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jerklund Profile
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Registered: 06-2005
Posts: 66
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Re: Morse Profile


Hello,
I don't consider myself a Steve Morse fan - I don't hate him either -, but I must admit that I've liked his playing a lot - once!

That was at Royal Albert Hall when Deep Purple played Jon Lord's Concerto for Group And Orchestra. Morse was perfect to that piece of music.

Br,

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11/8/2005, 16:41 Link to this post Send Email to jerklund   Send PM to jerklund
 
douros Profile
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Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 110
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I did not say that Morse is not musical or talented at any way.I said that he is not what I call a genius and I've heard much of his material outside DP(solo,Dixie Dregs and Kansas).Of course "tumeni notes" is not the only side of his playing and writing.
I just pointed out that excersise makes good but not perfect(There is no perfection in art anyway).
As for "WDG" and "tumeni notes" I do not see the connection...There is a SM song that starts like the main riff of the "WDG" and I think it is called "Busybodies".


11/8/2005, 17:04 Link to this post Send Email to douros   Send PM to douros
 
Fireball Profile
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Registered: 09-2003
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Here's some more info - unfortunately the music sheets did't take:Steve Morse Part III- Composer & everything else...

Welcome to part three

Welcome to this third and final part of my trilogy about Steve Morse. This last episode will focus on Steve as a composer & arranger, and I´ll also include some final thoughts.

The second part of the trilogy basically dealt with Steve as the virtuoso-guitar player, and I hope I showed you some interesting licks. But we should not see Steve Morse only as a player´s player, as a guitarist... after all, the music of the Dixie Dregs, the Steve Morse Band ( with both bands, Steve wrote the major part of the music ) and Deep Purple show him as an amazing composer, songwriter and arranger.

It doesn´t matter whether we´re talking about amazing leadlicks, intricate counterpoint-duets between bass & guitar, classical parts for the acoustic guitar or wacky unisono-fusion parts, Steve composed and used all of these elements.

Melodies

Steve Morse wrote some wonderful melodies, that often get a certain twist by a special trick Steve likes to use: shifting the accent. Instead of writing a melody with lots of different note-lengths, he used lines that have constant, repeating note-values ( like 16th-notes etc. ), but he kinda moves around the position of the bass- and melody notes. ( Like instead of having the bass-notes and / or accents only on 1-2-3-4, he might split them up to 1-2+-3-4+ etc. )

A great example for this can be heard in the song "The Introduction" ( which is the title-song of the debut-album of the Steve Morse Band ). The interlude right before the solo is a beautiful piece of music IMHO... it is an ascending chordal part with a quite remarkable melody... and although it sounds like many overdubbed guitars, Steve pulls this one off live with only one guitar, playing both the melody and the bass note.

Here is that part:



Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 1

As you can see, it´s all straight 16th-notes, but the melody- and bassnotes kinda jump around. The chords you have to play are kinda tough to learn, but at least you can concentrate on them as long as you remember that it´s straight 16th notes throughout, so you don´t have to learn some complex, odd-metered part here.

By the way, the transcription you can see above were done by Steve himself. I asked him to do so a few years ago, since I had seen a bunch of different versions around. Just wanted to see what he really DID play... so there ya go !

Steve used some variation of this "shifting accent" method again several times throughout his career, without ever sounding repetitive. Another fine example can be found in the celtic-inspired "Rally Cry" ( from the 1995- Steve Morse Band release "Structural Damage" )
This is the middle-part of that song:



Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 2

The only part that might be a problem here is to get used to the bar of 2/4. The chords are pretty simple. You may use your left-hand thumb to fret some of the bass notes. Oh yeah, in the original recording, this part is doubled with an acoustic guitar...
More riffs

Native Dance

This is one of my favorite parts Steve ever came up with... it's a part that occurs in the song "Native Dance" ( from "Structural Damage" ). This part is played on electric guitar, the chords are derived from the bass-line. Later, while Steve played some variations of this line, he added another melody on top of this one through a guitar-synth set to a steeldrum-patch.




Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 3

Again, pay attention to the way Steve positions the bass-notes and thereby sets the accents. The actual bass note of the first chord ( D ) occurs on the 1+, the E at 3, D at 4+ etc. Try this for yourself: Make up an arpeggiated part or a melody and try to take away any static structure... don't put the accents always on the downbeat, move them around. You might come up with some really cool stuff !

( By the way, I paid tribute to Steve by using my arrangement of this part in my song "Angeldancer, at the very end... )

Endless Waves

Another one of my favorite Morse-songs would be "Endless Waves", a rather unknown song from the "High Tension Wires" Album. It´s a ballad with acoustic guitars and guitar synth, played in a rather slow tempo ( 63 bpm ).
Check out those first four bars:





Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 4

An interesting thing happens here. Steve is playing all arpeggios, but the way he merges them together, the way he arranges them make the final result sound like one long, beautiful melody instead of sounding just like a bunch of arps !

Steve uses this device pretty often, and it´s something you should try yourself, cuz it not only is an interesting compositional tool to play around with, it also can help you to make up some wonderful pieces of music. So try it... instead of just playing some arpeggios ( and make them sound as if you´re doing just that ), try to merge them to one long melody by arranging them the way Steve did in our example !

Our final example for today is the solo-part of "Endless Waves", at least the beginning of that. In our transcription, you can see the actual solo guitar in the upper staff, and the accompanying second guitar in the lower one. Pay attention to this rather common chord sequence that still sounds kinda special due to it´s re-occuring melody part ( the C and B on the B-String ). Steve also uses a Slash Chord ( Am/G ) in this one.


Listen to a MIDI-File of Example 5
13/8/2005, 14:16 Link to this post Send Email to Fireball   Send PM to Fireball
 
Fireball Profile
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Registered: 09-2003
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General comments and conclusion

About playing those kinda things...

Well, as I said in the second part of this trilogy already: the examples in this trilogy might be difficult, and if you wanna learn them ( or other guitar parts by Steve Morse ) you really have to sit down and practise a bit.

One very important thing is: if you do find a problem while playing one of these parts, don´t keep repeating the whole thing until the mistake goes away ( it most likely won´t, and it´s way to unproduktive to eg. Repeat a 16 bar exercise over and over cuz there is a tough part in bar 13 ! )

Do it the "Steve-way": Find the problem, isolate it, work on it, solve it.
That means: If you do i.e. have a problem with the small pull-off in bar 2 of the "Endless Waves"-Intro, isolate that part and practise it on its own, repeating just that little bit till you can nail it. Then add the previous and following few notes and see if you can still nail it when you play it in context. Finally, play the whole part... so solve the problem and then go on until you can play the whole exercise. You might have to work your way through it bit by bit, but t´s worth it !

OK, here, at the end of my trilogy and tribute to Steve Morse, I´d like to add a few personal thoughts:

There is so much left for me to say and write about Steve, so many musical examples, so many stories and infos about the man... but instead of going on and boring you to death, I´d like to let you go and discover Steves music on your own. I´m sure you can find at least some parts of it you will like.
Yes I am a fan of Steve and he has been a huge influence for me. I consider him a fantastic guitar player, a hard worker, a great songwriter / composer, and an incredibly nice, warm-hearted person.

Steve might not be extremely popular, not a flamboyant media-star in the eye of the public, but he has a dedicated following that supports him, and that he would give a lot for. With Deep Purple and some guest spots he was able to win over another audience, more fans coming from different parts of the world.
All this without "selling out" or doing what he really doesn't want to... he plays the music he truly loves and is happy with that, while he´s out on the road almost all the time, with the Dregs, the SMB or Deep Purple.

I recommend Steve´s music to every guitar player ( not only shred-freaks ) and every musician in general. Because what you´ll hear is not only flawless playing on both the electric and the acoustic / classical guitar, not only wonderful songs / compositions, but you´ll hear music straight from the heart of someone who loves what he is doing, who hung on to it, who does it cuz he achieved the freedom to do it and pay his bills after hard years of fighting just because he believed in what he was doing.

So before I might sound too pathetic, I´ll sum it up: You can hear more than just a lot of notes, great songs, wonderful melodies... you'll hear a human being offering you whats in his heart. If you get to meet Steve while he is on the road, be nice to him... and send him my regards !

Thanks for your time, I hope you enjoyed reading this trilogy, hope you found something to practise, learn or experiment with, and I hope I got a few of you interested in Steve´s music. If you do have any questions, feel free to post them in the forums here at iBreatheMusic. Also, check out Steve´s Site at http://www.stevemorse.com

Here is a short selected discography with some listening recommendations ( also check out the first part of this trilogy for more info about Steve´s discography )

The Dixie Dregs
"The Great Spectacular" ( Demos, 1975, currently only available through Steve´s management ).. Check out: "TO Witcher", "What If...", "Kathreen"...

"Freefall" ( 1977 ) "Sleep", "Holiday", "Refried Funky Chicken", "Northern Lights"

"What If" ( 1978 ) "Odyssey", "What If", "Night Meets Light", "Little Kids"...

"Night Of The Living Dregs" ( 1979 ) "The Bash", "Long Slow Distance", "Patchwork"...

"Dregs Of The Earth" ( 1980 ) "The Hereafter", "Pride Of The Farm"...

"Unsung Heroes" ( 1981 ) "Cruise Control", "Day 444"...

"Industry Standard" ( 1982 ) "Bloodsucking Leeches", "Up In The Air"...

"Full Circle" ( 1994 ) "Calcutta", "Ionized", "Sleeveless In Seattle"...

there are more Dregs-releases, including some live-ones, but I recommend to check those albums first. If you do need more info, check out Steve´´s site !

With Deep Purple:

"Purpendicular" ( 1996 ) "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming", "Cascades"....
"Abandon" ( 1998 ) "Any Ful Know That"...

s.a.

With the Steve Morse Band / Steve Morse solo:

"The Introduction" ( 1984 ) "The Introduction", "Cruise Missile"...
"Stand Up" ( 1985 ) "Distant Star", "Unity Gain"...
"High Tension Wires" ( 1989 ) "Ghostwind", "Tumeni Notes", "Endless Waves"...
"Southern Steel" ( 1991 ) "Battle Lines", "Simple Simon", "Vista Grande"...
"Coast To Coast" ( 1992 ) "The Oz", "Morning Rush Hour", "Long Lost"...
"Structural Damage" ( 1995 ) "Good To Go", "Just Out Of Reach", "Native Dance"...
"Stressfest" ( 1996 ) "Rising Power", "4 Minutes To Live", "Stressfest"...
"Major Impacts" ( 2000 ) "Well I Have", "Prognosis", "The White Light"
"Split Decision" ( 2002 ) "Busybodies", "Great Mountain Spirit", "Moment´s Comfort"

13/8/2005, 14:18 Link to this post Send Email to Fireball   Send PM to Fireball
 
Namnikufecin Profile
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Registered: 11-2004
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I like Morse.
He seems too be a nice guy, and that´s the most important for me. I quite like nice guys. Apart from that he is a master musician who fit in musically ok with DP and appearantly perfect as a person. And I´ve read somewhere that he´s a vegetarian. And THAT´s a good thing!
14/8/2005, 20:15 Link to this post Send Email to Namnikufecin   Send PM to Namnikufecin
 
Randys Profile
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Registered: 09-2003
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That's great Fireball, I'm very sorry to say that most of the songs you mention with the Steve Morse Band, is just please, don't get offended, I find it "boring", it does NOT do anything to my ears, I'm NOT a fan of that kind of guitar playing. I'm sorry.

I cannot comment much on the Dregs coz I only heard one live concert, I did listen to some listen to to some Morse tunes you mention, it does not register to my memory bank.

Just like John Petrucci, he is a hard rock guitarist, a very talented player, his playing is sometimes based on complex songs and I have many Dream Theater albums and I don't remember much after listening.

When I heard MACHINE HEAD for the first time in 1981, I'm completely blown away, I remember all the songs and the guitar solos that Blackmore did on that album instantly and so with IN ROCK and MADE IN JAPAN. That's guitar power.

It doesn't have to be complicated or complex or whatever, the impact and effect is more recognized and remembers. Deep Purple writes and records straight or simple rock and roll, no effects no gimmicks, no stageshows acting, just PLAIN HARD ROCK, like Jimi Hendrix when people first heard him on the record, it register to their mind, that some of them wanted to be a guitarist, the tunes and lyrics stays with 'em for the rest of their lives, that's impact. Same can be also said with Jimmy Page, although based on my ears only, technically Steve Morse is better than Hendrix or Page, my opinion only. The bottom line is these guitarist created the riff of life that would stay for generations to come. That's guitar power.

For the record, I NEVER said that Morse is a bad or sloppy guitarist, NEVER, I only say he is NOT a hard rock guitarist, that is why he does NOT fit in Deep Purple.
16/8/2005, 5:22 Link to this post Send Email to Randys   Send PM to Randys
 
Randys Profile
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Registered: 09-2003
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In the Morse-powered Purple, the first time I heard PURPENDICULAR, it's amazing experience, I mean, it's not hard rock, it's so different. These days I haven't got a chance to hear _|_ for about a year now, since I don't have much free time to relax and listen these days. The thing is I still REMEMBERS almost all the songs, I even remember all the titles of the songs from that album, I still remembers Morse guitar sounds and solos on this album, although it's NOT a hard rock album, it left a mark on my musical taste that I cannot forget this album as long as I live, it has some kind of magic. This is Steve Morse guitar power, it's NOT in the hard rock style, but in this style of music.

Last edited by Randys, 17/8/2005, 3:41
17/8/2005, 3:40 Link to this post Send Email to Randys   Send PM to Randys
 
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As for ABANDON, I'd listen to this about a month ago, and now the only songs and Morse solos I remembers, is "Almost Human" and "AFKT", I don't know why, since the songs are good enough and it's a good album, it has NO impact on me.

BANANAS, well is also a good album, unfortunately I only remembers one song and that is "House of Pain" and the rest I don't even remembers the titles, just trying to be honest. Oh yes, I still remembers another one it sounded something like Bad Company, it's "Walk On". emoticon
17/8/2005, 3:48 Link to this post Send Email to Randys   Send PM to Randys
 
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Let's pretend that I went to a concert of a guitar virtouso, his name is Steve Malmsteen Hendrix (fictional), he played an epic number called "Adventures in Space and Time", it announce by the guitarist himself, it has a complicated and complex arrangement for instrumental and not many guitarist can play this epic number, his guitar playing playing is amazing, he even played with just one hand, his fingers is moving like a ballerina dancer, amazing technique.

Chances are after listening to that song, I'll ask myself or somebody.

What is the title of the song again??? How does the song goes??? I forget the melody. emoticon

I'd seen video concerts of guitar virtousos Joe Pass, Al Dimeola, Steve Hackett, each of 'em made my eyes sleeeeepppy. emoticon
17/8/2005, 4:24 Link to this post Send Email to Randys   Send PM to Randys
 
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Re: Morse Profile



http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/whoisadino.shtml
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