So, year's later, I've updated today's journal to include a pretty photo. Here you go. The caption reads, "What can I say? I was an English major." (This must be a very old cartoon. Get it? A very old cartoon . . . )
The tempo of songs is set by placing a tab at the beginning of each line, indicating how many measures to remain on display. That means at least some music theory is required. Also, the tempo can be changed in real time, but it will always revert to the programmed tempo whenever the unit is turned off. Seems I know of at least one other device with the same problem. This i-Tab is beginning to show the wrinkles of a version 1.0. I’m beginning to think it is the designers who lose their memory overnight.
The i-Tab has a 5” screen, making it rather conspicuous on stage though still preferable to a music stand with song books. I wish it clipped behind the neck rather than on top of it. The on-screen controls are operated by touching them with a plectrum, being rather small for touch. Seeing the attaching device reminded me that I need a bass capo, now that I sing. Turns out there is no such thing, or they are very rare. I think a good guitar capo will work fine.
What I did find is numerous threads with people arguing that a capo is not useful to a bassist. Ah, this tells me there are not that many singing bassists. It is only the two together that create the need for a capo. If I wasn’t singing, it is easy to adapt almost any bass line to any key, but when singing, there are times that open stringwork really takes the pressure off. Example, I have to move Yoakum’s “All You Ever Do” from E up to G. It is either a capo, or split the 16th note riff between two strings, as if I was not busy enough already.
More information on Doppler radar, this time from a geography book. The rain returns the echo. The assumption is that the rain is moving along in the same vector as the local wind. Thus, it is an indirect method of measuring wind speed and direction, which in turn predicts where the storm is headed. Furthermore, storms show up on all radar, not just specialized weather equipment.
Here’s today’s trivia. The hurricane alphabet only uses 22 letters. There are no letters U, X, Y and Z. What? No hurricane Ursula? No Zelda? We just know they’d be a couple of hotties. If that’s not trivial enough, try this. Did you know airplanes need longer to take off in hot weather than in cold weather. Has to do with the density of the air. A 727 (remember those) has to roll 3,000 feet further at 120 degrees than at 60.
Speaking of airplanes, the first American woman pilot circa 1910 was named Harriet Quimby. It seems she did not believe in seat belts, maybe they mussed her petticoats. A gust of wind flipped her airplane upside down. She plunged to her death. Um, the airplane, incidentally, righted and flew on to the airport, and successfully landed by itself. You can look that up.
Later, Dave-O was over and I found myself giving the same pep talk as I did upon starting my first band at age 13. (I’d played before then, careful of terminology.) Musicianship is but one component and not always the most important. Dave-O is far less experienced than I believed (for some reason) and I had to break the job down into tasks he can follow more easily. There are many ways to do it right, I find the overall most effective is to play along with the original recording until it sinks in. But before that, you have to be fully comfortable with all the chord changes. Dave-O was unaware of that and an alarming number of other basics.
The only way this is going to happen before September is if he practices around 20 hours per week. That’s a major commitment few people can make. I feel that he is motivated and needs to be pointed in the right direction. He doesn’t understand that some of the apparent easy ways out, like buying sheet music, just make things worse in the long run. Still, he’s got the most guitar potential of anything that’s come along in years. We shall see.
[Author's note 2015-07-21: in the end, this was all wasted effort. Like every (not an exaggeration) guitar player I've met in Florida, he could not learn new tunes. He could only play the 12 - 15 tunes he's been playing since he was a teenager.]
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