Can you pass the "All Stars "Test?

[Bosko Schwartz]

My arse!
You are having a laugh at us 
here's is Boskos splendid dirty test
http://www.box.net/shared/7mnhv359v3

I am totally not!

Man I really love the repeated notes towards the end...sounds so awesome.
I always feel like I need to be moving or doing something different.
Its when I hear somebody like you, whos confident in his playing that I realize whats missing with my own.

I think it's you who are laughing at me.  You can't be serious!  Either that, or you're just being super-nice so as not to hurt my feelings!

[launched]

[quote author=Bosko Schwartz link=topic=3829.msg43113#msg43113
I think it's you who are laughing at me.  You can't be serious!  Either that, or you're just being super-nice so as not to hurt my feelings!
[/quote]

If you get a chuckle out of someone deriving a stew recipe out of your lyrics, I don't see how your feelings could get hurt

I think you did a great job - cleverly placed notes and great timing. Bravo!!

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!

Mark

[Saijinn Maas]

That was pretty impressive work there Bosko "Blues Man" Schwartz!

For having "never done improv" you did really good. Good flow and feeling. Which is the most important thing here considering that the test is purposely boxed into such a small note selection.

You'll be playing some SRV in no time!!! 

[Bluesberry]

I think you did a great job - cleverly placed notes and great timing. Bravo!!

It was the excellent timing that makes this sound so good Boscko.  Timing is the essential ingredient.  You can play really fancy notes, know your way around the fretboard like nobodies buisness, but if your timing is off it sounds off, kinda crapy.  Or you can play very simply, only a few notes, but if your timing is excellent, it sounds really, really excellent.  This is the secret to why those old blues guys sounded so good, very few notes, but god-given timing.  Boscko, your timing is perfect really, just as I knew it would be, and while you are only playing a few notes, and going back and forth with it, what people are responding to here is your timing, I believe it is what Sprocket is referring to as your "confidence".  To you Boscko, you don't see what all the fuss is about, so simple what you played, but it is your incredible timing that pushes your take over the top.  Of all the aspects of music, timing is the most elusive, the hardest to teach, and also the most important to making music sound good.  This exercise of yours Boscko has turned into a demonstration of what perfect timing can do for your playing, and why it so important to strive for timing.  I had a feeling your take would have really great timing Boscko.  So nobody is laughing at anybody here.  You thought your playing was very primitive and simple (which it is  ), but because of your incredible gift for perfect timing (you are a drummer after all) it comes out sounding really good, polished, confident, like you have been playing this kind of stuff for a while.  Excellent job Boscko, excellent lesson in timing also. 

[Bosko Schwartz]

That was pretty impressive work there Bosko "Blues Man" Schwartz!

For having "never done improv" you did really good. Good flow and feeling. Which is the most important thing here considering that the test is purposely boxed into such a small note selection.

You'll be playing some SRV in no time!!! 

Wow, thanks, Saijinn!  I can't agree, but I thank you for the kind words!

I think you did a great job - cleverly placed notes and great timing. Bravo!!

It was the excellent timing that makes this sound so good Boscko.  Timing is the essential ingredient.  You can play really fancy notes, know your way around the fretboard like nobodies buisness, but if your timing is off it sounds off, kinda crapy.  Or you can play very simply, only a few notes, but if your timing is excellent, it sounds really, really excellent.  This is the secret to why those old blues guys sounded so good, very few notes, but god-given timing.  Boscko, your timing is perfect really, just as I knew it would be, and while you are only playing a few notes, and going back and forth with it, what people are responding to here is your timing, I believe it is what Sprocket is referring to as your "confidence".  To you Boscko, you don't see what all the fuss is about, so simple what you played, but it is your incredible timing that pushes your take over the top.  Of all the aspects of music, timing is the most elusive, the hardest to teach, and also the most important to making music sound good.  This exercise of yours Boscko has turned into a demonstration of what perfect timing can do for your playing, and why it so important to strive for timing.  I had a feeling your take would have really great timing Boscko.  So nobody is laughing at anybody here.  You thought your playing was very primitive and simple (which it is  ), but because of your incredible gift for perfect timing (you are a drummer after all) it comes out sounding really good, polished, confident, like you have been playing this kind of stuff for a while.  Excellent job Boscko, excellent lesson in timing also. 

Wow, THANK YOU, BB!   I actually thought my timing was weak in spots, but I guess that's the perfectionist in me coming out.  Maybe you're right about timing being the secret, and maybe my drumming BG helps.  Something to think about, for sure.  All of that said, I still say my take stank!

By the way, BB, yours blew me the F away! How did you hit those dual notes in the beginning?  I was trying to hit two notes at a time and couldn't seem to find two that went together.  Which were the two notes you kept hitting?  Yours was so good, it sounded like you were cheating regularly ... but I KNOW you wouldn't do that.  RIGHT?

I also think Mike's take was incredibly smooth and tasteful and melodic.  Sounded like a 50-year pro.  But what else would we expect from The Master?

[Bluesberry]

No cheating from me Boscko, I just laid my fingers down and played  .  It was one take, no double tracking or punching in, hit record and go.  I'll tell you what I did, the box that Mike identified here lends itself very well to those kind of double stops, so I lay my first finger down across all strings, and pretty much leave it there, then using my middle and ring finger lay them down and lift off in various patterns, the first finger stays put, and I strike two strings at a time.  Noodling around like this, it is pretty easy to make really cool double stop sounds in this way, once you get the hang of it (the secret is in leaving that first finger planted most of the time straight across the neck on the first row of notes in the box.  Thanks for the nice comment about my Playing.  I agree that Mike plays very smooth, I love his style!

[Wiley]

I'm impressed!!

[Tony W]

No cheating from me Boscko, I just laid my fingers down and played  .  It was one take, no double tracking or punching in, hit record and go.  I'll tell you what I did, the box that Mike identified here lends itself very well to those kind of double stops, so I lay my first finger down across all strings, and pretty much leave it there, then using my middle and ring finger lay them down and lift off in various patterns, the first finger stays put, and I strike two strings at a time.  Noodling around like this, it is pretty easy to make really cool double stop sounds in this way, once you get the hang of it (the secret is in leaving that first finger planted most of the time straight across the neck on the first row of notes in the box.  Thanks for the nice comment about my Playing.  I agree that Mike plays very smooth, I love his style!

That is a pretty good tip. I have been working the fretboard with my index finger as much as I have with the ring finger. I'm going to barre the fret and see what happens. I throw in a token double stop on occasion, but its difficult to get my fingers in position, and it always sounds forced.

[Geir]

Of all the aspects of music, timing is the most elusive, the hardest to teach, and also the most important to making music sound good.

That is so true BB !! When I've been teaching my kids to play, I've always said that! I doesn't help much if you hit all the right notes and chords when singing a song if you can't keep the beat. Very few will discover a wrong chord but everyone notices if you stop to think what chord to play (to put it to the extreme).

[Tony W]

I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I don't have a post in the all-star test yet. Reason being... TIMING. It is the bane of my existence right now. I'm frustrated beyond belief.