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Jeff's Lesson Notes

"Sunday afternoon in the dark"
Website version

 

The main lesson here is to remember the tunings.  The first part of this track uses a 2 steps flat tuning, which I performed on the Green Kramer, with Chorus and Flanger..  (no pitch shifter was used for this piece)..  The second part of this track utilizes a flat tuning Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb.. typical of Vh of course, and was done on the White Kramer...  I pieced this together much the way Sunday afternoon in the park and One foot out the door are put together, however I of course didn't use keyboard on Sunday afternoon.. lol

The other lesson here besides sound of course, is "Groove riffing"... The main groove riff on Sunday afternoon in the dark is a cool little sideways groove that weaves around an off beat..  These riffs are usually converted bass lines, and often it's best to look at them that way, it makes them easier to come up with..  The feel of the riff is 16th notes, however the drums are off time, which makes it sound more interesting than just a straight up drum beat...

This track is a great example of messing with the VH style and embellishing on Vh tracks.. This was a total noodle fest, it should be a blast for most of you to play along with..  I suggest trying the rhythm parts first..  The main riff is great practice for getting into a groove..  After that take a shot at messing around with some of the leads... 

I strongly recommend you download the video lesson for this track.. There are certain things going on here that need to be explained.  Be it this piece, or VH's Sunday afternoon in the park, it's about feel and what sounds good in the context of the piece, rather than mode theory, or specific counts...  (per say)

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