| Author |
Topic: Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee" on lap steel |
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 20 Oct 2011 7:11 pm |
|
I've been fooling around with Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee", which is essentially a head he wrote over the tune "(Back Home In) Indiana", and I've been trying to work it up to tempo (which is somewhere around 180bpm or so). I'm only about 80% there and it's going to be a little, but instead of playing with a metronome tonight, I played it over a New Orleans Second Line groove at about 165bpm. It made me play it a little different (less swinging), but it was a lot of fun. I even broke out the Moogerfooger Envelope Filter.
This may be a little premature, but I don't care, I like it  . It's all for fun:
Donna Lee
Psst: Bebop Lap Steel Guitar, vol. 2 in the works.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
|
|
 |
Steve Cunningham
From:
Atlanta, GA
|
|
|
|
Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
|
Posted 20 Oct 2011 8:22 pm
|
|
nice mike!!!
i made an attempt at it.....everyone should... cheesy drum beat and some elec bass..and lap steel. leavitt extended out to 10 strings.
http://www.mediafire.com/?0hwcxqzcygm |
|
|
|
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 21 Oct 2011 3:23 am
|
|
That's the goal, Steve, but for now I just want to own the head.
Bill, I remember your version--I have it on my computer somewhere. Thanks for the compliment.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
|
|
|
Andrew Roblin
From:
Various places
|
Posted 21 Oct 2011 4:32 am
|
|
I just listened to this five times.
I really, really enjoy your music, Mike.
Andrew Roblin
International Sho-Bud Brotherhod.
Member #79 |
|
|
|
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 21 Oct 2011 7:14 am
|
|
Thanks, Andrew.
By the way, that was my Clinesmith playing the melody and the Fender Custom playing the chords, C6/A7 tuning on both.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
|
|
|
Reece Anderson
From:
Keller Texas USA, R.I.P.
|
Posted 21 Oct 2011 9:02 am
|
|
| Mike.....You are indeed exceptionally gifted. Players like yourself, Steve Cunningham, Bill Hatcher and select others, are contributing greatly to the future of steel guitar which is very important to myself and others who share the same love as I for steel guitar. |
|
|
|
John Groover McDuffie
From:
LA California, USA
|
Posted 21 Oct 2011 10:02 am
|
|
That sounds great, Mike! What tuning?
I've been working on it a little on PSG, but only piecemeal so far. It's a bear, but there are a lot of great lines in that head! |
|
|
|
Twayn Williams
From:
Portland, OR
|
Posted 21 Oct 2011 10:07 am
|
|
You's a craaaazy man!!! 
I like the beat and I like the filter, great job all around.
_________________
Primitive Utility Steel |
|
|
|
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 21 Oct 2011 10:26 am
|
|
| Reece Anderson wrote: |
| Mike.....You are indeed exceptionally gifted. Players like yourself, Steve Cunningham, Bill Hatcher and select others, are contributing greatly to the future of steel guitar which is very important to myself and others who share the same love as I for steel guitar. |
Thanks, Reece. You brought a tear to my eye, and I'm not kidding.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
|
|
|
Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
|
Posted 22 Oct 2011 5:14 am
|
|
| Mike, you are a BAD ASS! As long as you and Hatcher keep playing, steel guitar ain't going anywhere, except Reese's place. LOVE the non-pedal stuff. |
|
|
|
Mike Anderson
From:
British Columbia, Canada
|
Posted 22 Oct 2011 11:05 am
|
|
Holy cow - the evil spawn of Bootsy and Jaco tuned up an octave! And of course I don't really mean evil - that is truly wild Mike, your chops and ears are always jaw-dropping.
I do however (naturally, me being me and all) take umbrage at the idea that those of us "mired" in the past (and didn't Miles write Donna Lee in 1947 BTW?) are somehow not contributing to the future - I think all steelers are contributing to the instrument's future.
Just had to (naturally) get that off my chest. |
|
|
|
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 22 Oct 2011 11:41 am
|
|
Mike, thanks for reminding me that Miles wrote Donna Lee. I should have known that, but I'll bet it's a common mistake.
And Mike, I have been mired in the past, too--that's how I learned to play. The only thing is, I have to be true to myself and that's not who I am.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links
Last edited by Mike Neer on 22 Oct 2011 12:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Geoff Cline
From:
Southwest France
|
Posted 22 Oct 2011 11:41 am
|
|
I like the second line feel and tempo. Now I want to hear it with an octave (below) pedal...
Keep on keepin' on....and Reece is right about you, dude. |
|
|
|
Chris Gabriel
From:
Oregon, USA
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 9:00 am Nice...
|
|
Mike, I loved it. You have a really nice tone, and you owned it.
I too, would love to hear some improv!
Thanks for your insights. You've made a connection between the lap steel, and bebop. Far out.
As you know, I am also a fan of the music of Charlie Parker! Please keep em comin, I promise to do the same. In fact i just posted Anthropology, check it out!
Chris |
|
|
|
John Groover McDuffie
From:
LA California, USA
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 9:52 am
|
|
| Tuning? |
|
|
|
William Lake
From:
Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 10:09 am
|
|
You guys spoiled my day!! I was trying to get through the day without learning something new, and now I find out the Miles wrote Donna Lee. Sheesh. Kidding aside, I am a huge Bird fan and I did not know that.
I learned it on fretless bass after hearing Jaco do it. It wasn't bad, but not Jaco.
My fave. though, is still Yardbird Suite.
Rock On Mike. 
_________________
Bill |
|
|
|
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 12:06 pm
|
|
Groover, the tuning is C6/A7, with E as the 1st string. All this stuff can be played on a 6 string, except for some of my chord voicings.
Bill, I like Yardbird Suite, too. You might remember this little chorus of it (I cut out all the way out choruses ) :
http://www.mikeneer.com/yardbird_jam.mp3
My blowing is not where I want it to be on these Bebop tunes yet, so I won't be posting until it is. I've been working hard at it, though, and I've gotten closer. It is a hard instrument to be spontaneous and exciting on when playing over these changes if you really want to speak the language. My biggest fear is to end up sounding like "the lap steel player who's trying to play bebop."
Thanks, Chris. I've enjoyed your clips!
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
|
|
|
HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 1:28 pm
|
|
| That was wonderful improv Mike,.......and showing us the cool voicings on that tuning......I for one would love to hear the way out choruses.... |
|
|
|
Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 1:39 pm
|
|
That envelope filter sounds great- my old Mutron III always sounded kinda scratchy and the newer varieties don't have the same vibe. Are you using an expression pedal with that?
Steve
P.S. Yardbird Suite sounds great! (Was that one of their songs with Jeff Beck or Eric Clapton?  )
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
|
|
|
Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 4:34 pm
|
|
| the ybird suite is about as nice as you could want!!! great playing!!! |
|
|
|
Russ Tkac
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 4:44 pm
|
|
Mike you have a real organic sound and style. Keep it up you are on your way for sure. Cool stuff!  |
|
|
|
Mark Roeder
From:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
|
Posted 23 Oct 2011 5:23 pm
|
|
I like where you are heading Mike, I'll be looking for a CD from you of your favorite bebop tunes. Don't take too long!
_________________
www.deluxe34.com lap steel stands, Clinesmith, Gibson Console Grande, Northwesterns, The Best Westerns
https://www.facebook.com/TheBestWesterns |
|
|
|
Bob Stone
From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
|
Posted 24 Oct 2011 5:50 am
|
|
Terrific stuff Mike!
Keep 'em coming.
Best,
Bob |
|
|
|
Mike Anderson
From:
British Columbia, Canada
|
Posted 24 Oct 2011 8:46 am
|
|
| Mike Neer wrote: |
Mike, thanks for reminding me that Miles wrote Donna Lee. I should have known that, but I'll bet it's a common mistake.
And Mike, I have been mired in the past, too--that's how I learned to play. The only thing is, I have to be true to myself and that's not who I am. |
That's okay Mike - I'm familiar enough with Miles, and affected enough by his music, to have given my son the middle name Miles.
I appreciate where you're coming from about the past not being who you are, but I would like to point out that, aside from the song being over 60 years old, you are hardly the first to play jazz on steel. Buddy Emmons recorded "Steel Guitar Jazz" in 1963.
But you are as entitled as the next guy to play these musical styles on any instrument you want; play "All the Things You Are" on contrabassoon if you like - what I find odd is that there is this group of fellows here who immediately jump up to shout "Congrats on pushing the boundaries of steel!" I beg your pardon? How is jazz not every bit as "archaic" as Hawaiian or Western Swing? And the further implication that an experimental approach somehow means you "love the instrument" more than people playing those other archaic styles of music? Utter nonsense and frankly really insulting.
It's not you I'm talking about, Mike. You do what you do, which is play well and share your efforts with the rest of us without ever implying you're the Next Big Thing In Steel. But I am here to tell you that unless you cross the line into atonality, there is truly nothing new under the sun. Okay, not quite true: atonality has been done to death decades ago as well, and is only listened to by the most die-hard, grinning-through-the-pain masochists in any case.
When someone says that music is about pushing boundaries I squirm a little in embarrassment; that sounds like me as a teenage art-rock nerd. Nobody but the inside cult of other players of your instrument give a damn whether or not you are pushing boundaries, presuming you even are. Music is, or at least ought to be, about soul and communication, not chops and your position at or near the bleeding edge. What over 99% of humanity responds to is a good song, sung and/or played well and with feeling, and that is never going to change - with very good reason IMO. You can argue that humanity is an ass if you want, but when a musician wants to actually be heard, they'd better think about their audience.
So kudos to you Mike for your outstanding dedication; but the next time someone here implies that we are seeing the "future" of steel because an envelope filter is being used or a steel hung with nuts and bolts a la John Cage, or that playing anything other than country or Hawaiian demonstrates a greater love for the instrument - well, please read this first and spare us that silliness once and for all. |
|
|
|
