Been Practicing, Still Hesitating

I’ve heard at least two great guitar players say nobody really improvises 100 percent.  Licks will always be played.  Scott Henderson said it’s a 50-50 ratio.  Emily Remler, if I’m not mistaken, puts it at 30 percent improvisation.

Well, my difficulty is making a seamless transition from improvising to inserting the licks and the other way around.  This “lapse in judgement” accounts for most of my mistakes.  Yeah, I sure do need lots and lots of practice, the luxury of which I can’t afford.

Anyway, here’s a take on that popular jazz standard using a solid body and a little overdrive — and some compression, equalization, reverb and delay — everything as subtle as possible.  Hehehe, I couldn’t help but step on those pedals.  I couldn’t stop myself from comping along either, so I decided to play one round and looped it so I could get on with the soloing right away.

I wanted to rename the title of this recording to “Victory Jam,” but it wouldn’t make sense to those who didn’t know why.  Anyway, my sincerest thanks to my high school buddies for introducing me to that strange form of music — Efren, Chet., Joey, Rikki and finally Roland, who I last saw at one of our gigs way back in the ’80s.  This jam is for you guys … and for the VICTORY!!!  And for Mr. Black, who’s now Black and Blue.  Hehehe.

All the Things You Are - Linear Improvisation.mp3

The Dominant Chord: Emily Remler’s Approach

The late, great Emily Remler had a simple but very effective approach to improvising over a dominant chord.  She didn’t care which upper extensions created tension or dissonant tonalities.  Rather, she thought of a chord as either static, which didn’t go anywhere, or dynamic, meaning resolving to some major or minor chord.

Think of the second chord of the progression in the songs  “Girl From Ipanema” and “Take the A Train.”  You will notice that from a tonic chord, the next chord is a dominant chord that just stays there.  Emily would play a melodic minor scale (and of course all its related licks, intervals, sequences and arpeggios) a perfect 5th above.  So if that chord was a G7 or any of its variants, she would use a D melodic minor approach.

Now if a dominant chord was part of a II-V-I progression, say

|       Dm7    /    G7    /        |       CMaj7    /    /    /       |

– when she got to the G7 chord, she would use the melodic minor a half step above, so in this case the Ab melodic minor (again including arpeggios, et cetera).

Simple enough, I agree, but the possibilities are endless.  Go try it and have fun!

Before You Trade or Sell Your Ibañez GIO

I admit to having been disturbed by a pseudo article posted by one jerk or group of jerks known individually or collectively as Kenvai.  What a stupid name — sounds like “Can Buy,” further insulting people from a lower rung of the social ladder who must put their money elsewhere than splurge on a single guitar.  This person or group insisted that if you can’t afford an Ibañez MIJ (Made in Japan, for those of you who don’t know yet), better buy something else. I almost believed their distorted logic.

We’re talking price range here, and if you have $300 to spare, Ibañez guitars — albeit being MII (Made in Indonesia) or MIC (Made in China) — win hands down (at least that’s the way I assess it) over their counterparts Squire, Epiphone, Peavey, et cetera.  Having owned an MIA (Made in America) Gibson, a number of MIJ axes (about 10 or so, mostly 70s and 80s models, including a yellow S540 that really took a beating), a pair of MIJ classical guitars, a 1989 Made in Taiwan Yamaha CG-110 classical that I own to this very day (but now modded), my two current MIC GSA370QM-TB and Artcore AF75-TBS, some China-made electrics and a couple of locally made guitars (RJ and Pampanga, I guess), I more or less can tell quality from crap with one look and touch. OK, so I was bragging, but don’t take me literally though.  I do need to make a careful inspection and play a guitar up and down the neck to come up with a fairly accurate evaluation.

Now here’s a more credible Web site.  It’s Rich Harris’ Ibañez Rules!!  If you’re wondering how the GIOs were priced at the 2008 NAMM, check this link out and look for the GIOs at the bottom of the page.

http://www.ibanezrules.com/namm/2008/fr_jtk_gio.htm

Just be wary of the fretwork as some of the Ibbys I’ve tried, including my own AF75-TBS, have sharp, unfinished frets on the high E string side.  I got around the problem by first researching on the ‘Net to make sure I knew what I was doing, then carefully filing the fret ends myself.  I don’t know if the Quality Assurance folks missed out on it or it was done intentionally to save on labor costs and give work to expert luthiers.  Still, I love my Ibbys.  Ibañez rules!!!  Hehehe.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love all guitars.  I’m polygamous.

So before you trade or sell your non-MIJ (or even non-MIK) Ibañez, make sure you know what your guitar is really worth rather than succumb to those narrow-minded MIJ-only jerks or opportunists who would want to snag your GIO for a freaking Peavey Tele that costs roughly $100.  After all, value is really subjective.  Remember, it’s those sick speculators that set the price of a barrel of oil soaring sky-high.  So, a $3,000 axe could be worthless to someone who knows nothing about guitars.  Besides, I’d rather take pride in the fact that I can play a guitar instead of the fact that I can pay for a guitar.  ‘Nuff said.

Brian Wampler’s Plextortion

Brian Wampler has developed another pedal, and this time it’s a Marshall JCM800 in a tiny box.  If you’re wealthy enough to own or lucky enough to use a Bogner Shiva, then this pedal will drive the Bogner’s clean channel the way it should be.

Anway, go check it out here:

http://www.wamplerpedals.com/members/plextortion.htm

Mordy Ferber, Danny Gottlieb and Jeff Berlin Play "Solar"

At the 2004 NAMM, Mordy Ferber, Danny Gottlieb and Jeff Berlin get together and play the jazz favorite “Solar.”  I really like the way Mr. Ferber bops.  So sit back, relax, and have a cold one.  Or two.