steelstringcheese

In Part 1, I described how I devised an overall strategy for the arrangement, then transcribed the verse parts. In Part 2, we examined the keyboard part in the chorus. Today, I shall conclude by summarizing the other rhythm parts in the chorus and bridge.

The guitar in the chorus is elementary: 5th chords in rhythmic unison with the keys.

The bass doubles the roots throughout.

As I mentioned in Part 2, the keys need to dominate the arrangement right here. I have found in performance that laying low with the guitar part can be a challenge. Right before this tune, I need to do something that attenuates my overdrive channel volume. For now, it’s selecting a quieter model on my Variax, which I prefer to turning down the OD1 channel on my amp, which might prove difficult to do just the same way every night. This is a situation where a volume pedal or an extra EQ pedal might make life easier.

Our band’s manager asked if I could give our horns something to do. I wasn’t crazy about throwing horns into the mix, but it doesn’t hurt to give a group options. This arrangement will work with our without the horn section. I decided to use them only in the chorus to reinforce the keyboard.

I could have voiced the horns with the trumpet doubling the highest note of the keyboard — an obvious approach, given that the highest notes seem to carry an important melody. But that also seemed a bit too near the edge of the trumpet’s range. When you push an instrument that hard, its intensity can distract attention from the principal voice of the arrangement. So I took a chance in assigning the lead voice to the tenor sax and trombone, playing in unison, with the trumpet playing roots above. In jazz, this would be blasphemy. But after hearing this in performance, I’m okay with the results. The trumpet does tend to pop out a bit too much at times; but I figure that even if savvy listeners might notice something about the lead line that doesn’t resemble the album (which is unlikely), they have already accepted the use of horns — already a departure from the original.

The second half of the chorus has the guitar doing a repetitive, 4-note pattern:

This sounds like a synth in the original; it’s tough to tell because it’s one of the more subtle components of the arrangement. In performance, I cut my overdrive a bit. My approach is to use a Boss SD-1 throughout the tune, coupling it with the clean channel for the verse riff and the above pattern, and switching to the amp’s overdrive channel for the power chords in the chorus and the lead in the bridge. As in every other part of the arrangement, my objective is to lurk in the shadows and provide textural support. It is important to use your technology to suppress as well as impress.

Note the volume swell in the guitar part at the end of the first chorus:

Here I also had the tenor and trombone double the bottom two notes of the 5th chord. This is a type of subtle touch that often comes to mind when you are focused on making an arrangement sound ideal, and not simply transcribing parts.

Finally, here is the last new phrase in the song, a guitar lick that soars above the bridge:

I indicate “long delay” at the end of this section, so the final two notes can echo in the background during a break.

The rest of this arrangement was a matter of cutting parts here and there and mapping out sections. Finally, I double-checked the legibility in the parts, and made sure there were rehearsal marks and helpful dynamic markings where appropriate.

I hope this process has been educational. I recently completed another arrangement that I’d like to share in an upcoming post.

In a recent post discussing the problems with traditional head/solo/head arrangements, I said I would share an original piece that challenges this tradition. Here it is, a revision of something I wrote a while ago for a jazz combo:

“Phobos” (PDF)

My intention was to break the formal symmetry one usually perceives in jazz tunes. In my attempt, I employed the following methods:

1. Meter follows melodic impulse. Usually melody conforms to meter, but I wanted this melody to feel more organic and less metric. In progressive music, it sometimes appears that variations in meter are forced into arrangements for the mere sake of sounding sophisticated. I only tend to place meter changes where they are necessary to support the melodic or harmonic rhythms I hear in my imagination.

2. Traditional devices are used in unconventional ways. This piece contains breaks, send-offs and tutti, and has soloists taking turns — all familiar ideas in jazz. But breaks double as send-offs, phrases are irregular in length and at times segmented, and solos do not begin at clear divisions between formal sections.

3. Solos are Highly Structured. Instead of being asked to repeat the same set of changes ad infinitum, performers begin solos at specific moments that are displaced from sectional divisions; and each soloist finds himself playing over a different chord progression. The chord changes are based on root movement in the exposition (read: head), but develop it further rather than echo it.

4. The chord changes don’t cycle predictably. Conventional changes lead the ear to each sectional transition through the use of cadences. This piece avoids cadences that would sound out of place if shifted to the left or right of a double-bar.

5. The recapitulation is not an exact copy of the exposition. Rather than treat the beginning, non-improvised section as a head which simply repeats after the solos, I felt a greater effect could be achieved by allowing the final statement of the opening melody to continue the expected dynamic trajectory set up in the preceding solos.

I feel that even a small piece for a jazz ensemble can (and often should) be treated in a symphonic manner, by continuing development of a theme straight through to the end, and not simply treating the theme as a pair of bookends containing self-indulgent improvisations.

I plan to rehearse this with my new ensemble, yet to be named. I will keep you posted on results. In the meantime, if anyone out there tries performing “Phobos,” I would love to hear your interpretation.

I mentioned in a recent tweet that I just finished arranging a tune for my new group — “Sofa no. 1,” by Frank Zappa. Here is page one:

I’ll keep posting updates so you can share in the process of building this ensemble. Don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed!

Listen to this before reading on:

Pop Ballad Tail-Out Solo

For this job, my client sent me only the portion of the track that he needed me to solo over — the tail-out section of a pop ballad. Piece of cake, I thought. And the job did indeed only take me a night to complete, but in many takes.

In the studio environment, where I get to scrutinize every lick I play before committing it to posterity, I tend to get overly self-critical. This results in lots of “do-overs.” When you allow this to affect an entire solo, you’ll never get the job done. What I did in this case was improvise until I didn’t like what I was hearing, then punch in just after the last good lick. So the final product is improvised, but over multiple takes.

I think the solo ended up flowing very naturally. The key is playing along with your previous take before the punch engages. If you listened before reading this post, I expect you got the impression that you were hearing a single take. Let me know if I’m mistaken.

My last group, Avengers Assemble!, recorded a 5-song EP containing original compositions by the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Pat Peterson. The opening track is a ballad — not the slow-dancing type, but the “El Paso” type — which told the story of a renegade that met a Spanish honey while running for the border, only to die with her in a firefight. Here’s an excerpt of the track (available on iTunes), followed by an outline of my creative process:

Ballad of Johnny Eldorado — bridge and solo

This excerpt fades in during the end of the second chorus, in a song that utilizes the standard contrasting verse-chorus form. You should hear enough to get the flavor: The vocals and chord progression inspire a latin style, which I exploit during the bridge. Listen for the latin rock riff; I don’t know what it’s called (bolero? flamenco?), I only know how it’s played. I usually tried to play the single-note portions of the riff behind the beat, but this proved difficult live, while singing backup vocals.

After the drum/fx break, we modulate from Gm to Am. The whole-step modulation is a common technique in Pat’s music from this period, but usually reserved for a final chorus. Here, we modulate early and stay in the new key throughout the remainder of the song.

The solo is way out of character for the tune. Shredding when I probably should have done something more rootsy may have been my worst decision during these sessions, but I recall thinking that this was my least favorite track, so I might as well indulge myself. This is a case of showing off, and perhaps even borderline sabotage; but in hindsight I suppose we could justify the decision by calling this a modern update of the flashy Spanish guitar tradition.

I wrote most of the solo at home before entering the studio. At first, I committed the common error of writing material that was too difficult to perform at tempo. Usually when that happens, I simplify until I can bring the licks up to speed. My solution this time was to treat the solo as a two guitar call-and-response. I figured that by allowing myself to record the solo one lick at a time, there would be less pressure to get things right in one pass.

I alternated guitars between licks. One is an early 90′s Ibanez RG570 with pretty hot pickups, and the other is a late 80′s Ibanez RG560. Both are playing through the exact same rig — a Hughes & Kettner preamp using the built-in distortion, going into an Alesis EQ and a Peavey Classic 60/60 power amp, driving a Rivera Q212 speaker cabinet. I can’t remember if I used the lead channel, or the crunch channel plus a Boss CS3 compressor. The use of two guitars with the same amplification rig creates just enough tonal differentiation to help the listener discern between two “dueling” parts, without the guitars sounding so different as to disrupt the overall texture. We also panned the two leads left and right — something you usually do more with rhythm parts than leads.

Even after the careful planning and rehearsal, I struggle to remain on top of the beat during the first two licks. The entire tapped portion of the second lick is played on the first string, which enables me to play an ascending line more easily than I would across multiple strings. I miss a couple of notes, and I have wondered since whether listeners mentally fill in the gaps. For the third lick I’m playing a rather simple minor pentatonic sequence, but the hemiola (5 against 4) and my sliding from one position to the next with each iteration of the pattern creates a Vai-esque sound. The fourth lick was improvised in the studio. I can’t remember if this was specifically because I had a canned lick that didn’t work out, or — more likely — because I knew that it would be more appropriate to end with something that just flows spontaneously, so I didn’t even bother writing a final lick.

Most of my solos are improvised, or at least written through multiple improvised takes. This one is a rare example of something that I prepared before going in to the studio. If you plan to use showy, technically challenging licks, you’ll save your bandmates’ and producer’s time by going into the studio as well-rehearsed as possible.

Purchase the full song at Amazon.com.

Recently, I was contracted to record a solo for the tail-out section of an indie rock track. My only instruction was to “shred.” So I did:

Indie Rock Solo, take 1

My strategy was to go nuts and let the client narrow down his expectations after hearing what I could offer. I was fully aware that a metal solo is probably not welcome in an alt-rock track. I also knew that I had succumbed to diarrhea of the hands, especially after 0:31, and that I’d need to trim some fat. He responded as I expected, requesting something simpler.

The client helped me out by sending a recording of himself soloing in a scratch track, and describing which moments in his solo he wanted me to preserve. Specifically, the opening of the solo — alternating unison notes on adjacent strings — and the repetition of the f-naturals in the end were his contributions. I “Raymondized” those moments, and filled in the gaps with something more lyrical. Here was the final take:

Indie Rock Solo, take 2

What can we learn from this? Often, the progression from seed ideas to a finished product involves breaking down, not building up. Restraint is a virtue. Also, I thrive on suggestions. As soon as I heard the songwriter’s conception of how the solo would flow, I was in better touch with his vision.

“Fred Goes to the Races” is a short song for mezzo soprano and piano. The text is based on the caption of a comic by B. Kliban, from his posthumous Advanced Cartooning and Other Drawings, a collection of surreal single-page comics and miscellaneous sketches that I frequently enjoyed during my college years.

Please download and enjoy the score. I only ask that you notify me of any performances or recordings.

Fred Goes to the Races (pdf)

Calculator Revised Landmine is a Csound score, which is an adaptation of an early project of mine, intended to be a suite for General MIDI, but never completed. This is a 24-tone serial piece.

If you have Csound, you can render the original score; but I chose to polish the final product with a little tweaking in Logic Pro.  Here is the result:

Sco/Orc Files (zip)

Calculator Revised Landmine – mp3

I intend to rename this piece, maybe tweak it some more, and incorporate it into a greater work.  In the meantime, enjoy.