'America' - bass cover video

[just_bassics]

Nice playing, Mark. I just wish someone would a good study on Steve's parts. I can get some of it, but his knowledge of the guitar neck and riff structure on this piece is beyond my talents. Anyone ever come across a good guitar tab of this?

[Halbert]

I found a guy on YT who does an amazing job of picking out those Howe lines. I will post a link once I get to where I have access to YT. Even with step by step instructions those parts are far beyond what I could ever get my fingers to accomplish.

[walker]

Yeah, Steve is quite the fretboard acrobat. Hard to pick out his stuff since his moves are so original.

So - update on the video - Miguel hipped me to the infringement dispute process at Youtube. I've filled out the online form & submitted it, so hopefully the block will be lifted soon - I'll repost the new URL once that happens. Fingers crossed!

[johnallg]

Mark, you have proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt I am such a poser when it comes to this song.... Great job.

I want to watch your hands on the video. Lets hope you get it figured out. Was the video marked private from within your account?

[walker]

No - I set is as public. There must be some method of audio auto-detect in place by some of the label heavyweights. The moment the video was done uploading, it was already blocked due to copyright infringement. (The notice that Scott quoted: "This video contains content from WMG, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.") The same thing happened to me when I tried to make a video using the music of another artist, Jane Child. Her stuff is locked down tight, too. It's blocked before it can even be played. I even deleted ALL the meta-data from the audio file, so there was no text indicating 'YES' 'America' or ANYthing. I even gave the audio file an ambiguous title: "Bass cover audio 1" and reprocessed the whole video, reloaded it, and it was STILL instantly blocked. So yeah - there's some pretty sophisticated filtering going on at Youtube! I can watch it, but only while I'm logged into my own account. Once I log out, block-a-roonio.

Thanks for the props on the playing. It was an intense study to get those parts as close as I could. Squire improvs a lot during the freer jam sections, especially during Steve's soloing. The hardest part for me to nail was from 7:05 to 7:23 on the Bandcamp audio track - he does the coolest syncopated paraphrasing of themes on those two parts.

[walker]

Good news! The video has been unblocked (for now!) Apparently the dispute process worked, and in good time.

[johnallg]

Thanks for the props on the playing. It was an intense study to get those parts as close as I could. Squire improvs a lot during the freer jam sections, especially during Steve's soloing. The hardest part for me to nail was from 7:05 to 7:23 on the Bandcamp audio track - he does the coolest syncopated paraphrasing of themes on those two parts.

This is what makes this my most favorite Yes tune. Took a great song and made it theirs in a great way. Classic Yes at they're cookin' best.

[johnallg]

Good news! The video has been unblocked (for now!) Apparently the dispute process worked, and in good time.

Jeez, I give up........ I'm majorly impressed..... and depressed.....

[walker]

This is what makes this my most favorite Yes tune. Took a great song and made it theirs in a great way. Classic Yes at they're cookin' best.

Amen to that, John - no doubt.

(For what it's worth, that tricky section marker translates to 7:13 - 7:31 on the video.)

[jps]

Took a great song and made it theirs in a great way. Classic Yes at they're cookin' best.

Just as they did with this song.

[jps]

You vid is a great tutorial, Mark. I am looking forward to relearning this song, correctly!

[walker]

Here's another cover that Yes rocked the stuffing out of:

[just_bassics]

Very cool, Mark. I hope you don't mind that I put your cover of America on a DVD, along with Miguel's videos, for future study, since that track is on the list. I want to do a complex study over the next few years of the following tunes:

Astral Traveler - Yours is no Disgrace - Starship Trooper - All Good People - Perpetual Change - Roundabout - South Side of the Sky - Long Distance Runaround/The Fish - Heart of the Sunrise - Complete CTTE Album - America - Tempus Fugit.

By complex study, I mean learning the correct guitar and bass parts as they were performed on the studio albums. I've already got a good handle on YIND, Roundabout, HOTS, CTTE and a few others, thanks to Miguel and others that post great tabs and videos, as well as breaking down many parts myself by ear and Guitar Pro, etc.... but there is much to be done. As for the guitar arrangement of America, it is fresh, dynamic, clever and very musical all at the same time and I think it represents Steve at his best, at least on the electric. I do have his Remedy DVD, where he performs the solo (on a Tele??) and gives away some of his secrets there.

I've also used the book "Steve Howe Guitar Pieces" for excellent transcriptions of Clap, Mood for a Day and The Ancient (excerpt) as well as Meadow Rag and the cadenza solo from Sound Chaser. When I met Steve in 2009, I asked him if there was a part 2 in the works to keep me busy for another 25 years! He laughed but didn't give away any details.

Given the sound quality of the Hayman 2020 Guitar and Steve's obvious comfort level when playing it, I'm surprised he didn't use it on more Yes tracks.

Mark, BTW, that is a great looking and sounding bass and you handle it well. Keep sharing!

[just_bassics]

I found a guy on YT who does an amazing job of picking out those Howe lines. I will post a link once I get to where I have access to YT. Even with step by step instructions those parts are far beyond what I could ever get my fingers to accomplish.

Thanks Halbert. Yea, it hurts my fingers to play a lot of those parts, too, but learning them correctly and playing even at 3/4 speed or so is a real challenge and great fun!

[walker]

Wow! That's quite an undertaking, Jim - learning all the Squire AND Howe parts for all those tunes. (HA! Jim's learning Squire! And howe!) Good luck taking all that on - you'll have to post some vids of yourself playing both parts utilizing the split-screen editing that Miguel uses.