DjangoBooks.com

Take the Eddie Lang challenge!

2

Comments

  • Posts: 5,028

    It's ok, I love my Serbian brothers and sisters. There are at least a couple I can think of on the forum. By the way, Hot Club of Belgrade album Balkan Swings is one of my favorite albums in the genre.

    Ok, Will, I'll put EL as my daily dose of music listening. Then I'll imagine that I, Bosnian Savant, am accompanying JV's violin.

    Every note wants to go somewhere-Kurt Rosenwinkel
  • V-dubV-dub San Francisco, CA✭✭✭✭
    Posts: 325

    I just might need to take you up on this! I just worked out the whole first chorus of singin' the blues to try to figure out what's going on with going on with Eddie. My takeaways were to use a lot of thumb grips, play first inversions, and do bass notes on the "and".... also be a genius.

    My soundslice of it is here, if you want to play along :)

    https://www.soundslice.com/slices/s3kDc/edit/

    Here is my version with my pal Mikiya Matsuda on steel guitar playing the Tram chorus:


    rudolfochristlangsguitarpickBillDaCostaWilliamsBucolittlemarkBonesWillieLango-Django
  • plexi69plexi69 New
    Posts: 75

    That was a great jam you two did! Your friend really has the Hawaiian tone on his square neck. Nationals sound awesome. Thanks for posting that

    Willie
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    edited April 2021 Posts: 1,875

    Hey, V-dub, great work!

    But you've been working too hard, man!

    Because I am very sure that Eddie Lang played both “Singin’ the Blues” and “I’m Coming Virginia” using a capo on the first fret!

    Not because he was incapable of playing in the flat keys as you did, but because he liked those nice open strings for his first position single string connector runs...

    I know that with these old 78 recordings the original key is sometimes hard to decipher...

    The real proof can be found at the ending of “Virginia” when Eddie plays natural harmonics and the song is in the key of F... which can only have been done with a capo or retuning...

    ..cause as much as I admire Bix and Tram, I don’t think it’s remotely possible that they both played their immortal solos in concert E natural... ask any horn player and they will tell you that ain’t a ‘thing’...

    ... to further support my claim, I have the sheet music for both “Rainbow Dreams” and “April Kisses” which are chockful of similar Lang phrases, and both of these songs are in the key of D natural...

    (I don’t know how interested in reading you are, but if you are interested in PDF’s of these, please PM me...)

    But great work, both you and Mikiya! Joyful and fun!

    Will


    PS And one thing about Eddie Lang transcriptions ... you'll never get a sore thumb. but your pinky is gonna get some brand new callouses...

    and just remember: Eddie played all this stuff with super heavy strings, including a wound B string!

    BillDaCostaWilliams
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    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."
  • rudolfochristrudolfochrist Worms, GermanyNew Dupont MD-100
    Posts: 144

    Just one question: Are we supposed to resolve to G? Stopping on D7 makes me uncomfortable. 😅

    BillDaCostaWilliamsbillyshakes
  • plexi69plexi69 New
    Posts: 75

    Hi again, would you happen to know what tuning your friend was using on his square neck? I am guessing open g but I have only listened to it on a phone so I don’t know for sure. Thanks.

  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    edited April 2021 Posts: 1,875

    Yes, Rudolfo, please go ahead and play what feels natural, but no more than 4 bars, ok?

    And by the way, everyone--- if you would like to submit multiple entries to the contest, that's okay with me, too... but can we agree on a maximum of three submissions, please?

    I am hoping that part of the fun is going to be attempting to play along to try out some of the other posters' submissions and see how they work for us... hopefully we can all learn from each other...


    Wil

    rudolfochristBillDaCostaWilliams
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    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."
  • Posts: 5,028

    The game just got upped and everyone's chances diminished with Vic's interest.

    Will, my suggestion is set the time expectation to either resolve or not. Because I'm afraid our ear will always favore the example with a resolution regardless of how well something else might sound over II/V only.

    Every note wants to go somewhere-Kurt Rosenwinkel
  • BillDaCostaWilliamsBillDaCostaWilliams Barreiro, Portugal✭✭✭ Altamira M01F, Huttl, 8 mandolins
    Posts: 654

    The game just got upped and everyone's chances diminished with Vic's interest.

    My thoughts exactly.

    Still ... onwards and upwards.

    Bucorudolfochrist
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,875

    Will, my suggestion is set the time expectation to either resolve or not. Because I'm afraid our ear will always favor the example with a resolution regardless of how well something else might sound over II/V only.

    OK, that's a good point, Buco.

    Let's make it officially four bars, everybody:

    Am/// D7/// G/// G///

    And let's keep it in G major this time, please...

    (... if people start playing the changes as Am7b5//// D7-9/// Gm/// Gm//// it's going to sound less and less like Eddie Lang...)


    Thanks,

    Will

    BucoBillDaCostaWilliamsrudolfochristbillyshakes
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    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."
Sign In or Register to comment.
Home  |  Forum  |  Blog  |  Contact  |  206-528-9873
The Premier Gypsy Jazz Marketplace
DjangoBooks.com
USD CAD GBP EUR AUD
USD CAD GBP EUR AUD
Banner Adverts
Sell Your Guitar
© 2024 DjangoBooks.com, all rights reserved worldwide.
Software: Kryptronic eCommerce, Copyright 1999-2024 Kryptronic, Inc. Exec Time: 0.006341 Seconds Memory Usage: 0.997818 Megabytes
Kryptronic