mr dave

This track always make me feel like I'm waking up and exploring the first thoughts that occur in those moments. Seems appropriate for an entry that's all about exploring my musical thought process.

Alright, so in my continuing attempt to force myself out of my comfort zone let's rip up that August 3rd track. I'm going to focus on the bass first since that's what I played. One thing I'm really noticing with this experiment is just how much more I perceive hearing than what's actually played. Then again we also did try refining that one a bit so we could play something at least half-baked at a show so I'm likely remembering that version when I actually have the instrument in my hands. Either way I think it's important to record everything. On one hand it's superfluous, but on the other it affords full perspective from the initial creation through to the final revisions (if any).

So listening back to that track with instrument in hand with the intent of refining it, first thing I'm recognizing is how much fat there is that needs to be trimmed. It's to be expected though, improvising is like a meditative exercise in my experience, and just like meditating it only really happens until you notice its happening, compound that between the psyche of three individuals and it becomes a tricky balancing act to maintain all 3 suspended consciousnesses. As a result I kind of see the piece as a trio of triples, 3 instrumental voices, 3 main elements, and 3 rhythm structures.

For the 3 main elements I see it as a main / alternate theme, a bridge, and an outro. The main and alternate themes are repeated twice, first to establish a form, then to expand upon it, the third time serves to launch into the bridge before transitioning to the outro.

The 3 voices are relatively obvious, drums, bass, and guitar. Though I'm using the Mountain Song approach I discussed way back and looking to the bass as the sonic / rhythmic foundation in the first element, then a melodic accompaniment for the bridge, and finally for the outro not necessarily a lead voice but disconnected from the rhythmic structure enough to be able to take off on a vamp.

I've tabbed out plenty of bass lines in the past but I've never actually sat here and tried to figure out what specific notes were ever being played. For the sake of my sanity when it comes time to trying to figure out what kind of homemade chords J used to play his guitar part I'm going to add an extra line to the bass tabs to specify the notes.


For the main theme I feel the rhythm in three parts 1-2|123|1-2-3-4.
G-----------|-------------|--------------------------
D-----------|--3----------|---------3----------------
A---3-h-5--|------5-------|-----3-------5~~~~-----
E-----------|---------0-3-|-5------------------------
----C---D------F--D--E-G---A---C---F---D-----------

G-----------|-------------|----------------------------
D-----------|--3----------|---------3----------5--3---
A---3-h-5--|------5-------|-----3-------5---X--------
E-----------|---------0-3-|-5-------------------------
----C---D------F--D--E-G---A---C---F---D-----G--F---

G-----------|-------------|--------------------------
D-----------|--3----------|---------3----------------
A---3-h-5--|------5------|------3-------5~~~~-----
E-----------|---------0-3-|-5------------------------
----C---D------F--D--E-G---A---C---F---D-----------

G-----------|--------------|---------
D-----------|--3-----------|---------
A---3-h-5--|------5--0--3-|-5~~~~-
E-----------|--------------|---------
----C---D------F--D--A--C---D-------

While that's written out across 4 chunks I still see it as 3 parts since the first and third chunks are the same. Another thing tabbing this out is helping me recognize is the inherent balancing act my brain pulls off when I play. I don't think to balance the rhythmic figure but when I see the extra notes in the 2nd chunk that match the amount of missing notes in the 4th chunk it's kind of hard to deny. The other thing I'm noticing is D, F, A are the core notes which makes the next jump kind of harsh.

The alternate theme changes the rhythm structure a bit, I see it as a single part similar to the final structure in the main theme but with an extra 'and' so... 1-2-3-4and|1-2-3-4and etc. My natural instinct is to rewrite this part to start in D so it leads off the last note from the main theme but it limits the dynamic motion of the music, the original has it starting in E and that extra step up really serves to distinguish the parts so I'm going to stick with it for now. This part is put together similar to the main theme (1st bar, 2nd bar, 1st bar, 3rd bar)

G-------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------
D---2----5----------3----|----2----5---------X--3-----|---2----5-----------------
A-------------------------|-------------------------5--|---------------------------
E--------------3----------|-------------3--------------|-------------33-33-3--
----E----G-----G----F----|----E----G---G--------F--D--|---E----G---G----------

The next major element is the twist / bridge where the guitar demands a momentary change in rhythmic direction and the bass becomes the accompaniment. This transition takes places after the main theme is played a 3rd time as a replacement to the alternate theme, it starts with the same initial 4 note bar but then takes off in a bouncier / slightly reggae direction with a lot more right hand noodling.

G-------------------------|------------------------------------------------
D---2----5----------3----|----2-22-2----5-55-5----------------3-3-55-4---
A-------------------------|------------------------------------------------
E--------------3----------|-------------------------3-33-3-----------------
----E----G-----G----F----|----E---------G----------G----------G---A--G#--

That 2nd bar gets vamped a bit before resuming a proper return to the alternate theme for its final play before the outro. The outro itself continues twisting the alternate theme and vamping it out. It starts off by alternating doubled notes with a funky staccato repeat (where the first note of the pairing is the muted string) before flipping back to a heavier version of the main theme to wrap everything up.

G-------------------------------------------------------------
D---2-2---X-2----5-5---X-5--------------X-3---X-3----5--3---
A--------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------3--3----------------------------
----E-------------G-----------G----------F-------------G---F--

The above line gets repeated as necessary before ending on the low G notes and then launching into this final twist on the main theme.
G-----------------------------------------------------
D------------------3---3-----------------5555444433--
A---5-5-X5555---5---5--------------------------------
E---------------------------3--3--3--3----------------
----D------------G-D-G-D--G-------------G---F#--F---

...and then it ends on this as opposed to those low Gs and that run on the D string.
G-------------------------------------
D------------------3------------------
A-------------3--------5~~~~--------
E---3----5-----------------------------
----G----A----C----F--D---------------


(holy crap formatting tab for a forum post is a pain in the ass)

__________________
i am the universe