#playforChris6 – first announcement

Longtime internet Yesfriend Steven Sullivan of Forgotten Yesterdays suggested to me a very nice idea – to make a collaboration video among all of us playing “The Fish”. After some thought, I begin to imagine (Can You?;)) a long version of “The Fish” (expanded from the album one) in which you can play separately one or more of the parts, even if you play other instruments, or improvise along. It would basically be played along a backing track I would provide. Each one would then make a video with your performances and I would compile everything for a final “Mega-Fish” ensemble. That could be actually “Play For Chris 6”! – What do you think of the idea? Would you be willing to join it? See some instructions below:

1-Please let me know (by email miguel@miguelbass.com) which instrument(s) are you thinking of playing, and/or if you want to sing.

2-If you can, add info on which the bass part(s) of the original recording you would like to play, that would help managing all parts so I can have a bit of everything for the final mix. UPDATE – upon several requests, you may use soloing bits from live shows (e.g. versions of “whitefish”, Yessongs, Live at Lugano/Montreux, etc, but preferably the parts that fit in the main 7/4 pattern (the continuous harmonics)

3-I will provide you a backing track, with a click or guide, that will allow you to play along with it so all players will have matching tempos.

4-Ideally the backing track would not sound in the recording. You can do this by recording the bass direct, or recording while listening to the backing track in headphones. However, if you do not have the means to do any of the two alternatives, you can record whilst the backing track is sounding in your room, just make sure your bass is predominant in the recording (e.g. place microphone of camera closer to the bass amp and play the backing track not too loud and not too close to the mic).

5-Record one video (or one per each part you will play/sing). The duration of each shall be between 30 seconds and 90 seconds, so I may edit freely according to the length of the video, number of entries, etc.

6-Send your file(s) to my email, along with information about Name/Location and a text message dedicated to Chris, which will be displayed in the final mix. WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive are some of the preferred ways to send the files.