JamPro

Do you know what happens to people who tell bad jokes? They get drawn and quoted. And those who feel a bit drawn commonly suffer from Disney spells. Sort of like becoming crestfallen after dropping your toothpaste. Like a balding Satan, there will be hell toupee. Feel free to skip the theater performance of this pun; it is little more than a play on words. In search of better jokes, I went to a Spoonerism Conference, where the rumors of food shortages turned out to be just a lack of pies.

Yes there is a digital accordion. My friends tell me it's nice but the sound is too clean, and lacks the "warmth" and "crunch" of the analog accordions.

This is intense. First, he is facing federal charges of wire fraud - which probably carries years of prison time. Second, his plan involved creating as many as ten thousand "bot" accounts at different streaming services (Pandora; Spotify; etc.). And he paid the streaming fees for all those accounts. Third, he and his team made thousands of AI songs (1k -10k per month!), and uploaded all of them to streaming services. Of course, none of that is illegal. From the indictment: “The defendant’s alleged scheme played upon the integrity of the music industry by a concerted attempt to circumvent the streaming platforms’ policies." The Integrity of the music industry.......is something that could only be said with a straight face by someone who has zero experience working in the music industry. Apparently, it is illegal to try and get around the policies (not laws - "policies") of the streaming services. Stream your own content once may be a crime, albeit one that is too small potatoes to prosecute. Stream your own content thousands of times is illegal.

Thank you. I was interested in reading more, but I can not access NY Times content.

What kind of music does your student enjoy playing? What does he enjoy listening to? I learned chords and inversions by going thru books of Grateful Dead songs (the books where the arrangement is written out with chord names above the staves) when I was a teen. I didn't know what I was doing, but by repeatedly seeing the chord name above while the fingers were playing the chords gave me a solid foundation in chords, how to use them and how to combine them. I really liked the music, so it never felt like work or a chore.

I have always understood that chords one uses to build a major Barry Harris flat 6th scale is the tonic (add 6), and a dominant V (add b9). In the key of D, the notes of the tonic chord are D, F#, A, B, and the notes of the dominant V are C#, E, G, Bb - resulting in the scale D, E, F#, G, A, Bb, B, C#. To build a minor Barry Harris flat 6th scale, use the tonic minor (add 6th), and a dominant V (add b9). To build a dominant Barry Harris flat 6th scale use the tonic dominant (b7th with no 6th), and a dominant V (add b9). And to build a minor seventh Barry Harris flat 6th scale, use a tonic minor seventh (b3, b7, no 6th), and a dominant V (add b9). So when I look at the song Wave, I am not thinking Dmaj7 to Edim7, but rather Dmaj7 to A7(b9), ending with the Am7. When soloing, I'll play a D major scale of the Dmaj7 chord, and something I am calling a "mixolydian minor" (tonic harmonic minor scale starting on the 5th degree (A) of the scale) over the A7(b9). As always: your mileage may vary; some settling may occur during shipping; don't be scared, be prepared, etc. Great tune btw. Thanks for posting.

It may have to do with the length of the keys inside the board and the mechanism of the key action. So I suggest you play an RD-88 or a PX5 before making conclusions. I love the action of my RD-2000, but it is a heavy beast for gigging. If Roland has a similar action in the RD-88, I might switch. I am guessing the onboard sounds are roughly the same in the two boards.

Indeed - I see a lot of Midnight Special episodes lately in my YT suggestions. I saw a great one featuring Billy Preston being very funky an ARP synthesizer I'm not sure I've seen before. I love gear-spotting those shows. So what do ya think: actual playing or lip-synching?

Great song! Thank you for collecting these different versions of it. It's hard to go wrong with Ellington.

Yes - it is enshittification - making your product or service worse in order to increase your profits.

It depends on whether you are needing to play legato (no silence between notes) or staccato (silence between notes). For staccato, where I lift my fingers completely off the keys inbetween parallel sixths, I often use the same fingering (i.e. 1-5) up and down the scale. For legato, where I try to keep my fingers in contact with the sixth until the next sixth is struck, I will use different fingering (i.e. 1-3 -> 1-4 -> 2-5, etc.). Which fingers you use when depends on the hills and valleys of the particular scale you are working in, and your own personal preference - as long as the result is a smooth seamless flow of sixths, you are free to choose. So now, if you are wanting to practice scales using parallel sixths, you have to do each scale one time staccato, and one time legato.

I myself felt an incredible excitement when my midi-only sequencer upgraded to a digital recorder. I built a new studio computer specifically to use this technology. I remember feeling great excitement for Gigasampler, and felt crushed when they closed shop (of course, that technology is now under the hood of every virtual sampler). I still get excited by the endless creative possibilities of NI Reaktor, and I love to spend time exploring those possibilities.

It's the enshittification. We typically speak of enshittification as a means by which an industry increases their profits by down-grading their products or services. A good example is airlines making flying more unpleasant to goad consumers into paying more for legroom and other comforts. It's more difficult to understand the profit motives for a business making software that doesn't install. But perhaps the business wants to minimize their costs (and thereby boost their profits) by hiring fewer software developers and/or fewer testers and QC people. Once you have handed over your money, the business cares little if it works on your computer or not. Most customers don't notice or don't bother complaining; and for some companies, what they lose when one customer walks away is more than made up for with sales volume. The marketing budget is huge; the customer service budget gets cut.

There is no rule that says you have to like or even listen to Keith Jarrett. I feel similarly about Chick Corea: obvious talent, abundant compositions, cool collaborators, but nothing that I really enjoyed. I can't really express why not: the feeling is just not there for me. I think my first exposure to Keith Jarrett were those early solo concert album. But I didn't really take to his playing until I heard his ensemble playing on the My Song album. That was music that grabbed me. Later, he got more into weird abstract music which I have avoided.

Hello. A number of years ago, I decided I should practice the blues scale in all keys. Well, one thing led to another, and this practice has evolved into 'play a well-known blues head in all keys and then practice the blues scale in the context of that well-known blues'. So I've posted links to my blues practice on the tune Billie's Bounce. I call this my "improv exercises", tho' a lot of what I'm doing is scripted, with not very much "improvised". My goal in each key: 1) play the melody with both hands 2) play the melody with the RH and a blues-appropriate bass line with the LH 3) play the appropriate blues scale in the RH and a blues-appropriate bass line with the LH 4) try to play coherent phrases with the blues scale improv 5) try to play the LH bass quieter than the RH improv 6) be relaxed; stay relaxed I'm happy to hear your feedback. Please be kind. These videos are me practicing, not performing per se. Thank you for viewing. Billie's Bounce Key of C# 80 BPM I'm not very good at playing blues in C#, so the blues scale playing is very conservative. Billie's Bounce Key of D 80 BPM I'm a little more comfortable in the key of D, so I can be a little more adventurous with my blues scale playing.