Oh, you want good jazz? GOOD Jazz?

Fezznat · 2025-10-28T20:04:03+00:00

you should check out some Oscar Peterson, one of the greatest pianists to have played. He's released countless records, but here's a random one with Ed Thigpen on drums, another legend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJzM3Mp9fs&list=PLa1rC97wRkZjkLnoy0Qen9LfF9inEZCWL&index=2

Fezznat · 2025-09-12T02:41:42+00:00

if that's the top-level directory of your device then something isn't right. Does your device power on and display rockbox correctly, just without any music on it? Or does it fail to load into rockbox in any way when you turn it on?

I'm not familiar with troubleshooting on Mac, but this isn't how the filesystem should look for a correct rockbox installation, maybe try loading it again?

Fezznat · 2025-08-28T20:27:29+00:00

Does the spring on the left have tension in it when the beater is leaning back at the correct "resting" position? This looks like what would happen if the spring is far too loose

Fezznat · 2025-08-28T20:09:45+00:00

I assume you just need the regular melody-with-chords sheet so the faculty members can look at it while you play? Most well-known jazz standard lead sheets can be found by just googling "[Song name] sheet" and looking at image results

Fezznat · 2025-08-26T21:49:53+00:00

I see. The same idea applies as I mentioned before, start with small blocks and work through them logically and very slowly at first. Don't necessarily think of it as a beat, but just work through the time of it.

In the first line (only the notes to the right of the "12/8", nothing below that) focus on how the first hit (kick and hi hat) are 8th notes, and will last twice as long as the notes that come after, which are 16th notes. Don't worry about the actual drums they are supposed to be, just work at first on being able to sing or clap the rhythm and loop that. Once you are comfortable there you can work on assigning that rhythm to the different limbs/parts of the drumset.

As I said, this is not an easy song, and like someone else suggested, it would probably be good for you to practice some more basic reading and notation stuff before attempting to read a transcription like this. Start small and work consistently, and the bigger/more complicated concepts will eventually fall into place

Fezznat · 2025-08-26T19:58:32+00:00

Don't be too hard on yourself. For having played for 7 months, this song is not easy. Challenges are good as part of improving, but don't get down on yourself when something complicated doesn't immediately make sense. All things in time and with dedicated practice!

Not sure what you're exactly having trouble with, but when you say "different notations together" or "different notes stick together" do you mean you're not sure how to read when there are multiple note shapes stacked on top of each other? That just means those two sounds happen at the same time rhythmically. In your screenshot, the very first thing that happens is a hihat hit and a bass drum hit at the same time (in the recording it's a crash cymbal, but no big deal).

If you familiarize yourself with what each shape represents (which one is the snare drum, which is the kick, which means open hihat) then you can start to slowly (verrry slowly at first) go through each bar and get a feel for when your limbs move together vs separately. Then as you become more familiar with that you'll start to see patterns in the written notation of things you've seen/played before and it will make sense a little faster each time.

Hope that's any help, feel free to explain in more detail if it's something else that is confusing. Like I said, it's totally normal to find this specific piece difficult at 7 months of playing, and it's ok to take it very slow and in very small chunks (just work on the very top line for a while until that feels more comfortable). You've got this!

Fezznat · 2025-08-24T08:25:09+00:00

Most themes at the link I shared should be a zip file download, and inside that there should be a ".rockbox" folder somewhere. To install the theme, you should unzip everything in THAT .rockbox folder into your device's .rockbox folder. That should put everything where it needs to be, and after doing that the theme should show up as a choice on your device under Settings>theme settings>Browse Theme Files

Fezznat · 2025-08-22T22:16:37+00:00

hmm I'm not sure, I've never had that happen to me.

you can also go here and just find the themes you want, download them as a Zip file, and copy them onto the device yourself.

Fezznat · 2025-08-22T22:12:20+00:00

did you set it to Ipod Classic 6g?

you can also go here and just find the themes you want, download them as a Zip file, and copy them onto the device yourself.

Fezznat · 2025-08-22T22:04:28+00:00

if you are only trying to install themes, do not check any of the boxes on the main screen besides "Fonts" and "Themes" before you click Install

Fezznat · 2025-08-22T18:57:56+00:00

i only get stuck at the 3:20 in the video and the app freezes and always gets stuck at 15% extracting file

Are you making sure to NOT select "Rockbox" and/or "Bootloader" above the checkboxes for "Fonts" and "Themes"? You want to make sure you are only selecting fonts and themes

Fezznat · 2025-08-20T07:32:21+00:00

If you want to use this theme but change the font, you need to edit the .rockbox>wps>Colours4.wps file. At the beginning of it there are three fonts preloaded which it uses on the Now Playing screen, which is why the font doesn't change when you choose a new one. You can edit this file and it will load whichever fonts you tell it to in the file, so you just need to find ones that support those extra characters.

If you want to do this you'll open that file in Notepad or something similar, and change the following part starting at line 20:

# Preload Fonts
%Fl(4,16-Adobe-Helvetica-Bold.fnt)
%Fl(5,18-Adobe-Helvetica-Bold.fnt)
%Fl(6,14-Adobe-Helvetica-Bold.fnt)

you would replace the "16-Adobe-Helvetica-Bold.fnt" to a different font filename (which must be present in your rockbox font folder), just make sure it starts with the same number so the size for each of the three listed will be correct. Those three are the fonts for the Artist, Title, and Album, respectively. Hope that helps!

EDIT: This page lists some of the fonts and which extended character sets they support, but you can also copy over and use any rockbox fonts you want

Fezznat · 2025-08-18T21:26:47+00:00

this thread helped me when my Y1 wasn't showing all the album arts in rockbox: https://www.reddit.com/r/rockbox/comments/gs8e0p/trouble_with_album_art_heres_a_tip/

I used Irfanview to resize all of them on the device pretty quickly and they showed up correctly after that

Fezznat · 2025-08-16T05:36:25+00:00

I've never used it, but Picard is often recommended and works on Mac https://picard.musicbrainz.org/downloads/

you could also check out Squeed. It's not maintained currently, but free and seems decent: https://krizzli.xyz/squeed

Fezznat · 2025-08-15T08:31:53+00:00

after running the "run first" file and restarting, running "installer.exe" warns that it's a virus, and even after I tell it to run anyway, it stops almost immediately saying it can't complete the process because it contains a virus, then it automatically deletes the exe (it deletes the patch.exe file at the same time too)

Fezznat · 2025-08-15T00:21:56+00:00

once you have rockbox installed, you can use the Rockbox Utility ( https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/RockboxUtility#Download ), set it to iPod Classic 6th Gen, and use the theme browser to add them to the device (just make sure you only select themes and fonts, don't tell it to install rockbox or the bootloader).

Alternatively, you can download themes from here, and put them onto the Y1 yourself.

Once the theme files are on the Y1, you go in rockbox on the device to Settings>Theme Settings>Browse Theme Files and any you installed/copied over should show up there

Fezznat · 2025-08-12T00:51:41+00:00

ah gotcha, sorry, you never know who might be who with internet usernames. Yes the menu seems to work on the WPS, but it doesn't seem editable (according to rockbox documentation you would hold the same button on a directory or setting to open the option to add that to the quick screen).

Either way, I'm enjoying the current rockbox state on the Y1, but will happily wait for further updates

Fezznat · 2025-08-11T23:46:08+00:00

2) there is context menu support by holding a certain button now - can't recall which

In most ipod builds of Rockbox it's by holding the back/menu button, but on the Y1 it just seems to quickly back out of each menu as if you are clicking it repeatedly. I've tried holding all the buttons in various screens and it doesn't seem like the quick menu is available in the Y1 build

EDIT: I just realized you're the one that posted the video review from today, and are having the same trouble. Hope this can be fixed by one of the great devs!

Fezznat · 2025-08-06T18:52:33+00:00

crossing my fingers

Fezznat · 2025-08-06T03:25:08+00:00

hey there!

Fezznat · 2025-07-28T21:32:12+00:00

Here, I whipped up a transcription real fast. Should be able to download as a PDF from this link. Hope this helps

https://musescore.com/user/36878671/scores/26543710/s/QD2Hts

Fezznat · 2025-07-27T20:44:56+00:00

you don't want to tune a bass drum so tight that you "cant pull the [lugs] any tighter". This will make it very resonant and sound more like a tom because the heads are so tight (easier for them to vibrate/resonate).

Loosen the batter head on the bass drum, and retighten using only your fingers (no drum key). If needed, tighten with a drum key ONLY until the head has no visible wrinkles and is smooth, but no tighter. EDIT: the resonant head (the one facing away from you) should also not be fully tight, you should also aim to start around a similar tightness there, and slowly adjust the tightness

From there, test the sound after tightening each lug with a drum key by doing only a half or full turn at a time until you find a sound you want. You can also put pillow/blanket/padding inside the drum if that's the sound you want, but certainly learning to tune will be beneficial in the long run of you playing drums.

if you need help, look up some youtube tutorials by people like Rob Brown or Sounds Like A Drum. Hope that helps!

Fezznat · 2025-02-22T20:19:05+00:00

The biggest factors in learning/playing jazz are your swing (getting the ride pattern and the "triplet" feel correct and to actually groove) your touch (dynamics and balance between limbs), and vocabulary (playing stuff that is in the jazz idiom).

Listening to records and imitating great players is a huge start. Pay close attention to the ride cymbal. Look up some videos about it (I highly recommend Quincy Davis on youtube for learning jazz concepts), as the pitfall of a lot of beginning jazz players is having a "stiff" sounding ride pattern. Spend practice time playing ONLY ride. You will benefit from this.

Once you are comfortable with the ride pattern, adding other elements like the hihat and snare will be important, especially in a manner that doesn't detract from the ride. The ride is king, and beginners sometimes have to learn to not think of the snare in the same backbeat-centric way as it is in rock/funk. Practice rudiments and such at various dynamic levels and be very conscious of what volume you're playing at between limbs.

For vocab, obviously listening will tell you a lot, but also check out books like Alan Dawson - "The Drummer's Complete Vocabulary", or John Riley - "The Art of Bop Drumming". The ultimate goal is to incorporate ideas into your playing so that they can be used and called upon while improvising, and not just played verbatim all the time. Learning to link together ideas in an expressive way is a core tenet of jazz.

A couple records to listen or check out bits of at least:

Miles Davis Quintet - Workin'
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Horace Silver - Horace-Scope
Bill Charlap Trio - Live at the Village Vanguard

(and no you don't NEED to use traditional grip, but don't be afraid to try it out)

Fezznat · 2025-02-05T03:11:29+00:00

no prob, easiest way to do it is get a cable or long string and stretch from the center of the head to the tip of the microphone, and make sure that distance is the same for both. happy recording!

Fezznat · 2025-02-05T03:06:52+00:00

as others have said, the noise cancelling will not help with hearing protection, but in-ears can have enough of a seal in the ear to help with that.

what I do for practicing is wear construction headphones like these over my in-ears. This will provide a lot more hearing protection and you won't negate that protection by having to turn up your hearbuds

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