More About Ringo's Hat in "Help"

 Back in 2013 I wrote about Ringo's hat as seen in the film "Help!"  I was always curious about the hat, and I admired the look of it.  So I researched the hat and learned that Ringo borrowed it from a U.K. Scottish soldier for the filming one day.  I also learned the meaning of the hat's big "X" badge and the underlying tartan patch, and I set about gathering the materials to replicate the hat (actually called a Tam O'Shanter).

Read all about it here.

Since then a Beatles Tribute band, "1964 The Tribute" contacted me and asked to borrow my replica tam for a film clip they were making.  So I overnighted it to the drummer, Robert Potter, in Florida.   He wore it in the film and sent it back; the band thanked me in the film's credits.   This was an honor for sure, as 1964 the Tribute has been called the very best Beatles Tribute band by Rolling Stone magazine, and they have played in Carnegie Hall eight times, which is not exactly the venue for amateur musicians.

See the New Covid 19 64 Stay at Home Video linked at their website that shows Bob Potter ("Ringo") wearing my tam and playing drums.  The  band looks so much like the real Beatles and sound so much like the real Beatles that it is positively uncanny.  I saw the real Beatles in concert twice, in 1964 and 1965, at the Cow Palace near San Francisco (I'm old but at least I got to see the Beatles).   So I know of what I speak.  1964 the Tribute's performance possesses all the excitement and magic of the original.  

If you read my 2013 article, linked above, check out the comments.  An anonymous reader wrote this:

 Anonymous said...

The hat worn by Ringo in the making of the film help belonged to Corporal Greenhill of B Company the 1st Battalion the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment). The hat is a Tam O Shanter (TOS) of the 1960-70 pattern. The badge is that of the Lowland Brigade as worn by Lowland Scottish Regiments of that time. The tartan patch is Hunting Stewart as worn by the Royal Scots. It is worn with the badge over the left ear.

The Filming of this part of the film took place on Salisbury Plain Training area and was supported by Regiments that were stationed nearby.

The hat was signed by the Beatles before handing back to Cpl Greenhill who continued to wear it as normal; subsequent washing got rid of the signatures.

September 25, 2014 at 11:11 AM

 

Jennifer Greenhill is the granddaughter of the British soldier who owned the tam that Ringo wore in "Help!" 

 She wrote this:

What a lovely piece of film and music history. I’m David Greenhill’s granddaughter and the hat is still kept safe by his sister - a huge Beatles fan herself! It was signed by each of the Fab Four after filming for the day.

It’s always a fun bit of trivia whenever the film plays on the tv.

December 22, 2022 at 10:14 AM

 One final word about Bobby Potter who portrays Ringo in the band's performances:  in a fairly recent concert, Ringo was in the audience and posed for a picture with Bobby, both with their arms around each other's shoulder and looking at each other with huge grins.  I will post that picture when I can find it again.  It' s been a year or two.

A Tribute to Peanuts

I drew this graphic in Adobe Illustrator as a practice project to learn Illustrator.  The best way to learn a new software program is to use it in a project.  

After I completed the drawing, I wanted to relearn animating snow in Photoshop.  I spent the last three days learning that again.  

Fair Use is claimed for use of the Charles Schultz graphics, as they were used as a learning project and had no commercial purpose.

A Christmas Graphic

I made this animated snow graphic about 8 years ago, using Photoshop.  Then I forgot how to do it.  See next post above for my relearning project.    

I Inherit a Tenor Banjo

My brother Ted, an accomplished guitarist, passed away on April 5, 2019.  I greatly miss him, but I did inherit a tenor banjo and his favorite Stratocastor guitar to remember him by.

I immediately ordered some instructional books on tenor banjo, and have been studying it  As a rhythm player it is good to finally study a lead instrument.  I am proceeding through the book well and learning the chords in each key.  Some of these chords seem almost impossible to play, as you have to really stretch those fingers out to get all the right notes.  Since there is only four strings, it's mo doubt easier than playing a six string guitar.  Playing the chords gets easier each time I pick up the banjo.  You are building muscle memory and it comes easier than you might think.

I am learning in the jazz duning of CGDA, from top to bottom of the neck.  There are several tunings that you might choose, but this is the one I want, and it seems most instructional books teach playing in this key.

More about the banjo later.

Becoming a Competent Musician: Playing Instrumentals Helps

To become a jazz musician, or any genre of musician, you must practice consistently over time, both with other musicians and alone.  Progress will be incremental over time.  You will not wake up one day and voila:  you are a competent musician.  You will get better little by little and you will reach plateaus of achievement. 

It is very helpful to record yourself, especially when playing with other musicians or a band.  Do this for both practices and actual gigs.  The feedback is invaluable.  You can learn what you are doing right and what needs improvement.

I record all the practices with my band.  Over a year and a half, while listening to the recordings, I notice that I wince less than before!  I hear fewer missed beats, fewer wrong chords, better rhythms.  I can tell I am progressing and it is encouraging.

Yesterday, Sunday, August 19th, we had our usual Sunday practice.  Our singer couldn't make it, so we used the opportunity to polish our instrumentals.  It's a different trip to play just instrumentals, because the lead instruments (guitar and piano, in our case) have to carry the lead by themselves. 

Have a listen to the practice here:  www.soundcloud.com/gwaltrip.

A Practice Routine That Seems to Work

In the past month I have finally hit on a practice routine that works for me.  (I play bass and my chosen genre is jazz and jazz standards.)

I study each song in our set list by reference to the chords on the sheet music.  I go through the chords, experimenting on the best way to play major 7ths, minor 7ths, dominant 7ths, and minor 7ths flat 5s.  At band practice on Sunday I figured out how to play a 6 chord, like C6.  It has a unique and pleasant sound.

Each chord in a song doesn't stand alone and can't be taken separately -- the chord that follows is also very important.  You want to move from one chord to the next in a smooth, melodic transition -- this is called the bass line.  A walking bass line is a smooth transition from one chord (or arpeggio) to the next.

Before this approach can be effective, you need to know a bit of music theory.  You need to know scale tones, chord tones and intervals.  You need to know your finger board thoroughly. But how do you get this knowledge?

Most bass courses emphasize practicing scales and arpeggios, and this practice is important; but a little of it goes a long way.  Too much of it is boring and may even be discouraging.  I find that learning the elements of music is best achieved when the elements are being applied in a practical way:  you want to play a certain jazz standard.  So you play that standard over and over, trying different ways to play the arpeggios, different places on the neck where you can access the notes in the chord.  In the process of learning the song, you are also learning your instrument and training your ear.

How do you become a jazz musician?  One professional jazz man said you do it by learning tunes.

We Play Instrumentals

Last Friday our singer was ill, so couldn't make practice, so we worked on instrumentals.  I liked this, because instrumentals are a different experience and add variety to our repertoire.

I can hear my bass much better and that helps me better judge how I am doing and learning.

Give a listen to our practice songs at www.soundcloud.com/gwaltrip, under the date of July 29, 2018.  The songs arfe marked with this graphic:

I am playing a Fender fretless Jazz Bass.

Devising Bass Lines for Jazz Standards

Last week my jazz group had a gig at the Slapface Coffee & Tea Cafe in Fremont, CA.  To prepare for the gig, I practiced the songs on my own (as well as with the band).  I record every practice and gig with my H5 Handy Recorder, then upload them to www.Soundcloud/gwaltrip for the band members to review.  Some of the songs are tight and others are not, particularly when we are playing new songs for the first time.

We have another gig this Sunday (July 22, 2018) at the Big Basin Cafe, on Big Basin Way in Saratoga.  There will be a car show on the street and we are expecting a good crowd. [Update:  gig was postponed due to a scheduling mixup.]

I am continuing my own approach to arpeggios and learning the songs:  I go through the sheet music and experiment with the chords, how best to play a minor 7th flat 5 while transitioning to the next chord, for example.  What sounds best?  What's the best way to play a major 7th chord?  This experimentation has yielded knowledge and new sounds from my fretboard.  It helps me remember  how to handle various chord arrangements during performance.

Various jazz musicians have said that memorizing the songs is the best approach.  You must know each song thoroughly, to play it through smoothly without mistakes, without getting lost.  Memorization is the way to do that.

Know Your Arpeggios! The Stuff of Which Great Bass Lines Are Made.

I have been using Crescendo music notation software for the past few days, to write out bass lines, to experiment with arranging the notes in the chords (arpeggios to us bassists), to gain understanding of what works and what doesn't.  To do this, I need to know what notes are in a particular chord, such as A-7, BbMaj7, B-7(b5), etc.  I have these notes partially memorized, but I am not completely there yet.  So I refer to arpeggio charts (that I made myself in Excel), to see what notes are available.

For example, here are the first two lines of Autumn Leaves, written out in Crescendo music notation software (which is very easy to use).  (Click in the image to see full size):

A free version of Crescendo Music Notation software is available for download,  and the licensed version for home use is a bargain at $35 ($50 for business use).  See this link.

To facilitate building the bass line, I put the chord notes just below each bar.  For example, the notes in A-7 (A minor 7) are A, C, E & G.  Then I put quarter notes in each bar that correspond to the chord notes, but arranged in an ascending or descending order, and using passing notes where needed.  (Note:  the notes below each bar show the notes in order, but the notes in the bar above are arranged differently).  For example, the first bar is A-7 and the notes in A-7 are A, C, E & G.  However, the notes written in the bar are A, B, C and E.  (The B is a passing note, not a chord note).  In the next bar we have D7 (D dominant 7) and the notes are D, F#, A and C, but the notes I used in the bar are D, E, F# and A.  The E is a passing note.

You may need a reference of arpeggios in order to create your own bass lines.  Here is a graphic I made of major 7 chords, dom 7 chords, minor 7 chords, and minor 7 flat 5 chords.  This chart may help you learn your arpeggios, as well as choose notes for each bar in your compositions.

Please report any errors you may see.

Building Great Bass Lines

If you want to be a great bass player, you need to understand chord structures and bass lines.  A great bass line is a string of notes that move smoothly from one chord to the next.  Generally the notes go up and then come down, a nice swing from low to high to low again.

I am really into studying bass and the composition of bass lines to jazz standards.

I am using my musical notation software to write walking bass lines to jazz standards.   This is giving me insights into jazz and chord structures.

My musical notation software allows me to write out a sheet of music, using the notes that I choose myself.  Then it lets me play the music back on my computer, so I can hear how the composition sounds.  If I don’t like the sound, I can change the notes to make it better.

I am studying something called “voice leading,” which means that when you play one chord (say Cm7 followed by F7), you move from the last note in C7 to the nearest note in F7, not necessarily to the root note, but to whatever note is closest.  It could be the 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th or 7^th of F7 in this example, but it can also be a passing note, a note in the respective scale that is not a note in the chord.

You could play Cm7 followed by F7 using chord notes in order:  C Eb G Bb  --  F A C Eb and it would work but sound dorky.  Using voice leading you could smooth out the bass line by playing the chords in this order:  C D Eb G, F G A C.  of course, D is not a note in Cm7 and G is not a note in F7, these are passing notes that smooth out the bass line and it sounds good.  The best use of passing notes are on the 2^nd and 4^th notes in the chord.

I am writing out a bass line to Autumn Leaves in G minor (Bb major) just to solidify my understanding.  I won’t do this for every song in my repertoire, but I will study each song separately to get the gist.

More about this later.