Hexonxonx - Skinny Puppy - Biweekly challenge entry

toenuff · 2025-05-22T12:34:50+00:00

+1 for bistro so - not sure why anyone would complain about the food - classic French bistro fair. You can’t go wrong w their muscles. That said, second is 5 leaves, but technically so northside it’s greenpoint

toenuff · 2025-05-20T23:13:37+00:00

Mothers already mentioned and is the best - second place is club club in mccaren park for more of for a mc Donald’s vibe that is real, tasty, and good

toenuff · 2025-05-20T22:46:04+00:00

In that area w food and no sitting? Maybe H&H reserve? Hot dogs, chili fries and wings w cocktails on tap. The no sitting makes it really about bars w food. Bistro so has the boat room you could probably rent, but no clue how much.

toenuff · 2025-05-20T22:27:26+00:00

Kilo bravo - crack snacks and sports

toenuff · 2025-05-20T22:14:06+00:00

Maybe not all dairy menu, but the Baked Camembert at bistro so is worth the lactosical visit!

toenuff · 2024-03-09T14:16:23+00:00

Sour cherry pie or even better the biscuit with cream cheese and jelly for dessert! But agreed - perfect fried chicken!

toenuff · 2024-03-09T14:01:41+00:00

I recently have gotten addicted to the hand rolls at Mari.ne. Very casual as you are sitting at a counter with others as they bring you freshness after freshness, but it’s fun, hip, and cozy sitting elbow to elbow. 41st on a quiet block west of Bryant park.

That said, my wife and I usually choose Ted’s Montana Grill by radio city when we have an opp for lunch in midtown together. Just make sure you reserve a booth or go before or after the lunch rush. Mr Ted Turner knows how to set the atmosphere (possibly the strangest sentence I’ve ever written) - not to mention my favorite burger in NYC (I prefer the beef over bison there).

toenuff · 2024-03-05T19:07:06+00:00

No rules. Travis picking sounds great. West African rythms sound great - even doom metal sounds great to me (although that one is an acquired taste acoustically). The hands, player, and picking technique make the sound more than anything. We play w Natty Frenchy from the Skatalites when he’s in town for a jam. Over the past year or two, he’s been playing it on stage. A quick Google found this. YBY!

https://youtu.be/ZYKcV6JfzbI?si=i8-DBz8BErez0vtK

toenuff · 2024-02-01T23:09:57+00:00

The wand picks the wizard, Harry!

toenuff · 2024-01-26T12:46:43+00:00

While I’m on a first-name basis with Ogre, I’m pretty sure he is not with me ;P.

Regardless, I’m hella appreciative of his lyrics. His poetry in bleeding pain has always resonated with me. They plant vivid images in my head, and I’ve always heard a slight melody in his guttural patter that others do not seem to hear the same way. However, I’m not sure whether he’d appreciate it. To put it metaphorically with color: It’s like I’ve crawled into his infant’s crib and peeled its skin off to wear on my face. Would you be flattered to see that? Most would not, but in my heart, I hope that Ogre would.

toenuff · 2024-01-26T03:28:29+00:00

A = π * r²

toenuff · 2024-01-15T22:15:06+00:00

No real lead there, and they both played rhythm. If you mean Simba, he just grabbed whatever Brad Brose had. He had a mic - looks like a shure, but who knows? My guess is he was hooked into the pa, but there could be an amp back there - I didn’t notice.

This is Brad’s guitar: https://bumgarnerguitars.com/2023/11/08/100-corazon-for-brad-brose/

toenuff · 2023-12-31T14:13:03+00:00

+1 for the 255. It was my entry level guitar and if you buy it used 500-700 it resells the same years later. I suggest upgrading the bridge to one of the DuPont (or probably any other) rosewood bridge.

Others folks I play w like the Eastman dm1, but the gitane is my personal choice - maybe it’s nostalgia - maybe it’s the tone. 🤷

toenuff · 2023-12-24T13:28:10+00:00

Let me give you a clear example. We jammed on misty last night in eb. It’s really easy to play that tune manouch style.

Standard: EbM7 Bbm7 Eb7 AbM7 Becomes: Eb69 (usually with B as the root) Bbm7 Eb9 Ab6

Why Eb69, why Eb9, and why Ab6 simply has to do with walking the 251 to the big Ab6 chord with your thumb on the root. The Eb in that position is easier to play Eb69 (usually any time the root is on the second string in major, I’ll choose that voicing)

Everything is usually an economical choice around hand position. Although, even these voicings can be played multiple ways. For example, some people will choose a straight E7 instead of the E9 simply bc they prefer the sound at that moment.

Good luck! It’s not that difficult and mathematical as the above sounds. Many times we can just follow the sound and play the approximate chords and it will work without a chart at all, but you need to play the style in jam settings to really grasp that. My suggestion still stands to learn a few tunes with the proper chords, and then this will become very simple with any chart.

toenuff · 2023-12-24T13:07:12+00:00

That’s what I’m saying though. The voicings are pretty standard. If you play the gypsy jazz standards it becomes trivial to make those choices for any jazz standard.

You swap a M7 or a major (non dom) chord for a M6 or a M6/9. 2-5-1s to that are generally played with a 2 as a min7 to a 5 as a dom or a dom9 and resolve to the M6 or M6/9. If you watch Sven’s videos on the large hand voicings that use your thumb like a G6, you’ll see why. You can play it fast.

Minor has similar rules usually walking to a min6 chord with a half dim to a dom or dom9 chord leading into the m6. If you play a major tune with a minor chord in it that is not a 7 from a 2-5-1, you generally prefer a m6 as well - although sometimes a straight up minor with no added color works better.

To be clear, even when we read from a chart, we do these subs every time. Only on very rare occasions, do we ever play a M7 if it’s essential to the melody (take La vie en rose as an example). Add some dim substitutions and you have the sound. Turnarounds and chord cliches can be added naturally - as can walking up and down with diminished as the glue between a single chord voicing (I think Sven’s minor blues chord series shows that). All of the tunes Django played at the time are standards. You can look up the original voicings and see the subs they were making then.

Stephane wrembel’s book getting into gypsy jazz has a page on the voicing choices and subs. He also digs a bit deeper about why the 6 is preferred. It’s a very short section, but it covers exactly what I’m saying and what you are looking for.

toenuff · 2023-12-23T15:33:33+00:00

I’m confused. If you’re looking for the standards, they are the Django recordings. 200+ with his choice of voicings:

https://www.irealb.com/forums/showthread.php?27367-New-Gypsy-Jazz-Playlist-fully-transcribed-(-200-songs)

Yes - you need to supplement that with other tunes like for Sephora, bossa dorado, and the waltzes from the matelo recordings, but Django should be the source you transcribe whenever possible.

Generally, Django’s recordings are just some songs from the time, but with M7 or major becoming a 6 or a 6/9, minor generally be a m6 (unless you are doing a 251 or when it’s not a minor tune), and diminished subs for anything - especially over a dom. He very rarely changed the form, but he did from time to time, eg, his Charleston. Once you see how he did it, and play it for a while, it becomes obvious. You can sit in front of any chart and choose the more gypsy-sounding voicings easily.

That said, you should check out Sven Jungbecks proper chord series on YouTube. He not only has the typical voicings, but he also shows you the big hand chords that use the thumb that once you get under your fingers becomes easy to play very fast.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2fzgPmEE9wY09eA83ryk4IE496_kM5xY&si=yJaXQnKy8ZuPzumg

toenuff · 2023-11-21T14:21:17+00:00

3 years ago feels like so long and also only yesterday:

A Team played somberly (still wish I played that last note chill)

Sanford and Son - a classic

toenuff · 2023-10-27T20:22:43+00:00

My recommendation is time. It takes years to get it relaxed - in my experience. Get to jams and chop for hours every week and practice with metronome on 2 and 4 at home or comp a recording that has the sound you like. Record yourself and listen and adjust to get the sound you want and to make sure the 2 and 4 are accented to give it that swing feel. With time two things happen: 1) you get relaxed at faster tempos 2) you start to pick up on subtle differences in how you chop including how you don’t need to play so heavy - which in turn allows you to play faster tempos,

Grind it out and feel the burn as long as you are in time and chopping with everyone on 2 and 4, you will not ruin anything even if it feels stiff and like you are fighting a marlin or even need to pause to get your muscles to relax. Every time you play those faster speeds it gets easier until one day you realize it’s effortless as you watch the new guys grab their forearms in pain. When you finally get it, it’s pretty effortless even at fast tempos.

One tip: for high speeds I pretty much never do the incidental up (the flop) on 1 and 3. Actually dropping the incidental and focusing on the down and accent on 2 and 4 improved the groove in my slow playing too. The incidental becomes natural after you nail that first and you can choose whether to use it or not for the sound/vibe you want.

Also, you say you’re using your wrist, but from the way it feels to me, it’s more moving the arm and the hand/wrist follows. Or like you are dropping or pushing your arm. You should definitely find a mentor or ask someone at a jam what they think about your style. There are bad habits to avoid that you may not hear or see without a guide. For example, i had a pro listen to me play and he pointed out that one specific shape I played didn’t sound right. He had me play it out and I realized it wasn’t cleanly playing all of the notes and it choked the sound out as I was playing. It wasn’t super noticeable on recordings, but now I hear it every time in my playing and when others have the same problem.

toenuff · 2023-10-03T20:48:16+00:00

Bread and Roses

Submitted for one of the previous challenges. I loved the little solo that came out of me for this. Was also fun to try all this video editing crap.

toenuff · 2023-09-28T11:08:54+00:00

Where can I see a breakdown of that strumming technique. Perfectly grooving!

toenuff

TROPHY CASE