YTSEJAM Digest 4125 Today's Topics: 1) Shred etc by Christopher Ptacek 2) Time sigs for the non musician by Christopher Ptacek 3) in the listening booth with TAMP by email_address_removed (Bruce Forst) 4) Who is copying my tabs??? by email_address_removed 5) re: Kevin Shirley fan club by email_address_removed (Bruce Forst) 6) Re: Portnoys from Hell. Sorry, I'm bored. (NDTC) by Damon Fibraio 7) More about jewel cases by Haje Jan Kamps 8) Re: defending producer Shirley by Damon Fibraio 9) Re: Who is copying my tabs??? by Digital Man 10) Re: Falling into Infinity by Damon Fibraio 11) Re: Kevin Shirley and Tot by Damon Fibraio 12) Re: More abou tjewel cases by Damon Fibraio 13) Re: Rhythm Patterns by "Trevin Wagner" 14) re: Chuck D's address by Bert Baldwin 15) Re: Rhythm Patterns (AGAIN!) by "Trevin Wagner" 16) Re: Bozzio, Shirley by Ernesto Schnack 17) Re: DT Sucks? by Glen Brooks ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 11:52:16 -0500 (CDT) From: Christopher Ptacek To: email_address_removed Subject: Shred etc Message-ID: How often can you listen to 64th notes at 200BPM... hmm... on guitar? How about never? I don't believe that speed has been recorded with any legitimacy. :) The shred thing is an interesting topic for me. It has been my experience that the majority of people who talk about hating people's music "because there's too much shred," are as closed minded as the morons who hate people because they have a sample or two, an electronic beat or two, or a lack of shred. It's a silly thing to take a stand against. There's a great deal of shred out there that is rather useless... but I really believe the majority of the genre (if one must lump all technical electric guitar music into one category) does attain some musical goal. Why doesn't anyone ever make fun of Brahms or Liszt? Liszt was inspired by the technical virtuosity of players like Paganini and wanted to expand that concept on the piano. Several of his pieces were written to be as technically challenging as possible. The Transcendental Etude is a scary little piece of music! You have to approach shred differently than you would approach other music. Too many people listen to it, bogged down with their own pretentions of what good music is (VERY often influenced by what they themselves can play, or what they think they may be able to play.) If one such person listened to Perpetual Burn (Jason Becker) he may insult the music merely because he doesn't believe he'll ever attain that level of technical proficiency. That's extremely disconcerting, because that generally means he missed the music entirely because he was too caught up in what he can do instead of what he's hearing. I was discussing this with a friend on IRC... the way I like to consider it is that each album is like a planet. Putting the album on should take you to that planet. If it fails, it may not be a great album, or you may have been a poor listener. That's right, you yourself can be at fault. If you listen to a good piece of Romantic Era piano music and aren't moved, you're just not in a position to say it's bad music... clearly, someone like Chopin just ISN'T a poor musician. Chances are, you just didn't understand the music very deeply. It happened to me with 3 of my biggest heros. When I first heard Perpetual Burn, I recall not remembering hearing any fast guitar stuff on it (that was about 9 years ago... I was 11 or 12). When I first heard Ron Thal, I thought he was playing the same notes everyone else was (I don't know how... I guess trying to transcribe one of his solos is a sure fire cure for that!) and when I first heard Michael Hedges, I thought it was boring! BORING! Clearly _I_ was wrong. Clearly _I_ didn't understand what I was hearing. I can recommend some shred that I just don't believe can be considered "fast for the sake of fast" if anyone is interested. Jason Becker: Perpetual Burn. Tony MacAlpine: Maximum Security. Al DiMeola: Kiss My Axe, or Casino. Yngwie Malmsteen: Rising Force. Greg Howe: Five. Try those out. Listen to it as music, instead of as guitar. Listen as a musician or a human being, not a guitarist (try not to let your preconceptions cloud what you're actually hearing.) Consider your first opinions of the music. If you dislike it, put it away for a week, or a month or so. But above all, come back and listen again. You're not going to be the same person next year as you are today anyways. Your tastes will change, if only marginally. I find that a reading something while I listen helps me soak it up without thinking about what the musician is actually doing technically. That might help some people out... I dunno. I would just like to see people stop pretending that the development of significant technical prowess means that the music is boring, lifeless, or less passionate than that made by someone who has to fight for every note. There's just no logical reason for that. - Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 12:20:43 -0500 (CDT) From: Christopher Ptacek To: email_address_removed Subject: Time sigs for the non musician Message-ID: Okay... here we go. So you're a non-musician, and don't understand time signatures (4/4, 5/8, 17/8 etc) but can feel the flow of the music you're listening to. I'm sure there are plenty out there like this. When you hear Erotomania for the one hundredth time, you can tap your foot to it, but you don't keep a regular foot tap going... sort of disjointed and all... Well, here's an easy way to understand time sigs. Look at the seconds hand of a watch or clock or whatever. Tap your hand on your desk once each second until you have an even rhythm. Once you have it together, double it (this should obviously still be pretty slow and easy to do). Count with the taps, one, two, three, four. You can tap with your other hand on the two and four if you like. What you're doing is playing in 4/4. There are 4 beats before the pattern repeats, making each one worth 1 quarter of the whole amount of time the patter (or measure) takes up. Each beat is thus called a quarter note. To make it an odd time signature, instead of tapping 4 times, tap 5 times. You're still keeping the same speed, so logically these are quarter notes still (thus, the denominator of the fraction will still be 4) but now you've extended the length of the measure to 5 beats... and you have 5/4. John Petrucci taught in one column that for faster stuff, he likes to count odd times as "1-2-1-2-3" for 5/4 ot 5/8 or whatever... using groupings of two, with a group of three at the end, so that you can easily divide up the beat of what you're hearing (and so you can avoid counting "se-ven" in a 7/8 measure and accidentally giving that note 2 beats). With the little desk tap, you can do this as well... count 1, 2 and then 1, 2, 3 with your little hand taps. When you see 7/8 or 5/8, the denominator tells you that the notes are half as long as in 5/4. It's just standard fractions. Try tapping 7/8, by doubling the speed you were tapping at, counting two groups of 2 and one group of 3. "OnetwoOnetwoOnetwothree" Emphasize the "Ones" and you'll hear a beat similar to part of Metropolis. Any other time sigs can be broken down in exactly the same fashion. There's a tune by Steve Lukather and Los Lobotomys that plays in 17/8 for a while (Called "Party in Simon's Pants" with Simon Philips on drums... be afraid!). Even this can be easily counted out once you're comfortable with how it's done. I know this is long and drawn out and probably a bit tedious for those of you who do understand time sigs, but I realized that the dude who asked the question is probably one of MANY jammers who doesn't know what time sigs are... I figured this might help out a few people... it certainly helps you understand some more complex music. - Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 13:41:54 -0500 From: email_address_removed (Bruce Forst) To: email_address_removed Subject: in the listening booth with TAMP Message-ID: Dr. Mosh RE: TAMP >About as interesting as paper bags. He took away all the passion, made it >adult contemporary... if you call that shit interesting, maybe you should >try some Kenny G. umm, never been a fan of his... sorry. But lets have a look at the two versions strictly from an analytical viewpoint. Listening along will help... DEMO version: VERSE 1: strumming acoustic guitar and singing.... organ chords.... CHORUS:big powerchords and key layering... generic drumbeat (sorry mike...) VERSE 2: guitar swells.. more key chords (was this derek playing or one of those autochord casios?) guitar melody that carried over to the final version. CHORUS: more big guitar and keys... BRIDGE: basic chords once again... SOLO: sounds like a cool solo.. VERSE 3: more casio and guitar swells.... nice singing by James though PRECHORUS: drum fills and more drum fills.... CHORUS: same same same.... repeat...repeat repeat... overall.... a nice demo version of a song, not alot of instrumentation... just basics... ALBUM version: VERSE 1: the Carribean beat and the main guitar melody start and repeat through the entire song! LIsten to the bass, a nice little countermelody... huh? the casio chords are still there though.... CHORUS: A new drum beat starts OVER THE OTHER BEAT... some pretty damn slick hihat work by mikey and JP plays some nice chord forms and melodies throughout.... hear the slide guitar in the background? VERSE 2: same as 1 but a little more embellishment from JP with the space guitar... CHORUS: man are those hihats way up in the mix or what? and JP's sliding around on those upper frets... BRIDGE: nice beat by mikey and some sort of weird guitar work going on... little hints of acoustic guitar... SOLO: its a solo... a damn fine one too VERSE 3: back to the main repeating elements... they were there all along. PRECHORUS: Bombastic... throw in a little drum overdubs on those fills!!! CHORUS: more drum overdubs and guitar layering. overall... much more work on the arrangement...basing the song around the repeating elements and less of the straight ahead heavy powerchords; saving the hard hitting bombastic parts till later in the song instead of giving away the secret too early.... much improvement on the drums... very intelligent beats that create a nice groove instead of just plodding along... James kicked ass on both version in my opinion... and derek.. umm... I guess it was subtlety? We cant really say that equates to a more passionate song.. I mean if the demo version makes the hairs on your neck prickle then thats suppacool. But to my ears (yes, suprise its been my opinion all along!!) the album version sounds more like a finished piece with more thought and grace. Thats what helps make it INTERESTING to me... bruce forst email_address_removed ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:06:57 EDT From: email_address_removed To: email_address_removed Subject: Who is copying my tabs??? Message-ID: Last week I sent in my version of the Metropolis bass solo. Today I find that some guy has posted the exact same solo. Who the hell is he??? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 14:03:46 -0500 From: email_address_removed (Bruce Forst) To: email_address_removed Subject: re: Kevin Shirley fan club Message-ID: "Thomas Forcier" wrote: >But then again, I think the best produced Satch album is the self-titled >one, and I get routinely slammed for that belief. Go figure...? That is an amazingly produced album! Congrats on being (apparently) one of the few people with finely tuned ears... 4 VERY WELL PRODUCED CDS: Dream Theater - Falling into Infinity Kevin Gilbert - Thud Radiohead - OK Computer Joe Satriani - Self Titled Honerable mentions: KC - Thrak, Tool - Aenima, DMB -Crash, Rush - Couterparts, and some others.... I seriously think most prog is mixed by an anonymously one eared man... either that or lack of decent recording equipment. But almost anybody can get an awesome sound these days for a decent amount of money. If you want to get into the home recording business which I would recommend for all aspiring musicians then I would snatch up a copy of the latest issue of Electronic Musician which I believe covers how to set up a working studio on several budgets ranging from $2000 to $45,000. Learning the basics of how to acheive a good sound from your equipment, and getting the sound you want onto a recording medium can be an invaluable experience and a money saving one if your band ever decides to go to the studio or take a crack at recording yourself Ala Primus.The Kevin Gilbert album was freakin' recorded in his house for chrissakes!! Some sage advice... NEVER let the guitarist adjust the mix!!! :-) bruce forst email_address_removed ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:16:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Damon Fibraio To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Portnoys from Hell. Sorry, I'm bored. (NDTC) Message-ID: The blind leading the blind? I must say I am confused. I have been using win95 since October of last year. I have installed it my computer two times and on others computer another two or three times. I am quite capable with the operating system, now if somebody can just get me up with Office 97 ... -- Damon Fibraio, email email_address_removed Keyboardist, vocalist, and looking for work "I can see much clearer, now I'm blind."--Dream Theater, Take The Time, Images and Words ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 98 21:29:17 +0200 From: Haje Jan Kamps To: Subject: More about jewel cases Message-ID: >> WHY not just call the suckers "CD cases" or "CD covers".. Like anyone >> else? :) > >Get yourself a mental image of a diamond ring. See the tiny pieces of >gold that stick up and support the jewel? Get a good sense of what >these look like before you read further. They're almost finger-like >in appearance. Got it? > >Now, go look at the things in the middle of the CD case that support >the CD. Ermm.. I think that looks more like some kind of sadistic device in which you would chop off your finger, nose, or any other body part that might stick out. I'm not in particular implying a certain male body part, but come to think of it.. DAMN that would hurt I just thought of something... This doesn't have incredibly much DT content. Sorry bout that, and please forgive me (or don't.. in which case just shoot me) Prog on! Haje ____________________________________________________________________ | keyboardist - drummer - student Haje Jan Kamps | songtext writer - martial artist email_address_removed | Dream Theater fan - visual artist http://home.sol.no/~lrovers/haje | escaped mental institution client _________________________________|__________________________________ I'm not happy because I smile ----- I am smiling because I'm happy ...Has anyone seen my Chapstick? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:32:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Damon Fibraio To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: defending producer Shirley Message-ID: OK, Mosh, that response was rather rude. Let's be honest here. When I first heard Tamp, I thought, "Well, I like it, but it sounds like an 80s metal song." And let's be honest, it was an 80s metal song. Yes, it had emotion and passiona nd stuff, but it would've never done much, not that the current tamp is blazing up the charts or anything. And yes, the current tamp did lose some of the emotion in the translation, but ... it is different. So, it all comes down to whether you prefer an 80s song with emotion or a different song that sounds a little more bland. I find emotion in it. Can I be crossing the line when I say that maybe you are stuck with the "if it isn't metal, it sucks" mindset? Sting is quite talented, and while I don't like Kenny G, I think he can play a sax quite well. If you want to slag anybody about tamp, let's look at the facts. Even the demo was the least proggy thing that DT had ever done. I kind of thought it sounded like Skid Roe's ballads or even Bon Jovi. Now, flame me if you want, I still liked the song and I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing, maybe the rest of you do. But, it is not Metropolis, Scarred, or even New Millennium or Burning my Soul. And I don't hear anybody slaggin Anna Lee or HY because those songs scream of adult contemporary. And lastly, I didn't likeyour tone, boy. And that is hard, considering my computer reads everything to me in a monotone voice with only a slight hint of inflection. Get a grip on yourself, man. -- Damon Fibraio, email email_address_removed Keyboardist, vocalist, and looking for work "I can see much clearer, now I'm blind."--Dream Theater, Take The Time, Images and Words ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:36:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Digital Man To: email_address_removed Subject: Re: Who is copying my tabs??? Message-ID: A thousand monkeys in email_address_removed's basement typed: > Last week I sent in my version of the Metropolis bass solo. Today I > find that some guy has posted the exact same solo. Who the hell is > he??? If your tab is correct, then isn't it safe to assume that anyone else that has correctly tabbed out the solo produced the same tab as you? Just wondering. d-man learns by ear ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Digital Man \|/ ____ \|/ "640 K ought to be enough email_address_removed "@'/ ,. \`@" memory for everyone." -Gates email_address_removed /_| \__/ |_\ "He won't need a bed http://www.dreamt.org/d-man \__U_/ He's a digital man" -Peart ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:38:58 -0400 (EDT) From: Damon Fibraio To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Falling into Infinity Message-ID: John, I was the same way. I bought FII, and played it, and loved it. There were songs that took a little time to grow on me, but when I heard New Millennium, I was floored, and Lines in the Sand kicked me in the nuts so hard that I will never have children. -- Damon Fibraio, email email_address_removed Keyboardist, vocalist, and looking for work "I can see much clearer, now I'm blind."--Dream Theater, Take The Time, Images and Words ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:45:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Damon Fibraio To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Kevin Shirley and Tot Message-ID: Here's my production gripes with FII. Firstly, the intro to Burning my Soul on the demo was awesome and I wish they would've at least kept that around, maybe combining the two intros together. I do like the splitting of HK into a second song, especially with the way it segways into LITS, but I also liked it in the middle of the song, too. call me weird. Now, the thing I hate most is the little cut in the beginning of TOT. Right when MP counts off the song, when everybody first comes in after the intro, I hear a nasty sound of the keyboards cutting out, as if Derek changed a patch. How is it that nobody caught this. It ruins the whole intro for me. does anybody else hear this? I think tot would be a nice closing song, or at least a good first song in an encore, but what about it being an opening? The intro just fades in and presents this great mood. Maybe I am nuts. It would be nice in the encore, though. I wonder how the ending would work, since it sort of fades out like it fades in. I mean, most endings to DT shows are long endings with everybody going nuts and James yelling that they'll be back and such. I always thought that is how concerts should end. Not with these abrupt endings or songs like tot where the ending is this soft chord, but with thrashing around endings like metropolis. -- Damon Fibraio, email email_address_removed Keyboardist, vocalist, and looking for work "I can see much clearer, now I'm blind."--Dream Theater, Take The Time, Images and Words ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:50:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Damon Fibraio To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: More abou tjewel cases Message-ID: Wait, those things that support the CD in the middle of a jewel case? You mean, the ones that eventually come off and leave your cd vulnerable to sliding around the case about 4 weeks after you buy the case? Yeah, I know those well. Jewel cases suck and I think we should have a better way of storing CDs. Even those cardboard cases suck, not because they break, but because those jewel thingies always break off and leave the cd to slide around or fall out. Especially in double CD cases. I was actually glad they shrunk those down since you can actually put them in cd carriers now and stuff, but we need a better way of holding the cd in the case. Besides, those damn plastic cases are cheap and flimsy. -- Damon Fibraio, email email_address_removed Keyboardist, vocalist, and looking for work "I can see much clearer, now I'm blind."--Dream Theater, Take The Time, Images and Words ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 12:20:21 -0500 From: "Trevin Wagner" To: Subject: Re: Rhythm Patterns Message-ID: <001001bdbd70$ab272ca0$message_id_removed> >>What does it mean when a song is played in 4/4, 7/8, 19/16, and so on? hajejan wrote: >4/4 means there are four quarter notes in a measure. >7/8 means there are seven eighth notes in a measure. >19/16 means there are nineteen sixteenth notes in a measure. >etc :) Actually, that's kinda it. The first numeric means the number of beats per measure; second designates what is counted as a beat...but I'm just a keyboard player. I can say that 19/16 is seriously FUCKED!! You can have 16 sixteenth notes in a measure of 4/4 (four sixteenth notes or two eighth notes per beat), and since 19 can't be divided by 4... One of the COOLEST things MP does, and unfortunately I can think of none off the top of my head, is maybe play a pattern consisting of four measures of 5/4 (where the 1/4 note equals one beat and there are five beats in the measure) while the rest of the band plays five measures of 4/4. After twenty 1/4 note beats, it everybody's "1" is again in the same spot. That's why you get a drummer...it's all math, man!! Trevin Wagner ____________________________________ "We've made the bed where chaos breeds" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 20:23:28 +0000 (UTC) From: Bert Baldwin To: The YtseJam mailing list Subject: re: Chuck D's address Message-ID: his e-mail is email_address_removed -- Bort ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:28:48 -0500 From: "Trevin Wagner" To: Subject: Re: Rhythm Patterns (AGAIN!) Message-ID: <001401bdbd8a$fea1e040$message_id_removed> Before being sacrificed upon the altar..., I thus begged (THANKS DOC!!): >One of the COOLEST things MP does, and unfortunately I can think of none off >the top of my head, is maybe play a pattern consisting of four measures of >5/4 (where the 1/4 note equals one beat and there are five beats in the >measure) while the rest of the band plays five measures of 4/4. After >twenty 1/4 note beats, everybody's "1" is again in the same spot. Okay, so I still can't think of any DT examples, but I've got another. If you've got Enchant's 'Wounded', listen to BZ. The opening is a pattern of 8th note triplets in 4/4 (Bmaj). The same pattern comes back modulated before the solo and is used again in the 'outro'...EXCEPT the last time Craddick plays in 3/4 underneath it so it sounds totally screwed up. KICK ASS!! :) And to make it more interesting snare hits are dropped in odd places to syncopate a 4/4. >That's why you get a drummer...it's all math, man!! Trevin Wagner ____________________________________ "We've made the bed where chaos breeds" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 14:16:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Ernesto Schnack To: email_address_removed Subject: Re: Bozzio, Shirley Message-ID: > Bozzio - is he great? Yes. The best? Better than anyone else? (Portnoy, > etc.) How can you honestly say that? Well, its ridiculous to say any one person is 'the best' at anything, but as far as technique goes, Bozzio is on a level that few have reached. (Not even Portnoy, i'm sorry to say, but I'm sure Mike would be the first to agree here). Bozzio equals would include guys like Vinnie Colaiuta and Dave Weckl...actually i'm not so sure about Weckl, because I've never heard him, but from what ppl have told me... Despite all of this, MP is still one of my fave drummers, since there are other things you judge a musician with besides technique. As for Shirley...well, FII sounds too 'clogged' to me. There's not much transparency. Give me the sound from Awake with less reverb and lower guitars, and I'd be a happy man. Ern _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 14:18:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Glen Brooks To: email_address_removed Subject: Re: DT Sucks? Message-ID: Hey everybody, I just wanted to say a few things about OFB...Dream Theater.... John Petrucci....great guy, great player....but he suck as a guitar player. John Myung.......quiet guy, great player....but he sucks as a bass player..he's a typical bass player. James Labrie....great guy, dope head........but he sucks as a vocalist...Mary Jane don't help that singing voice. Derek Sherinian...great guy, GREAT PLAYER....if DT hadn't asked him to come into the band they would probably have disbanded...he really adds a lot to the band. Mike Portnoy...GREAT GUY, GREAY PLAYER...all round awesome dude...without him..there is no DT. What do y'all think? Glen P.S. I love DT!!! == "Sometimes a view from sinless eyes centers our perspectives and passifies our cries." Lines in the Sand,Dream Theater email_address_removed,email_address_removed Check out my band's webpage: http://www.flash.net/~xmittrs _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of YTSEJAM Digest 4125 **************************