Cool! I watch the show when I get a chance and have been reading the book in dribs and drabs (seems to be the way it's meant to be read).
Funny that they failed the game! But is that game set up to interact with a real guitar?
Reminds me of all the YouTube videos of people doing YYZ in Guitar Hero. I echo, but never post, the sentiment "If you want to really impress me, do it on a real bass."
I can play it or any other Rush song I've attempted, and it's a staple of my late-night iPod with bass-reduction jam sessions in the workshop, but it's the one bass-intensive song I feel like I'll never get mastered. I don't think I've ever played it flawlessly (I have trouble doing the main riff consistently -- the solos aren't a problem) and it takes intense concentration. I'm sure Geddy can play it in his sleep.
I read once that the reason Alex can consistently play the extremely difficult opening riff for Spirit of Radio is that he used to practice it while watching TV until he could do it without even thinking about it. I don't personally know any other guitarists who can play it and have read professionals saying they can't.
Getting back to my late-night jam session (the board title gives me latitude for rambling, eh), it's one of those "It sure is good to live out in the sticks" things.
I'll have to post pictures of the setup sometime or maybe even get my daughter to record a video of me doing a song, but it's a semi-sweet setup I plan to improve.
Fender portable PA system (100 watts, I think) with the bass turned way down and everything else turned way up, iPod plugged in to it with bass-reduction, and a two-cabinet Crate bass rig. If memory serves the head unit is something like 200 watts and one cab has 4 12's and the other a single massive speaker. I keep the head unit's gain and volume set so nearly every note flashes the "limit" lights. Sometimes I lean back against it while I'm playing. On low notes it's almost like getting a massage. Really cool to feel the notes go through you, especially on something like YYZ with a lot of staccato (sp?) happening.
Fave bass is a Geddy Lee Fender Jazz, followed by an inexpensive but surprisingly good Jay Turser (small body, nice, punchy tone, very light, great action, but of course not a lot of bottom), followed by a Daphne Blue US-made Fender Precision which is sitting in the ADVFN office so I don't have to tote one across the pond for my late-night jam sessions (with headphones, of course). Also have a Fender Lead 3 guitar out there and I tote my trumpet out there with which I use the Yamaha Silent Brass mute so it's nearly inaudible to anyone in the room but I can hear it very clearly through my headphones.
And, since I'm rambling and used the word "trumpet" and incessantly wax proudly about my daughter, she's entering her sophomore year at a local school, has changed her major from Trumpet Performance to Music Education, but still is an obsessive trumpet player. Is starting to pick up a strong roster of students at a local music store and is scheduled to audition soon as an alternate for the local symphony. Looking forward to seeing how that goes. Fortunately she's already been exposed to the fact that there are many trumpet players out there as good or better than her who are unable to get paying work with it.
Our main programmer, John, aka Meatloaf, has a degree in Tuba Performance. I think knowing that, since he's been my best friend of many years, has helped her with the realization that it's okay to pursue the trumpet thing just as far as she can but to be realistic about her chances of ever making a living playing it.
One last trumpet thing. I switched to one of her 3C mouthpieces recently and my upper register is really starting to grow. We were having a discussion yesterday about how best to develop the upper register since you really don't have much of a chance of getting paying work if a double-G isn't a usable part of your range and she tops out at double-E (I've got a solid double-G and triple-C and triple-D are starting to happen). She maintains that you should never give embouchure any thought and should instead let it do what it will while you think only about air control. I maintain that you have to give embouchure conscious focus to reach the notes and then once you've done that, use air to make them usable. I'm convinced she's wrong and it's why her upper register is developing so slowly, but she said she's going to tell her trumpet teacher she really wants to work on her range this year, so I'm hoping he gets her steered in the right direction. Or confirms she's right, but I don't think she is. And when she finally insisted it's all air and not conscious control of the lip, she wasn't too happy with my "... and how's that working out for you on the high notes?" <g>
Okay, just one more thing. Her double-tonguing is faster and cleaner than I've heard from even professionals aside from Del Staigers and Allen Vizzutti. Del Staigers was a freak of nature who played with the Sousa band in the early 1900's and later had his own band.
We had a bit of a revelation when she bought an early 1900's Mahillon trumpet in London and took turns playing it and found that for some reason, the horn is much more easily articulate and easily double-tongued than either of our modern horns. It sounds like a trumpet but plays like a cornet. We suspect it may be the extremely abbreviated (by modern standards) lead pipe which goes directly into the first valve barrel rather than almost to the bell and looping back like modern horns.
She's still researching the provenance of the horn as it's been used a LOT but extremely well cared for and a previous owner's name and address are faintly scratched into the case.
Okay, done rambling and done with my second cup of coffee, so I'm off to the office. |
