Quote:
Originally Posted by Grinning Boy
First Tony, I want to personally express how much I appreciate you coming up with this idea and getting it up and running. For me this is becoming one of those things that come along every now and then and re-ignites my guitar passion flames!
I also really want to thank you for suggesting that Zoom Q8. I had shied away from videos as I wan't sure where to even begin, but spending just a little time with its instructions manual got me up and running. Technology is great!
A few years ago I printed out When You Wish Upon a Star from Wikifonia, but for whatever reason never really gave it a go. I don't know why though because it has all the requisites in my opinion. It has a beautiful melody and it's recognizable. The tune will likely stir memories in people. And I didn't realize it has a wonderful bridge that may be my favorite part of the song.
I haven't picked a key yet for myself as I want to sit down and study on it a little while. But I can't wait to get going on it.
By the way, I like everything you wrote as far as the rules etc. One suggestion I would make to see if you and others agree. I understand your concerns about armchair quarterbacking. However, I wonder if we may still want to encourage general comments or posts about tricks and techniques for things such as chord substitutions, embellishments, etc. There may be people willing to share some great knowledge and tips that don't want to jump full board into the group. Perhaps if we said these types of comments were welcome as general observations, but not as criticisms of a specific person's arrangement?
Again thanks Tony!
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Thanks Grinning Boy. I am sure that whatever key you decide to do the tune in, it will be a really fine arrangement.
As for allowing other people to comment, I wrestle with that mainly because it would be (in my personal opinion) best if the folks giving ideas were doing so from real world experience of actually doing arrangements, at least in a study group. However, I am not the last word on this. It isn't my thread - I just started it. So if folks want to let people who are not arrangers themselves, talk about arranging, that is fine with me.
I wrote up my usual "blocked in" arrangement and played through it a few times. The tune, to me, feels like a chord melody - big, lush chords with the melody floating on top, rather than a fingerpicking tune. I think at least part of that is because there is very little syncopation - almost all the melody notes fall on a beat.
Also, some of the chords in the book I got the tune from just didn't sound quite right to me. I used some chord subs in those cases. I need to play through the tune more before doing a video so it at least sounds like something coherent, but a video is forthcoming (forthwith ?).
I should clarify what I mean by "chord subs" here. I agree with Howard Morgan when he says that adding color tones to a chord is not a substitution because it is still the same chord. Using a different chord (even if it is an inversion of the original chord, but serving as a different chord in context) is a substitution (i.e. a G13 is still at heart a G7, while a b5 sub - Db13 IS a sub).
Some people do consider a G13 to be a chord substitution for a G7. Who am I to argue about it? But for me personally, it is easier to keep track of in my mind harmonically, to think of it the way Howard Morgan did.
Tony