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Take the Eddie Lang challenge!
Lango-Django
Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
OK, campers it’s been too quiet around here for a while now.
Maybe it’s because everyone’s avoiding me ever since in a previous thread I revealed many salacious details about my guitar-o-sexual leanings and then went on to call my fellow posters “my fellow wankers”, who knows?
Anyway, t’was all in good fun... as I hope shall be the next activity for my fellow, um, campers...
IT’S THE EDDIE LANG CHALLENGE! WITH GIANT HUNDRED DOLLAR PRIZE!
YAY!
Here’s how it works!
You start by choosing your Nom de Plume, because entries will be judged by your peers here at Djangobook.com and we don’t want your popluarity here, or lack thereof in certain cases, be a factor.
(And please, DO NOT choose an obvious clanger like “Serbian Savant” ! We are going for anoymity here!)
OK! Now that you’ve done that, remember how Eddie always had those brilliant connecting runs that he would play between chords... as well exemplified by his legendary performance on the 1927 Bix Beiderbecke - Frankie Trumbauer side, “Singin’ the Blues”... take a listen...
or better still, the wonderful recording by the many of the same musicians, the immortal “I’m Comin’ Virginia”...
... this may well be a prehistoric area for a lot of guys who play GJ but hey, Eddie Lang’s brilliant contribution to American jazz is a history which all of us American players can be proud of.
So now that you are suitably inspired by Eddie’s example, here is the challenge.
You are going to take these two chords: Am and D7 (which BTW includes any flavour of A minor chord and any flavour of D7 dominant chord)
And clever little person that you are, you are going make up a clever little connector run...(like preferably one bar or two... please no more!)
... a connector run which would make Eddie Lang’s spirit, as well as the entire DB gang, say “Who da fuck was THAT?”
And then you are gonna record it.
And then you are going to PM me with your email address so we can arrange for you to email me your recording...
And to preserve your anonymity, I will post your little recording here on this thread using your Nom de Plume.
That everybody can hear it and then click the “LIKE” button if they choose.
And then together we will try to figure out who won... and the winner gets the glory, plus a hundred dollar gift certificate from Djangobooks.com!
(NOTE: The cash prize replaces the previously mentioned trophy which is just too much @#$% bother!)
If this thing flies, we can do this every year!
(If it’s a big flop, then we’ll just quietly forget about it, OK?)
so, what do you say, campers!
Are you in?
Do ya wanna have some FUN...?
Will
5 am
insomnia
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Comments
Well well well, I must say, this is quite the challenge!
I'm IN!
What's the deadline for this little ol' run cuz I'm lookin to have some fun this weekend!
An excellent question... !
How does a midnight May 15 deadline for submissions sound?
Will
PS Please... tell us more about Eddie Lang’s guitar pick!
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Uh oh, looks like we already have a ringer :-)
OK, I just purchased a hundred dollar Djangobooks.com gift certificate from Michael Horowitz...
...so that is the prize which will go to the contest winner, instead of the trophy which I mentioned earlier...
Hope that is ok? Because it's easier for me and probably more desirable for you!
Hope to see some entries soon, don't wait till the last minute!
Will
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Dang Lang! I’m in.
Wait... you're seriously doing a contest? Wow man, you know how to kick up the dust. Can you point to specific parts of these tunes with EL style connectors? And... maybe you meant "Bosnian Savant"? If you were going for obvious that is.
That time line works for me!
Well, if I ever come across one of Eddie Lang's guitar picks, I'm hoping it is a "Like Mike" situation. If you haven't seen the movie, here is the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTHJyw1UsLM
One can dream right? I thought maybe if I bought one of those Nick Lucas picks I'd be set, but I still can't sing Tiptoe through the tulips for shit!!!
And... maybe you meant "Bosnian Savant"?
Ha ha. I was going to chime in with that, but thought there might be another person on the board he was referring to. Maybe you should try B.osnian U.nderC.over O.stinato?
Very cool idea. Already working on it.
The Bosnian Savant has asked me to point to more Eddie Lang “connectors”, and I think that this 1928 masterpiece illustrates them in spades...
... Eddie plays a blazing single note intro, then switches to playing beautiful chords for the 16 bar verse...
...then when he gets to the chorus, he starts “multi-tasking”... the melody notes are right out front, but behind them it’s almost as if a second guitar occasionally chimes in with background chords...much in the manner of modern player Lenny Breau...
...its that seamless interplay between the chords and the single-note fills or “connectors” (usually in first position!) that I’m trying to get at here which made Eddie’s playing so wonderful, at least to me...
i suppose some people might call this “chord melody” style but the reason I don’t do that is because we banjo players use the same words to describe the way we play the melody using only chords without any single notes...
***
So just imagine that you are Eddie Lang, and while accompanying Joe Venuti’s violin, here come the chords Am and D7... so what do you do?
Just play la pompe for Am four beats and D7 four beats?
No! you play the Am chord, then make up some kind of cool single note “run”, or “fill” or “connector” to take you to the D7 chord!
So that’s the same thing I am hoping to hear contest entrants do... good luck! Have fun!
Will
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."