The new age of blogging is upon us!

 

Search the LINKS and see what's new!

Five bloggers have come on board so far:

• Akish The Philistine
• Richard's Bass Bag 
• Richard's Bass Bag 2
• Richard's Bass Bag 3
• The Curmudgeon

All you have to do is search through our LINKS and see what's new!

Go and have fun!

It's very early in the morning but I'm drinking a coffee!

 WHY?

[Hey, Richard (of RBB), you know where you'll be taking a trip to soon!]

Yes, yes, I know. Let me explain.

Yesterday morning I was fooling around with the LINKS on my blog. I can't remember quite what I was trying to do but somehow, I managed to delete all my links except for one.

Look...

Only one link left! TC's.

I can probably reestablish some, like Richard's Bass Bag 2 & 3, but others will be gone for good.

[Oops, bathroom time is getting close.]

Bob's discombobulate Bobadilish is certainly gone for good (I'd kept a link). Ah well, it didn't look like he was ever coming back. So, at present I just have the one link.

Isolation.

Ah well, life goes on.

On the upside I did 2 1/2 hours of practice yesterday - 2 hours of violin and 1/2 an hour of double bass. Not too bad! I chose to do more violin because I have 12 tunes to cover there, as opposed to 5 on the bass. I've been working on that thing I showed you in yesterday's post. It's an extension on another idea but it has taken a bit of sorting out. I'm also working on the chord progression for Anthropology.

[Bathroom time.]

[Done.]

As you all in the North Island know, we're expecting a storm a bit later today. Cyclone Vaianu. Hopefully our area will get the least of it. Thorndon should be okay too. Peter should be safe on his third floor. He might even be able to ring for a cup of tea. 

Well, I think I've covered all my topics for this morning. I was pleased to see the Hurricanes have a good win yesterday. 

42 - 19 over the blues. Yes!

Go, the Hurricanes!

Ciao tutti.

Okay, what's all this about?

 

Well, I'm just working on something for my tune The Immigrants. I don't think you'll be interested, but it should give me a really good intro to the tune. I had a very busy day yesterday, what with lawns and things, and only achieved half an hour of practice. I certainly hope to put that right today. However, it was good that Daryl came around and helped me straighten the bridge on The Bob.* Thanks Daryl.

I'll also need to do more practice on Anthropology today. Actually, I need to do more practice on all my 17 chosen pieces. Busy times.

It was good to see Peter write two posts in quick succession yesterday. The poor fellow turned up at golf but forgot his 'boarding pass'. Ah well, he got a walk out of it. Seems like he'll be looking for a new playing partner since his old one disappeared from the blogging scene. Good luck with that, Peter. No one has heard from Rob for nearly two weeks now. Maybe the Catholic church turned him into a martyr?

Saint Robert of Moera.

He'd turned up to what was to be a quiet evening mass with a possible few runs through the rosary. The church shop was well and truly shut up. It was definitely a bring your own rosary beads night. He was near the back and said a quiet prayer to Mary. There was a small group of old ladies sitting in the front pew. One had a baseball bat and one held a rather big knife. The priest who entered was a little fat fellow who was dressed in all the mass gear. He signaled the man sitting at the back to move up to the front. The priest spoke to him. "We need a patron saint. Someone who is prepared to give their life for Gsus." "It's spelt J-E-S-U-S." the man said. "Gsus is a musical term, used by people like my sinning brother. I've recently left his blogging community because he's going to Hell for eternity. Jesus certainly doesn't want him in Heaven." "Well, you'd better make an effort to get on with Mr. Linford." quipped the little fat priest. "Not everyone up there is going to be fun. Here's the deal, we let these ladies chop you up a bit and you become a martyr. We get our patron saint, and you walk into Heaven untouched and you don't have to live anywhere near Mr. Linford."

* One of my two double basses.

I did two good hours of practice yesterday.

 

Okay, okay, I know that no one really cares about my practice, especially not the blogger referred to as TC. The reality is that I only know of one regular reader of my blog and that's TC, aka Racoon Hat Man.

Sooooo, I might as well write whatever I like. Gsus wept!

Hey, before I get onto my practice schedule, please let me inform you that the Roman Catholic Church is a place full of bullshit. 

There, that's done and out of the way.

I did an hour on each instrument yesterday and only stopped to protect my hands that have been a bit sensitive lately, especially my left hand, around the little fingers. I guess that I just have to be careful. Well, that coffee I just had wasn't really a test of being careful.

[Bathroom trip soon.]

[Now, actually]

[Done, though a second trip might be necessary yet.]

I'm practising 17 pieces between my two instruments at present. I'm really pushing for precision in my playing with timing, intonation, bow accuracy, etc. 

I know that, if my 'Playing with myself' concert goes ahead, my pieces with have to catch the attention of the audience and sound complete and interesting. To that end I'm working on a new technique on The Immigrants. Well, it's not really a new technique, but it might turn a few heads. Who knows?

I think I'll leave it there for today. I have got a few things to do.

Have a good Friday.

Ciao tutti.

All hands on dick.

All hands on dick. Oops, I  meant...

ALL HANDS ON DECK!

Peter wrote a post yesterday. Nothing from Robert's blog for over ten days. No biblical quotes, no advice from Gsus or the one true church. It seems that we only have Peter's posts to go by now. 

"It's sad really but at least here, in Thorndon, we have the fire engines to look at."

Okay, you get the idea, a pretty average TC post.

I intend to start with some double bass practice shortly this morning. My hands have felt a bit vulnerable lately, so I'll try to take it gently. I'd like to get the first 32 bars of My Gentle Giant well memorised. The piece starts with pizzicato and then 32 bars of the arco tune. My intention is to play both parts twice. 

I'm on standby to help with my son's family today, so I need to be ready to go very quickly, if needed. I guess I'm a bit like that fireman from Peter's post.

Ah Thorndon - firemen, cars speeding around, it's all happening there. They've also got rid of the raccoons. It certainly is a lot more peaceful in the Nui. Obviously, no one knows what is going on in Moera these days. 

I've started working on Anthropology. It is not an easy piece but it's a piece that I've played for quite a while, so I'm onto it. The backing chords take a bit of practice. I found a quote about this piece in the bible.

Nigel 2:17 Gsus was not a chord that would be needed in Anthropology but there are probably places that you could drop it in, maybe at the start of those two Bb7 chords? Yes, that would work. A Bb blues scale is also a nice way to play over that A section. Then you can define the chords of the B section. Gsus has spoken.

Well, I'm being a bit naughty and have had a coffee, so I'm going to need to leave the computer for a short while.

[Okay, I'm back.]

I'll wrap it up there for today.

Ciao tutti.

Nothing to report.

 

Rhythm Changes.

 

A section: || Bbmaj7  G7b9 | Cm7  F7 | Dm7  G7 | Cm7  F7 | Bb7    | Eb7 Edim7 | Dm7 G7b9 | Cm7 F7 ||

                 || Bbmaj7  G7b9 | Cm7  F7 | Dm7  G7 | Cm7  F7 | Bb7    | Eb7 Edim7 | Bb7     | Bb7     ||

This is the section that I need fluent chords over. Oh sorry, I'm talking about Anthropology. Remember that I'm playing it unaccompanied, so I need to make the chord progression heard, as well as solos and the tune. At times a bit of each. The B section just contains four dominant 7th chords a 4th apart, so that's pretty easy. The form is A A B A.

Okay, I've got a few jobs to do today, but then I'll get stuck into Anthropology, along with other tunes.

A few jobs?

• Drop my daughter off at Waterloo station.
• Tidy up the back bank and lawn.
• Touch up paint on the bathroom door.
• Pick up my grandson from childcare.

Those are the main jobs that I know about.

Hey, but I'll get that practice done, that's for damn sure.

Ciao.