NZGuitars.com

Been tidying up files on the PC and found this backer for the Zappa track Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. It only plays twice through, but I was thinking that anyone who's keen could record over the full track and post back, then in a few weeks i'll join 'em all together, kinda like the chain-o-shred thing that was going on.

Given all the discussions going on lately around theory and like, I was thinking it would be good if all posters could give a bit of a blurb about what they played over the top, e.g. what scales, arpeggios, passing notes etc and why. (There's been too much talkin' lately, not enough playin' )

Also, even though it's a jazzy sounding piece in 6/4, it's at a pretty slow pace and a C# minor pentatonic (box shape at fret 9)works over the whole thing, so all those out there who want to have a try shouldn't find it too tricky.

So, anyone keen?

Cool tune! Love Zappa. Wish I had some recording gear

good call, I'll have a blast over it Got to sort out the filesize uploading problem at some point!

Jops wrote:Cool tune! Love Zappa. Wish I had some recording gear

Haven't heard much Zappa stuff myself, to be honest, but have started checking out a few youtube clips of late - quite impressive playing. It's been mentioned on the site before, but Audacity is not bad for recording stuff, and free, and the asio4all drivers pretty much take care of latency. I can find some links if it's helpful.

Anyone else keen to play over this one?

Yeah I got Audacity but I can't stop it from clipping and the latency prob is a pain as well. I'm such a noob. Links to any fixes would be a great help

Here's a crack at it.

As for what I did (other than noodle ), over the C# I used C# Dorian (mostly - I think some b6s stole in there too). Just cos I thought it sounded better with a natural 6, really. The second time around just before the F# I played an F# diminished arpeggio - cos I liked the sound of it more than anything. What you end up with though, is the natural 7 relative to the C#, which sounds quite cool. I also threw in a b5 somewhere so it would be blues shred instead of just shred I also leaned on the 9th (D#) a bit, as it gives a nice unresolved, wanting to go somewhere, yearning sort of vibe. Resolving to 1, 3, or 5 too much wouldn't have suited this track, I don't think.

Over the F# I used F# dorian.

Over the first G# I played an Amin/maj7 arpeggio starting on G# That's with the notion that to fit an altered V chord you can play a melodic minor starting on the vi (in this case A). A melodic minor has a major 7,therefore, a minor/maj7 arpeggio.

The rest was just warbling around, really.

cue sgt mukuzi and deterioration of thread...

Here's my hack at it. What a fricken awful time signature to try to solo to!

What did I play?

...My bloody guitar!

Ah, I see what you did there. Amaj7 over the Lycanthropic Dorian inverted 9th... Yea right!

Sounds good. Dammit, now I want to have a go.

Basket Case wrote:Here's my hack at it. What a fricken awful time signature to try to solo to!

Is now a good time to mention that it's in 6/4, apart from the second to last bar which is 5/4? ( <- looking sheepish)

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Basket Case wrote: What did I play?

...My bloody guitar!

Jops wrote:Yeah I got Audacity but I can't stop it from clipping and the latency prob is a pain as well. I'm such a noob. Links to any fixes would be a great help

I'm assuming Windows on a PC here

http://asio4all.com/ - free drivers that will improve the latency of onboard (built-in) soundcards.Just download and install. You then need to change the audio driver in the preferences of your recording program to use the asio driver rather than the default windows one.

If Audacity isn't doing it, then http://www.multitrackstudio.com/download.php isn't bad for a limited multitrack program (limited to 3 tracks only, but it's genuinely free)

Reaper, http://reaper.fm/download.php, is another good multitrack program that works well with the asio4all drivers (this is what i used, along with some VST plugins)

Basket Case wrote:Here's my hack at it. What a fricken awful time signature to try to solo to!

What did I play?

...My bloody guitar!

Nice

I especially love the widdle over the first G# much coolness.

Ok, here's my stab at it.

I don't (can't) play fast, so I try and make use of spaces and long notes, as well as varying the timing of notes e.g trying to start phrases on a beat other than 1, play 3 notes over the space of 4 etc. Sort of like a spoken conversation, i guess.

Note wise, nothing too fancy, mainly C# minor pentatonic and B major pentatonic, with the A note added in every so often in both scales. Also tried slotting in a D# dimnished and C# harmonic minor (basically the c natural note)