Zappa.com

Wow, sorry! I never noticed this one from before, sorry.

I use the one from the Zappa songbook. You're right, it's pretty damn hard. I don't play it anywhere near proper tempo, so I gave up on it.
Really sorry about the delay.

As for the more than two hands thing, no, I don't think so. A cursory glance says that there aren't any mistakes in it when compared to the recording. It's just very difficult, and Underwood's excellent transcription doesn't make it look any easier.

^ i made a transciption of the little house intro for the jazz band at my school. my teacher was all over it, but we ended up playing it at a REALLY FUCKIN slow tempo cuz the horn players fucked up the parts in the middle (he had been out drinking the night before, i was later told.). so it sounded like the bastard love child of "Goodbye Porkie Hat" and "the Black Page".

a long time ago i programmed the drum part to inca roads into a drum machine and i played along to it on guitar. my chops have gotten considerably worse though, i wouldnt dream of playing it now.

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"Once you go black, you never go back."
--Thomas Jefferson

That reminds me - my best friend in college was a music composition major, and we were both Zappa fanatics. I seem to remember he prepared an arrangement of "I Promise Not to Come in Your Mouth" for a small group featuring one of the faculty on flute. I think it was performed even, although he truncated the title to "I Promise" for obvious reasons. Lather hadn't been released yet, so we didn't know of the alternate title, or he could have used that.

Edit: Another college rememberance... this friend and I had learned the basics of several FZ songs, and went to the band room after hours with a tape recorder and recorded some live duo versions of several songs. Me on drums and vocals (I used to dabble on drums, but don't anymore) and my friend on guitar, keyboards and percussion (simultaneously!). I think we played Punky's Whips, Zoot Allures, Honey Don't You Want a Man Like Me, Plastic People, and Dumb All Over (for which I programmed the drum part). We also did a pretty good version of Terje Rypdal's "Ambiguity". Sadly, the tape has been lost. It may be hidden in my collection somewhere, or he may have a copy, but I'd love to hear that again. It may have sounded like shit, but we made it to the end of the songs at the same time, which is no mean feat for playing Zappa unrehearsed.

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Let's hear it again for the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

When I was about 14 years old, my best friend and I bought cheap pawn shop guitars and learned to play. We had no lessons and never learned to read music. I never went far enough to play any lead scales with any kind of proficiency, but I played for years. People we knew taught us stuff, we bought the books from the music store that show where to put your fingers, and some stuff I figured out by tuning my guitar to my slightly slow record player and taking it note by note.

Started off with an electric guitar with a small Fender amp and a "fuzz box". The neighbors had to become tired of hearing AC/DC's Highway to Hell.

As I became bored with the Rock and Roll distortion, I started figuring out that chords were pretty cool. So I took myself to the next level.

Zeppelin was always my favorite - Stairway to Heaven was the first one I learned (although I could never get all the way through it).

My greatest accomplishment on the guitar ever, was The Rain Song. I could actually play the whole thing. Got that one out of the music book and listening to the LP, but found out much later that it was not the way Jimmy Page played it. I didn't care, it sounded good to me. Talk about excited - the first time I got my hands on a 12-string: orgasm.

Learned Heart's "Crazy on You". That first part was a monster to learn, but I eventually did.

Then of course, I always played Kansas' Dust in the Wind, and was able to sing that while I played it, which impressed my friend, who couldn't do that.

Having played guitar is what made me really appreciate people who can play. That is the main reason I ended up loving Zappa so much. I still own an acoustic, but I only pick it up, tune it, and play until my fingers are raw once every couple of months or so.

I think I'll go pick it up and play right now!

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This has to be the disease for you.

Am I right that Zolar Czakl contains a varispeeded/overdubbed version of the unused "What's The Ugliest..." backing track that you hear twice on the Money Acetate?

These days I just kind of noodle out improv on the classical guitar. I had grown out my right thumbnail for picking but it got all bent and nasty so I had to cut it back down to normal length.

Nice to see ya popping in , Dan

Hey pedro!

Yeah, I know I've been away for a long long time, in a galaxy far far... Wait... Uh, well, anyway, yes, I'll probably be here more often from now on.

(note: overuse of punctuation is fun)

XTC is the most underrated band ever. Zappa's band was more of an orchestra - which for all intensive purposes - is the most underrated orchestra ever but the fans make up for quantity with quality.

Moggio. Fucking love it. Bass is fun (love Thunes), and guitar lead is delicious. Wish I could play it with mallets though...