a few more thoughts

2011-11-15T16:48:00.000-06:00

I haven't chosen my next project as of yet, but I think, that for the time being I'm going to do a few more of these demos. There is a reason for it and I have a suspicious feeling that the melody maker in bb has not made any of the melodies in the demos I've remixed thus far. They are too good and I don't think that software has the capability to create a good melody. I think that it simply throws out notes at random to fit the chords. But, never the less, if this is the case, taking a close look at the existing melodies in the demos, can be a good lesson in writing melodies, provided someone is interested in studying them.

I haven't tried creating a melody using the melody maker, but from trying to generate solos, I see that I may be in for a let down perhaps. On the other hand if it has the ability to create some great melodies as I've been in contact with so far, then I will be extremely impressed and will say so. Melodies are a dime a dozen and very few are actually good enough which will stick with you.

In time I will get into the melody maker, but I believe that there are still many good melodies and styles which I haven't got to yet. I've only done a few smooth jazz styles and want to take a look at modern, fusion, swing and Latin jazz. Personally, I already know how to create a good melody as I've been writing them for over 4 decades and a jazz musician for 5. I'm not so close minded that I can't learn anything new from the program. I am in there with an open mind. I take my time as I study what's available, learn from it and then make good use of it. I am in no hurry and after all will have plenty of time during the cold days of winter to get into bb much deeper.

Any program such as biab is only as good as you want it to be depending on what you want it to do for you. It's just a tool and like any tool if you don't use it to your advantage correctly, that tool can cause damage or will not do what you expect it to. Just like in reality, you wouldn't take out a screw that was screwed into a wall with a hammer, you need the proper tool, a screw driver. A screw driver will make it easier but with a hammer you will struggle and most likely damage the wall. The right tool used the right way makes life a bit less complicated.

If you think that most of the stuff is just kids stuff even without taking the time to take a close look as I am, then perhaps the loss is yours. I like to study things methodically rather than jumping around from one place to another without really understanding things fully. I guess that's why I became a jazz musician rather than a rocker, in jazz you are forced to think and explore possibilities methodically.

If you think that I am pushing Band In A Box or think that I am affiliated with them, stop! I am not! I am only writing about my own experiences with BB. I don't care if you buy it or not! I don't even care if you currently use it. But, some of my thoughts and experiences may help you decide one way or another.

visit the jazz shoppe

_

can't it wait?

2011-11-14T22:50:00.003-06:00

It took a bit of doing but after a disappointing fight with bb solo generator for many hours, I decided to go to plan "B". What I ended up doing was change the entire song into a normal jazz swing tune, expanded duration of chords by 2 doubling the tempo and then generating the solo. I went through several attempts but finally found one that would work. I could have easily played my own solo but the idea here is to use what is available on bb in creating, in my case, a decent jazz tune. After getting the solo generated, I went back to the original style and this time reducing the chords by 1/2. But, it was still a matter of changing the overall style a bit.

The great thing about the process in bb is that any mgu file can be changed to any style you want simply by choosing another style. You can even make your own by taking parts from other styles in the make a hybrid style window and or from a midi file using the style wizard. I did exactly that, I made my own style.

Once again all parts except the drums and the trumpet solo are played by yours truly. The muted trumpet melody was created using Garritan's Jazz and Big Band, a.k.a JABB, soft synth software. I was going to play some trumpet myself on there but my chops at the time couldn't deal with it. The drums are played by Franklin Richardson III and the trumpet solo by Grammy nominee Ron King, one of L.A.'s top studio players. Both the drums and trumpet are what bb calls Real tracks. I decided to purchase a few after acquiring bb to see how good they are. I had to disguise the unnatural sounds created in this case on the trumpet when generated, as I had explained earlier. I used E.Q. to give the trumpet a Harmon mute sound.

It starts off with just electric piano, different from the original. The melody is played by trumpet (muted), guitar, flute and calliope lead, with fifth lead and bass-lead coming in at the bridge. I also used slow pad instead of synth strings and utilized muted guitar. Muted trumpet does the first solo and then goes into a short segment of the melody and then the guitar solo. I ended going out with the bridge.

visit the jazz shoppe

_

Is biab good to practice with?

2011-11-13T13:05:00.000-06:00

I was talking about bb with a very good friend of mine yesterday, as we were headed out to do some fishing, one last time for the year. My buddy is also a musician and plays the saxophone. We've played in bands together for the last 30+ years. He's been thinking about getting biab for the last ten years but has put it off for one reason or another. He was always very unsure of the program and didn't know if he would benefit from it or if it was just a waste of money.

He's a pro obviously and plays with a couple of bands these days. One would think, why would he want to acquire biab if he's a pro? Well that's easy, biab is a great tool which aids a musician with practice. Practice? Pro's don't practice! Sure they do. They need to keep up their chops. Many practice several hours a day...why do you think they are so good? The late great Andre Segovia practiced almost to his death bed. Many of my musician friends over 60 still practice and learn new stuff. In music you never stop learning, and practicing. That's the difference between a musician and a hobbyist, the commitment to practice and self betterment, rather than being satisfied with status quot.

As a matter of fact, that's what my buddy was asking me about. He wanted to use bb for the purpose of practice. Playing scales etc. for hours on end can get awfully boring, so he wanted something to help him to keep his focus. He also wanted to work more on his improvisational skills but without some background music to play to, it's a bit more difficult to do. He wasn't looking for something to create better songs nor solos or other crazy stuff. He just wanted to use it as backing tracks to work on his soloing.

I'm not here to recommend nor am I here to criticize biab. I'm just telling you what I as a pro, an accomplished musician and an educator come across as I go through the process of trying to create a better piece of music using biab.

I told him that biab can be an excellent tool to practice soloing to. He can use it to generate just chords to a specific style in mind or he can go nuts and create his own style. He can also input his own chords and jam to that. There are many possibilities which simply depend upon what you want biab to do if practice is the concern. As for other applications, that remains to be seen although that has some great possibilities as well if you don't mind putting in the effort.

Just for the hell of it I opened up a folder called jazz practice, clicked on a few of the files in there. There were several set up with progressions to practice soloing to. It even had a realistic solos which are playable. I would use it to study to see what modes were used and what fits in with specific chords, Like I said, it all depends on what you want biab to do for you. My version has jazz, rock,blue grass, country etc riffs to learn, should I want to. If you go in there with an open mind set to use it as a learning tool for practice yes it's great but....remember that everything is set up as a fake book and the written notes aren't exactly as played on the staff, note value wise. If you can't read music, there is a guitar window and tabs for guitar players and a keyboard window for keyboard players. But for those that can't read music, it won't take long to learn and is highly recommended.

visit the jazz shoppe

solo generating

2011-11-13T10:28:00.001-06:00

So I wanted generate a different solo than what appeared on the bb demo Can't It Wait and after converting the song into one big chorus, and making adjustments to the sections, changing them from a to b, I went into the soloist section. I could have just went directly into the soloist section and created a new solo but felt that this might be a better way for this particular tune.

Once I was in the soloist section I was a bit overwhelmed with all the solo possibilities, since there were 360. I decided to choose the first one which was bebop saxophone. I chose it since that was the solo type presented in a previous demo I posted called Day Trip and wanted to do a similar solo. Next I went into soloist edit and changed the maximum notes in one beat from 255 to 4. Then I needed to change the instrument from bebop sax to guitar. I made a few changes in the range area for guitar. The original setting are 48 to 76, my changes were from 52 to 79. I didn't want to use any notes below A on the sixth string as they don't sound that great when using flat wound strings. I clicked ok and went back to the soloist window and as I looked around I found a custom button and clicked it. In there I found that I could generate a solo for a specific section of the tune and inserted the numbers and clicked generate solo now. Within seconds the song began playing 2 bars before the solo part would begin.

Once it got to the solo it was nothing like a previous solo and was a bit disappointed so I went back and regenerated it again with similar results. I tried the next soloists 2, 3, 53-64, 91, 114, 126. I ended up trying 20 different soloist styles only to end up with the same results. Well, this was a bunch of crap and more disappointment since this was not what I was expecting. More kid stuff? Even tho I went through 20 different styles,the solos seemed to be similar. I know that the styles between Joe Henderson (tenor sax) and 136 pop crusaders should not be similar but were. So I'm thinking that all those other so called styles are probably just some B.S. placed in there to make it look good and I could probably just pick any style and work with that.

I chose 60, Wes guitar with Wynton. I could have used 61 (Wes octaves) but after checking out the solo earlier, playing all those sixteenth note runs in octaves, is not possible irregardless of how good you are. Not even Wes could have done it. So that aspect is a bunch of crock. I preferred the single notes and then use octaves in appropriate areas more realistic to guitar. I generated the solo and found areas in there which weren't really possible to play nor did it sound good for the particular song. I had to change the sections in the custom page for those unrealistic and unplayable notes and regenerated the solo. I had to do this several times before getting one that was a bit more down to earth. Once that was done on to the next section doing the same. To really get a half way decent solo, I spent an hour regenerating solos from section 33-56, a whole 24 bars. All in all I spent 3+ hours just trying to generate a solo that I liked. That, I thought was more kid stuff and a whole lot of B.S.

In defense for bb; there are 8th and 16ths type solos. Depending on which original style you choose sw 8ths or sw 16ths i.e. Zopas style is sw 16ths, you should use that particular style when generating a solo. It is also advisable to use the bb suggested soloist.

Well that's fine and dandy, but what if you don't like what's suggested? In this case, only three soloist styles came up; 249 (fusion swing 16ths), pop 16ths shuffle (electric piano), 252 Andy LaVerne (piano trio). Non of them were what I was looking for. I wanted to find something a bit more creative rather than something stock or rockish. I was looking for more in the line of Benson but even Benson style didn't really do Benson. Style 60, Wes didn't turn out too well either, so I had to start all over. There was really nothing worthwhile in the solo generating area for this particular style unless I wanted to do some rock or fusion. Not what I expected for sure!

So.....stick around to see what I came up with for the song.

visit the jazz shoppe

Zopas.sty demo "Can't It Wait?"

2011-11-12T08:55:00.000-06:00

Ok so I got a couple of demo styles already, but how about doing something where I generate a solo? That s exactly what my next biab demo will have. But first here are the particulars of the song I randomly chose to do: Zopas.sty demo

energetic smooth jazz

swing 16ths/ eighth note groove

'A' section:
- Phase Electric Piano plays 8ths comp
- Slap Bass plays pushes into every 2nd bar
- synth string pad
- Drums and percussion

'B' section:
- add brass shots and hi strings
- drums switch to ride cymbal and snare
- Kick pattern changes
- Bass plays busier

Fifth Lead and Bass-Lead melody
- Bass-Lead solos in middle chorus

tempo range = 80 - 130

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Zopas.sty demo "Can't It Wait?"
File:ZOPAS.MGU
Key=C , Tempo 115, Length (m:s)=2:55
8 bar intro, 24 bar chorus, from bar 9 to bar 32. Repeat x3 choruses
Melody has 566 notes, Melody harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Soloist track has 1109 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Soloist is saved with the song : Miles - Trumpet (34)
Style is ZOPAS.STY (Zopas - Smooth Jazz)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Slap Bass 1 (37), 6/4 EP Phase, GM2 Bank 4, 62/1 Brass Section 2 (octave mix), GM2 Bank 1, Synth Strings 1 (51),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :RockSwing16^06-Brushes
*******************
Now, you know I'm not going to use the above set up if you've checked out my other biab demos I've done thus far. Although the above set up might sound pretty cool as an .MGU file or midi but it just won't do, for me, when it comes to real instruments played by me. And yes, once again I'm going to have to write out the lead and bass parts. The e.p. will use just a chord chart since I get the jest of the part....after all it is quite similar to Three Dog Night from way back. Those guys were awesome!

visit the jazz shoppe

_

Ojeada and the value of site reading

2011-11-11T12:23:00.003-06:00

I finished recording the guitar (Goya electric) parts which only took me a few minutes and then recorded flute (my Armstrong from college days). Both play the melody. The guitar does the solo parts. Because I had the parts written, all it took was to site read it a few times just to get comfortable with it, figure out where I wanted to do some octave stuff and then go to town on it. Once I was finished with recording the parts, it was just a matter of changing a few things around and then mixing and mastering it. That took about an hour.

The song order is pretty much as I had described it in the original form. But, I decided to add the melody towards the end and then repeat a short solo section and fade out. The drums were created by biab using Franklin Richardson III playing a smooth jazz cool swing hip hop beat with xsthht,snrd. The bass (Cortes) parts I decided to do myself again. In the beginning the notes are held and then I go into a bit more of a rhythmic thing using the thumb and a more muted sound. I used electric piano (my Rhodes) instead of piano. I use a couple of variations of soft pads along with strings. The soft pads sounds were created using my Korg 01W/ pro. The strings were created using Garritan's pocket orchestra using a midi track. All other parts were written out and sight read...bing o..bang o... done.

The most difficult aspect, which took most of the time, was writing out all of the parts correctly, once that was done, it was just a matter of interpreting the written music by playing them and recording. The playing and recording of all live played parts, took maybe about 15 minutes, 30 maybe, with setting up the instruments. It goes to show you the value of being able to sight read music and having the ability to interpret the notes.

Many have said that reading music inhibits one's creativity. Let me ask you, does it sound like the tune is inhibited? Does it sound like a midi file? I think that most people who say that, have a problem reading and interpreting notes. In jazz, unless you are playing in an orchestra where each note of every part is dependent on another person's part and should be played as written, in smaller bands you can deviate from the written parts. They are simply there as a guide for interpretation. Site reading makes the musicians life a lot simpler and the parts can be shared much easier with other musicians. That way everyone is on the same page...get it?

visit the jazz shoppe

_

more on Ojeada

2011-11-11T10:04:00.001-06:00

as I continue to work on Ojeada, the backing tracks are fairly easy to do as I've simply played the parts written, although much of the printed out charts are inaccurate. Fake book style is ok if you're doing a gig, are familiar with the tune already and you need a crutch to follow. But to create fake book parts for something new just doesn't make sense. Seems to me that they were looking for an easy way out.

From the beginning, 50+ years ago, note value along with other nomenclature has been drilled into my head. I even taught it for several years, so to see a quarter note in common time given the value of a sixteenth or an eighth note is kids stuff. I am very disappointed with that aspect of biab.

At first I had the thought that this program would be a great teaching tool for not only the beginner but the intermediate students as well. I for one, wouldn't use bb for teaching students to read rhythms and note values. It can teach young musicians to have the wrong concept. Timing could become a serious issue for many a beginner. I've known many a musician who have a poor sense of timing simply because they have learned wrong note values and they haven't been taught to count properly.

After having to write out the parts, as played, I began working on the melody and solo with guitar. I find too many notes playable only in midi that are there simply to make it sound more impressive. I left those extra notes out, don't need em!

I see that the solo parts are supposed to be bebop sax lines according to biab. The phrasing is far from being actual sax lines and find them more to be in line with keyboards. That's expected since after all it is created by a keyboard rather than a midi saxophone. I've been able to work around that. My thoughts once again go towards the user playing other instruments other than keys, who could end up with bad habits and poor phrasing.

Many of the generated solos that I've looked at thus far are only playable to the accomplished musician and not by the average weekend warrior. Some of the stuff is even beyond my abilities. Perhaps one of these days I will find something less complex for the average player.

Since I can sight read, and now that I have written the parts as played, it won't take me but a few hours, if even that to lay down the melody/solo track on guitar. The great thing about being able to sight read, provided that the parts are written as played, it saves a hell of a lot of time. Should I want to add a few enhancements or extra notes, harmonies, octaves etc. I'm able to see ahead of time where they could be implemented and as a musician can plan for it. I don't need to practice the parts for days prior to recording. Once or twice trough it should be enough to familiarize myself with the parts and then go to town on it.

Final thoughts: A biab user could definitely create an entire live instrumental played by musicians in a matter of hours rather than weeks or months, provided you aren't looking to do something that hasn't already been done.

visit the jazz shoppe

_

Ojeada

2011-11-10T11:42:00.000-06:00

I began working on another biab demo tune yesterday. Once again, I picked out one randomly. It's cross winds style this time and the name of the tune is called Ojeada. Below is the song memo and summary

CrossWind - Smooth Jazz Style - a modern smooth jazz style with contrasting A and B sections.
5 instruments - ac. bass/ drums/ pads @ 'a' . Add piano and percussion and more aggressive, funky rhythm at 'b' .
Mainly ride cymbals and kick on 2 and 4 and held chords

Calliope melody and flute solo
Tempo = 95-125

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Ojeada - croswind.sty demo - -
File:CROSWIND.MGU
Key=C , Tempo 110, Length (m:s)=3:03
32 bar intro, 16 bar chorus, from bar 33 to bar 48. Repeat x3 choruses
Melody has 76 notes, Melody harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Soloist track has 413 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Soloist is saved with the song : Bebop Saxophone (1)
Style is CROSWIND.STY (CrossWind - Smooth Jazz - Modern)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic String Bass (33), Acoustic Piano (1), Pad-Halo (95), Synth Strings 1 (51),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :RockEven16

*************************************************************

Obviously, this instrumentation wasn't going to work out for me and changes were inevitable for my taste. Most of the instrumentation on there really makes no difference to me since I'm going to replace everything with live instruments anyway. But I wanted to hear how much different it would be if I made some changes ahead of time. So I made the changes and saved the entire song as a midi file. Yes I did change the drums as well as I didn't care for biab's choice. I saved that and rendered it as a wave file to my Sonar by exporting it.

More on this tune later on another post.

visit the jazz shoppe

Day Trip

2011-11-09T11:29:00.002-06:00

Day Trip is from the demo style in Band In A Box. Instead of using the biab style, Sway, a Latin pop smooth jazz, I used my own. I only used the melody line and solo off it. The solo was right up my alley which used notes from the mixolydian and aeolian scales. The melody line was fairly simple and I used some octaves for enhancement in places. The solo was a bit more challenging as some of the notes in the passages were way too many for even me to play them at my level of technique. The problem with the solos generated by biab is that the default setting for the maximum number of notes in one beat is 255. Unless you are doing a lot sliding up and down the fretboard, 255 notes in one beat is just impossible to play clean. I would suggest changing that default setting to either 4 or 5 depending on tempo. I notice that these numbers are a bit more realistic for most players. I also used octaves where possible to make it sound more George Benson-ish, a style I fell in love with many years ago.

I used the drums provided by biab, a smooth jazz poppy real track created by Franklin Richardson III, a smooth jazz drummer and a recording artist from Florida, for Band In A Box. I did have to make a few eq adjustments to the drums for my own taste. I also wanted to bring out the kick drum a bit more.

The bass, guitar, keys, percussion and flute I played myself. There is flute and calliope lead playing the melody along with the guitar. In the original style there is calliope and guitar doing the melody. I added flute to clean it up a bit. I also added soft pad in the background.

visit: The Jazz Shoppe
_

To Start Off

2011-11-08T14:19:00.000-06:00

You may want to read my thoughts first.

I generated one of the jazz demos at random in Band In A Box. Day Trip - sway.sty demo

Sway - Smooth Jazz Style - Latin Pop - Breezy 16th style with
5 instruments - el. bass/el. piano./el. guitar comp/drums and Latin percussion

Tempo range = 80 - 110

On Demo - Calliope/Jazz Guitar melody split. Jazz Guitar solo.

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Day Trip - sway.sty demo - -
File:SWAY.MGU
Key=C , Tempo 90, Length (m:s)=5:38
60 bar intro, 8 bar chorus, from bar 61 to bar 68. Repeat x8 choruses
Melody has 1394 notes, Melody harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Soloist track has 159 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Soloist is saved with the song : Bebop Saxophone (1)
Style is SWAY.STY (Sway - Smooth Jazz - Latin Pop)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Finger Electric Bass (34), Rhodes Electric Piano (5), Clean Electric Guit (28), Strings (49),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :BossaRock^5-Brushes
*******************

Ok it sounded fairly cool so my next step was to see how I was going to make a real jazz tune out of it rather than a midi one. There were a couple of choices I had. I could have saved the tune as a midi file and export it to my Sonar and then use various soft synth plug-ins using sampled instrument sounds, but many of them sound too synthetic and lack the human element.

Another option was to print out charts for each part for real musicians able to read music to play. A problem arose in the creation of the charts. Since the charts would be printed only as fake book style, the reality of the notes were somewhat lost as the print out wasn't printed as to how it was played. I didn't want to have to spend a lot more money and buy another program like Sibelius that would read the midi file and print it as played so it was going to have to do.

I also had the option to create a wave file of the entire piece and then try to duplicate it using real instruments. I chose to do all three. I printed out the charts, created a midi file and exported it to my Sonar and also created a wave file which could be duplicated and given to the other musicians involved. The staff view in my Sonar showed a better and more realistic view of the played notes so if I had to I could just hand write out the melody and solo lines if I wanted to. Printing an entire piece would have been a bit challenging to do it properly in my Sonar, so I didn't bother with that.

Since I can play just about all of the instruments; bass, keys, guitar etc.I decided to play all of the parts live myself as I could create it much quicker rather than relying on other of my musician friends. I was looking forwards to see how it came out.

visit: the jazz shoppe
_