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Topic: Making arrangements with popular melodies |
Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 12:11 pm |
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Hey, Curt, it seems to me that is the exact process behind most of the steel instrumental music of the last 3 decades... I suppose a very few players use the real book or some sheet music for the foundation of their arrangements, but most follow pretty much the path you have to create a "vocal-less" version of a recognizable tune. The skill and finesse involved are what separates one version, and maybe one player, from another.
It was Buddy Emmon's version of "Wichita Lineman" on the Suite Steel record that got me me into playing steel, I bought a Maverick and Winston's book the same morning I heard it. It wasn't even the melody at all that caught my ear, but the lilt and movement in his arrangement, the way the tones flowed and bent to create the melody and harmony he used. Pretty much what you're talking about I think.
I've got it on my bucket list as well to learn a bunch of standards and do a piano bar gig with a standup bassist and small kit drummer. One of these days...
And yes, anyone who hasn't soaked in the Emmons/Pennington collection should run to seek them out. Some of the classiest, most uptown arrangements ever done with stellar recording, and what may arguably be some of the best, richest tones Buddy's gotten on record. Sublime.
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com |
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Curt Trisko
From:
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 1:11 pm
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| Mark van Allen wrote: |
It was Buddy Emmon's version of "Wichita Lineman" on the Suite Steel record that got me me into playing steel, I bought a Maverick and Winston's book the same morning I heard it. |
I also heard this version when I was starting out. It truly is remarkable. I guess what I should've said was that you don't see amateur steel players doing more recent songs. I'll admit that doing your own arrangement forces you out of the woodwork in that you really have to apply your taste for what you think the song needs and doesn't need. That's what I find fulfilling but I can understand why it's too much for others. |
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Niels Andrews
From:
Salinas, California, USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 3:11 pm
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I am with you on this Curt. I feel the reason you don't hear more popular songs posted is that three chord Country has been the meat and potatoes of steel guitar for years.
Most people don't want to learn music theory or scales or to learn how to improvise. Most instruction is based on tab. How many people have you heard on these pages ask for tab to a very simple song? When they should be able to figure it out just plinking a scale? Not putting them down just stating a fact.
If you go to a "Steel Guitar Show" generally it is the same set reshuffled over and over. There are a few that break out of the box, but are they well received?
Just look how this thread went from your question to Emmons and Tab? This will change, and fairly fast as this generation passes.
_________________
Die with Memories. Not Dreams.
Good Stuff like Zum S-12, Wolfe Resoport
MSA SS-12, Telonics Combo. |
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Curt Trisko
From:
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 3:58 pm
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| Niels Andrews wrote: |
| This will change, and fairly fast as this generation passes. |
Niels, I agree. There have been a few times where I've been on this forum responding to a thread and I find myself attributing this or that to all the baby boomers on here. There's good and bad things to be said about everyone, but so much of what's on this forum is centered on them and their perspectives.
I was reading an article on the internet by a social commentator written right at the time that air conditioning was becoming popular and talking about how much it changed the rhythm of society. The same guy also talked about how tv and radio created homogenization of taste and eroded regionalism.
This is what keeps occurring to me when I hear baby boomers talk about music. They had tv and radio, but very little choice or selection, so they ended up liking the same kinds of music. The stuff that made it on tv and radio in turn was selected by industry executives. Because they were all listening to roughly the same stuff, it was self-reinforcing and they thought that of course it was the best music ever made.
What we see now with my generation is an urge to retrace cultural roots to before that time period (and right at the beginning of that time period) and then develop it out in a different direction that feels more right. |
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Niels Andrews
From:
Salinas, California, USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2014 4:04 pm
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Yes, many love to play the Senior Circuit, and I think that is great, but I play for myself.
_________________
Die with Memories. Not Dreams.
Good Stuff like Zum S-12, Wolfe Resoport
MSA SS-12, Telonics Combo. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 20 Aug 2014 2:26 pm
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| Quote: |
| Making arrangements with popular melodies |
| Quote: |
| BTW, here's part of an arrangement I made of a Schubert piece when I was beginning. |
It's probably just me, but somehow...those two don't seem to go together. |
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Curt Trisko
From:
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2014 4:14 pm
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That's a popular song, right? Just like how most people know Fur Elise. It's not Popular Music.....
Are you mad about the boomer comment? |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2014 9:40 pm
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Curt, I'm interested in your "boomer" views, I guess I'm on the tail end of that, born in '54...
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| What we see now with my generation is an urge to retrace cultural roots to before that time period (and right at the beginning of that time period) and then develop it out in a different direction that feels more right |
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I'm not sure exactly what "more right" means, although tracing cultural roots is certainly a laudable pursuit.
My issue with current music is that much of what was considered "pop" music when I was "coming up" was just, um, so much better than what I've been hearing in recent years. When I was in Jr.- and High School, when we turned on the radio we heard Motown, Sinatra, Elvis, Bacharach, but all modulated by a then current crop of singer/songwriters like Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Elton John, the Beatles... so much of it with more lyrical and harmonic content than most of today's writing, and certainly more interesting melodies if one was looking for a song to cover instrumentally. Please enlighten me if I'm missing similar quality in a large swath of recent writers- I'm just not hearing it.
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com |
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Curt Trisko
From:
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
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Posted 21 Aug 2014 3:39 am
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Mark, I agree 100% that the quality of professional songwriting was great back then. What I'm talking about is the fascination among artistic types with 'roots' music. I suppose that's a relative term since I bet some people would put artists like Buck Owens in that category.
What I mean by "feels more right" is applying hindsight to those musical trends. The Boomers are famous for self-indulgence and having trouble keeping their compasses straight. |
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