Sorry it has been a while...

Well I didn't realise it has been so long since I last posted, but the end of my 1st year studying jazz was more hectic than I thought it would be! So not much 8 string time, but lots of fretless and double bass on the go. Which is why I am really here I suppose!?

I'll probably do a few more posts about what I learnt this year both from the tutors and maybe more importantly, my fellow students.

As an apology here is the first section of Spanish Joint by D'Angelo, with Charlie Hunter of course on guitar/bass duties. It was on D'Angelo's album Voodoo. Check out the rest of the album as Pino Palladino plays the dirtiest hip hop bass you have ever heard from a Welsh man!

This is one of my favourite Hunter grooves to play and it is actually quite simple. Which is a bonus. Get a drummer with a fat snare behind you and this part really grooves.

Hopefully this will keep you going enough these next few sunny(!) summer days until I get in the blogging flow again. (I am actually meant to be packing to move house, but I found laying out my transcription for this tune much more satisfying!)

Until next time...
D'Angelo - Spanish Joint 8 String
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Hurry up and wait...

I have started putting a repertoire together for a jazz/funk organ "trio" (Organ, Drums and me on 8 string) and decided I would love to do a few Soulive tunes.

So over the past couple of days my keys player has been working on the first track on Soulive's Doin Something album. We went over a few bits of it today and I have came up with this transcription. There may be a couple of errors in the bass part, but it is really hard to hear what the organ is doig sometimes.

It is only in lead sheet format as I can't work out a decent 8 string fingering for the B section (A and C work fine), but I am sure a few of you will want to play this tune with some of your bands. I may just have to give in and just play the guitar part on B and let the organ take the bass, but to paraphrase what Monk once said to Coltrane: "As long are you have an instrument in your mouth, anything is possible!"

Hurry Up And Wait... - Lead Sheet

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Fancy a pint down the Battle Cruiser!

Firstly, a question: I am putting tab with the 8 string transcriptions aswell, but would you also like to see recommended left hand fingerings? (i.e. should I play the bass nite with 1st or 2nd finger) or is this obvious enough or easy enough for people to work out? Let me know and I can go back and amend the sheets or just start doing this from now on. Or even if you are having serious issues with a piece ask me. I should have time to explain in detail a bit more how I play it.

Other ideas welcome...midi files? audio? video demonstrations? If I can do it, I will give it a go if it is going to help the new 8 stringers out there.

Moving on, for those in the world that may not know Cockney rhyming slang, a 'Battle Cruiser' is another way of saying 'Boozer' or pub. A place where many evenings and weekends are wasted while supping a nice cool alcoholic beverage or ten! This also happens to be the title of the next piece I am putting up for you:

Boozer - John Scofield (8 String)
Boozer - John Scofield (Lead Sheet)
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I promise I will start doing more songs of other albums soon, it's just I really do like these grooves. I have now played then with the keyboardist from my organ 'trio!?', and he still can't get over the fact that it sounds like two people playing the parts. So if you are struggling, keep working at it. The results will be worth it.

Sorry it's been a few days since the last post, but I have been practicing really hard on the 8. I came across a book called 'Pedal exercises for the electronic organ' by Rimac Hinter in my local library and I have been trying to apply some of them to the 8 string, with mixed results. What better way to imitate organ players, than actually learning how they did! When i get at least a sheet of these exercises workable I will put them up, as I know a few people just want some easy parts and shapes to get under their fingers, rather than the mass-syncopation of some of the tunes I have put up! :)

Until next time...

Kenny's got all dem Blues!

I had a request for something will a little less syncopation than the previous pieces, so I chose to do a version of All Blues. I have been getting into Kenny Burrell a bit and noticed that some of the 3 note chord shapes he uses are similar to Charlie Hunter's and I like the way he comps through the changes in this piece. There are a few nice shapes/patterns that you can easily take and use as your own.

The piece itself is particularly simple and nice to play through; the hard bit is the physical side of playing barres on the 8-string, but I feel it is something which none the less should be practiced. I know some people find playing barres hard on their fingers or wrist so take it easy and find a comfortable position to play in.

This is just an arrangement of the comping, over the next few posts I hope to have a version that incorporates the melody. At this time it has a few stretches that most people (including myself!) wouldn't find easy. So:

Kenny Burrell - All Blues (8 String)
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Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will catch you in a few days with some more simple grooves and patterns for the fellow beginners/improvers out there.

Transcribe the whole album!? Maybe I should the grooves are just too good!

So, how did you find the previous Scofield transcriptions!?

I have now got them going on...except Protocol! Then again it was mainly done as a finger work out for this new beast to get some independence between fingers on both hands.

From one newcomer to another on the 8-string, these transcriptions really aren't that hard to play as longs as you take it very very slow, master one beat at a time and move on. If that beat isn't working, try another. The more you do it, the more the syncopations seem natural.

So I thought I would stay with the theme and do another John Scofield tune off A Go Go. They are good because the tunes are fun to play, the parts groove and even though Medeski, Martin and Wood are playing their ass' off, it's Scofield's playing that just tops it off!

So here it is Hottentot. Fairly easy to play as on 8 string as there is very little interplay between the two parts:

Hottentot - John Scofield
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Incidently, did you know that Hottentot comes from the name given to the Khoikhoi ("men of men") who are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen. It means "stutterer" in the white colonists' northern dialect of Dutch, and is a name that is nowadays considered offensive by the Oxford Dictionary of South African English. You didn't know that!? I wonder it Scofield did when he named it.

I also thought, on top of putting the 8 string transcriptions up, i may aswell do lead sheets incase there are some non-8 stringers out there (I would be interested to know actually how many 8 stringers there are!? comment me saying "I'm an 8-stringer and deserve double the gig paycheck!") or other instrumentalists who are interest in playing these tunes!

So lead sheets for tunes so far:

A Go Go - John Scofield (Lead Sheet)

Chank - John Scofield (Lead Sheet)

Hottentot - John Scofield (Lead Sheet)

Protocol - John Scofield (Lead Sheet)

Have fun and let me know how you are getting on with them!