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The Greg Howard Songbook
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Author:  DaveS [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

Just got a message from my kids saying that I received a package at home...should be the book!

:D


Dave

Author:  greg [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook - with Classic 10-string

DaveS wrote:
Just got a message from my kids saying that I received a package at home...should be the book!

:D


Dave

Hi Dave,

Enjoy the book. I look forward to your feedback on it.

Using the book with 10-string Classic

Much of the book will work with that tuning. Five of the charts can be played exactly as is, as they don't use the lowest melody string on Baritone Melody, and most of the others can be easily adapted.

Del Mar
Requiem for Persephone
Where Are You Tonight
Cross Country
Blues for the Status Quo

"Del Mar" is one tune that can be played on Classic 10:

Image

The whole chart is played on the A-F# strings.

Most of the exercises and song arrangements either don't use the high melody string or the low. When they don't use the low, you can play them as is, when they don't use the high, you can play them up an octave. For those that use both, you can transpose certain phrases up an octave, or adjust the low harmony notes a bit, or omit them.

All of the Keymaps and Key Guides are written for 12-string Classic, so they embrace both the Classic 10 and Baritone Melody tuning strings D-C#:

Image

I have put together a sheet that explains how to do this, in case any of you Classic 10 players want to use it, just let me know.

Author:  gpoorman [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

Just curious to see if anyone has taken a crack at any of these charts yet?

I actually have a private party gig coming up in early November and I'm scrambling to replace some of my heavier and loopier pieces with ... well ... something that's not those ;)

So I opened up the book and attacked the first two charts "Del Mar" and "Requiem for Persephone" with my player's hat on and my editor's hat off. I have to say it was a lot of fun.

I think Greg's ratings as far as difficulties were pretty much spot on and I have to say there's something in there for everybody. I'm looking forward to hearing other people's reactions to the book.

Author:  jeffcomas [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

I don't have the book yet, but I will be getting it sometime soon. However, I want to thank Greg (& Glen) for making an effort to bring repertoire to the Stick community. I think repertoire is important for the (long-term) survival and growth of the (any) instrument.

:D

Author:  digitalkettle [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

gpoorman wrote:
Just curious to see if anyone has taken a crack at any of these charts yet?


Just got it this morning (in the UK)...looking forward to having a crack at it.

Spiral-bound...it's the only way 8-)

Author:  grozoeil [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

:evil: Can't wait to have the book between my hands. But we (the AFSTG) are all waiting patiently the cd to be out to order :?

Author:  greg [ Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

grozoeil wrote:
:evil: Can't wait to have the book between my hands. But we (the AFSTG) are all waiting patiently the cd to be out to order :?

Hi Bruno,

The CD is probably about 5 weeks away. I will work out a way to get the CD inexpensively to people who have already bought the book if they want it. The book's price will be slightly higher with the CD as well.

Anyway, you already have most of the music in your collection, n'est-ce pas? ;)

Thanks for the interest. "Blues for Ayman" is waiting for you.

Author:  grozoeil [ Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

greg wrote:
grozoeil wrote:

Anyway, you already have most of the music in your collection, n'est-ce pas? ;)

Thanks for the interest. "Blues for Ayman" is waiting for you.


:oops: right... :mrgreen:

Author:  dbrosky [ Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

Erudite! Sagacious! Perspiciacious! - review of the Greg Howard Songbook by A Word A Day!

Actually, all the descriptive adjectives above are correct. Heralding an improved StaffTab, which incorporates more guitar notation conventions for economic usage and improved readability, the "Greg Howard Songbook" is groundbreaking on many fronts.

Greg's significant body of work is now analyzed and accurately transcribed, and ready for you to tackle. Like the show title, "the mind of mencia" we are granted a glimpse into "the mind of Howard" for the first time revealing Greg's note choices, technique and fingering for over a dozen of his best known songs, including several solos.

On technique alone, the book is priceless. Trying to play a complex roaring piece like "Blues for Ayman" without proper fingering or technique is equivalent to racing Vin Diesel with 3 flat tires and no oil in your engine. For years instrumentalists painstakingly transcribed and attempted to emulate the finest in their fields, for example: sax players tried emulate Coltrane's solo on "Giant Steps", guitarists going for Ritchie Blackmore's lead on "Lazy", and trumpet players attempting anything by the Brecker Brothers. Greg has taken all the pain out of the painstaking. Now you have all those charts accurately transcribed with several modalities, in addition to regular notation, to really get under these songs.

Greg's new learning tool, Keymaps™, allows you to visualize the key right on the fretboard, and even work on the pieces with a printed fretboard anywhere, without your Stick! I know when I take a vacation, and can't take my Stick (which is usually the case), now I can take this book and use the time honored performance technique of projection to practice and learn these songs. Brilliant, sheer brilliance!

These are great stand-alone songs, as can be seen by the additional lead "fake" sheets allowing players to pass them out like Real Book charts to jam and learn on. But as songs, they are also an integral part of the Stick lexicon.

Each song comes from a distinctive Greg era, offering differing perspective and stylings, some Latin, ("El Chicle", "Goya’s Dream") some progressive ("Cross Country", "Blues for Ayman"), some "new acoustic" ("Adrift", "Morning Song", "Softly as She Walks"), others modern bluesy jazz ("Quince Street", "Blues for the Status Quo"). They range in complexity from fairly easy to quite difficult, so all players will benefit from these accurate transcriptions.

The most important part of the book is page 8, 4th paragraph, line 5, 17 words over. :D

Not jumping the gun here, but a CD with all the songs is in the making to go along with all the charts. This would be great, since some songs come from "Shapes" which is out of print and goes always for a good price on Ebay.

Hopefully this tome will issue in a trend to allow proper writing and increased transcriptions of other material for the Stick for Stick players to communicate with each other and for other musicians to become aware of this wonderful instrument created by Emmett. With more players accurately playing these songs, and the songs being passed on from generation to generation, hopefully this will also disseminate Greg's songs to a wider listening audience. That all being said, I'm going to roll up my sleeves and dig into one of my favorite double stop classic "Blue Ridge". -Dave Brosky, Pittsburgh, 2009

Author:  grandstick [ Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Greg Howard Songbook

I just dropped my order into the mailbox (normally, I'm not such a Luddite) - it would actually be faster for me to drive the check to C-ville! I could be there and back again before lunch.

I can't wait to learn some of these songs the way you actually play them. My recollections for the fingerings are based on a single lesson I had with Greg 15 years ago!

This should also be a lot of fun for my son. He will be attending FredTap with me next month, and we are working on tapping fundamentals. I've worked out a simple Michael Hedges tune for him ("Eleven Small Roaches") that he is excited to be learning. I look forward to the day he starts kicking my butt on the Stick! :)


Take care,

Paul

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