This is great on so many levels. More or less just two groupings of 3 chords and a 6/4 count or something [not easy to nail the 1st verse chords coming out of the intro]
Simple bluesy verses vocal and the chorus is simple too, but the entire track is genius. Aussie band, Humphries the lead singer an English ex pat.
Apparently the handclaps/long intro was to accustomise the listener to the ‘odd’ meter.
Gayest guitar solo ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw74sDWPH7UVai uses Lydian mode a lot. Dude can play the hell out of the guitar but often looks like he’s passing a kidney stone while he’s doing it.
As for the actual playing Vai says musical ‘exaggeration’ is good, to really emphasise phrases etc. and there’s pretty much no way to overdo it.
He definitely can. But that performance.
Vai’s practical philosophies can be very useful, for instance where he suggests emphasising the lower note in Pentatonic shapes. i.e there’s 2 notes on each string in basic Pentatonic guitar shapes, and there may be a tendency to emphasise the higher pitched note on each string but there’s something to be found by emphasising the lower note of each string instead.
Wes Montgomery - Boss Guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Yzl08yyVw^ Check out The Trick Bag on that album. That bass player is a damn machine.
George Benson - Bad Benson
Can def see the Wes influence
Pat Metheny said he learnt to play guitar listening to ‘Smokin’ at the Half Note’ by Wes
His favourite solo of all time was from this track from the same live album
I’d heard of Grant Green but not listened to him
Damn
In later years he went kinda funk and R&B,
known as the ‘father of acid-jazz’
A Tribe called Quest and Public Enemy have sampled his work
[ George Benson said Green’s tone was from turning the bass and treble knobs off on his amp,
leaving Green with a ‘biting midrange’]
Some jazz snobs turn their nose up at Grant Green because he wasn’t a virtuoso player. But it didn’t matter (and never does) if you ask me. He was a good player.
A great player
I think George Benson ripped a few choice licks of him
Those 2 string bends for sure
Most of his influences were sax players like Charlie Parker, so he had a real vocal style to his soloing
He is one of the first jazz guitar players I knew about and listened to, just after Wes Montgomery (from SRV).
Another great player:
George Barnes
Lover Come Back To Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bJ3CVdapPcSupposedly he wasn’t influenced by Django, but I think he probably was. Very vocal like in his lines though, especially in how he holds notes and ends phrases. Reminds me a lot of Billy Holiday actually.
Hopefully this one rolls up next in the autoplay. If not, here it is:
George Barnes
St. Louis Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=octE19cPbPsNo virtuosity in it, but it’s really hard to get better than that.
This one too.
George Barnes
I’m Coming Virginia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWp2ZNFWZVY&t=153sTalking about melodic players with theme development
One of my favs from way back,
Aruba by Jim Hall
