[thechat] Structural Music Theory - wuz - RE: ice cream songs

[Canfield, Joel]

> Not everyone has parents who care enough about them to insist 
> they go to
> college and learn something USEFUL, like mathematics, or 
> computer science,
> YOU BOOGER!

heh; my parents actively discouraged college or higher learning of any
kind. I think my dad's 'don't let the man suck you in' thinking cost me
somewhat, there . . . I keep thinking someday I'll go get a degree in
something, but maybe I'll just become the man and won't have to ;)

> Seriously though Joel, 
> It depends what you want to learn. Everything pretty much 
> depends on what
> the bass player is doing, (as far as what chord comes out 
> into the air).
> Yes, your friends might not like it if you play an E under their B, or
> whatever, because they're expecting the B.

Well, I already pull that kind of stuff, which is part of the reason I'm
no longer one of 'The Revivers' ;) But really, my desire to learn theory
is so when I'm slapping together snappy pop tunes I won't end up with an
album full of 1-4-5s in A. So all that stuff down below is gonna help a
lot; thanks muchly.

> The best way to learn is to listen to lots of stuff, and 
> study with the best
> player you can.

Well, I had the great good fortune to fall in with a guy who 'gets'
music at so many levels, and honestly believes it's his mandate from God
to share what he knows, so I've had one on one and group lessons 3-5
hours a week for almost three years now. Gene hangs out with folks like
Delbert McClinton and Spooner Oldham, and has a pretty good grasp of
most instruments and song-writing technique. (As a bonus, he's a
dead-bang sound engineer; his band played our wedding reception in a 12
x 20 room with a glass ceiling and, as RonL put it, their tone was
*perfect*)

So, yeah, I'm suckin' it up as fast as I can.

> But really, it's about listening, and experimenting, and 
> practicing, and
> let's face it, you and Ron are way to old for any of that :p

Listen, sonny; I'll have you know I had my bass in hand all the way
through "30 Minute Meals" last night, and part of the way into "Good
Eats." 

Then my arthritis kicked in, and the nurse had to roll me back into my
room.