The Nearness of You - Jeff Arnold Jazz Ballads - Tune #4

[alpop]

"Hmmm... let me think about that" was a lame joke, no offense intended.

[Bobby Timmons]

I know haha.

[Mick-7]

Take one, the Nearness of You is not quite near enough - but I figured out what's causing the background hiss (it was not my cat as I first thought).

Nearness of You - Mick 01 - Box.com

[alpop]

I gave it a shot. Here it is

Thanks for joining in! I just noticed this and was able to listen through the link on my email but not through the thread for some reason.

It's always beneficial to record yourself. (and share with others)

I see that this is your first post. How long have you been playing the guitar for? How much do you play/practice?

[Bobby Timmons]

Take one, the Nearness of You is not quite near enough - but I figured out what's causing the background hiss (it was not my cat as I first thought).

Sounds nice! But why's it all quiet and wimpy? :P I recommend isolating your amp, turning it up, and turning the gain down on the interface. Try to set the volume on the amp so it almost peaks, set the gain on the interface about 40% up at the most if you don't want hiss.

For reference, when I record on my digital piano, I plug in direct, turn the piano up all the way, turn the gain on the interface to about 30% and it works perfectly with no noise.

When I had my digital organ, I just had the leslie in the closet and I would turn it up and close the door on it.

When I record my acoustic piano, I stick the mic inside the cab and close the lid lol.

[DeArmondX155]

Thanks for joining in! I just noticed this and was able to listen through the link on my email but not through the thread for some reason.

It's always beneficial to record yourself. (and share with others)

I see that this is your first post. How long have you been playing the guitar for? How much do you play/practice?

I think it is just a spam filter because I have never posted before.

You are right. I think I should record myself more often. Aside from obvious things I knew I had to work on, there are lots of little things I picked up on that I don't just listen to myself play.


Accumulated, I think I have played for almost a decade, but there is also a 15-year gap there. I was not playing much, then my guitar got stolen, and I did not go back to it for a long time.


I don't think I play enough, but according to my wife, I play the guitar all the time.

[alpop]

I think it is just a spam filter because I have never posted before.

You are right. I think I should record myself more often. Aside from obvious things I knew I had to work on, there are lots of little things I picked up on that I don't just listen to myself play.


Accumulated, I think I have played for almost a decade, but there is also a 15-year gap there. I was not playing much, then my guitar got stolen, and I did not go back to it for a long time.


I don't think I play enough, but according to my wife, I play the guitar all the time.

For me, recording is a great reality check if you don't perform.

When you perform or record, you can't stop or drop bars or beats or excessively slow down to grab tricky chords. Whereas if you just play for yourself on the couch all of that stuff happens all the time and becomes a habit. Then you end up thinking that you are better than you actually are. This applies to my situation.

One big thing I just learned is that I need to pay more attention to balancing the volume of my right hand attack.

Being retired, I'm lucky that I can almost always put in a couple of hours a day practicing. (sometimes more if I have the energy)

Happy playing and practicing!

[alpop]

Take one, the Nearness of You is not quite near enough - but I figured out what's causing the background hiss (it was not my cat as I first thought).

Nearness of You - Mick 01 - Box.com

Sounds good aside from the hiss!

Would love to hear you take a crack at performing the arrangement that we are studying! (I will hound you on this.) LOL

[Mick-7]

Sounds nice! But why's it all quiet and wimpy? :P I recommend isolating your amp, turning it up, and turning the gain down on the interface. Try to set the volume on the amp so it almost peaks, set the gain on the interface about 40% up at the most if you don't want hiss.

For reference, when I record on my digital piano, I plug in direct, turn the piano up all the way, turn the gain on the interface to about 30% and it works perfectly with no noise.

When I had my digital organ, I just had the leslie in the closet and I would turn it up and close the door on it.

When I record my acoustic piano, I stick the mic inside the cab and close the lid lol.

Yeah, you're right, I need to fiddle around with the Zoom recorder and maybe the amp settings to refine the audio output. The recorder is plugged into the amp, no external microphone. Thank you for the recording tips.

If anyone wants to see what I changed in the arrangement I could share it, I wrote most of it down. In fact I may as well write the whole thing out since I changed about a third of it.

By the way, Christian said in this video (link below) that the BbM9 chord we mentioned earlier (in bar 3 of this arrangement) is a favorite of Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Kurt Rosenwinkel harmony video

Sounds good aside from the hiss! Would love to hear you take a crack at performing the arrangement that we are studying! (I will hound you on this.) LOL

Perhaps... it is difficult for me to play it straight, I cannot stand some of Arnold's chord voicings.

P.S. - Actually, in reviewing Arnold's arrangement, I'd be willing to play almost all of it as written (but I often play the chords in different positions than he does). I would change the second ending to reflect the original score's harmony (and I don't like the sound of his F/A > Ab7). See below, his score is first, mine is below it.

My last chord could be the D7#9/D notated or Ab13/Ab: 4-x-4-5-6-x. Plus his Coda is too bland.

[Mick-7]

I think it is just a spam filter because I have never posted before.

You are right. I think I should record myself more often. Aside from obvious things I knew I had to work on, there are lots of little things I picked up on that I don't just listen to myself play.

Accumulated, I think I have played for almost a decade, but there is also a 15-year gap there. I was not playing much, then my guitar got stolen, and I did not go back to it for a long time.

We have only a dead SoundCloud link in this thread.

I don't think I play enough, but according to my wife, I play the guitar all the time.

They always say that. It's when they start saying, "you don't play your guitar enough," that you should worry.

[Bobby Timmons]

If you're going direct, you should turn the gain on the interface to about 30% and turn the amp up until it is almost peaking.

[Liarspoker]

Wow, what a lot of posts. Thanks everyone. I'll read them tomorrow. Just to say that I have a transcription to do for someone then hopefully I'll be back on track

[DeArmondX155]

We have only a dead SoundCloud link in this thread.



They always say that. It's when they start saying, "you don't play your guitar enough," that you should worry.

I will try to post a link here again. I did this one today. It is still kind of rough. It is just a crummy cell phone recording of me attempting to note for note Arnold's arrangement.

?Stream The Nearness Of You by DeArmondX155 | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Good point: If she starts telling me to play my guitar more, I will know something is up.

[alpop]

Mick,

I tried playing your second ending and it didn't work for me.

I feel the song needs to resolve to the I chord of the first beat of the second bar of the second ending. I think it's pretty important to establish that spot as the end of the section. (The rest of that second bar is pick up notes to the B section.)

[alpop]

Mick,

I tried playing your second ending and it didn't work for me.

I feel the song needs to resolve to the I chord of the first beat of the second bar of the second ending. I think it's pretty important to establish that spot as the end of the section. (The rest of that second bar is pick up notes to the B section.)

How about this using your bass line and most of the chords:

[Mick-7]

Mick,

I tried playing your second ending and it didn't work for me.

I feel the song needs to resolve to the I chord of the first beat of the second bar of the second ending. I think it's pretty important to establish that spot as the end of the section. (The rest of that second bar is pick up notes to the B section.)

Not sure which chord you mean, my ending does start with F6. The rest is a turnaround to the A section.

How about this using your bass line and most of the chords

That does not look much different than what I played (?). As I said, my first chord is F6 [F or C bass]: x-(3)-(3)-2-3-1

I have attached my arrangement (the rhythms I notated may not be accurate)

[alpop]

Not sure which chord you mean, my ending does start with F6. The rest is a turnaround to the A section.



That does not look much different than what I played (?). As I said, my first chord is F6 [F or C bass]: x-(3)-(3)-2-3-1

I have attached my arrangement (the rhythms I notated may not be accurate)

I guess what my square brain was having trouble with was landing on the Eb9 on the one of the second bar.

After so many reps I was used to hearing a I-IV-I cadence, and THEN the pickup notes to the B section on the last two beats.

Playing your version again this morning, it is actually quite cool! I like it.

Carry on, sorry for the diversion. In the future I will try to open my mind just a crack and possibly learn something!

[Mick-7]

I guess what my square brain was having trouble with was landing on the Eb9 on the one of the second bar.

After so many reps I was used to hearing a I-IV-I cadence, and THEN the pickup notes to the B section on the last two beats.

Playing your version again this morning, it is actually quite cool! I like it.

Carry on, sorry for the diversion. In the future I will try to open my mind just a crack and possibly learn something!

The F/A in measure 2 of the 2nd ending resembles a VIm7 (Dm7) chord, but the 5th (A) is doubled { A-A(8-va)-C-F } so it sounds ambiguous, plus the entire progression is pretty static, the F6 & BbM7 chords are the same voicing with different bass notes: F-A-D-F > Bb-A-D-F >
A-A-C-F.

So his progression would be: I6 (F6) > IVM7 (BbM7) > VIm7/IIImb6 (F/A) > V7of II (Ab7, the b5 sub for D7)/ IIm7

Mine is: I6 (F6) > II7b9 (G7b9) > IVm6 (Bbm6 = Eb9/Bb) > V7 of II (D7)/

Not radically different but to my ears it flows better. I have to say that this arrangement is the blandest one we've played so far.

[Mick-7]

I will try to post a link here again. I did this one today. It is still kind of rough. It is just a crummy cell phone recording of me attempting to note for note Arnold's arrangement.

That's a good practice habit you're following: Using a metronome and continuing to play even when you feel hesitant or forget a chord change (as we all do at times). Many think it's only important for learning to sight read but it's really not. Thank you for sharing.

[Mick-7]

Sounds good aside from the hiss!

Would love to hear you take a crack at performing the arrangement that we are studying! (I will hound you on this.) LOL

This is about as close as I'll get to the original arrangement, avoided almost all the open string chord voicings, and used most of his chords.

Nearness of You - Mick 02 -Box.com

[alpop]

This is about as close as I'll get to the original arrangement, avoided almost all the open string chord voicings, and used most of his chords.

Nearness of You - Mick 02 -Box.com

Nice playing!

[PjzzaPie]

Here's my version of TNOY. I enjoy working on these, sometimes I just don't have much time outside of work and other home responsibilities, and I can see how slow my progress has been. It really takes some intense focus for me to play these types of arrangements. When friends and family ask me to play a little of whatever I'm working on, in very casual, low-pressure contexts, I try to play some of these pieces. The errors pile up quickly unless I shift into super-serious mode. But I suppose any progress above zero is something.

[PjzzaPie]

Here's my progress to date.

I actually posted a take this morning but deleted it when I realized my low E string was not in tune.

This one is far from a work of art, but it's not a train wreck either.

Hope to hear more playing from others. Is anyone working on this?

Very nice! I hear all the things I want to do - clear melody, steady rhythm, and flatpicking instead of fingerpicking! Nothing against fingerpicking, but I like the tone of the flatpick.

[alpop]

Here's my version of TNOY. I enjoy working on these, sometimes I just don't have much time outside of work and other home responsibilities, and I can see how slow my progress has been. It really takes some intense focus for me to play these types of arrangements. When friends and family ask me to play a little of whatever I'm working on, in very casual, low-pressure contexts, I try to play some of these pieces. The errors pile up quickly unless I shift into super-serious mode. But I suppose any progress above zero is something.

Very nice!! Beautiful sound.

You have the arrangement down. So given the time restraints and other responsibilities of life, you got a LOT accomplished.

A musician friend of mine is fond of saying: "An amateur practices until he plays it right, and a pro practices it until he can't play it wrong."

I'm intrigued by your guitar. What are you playing, and also how are you recording?

I am really enjoying learning these pieces as well, and hope you and others will keep at it. I've also been trying to maintain the others we have learned. (Already forgot Time after Time, yikes!)

[PjzzaPie]

Very nice!! Beautiful sound.

You have the arrangement down. So given the time restraints and other responsibilities of life, you got a LOT accomplished.

A musician friend of mine is fond of saying: "An amateur practices until he plays it right, and a pro practices it until he can't play it wrong."

I'm intrigued by your guitar. What are you playing, and also how are you recording?

I am really enjoying learning these pieces as well, and hope you and others will keep at it. I've also been trying to maintain the others we have learned. (Already forgot Time after Time, yikes!)

That's very kind, thank you. I had started this song a while ago, before these threads existed, but I never made it all the way through. So I'm glad to have reached the ending.

My guitar is a carbon fiber archtop from Fibertone Guitars based in Slovenia. I wanted something that would not need to be humidified during the dry winters, which is probably when I have the most time to play. And I run it through a Joyo American Sound pedal, my favorite of the amp modeling pedals that I've tried. I record direct into Ableton Live via a Focusrite Scarlett Solo interface. I record direct because my air conditioning is pretty loud and it's always coming on and off. But I also like playing my nylon string guitar when I can.