John Tweed

I gave up trying to stand and play keys many moons ago - a couple of hours of that at a gig was murder on my back. i sympathise with Stokely as my original instrument was guitar, and when I play at home I sit. It doesn’t look right to sit when playing guitar though, and I always struggle with getting comfortable while standing. I guess I just need to do it more.

I’m glad I’m a Sibelius user and don’t have to deal with this. I did contemplate moving to Dorico a couple of years back, but in the end reverted to Sibelius cos I know my way round in it so well. When my subscription renewal came up this year I opted to down-grade to Artist from Ultimate at about half the cost. There’s a few things missing, but I’m coping OK. My first thought though, was to upgrade back to Ultimate. But I couldn’t find any way to do this, short of paying for another full subscription. I tried emailing Avid but never heard anything back.

Has anyone collected Harris’s thoughts and suggestions into a book explaining his fundamental ideas? Like George Russel’s Lydian Chromatic? You can find all these scales in there. The 5th mode of the Lydian Diminished (I think) corresponds to the Harmonic Major, and if you just add the flat 6 as well as the natural 6 then there’s your Barry Harris scale. I spent quite a while with that book many years ago, and picked up some neat things which are so far absorbed into my playing that I don’t really remember how they got there.

The 6 dim scale certainly works across both chords, but so far as the analysis side goes, the 2nd bar melody literally spells out an F#7b9 chord, which implies a V-I to Bm (relative minor, same key sig). That chord is skipped and instead modulates straight to G via a II-V-I. Ie Dma7, F#7b9, (Bm,) Am7, D7, Gma7. A half-whole dim from F# works well over the F#7b9 too. That is the same dim that Al mentions above (whole-half from Bb).

I’ve been playing this tune for a while but never actually thought about what I play over that chord, so I sat down and had a look - turns out I usually use a D harmonic major here. That ‘s a D major with the b6 instead of the natural 6 ie D E F# G A Bb C# D. I love the sound of that minor 3rd.

Great sound, great playing Dazz! On one of my favourite tunes too.

I can only offer an alternative transcription of "Talking About JC". Talking 'Bout JC.pdf We are in general agreement but you'll notice that I have written the section at the end of the head in 6/8. I'm curious to know what other folks find easier to read, since both ways are technically correct. This is not an uncommon situation. Personally I find reading sections where there are lots of tied notes can obscure the rhythm that will emerge, but ymmv. Even though I'm not Greek I have played a far bit of Greek music at one time or anopther and shifting time signatures are pretty common there.

Are you using a Leslie by any chance? I'm guessing not. I play mine through a 251 at home and the output via the 11 pin does not go through the "rotary gain" knob, so I have to use the general fx overdrive "rotay pre" setting, which ties the effects up (not that I'm all that interested in them but it would be nice to have). Perhaps their thinking is that it's only there to substitue for the overdrive that the Leslie naturally provides, but (like all tube amps) you have to be driving it hard to get the sound we are mostly listening for. It's not practical or desirable for me to crank it that much at home.

They are fine on iPhone or iPad, unless you wanted to dial up a specific fiddly setting, as there are no numbers on the CK. In my case if a db is not all the way in or all the way out, I adjust it on the fly by ear.

I wasn’t that much of a fan until I heard a live recording with de Jonnette and Peacock recorded in Paris in 1995 (I think) on my birthday. Since then he and the trio are my favourites for standards in particular. For some reason I really enjoy his grunting and groaning as he pulls off incredible phrase after phrase. I’m not so much into the solo concerts. Saw him many years ago at Sydney Opera house solo, and I thought he was a bit up himself. He stopped in the middle of one piece to berate the audience for photographing him. But when I heard the aforementioned album, all was forgiven.

Not too hard. You don’t exactly replace the internal sounds, just set the organ to zero volume and use the master keyboard function to set up the key range, midi channel etc for VB3m. Then you’ll want to map the midi cc numbers in the app to match the hardwired ccs transmitted by the CK. There is a list in the manual that tells you what each controller sends, or you can use the midi learn function in VB3m. On the CK you need to have a part enabled and set to organ (with vol at 0) to enable the drawbars. Each part sends drawbars on different ccs, so you can easily map an upper or lower set. I have mapped several of the knobs on the CK to different switches or sliders in VB3m. I also set any I don’t want to be controlled by the CK to cc 0 so that it doesn’t inadvertently change settings I don’t want to change. Good luck 😄

1. Most of my gigs these days are organ and piano, occasionally synth pads or solo voices. 2. I invariably take a monitor along unless I am assured that the sound people (if there are any) can provide me with a decent audible sound. For many years I carried a JBL 15” and horn box, then a Behringer KX 3000 but for a while its been a QSC K10. Recently I picked up an Alto TS408 as a smaller, lighter alternative. I’ve got an in-ear setup but never use it due to the nature of most of my gigs being blues or jazz in small rooms. 3. Weight and schlep factor are important as I’m not as young as I’d like to be, and I’m over big complicated rigs. Over the years my main rigs have been a) Hammond L100 and Leslie, then b) Fender-Rhodes with Clavinet and Arp Odyssey, c) DX7 d) Ensoniq KS32, e) Yamaha P120 or Privia PX3 plus Hammond XK3 or SK1, f) Mojo dual manual and nowadays g) Yamaha CP4 and/or CK61 or Legend Soul, occasionally with Leslie. The CK61 (with iPad) and TS408 are recent acquisitions which I intend to use wherever I can get away with it. This rig will be easy for me to move, and for anyone that I might turn to for assistance. For moderately serious piano gigs I’ll use the CP4, and for lhb gigs I’ll use the Soul. My favourite gigs these days tend to be where I can use the Soul, or play a real piano as provided by the venue.

When I do lhb gigs which are not organ-based I use the bass sounds in my CP4, through a K10 on stage and FOH as well. While a separate amp might be nice the band and I are happy with the sound I get this way. A couple of years back we did a festival with this lineup, and I created a set of patches which had bass panned one side and everything else to the other, thinking that the sound guys might prefer the extra level of control of separate outputs. Not one of them took me up on it.

That is the information I was seeking, thanks Al 🙏. So for simplicity’s sake we opted to run mono using the mono piano, through a DI from the L jack output. When even small mixers typically provide an option for phantom power which can easily be switched on accidentally or otherwise, it seems the safest option is to ignore the XLRs completely. My main role in this gig was playing organ for a set of Allman Bros tunes, for which I used my Legend Soul and Leslie. That sounded great and looked the part too, and the piano hardly got used. I’ll have to save my stereo/mono experiments for another time. Thanks to all who replied.

I’ve got a concert gig coming up where I’m using my CP4. Although I usually just play the mono pianos through a single monitor, it’s probably better if I send stereo to the FOH. Since I’m not expecting stereo monitoring I was thinking of sending the two XLR outs to the PA, plugging a single cable in to the right jack output and running a single monitor off that. My idea is to avoid the stereo sound being collapsed into mono. Does this make sense? Anyone tried it this way. Also there are warnings about connecting the xlr out of my QSC K10 directly to the desk in case phantom power gets sent to it. Is the CP4 vulnerable to this as well?

It can be time consuming and possibly boring to rattle thru the whole Rachmaninoff exercise and other potentially long-winded exercises (84 modes anyone?). I keep a dice on the piano and whenever I have the urge to practise scales, modes or exercises I roll the dice a couple of times - number of sharps/flats, then a second time, high/low or odds/evens for sharps or flats (or if I roll a 6 then either or key of C). Play for a few keys worth and then move on. This also works for Hanon - pick a random key then play through the exercise exactly as written but using the random key signature. For a quick arpeggio warm up I do the diminished 7th arpeggios just starting on the white keys.

My SK1 (61) is now 13 years old and sometimes doesn't want to start up or displays garbage in the LCD screen, although it seems to play alright when it is doing this. I was hoping to refer to Brad's post on opening the SK1 as I want to check that all the internal cables and plugs are firmly seated. However the post is now archived (no further replies possible) and the pictures are not visible. Anyone save these anywhere - Brad I understand you no longer have an SK1 but if you still have the pics they would be most appreciated. Thanks 🙂

That was Chico Marx’s warmup routine too. If my memory serves correctly, in one movie, after being dragged away from a card game, he dipped his hands in a basin of warm water, and then pronounced “that’s enough practice for today”.

I bought a t&f back when I was using a Mojo. It seemed to add something to the sound, but since the Mojo didn’t have an effects loop it was only really useful at home through my Leslie or into a Vent. Subsequently I used it a lot between my SK1 and Vent - the SK straight into the Vent could easily overload it, but with the t&f in between it was less of a problem. The reason I stopped using it is because whenever I got the distortion level right, it reduced the overall volume coming out, or if I tried to maintain the volume then there was too much distortion. I was expecting an overdrive pedal to increase the level, if anything. Since this is how it worked with the Legend Live I never used it with that. Now that I have the Soul I plan to try it out again, but I expect the results to be much the same. I fear it’s destined to join my other extraneous bits n pieces waiting till I can be bothered to sell it.

That’s how it will go down in all likelihood. Lately I have been passing superfluous bits of gear on to my younger family members or their friends if they can use the item in question. For example my Behringer KX3000 still works just fine (with a few missing knobs) but I can’t move it. It makes a perfect little rehearsal PA.

I’m planning to get a TS408 myself. At the moment I use a QSC K10, and while it works just fine taking the output and feeding it into a mixer, if there happens to be phantom power on the mixer input it could fry the K10. So far this has never happened, although I am careful to check with the audio person to ensure they won’t be applying phantom power. Does the TS have this same vulnerability?

Which issue are you in Jim? I’ll go back and read it. I have almost a full collection. I just wish I could find someone to pass them onto … soon. I’ll cry the day I have to dump them in the recycle bin 🥲

This. Many older folk are just fine until they suffer a fall for whatever reason, after which they can no longer live independently as well as before. I had a fall last year due to heart issues, and had quite bad concussion. Fortunately the long term effects were minimal, and I’ve recovered well enough to continue as before. But I’m very careful these days, and this is largely responsible for me avoiding using heavy and complicated rigs anymore. Love my CK61 because even if I couldn’t move it myself, it’d be easier to get help from family and friends.

I have an almost complete set of Keyboard mags. Every so often I pull one off the shelf and reread the interesting bits, check out the playing tips for practice ideas. The iPad experience does not compare to holding a magazine in your hand, jumping back and between pages and just leafing through. I don’t know what will become of them when I most likely have to downsize one day. I fear they’ll just go out with the rubbish :-(. Hopefully I’ll find someone to take them on.

I’ll be 73 next month. My usual amplification is a QSC K10, but I’m going to get an Alto TS408 because I think that will be fine for me in most situations, and maybe even use both on occasion. I’ve also got some modest in-ears which I have never used, but a couple of recent gigs have convinced me to give them a serious go. For some years I have been using a CP4 and Hammond SK1. These days I’m using a CK61 on its own, with iPad/iPhone organ, although the CK organ is adequate a lot of the time. This is for gigs where I am playing mostly organ and there’s a bass player, and piano/ep requirements are such that I can get away without a weighted keyboard. If I need a full 88 then it’ll be my CP4. I’m tempted to get a CK88 as it’s lighter than a CP4 and it would be usable in situations where I need 88-note piano and some organ - as it is now I’d need to take two boards. I’ve recently upgraded my Legend Live to a Soul, but have yet to gig the Soul. The Live did many a gig where I was handling left hand bass. I do have an upcoming gig where I won’t be playing bass, but I’m planning to use the Soul anyway for the visuals (imho the colour is much nicer than the Live).