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From: bazonics
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  • wow

  • Comment removed

  • “When I hear new music coming into my head, its mission is integrated into its notes. It basically tells me how it wants to be.” – John McLaughlin. From Page 1 of the book “Follow Your Heart – John McLaughlin song by song.”

  • i'm sick of people saying only music from decades past is good. get your head out of your ass and discover something new, theres good stuff out there. also who gives a fuck how old you are, we aren't impressed. well, maybe some of these people who share the sentiment that only music from before 1980 is good would be impressed. quit being elitist assheads.

    and yes, i love mahavishnu orchestra. i also love kanye west. i bet that makes me a simpleton though. one cannot like hip hop and jazz! shame

  • The Mahavishnu Orchestra live was like no other band, it was as if they landed from some far away planet to open our ears. I was also there to see them record From Nothingness to Eternity it was then I realized that John was taking the band into another direction from Meeting the Spirits and Birds of Fire. I sat patiently as this song has always been one of my favorites, the disbanding the original 5 members was a sad day though I tried to enjoy the incantations of MO, I still marvel always will

  • its pretty easy to count the phrases, 123, 123, 1234, 123, 123, 1234 and so on. that makes 10/8

  • @eloC311

    Great call: made it easy. Thanks. I composed a tune using all dominant chords inspired by this tune.

    Didn't even know the name of it. Knew in the first bar this was it.

  • The music is fantastic, the sound is poor. This MO is the best!

  • Hey fellow Mahavishnu Orchestra fans, check out my original solo acoustic rock music. I'm really influenced by Mahavishnu Orchestra among others. Listen to songs of mine, one being "Gold Dream". I put up performances of my songs once every couple of weeks so subscribe to my grungeboy83 channel if you want to stay updated! I'm proud to say that I play music that is unlike any of the crap out there on the radio today. I hope you like it!

    Btw, what a freakin awesome song this is!

  • Guitarist Carl Orr: "I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Follow Your Heart - John McLaughlin song by song.” The descriptions of the music are great, and I particularly enjoy those inspired moments when the author abandons literal description and describes the music in vivid, sometimes surreal imagery."

  • square music.............no thanks.

  • The time signature doesn't matter so much. What makes it such a fascinating piece is the the overlaying of the two different rhythms. While John and others are playing this strange thing in 7/4, Billy Cobham starts the 6/8 backbeat which everyone else joins in after 1:40 or so. If you have the ear for it, it's outrageously satisfying to hear these two overlaid rhythms and especially the moment when once in a while you can actually hear them coincide!

  • Wonderful version. Thanks for posting. What gig is this from?

  • At 7:26 a great guitar trick? Brilliant

  • this sounds like a horror movie, are you high dude?

  • awe

  • We actually covered this along with many other MO tunes in a band I played with right out of high school. Learned a lot!...

    but didnt not get many gigs and when we did, people just stared... it was a blast.

    jp

  • @jpritch2 Have just uploaded our version of this with Lila's Dance at the beginning! Went down well i think? suppose it depends on the audience? Give it a listen if you get chance............Thanks

  • It's incredible, of course. Interesting how everyone is on side of the stage while and Goodman is on the other side. 

  • @uncasist maybe he smell....-.-

  • my opinion..ian hammer should have been left to the job of just playing the chords..it always got real boring when he tried to play lead...more like bla bla bla....

  • Great post!! Billy Cobham on drums...brings back memories.

    Have a few old Mahavishnu Orchestra's LP's and Bill'y's Spectrum with Tommy Bolin.

  • What are the frets? I can't find a lesson on guitar..

  • Really schychidellic in the beginning

  • I wish the video wouldn't have started skipping during the start of this video.

  • @MrDarkeyed then go watch lady gaga you snot nosed shit

  • @wilhoitsux relax. I'm just saying.

  • can i found that book in internet?

  • I saw Mahavishnu Orch. live....w/Weather Report on the same bill....there were moments where Mahavishnu was so painfully loud, but then the most sublime, beautiful melodies would suddenly appear...it was like the sun bursting thru clouds....that changed my ideas about what music could be

  • @dazamaru

    how was Weather Report? ... nice???

  • holy shit they were good, gathering of mega talent

  • Check out that Fender amp -looks like a 4x10'' Super Reverb- behind Billy Cobham...an 'amplified' monitor?

  • @egyptianminor I think it is a Fender Super Six Reverb. The other Fender amps are Twin Reverbs and Deluxe Reverbs... along with stacks of Marshalls.

    All tube amps with beautiful sound..!!

  • @worldcitizenforever ok, haha BIg Hug back

  • @worldcitizenforever Don't take me wrong man, I love the Beatles, they are how i got into music. You are right that you cannot compare the beatles with prog/fusion, but thats apples and oranges man. The Beatles music is great and so is the Mahavishnu Orchestra's.

  • McLaughlin is in the state of Bliss!!!

  • 20/8

  • 10/8 then 20/8

  • Guess you will have to take that up with John then because according to his forward found at the beginning of the book he specifically put these scores together for the book himself,they weren't transcribed.btw the second half simply turns into a shuffle in the book

  • greatest violin solo ever

  • yeah if u dont suck at music u should be able to figure that out in like 30 seconds, and this song is so bad i cant believe this many people actually have that bad of add that they can listen to it

  • @pinkpoop24 you should get your bowels checked. Oh and your sensibilities. Please go spam somewhere else. Cheerio.

  • @dorian411 lol u dont even know wat spam means do u ? good try though

  • The interested readers can see the April 2006 Guitar Player Magazine for music, tab and discussion of Mahavishnu Orchestra's Dance of Mya. It's actually 10:8 time played in groups of 3, 3 & 4

  • @galbert00 Yes I'm looking at the book of Mahavishnu Orchestra songs published by Alfred music (but I had it in the 70s when it was published by Warner Bros) and the magic time signature of the song ,kiddies, is indeed 10/8

  • @tn526 boss, they've got it wrong. if the first section of the song is counted as 10/8 then the second half will be 20/16

  • Dance of Maya? You'd have to have to be short of a leg to be able to dance to that.

  • Six counts of three, then one count of two... sounds like 20 something to me. But I'd call it 20/8. Check out JM on the Santana collaboration (Love, Devotion & Surrender) there's a tune I'd call 17/8 and it's freakin' addictive. Don't count it... play the riff.

  • Notice the interplay between Goodman &Hammer;this typified the spirit of this amazing group.I was lucky to catch them 2x in 1972.They would improvise these amazing,complex,odd-metered passages which what appeared to be no effort on their part!? The audience just sat their in open-mouthed amazement...,remember "back in the day" the only other groups that were as intense was Cream or Hendrix!

  • JM is out of this world in the solo, he is just somewhere else!!!

  • they were gifted, period.

  • yeah, you cant learn how to play like this

  • we did this song in a a jazz group and we played it pretty well its just not as cool as everyone says it is and this version prooves that

  • lol you dont know what youre talking about

  • I don't know about "20/16," but I love dancing to this tune. I've only ruptured my spleen twice.

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  • Jerry Goodman was fantastic.

  • This was by far the best lineup. Ballsy and Soulful. If you got to se them live you know what I mean.

  • This is in 5/4 or 20/16. The first part of the tune is based upon 1/8 note movement (10 1/8 notes) and the part after the head is based in groups of three 1/16 notes giving the illusion of triplets. The groupings there are: 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3- 2 (=20). Take to the bank. Fascinating tune.

  • Close to a year ago, I was invited to join a band as the violinist/flutist, and this song was one of the ones I was supposed to learn, but sadly I never did it......A good song though.

  • the time is 7/8. Count a four and a three.

    Thanks Guys. This is some of the finest fusion every recorded!!!! And played

  • @mangothefish

    it is not 7/8. Read what cabin2music above has written. it is correct.

  • is that jean luc ponty on violin?

  • His name is Jerry Goodman.

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  • @Tengent lol ok loser

  • @Tengent Depending on how old you are I may be one of them. I HATE the music people art my school listen to. I only play and listen to the good stuff from the past, of which MO is a fine example. I actually reapect the great music of the past and I'm pissed off and horrified at what "musicians" today did to destroy that great, soulful, awe inspiring music.

  • @Tengent Well actually it was kind of the same deal back in the day,(when this was being born)only us musician kids listened to it.I really can't think of any of my non musician friends that had these albums...

  • @Tengent idk how old you are but im 13 almost 14 and listen to this stuff. other people laugh but i usually just say "fuck you, you listen to lady gaga" and they shut up lol. this is incredible. this is music at its finest

  • @Tengent

    im 13 yrs old

  • can any1 tell me what time signature it is I think its 6/10 but I could be wrong. God they were so so talented.

  • According to the official transcription 10/8

  • 10/4 actually, going into 20/8.

  • well better take it up with Warner - Tamerlane publishing, who've put the time sig as 10/8 in the official MO book.

  • @bazonics It's a fairly arbitrary distinction between the two usually based on tempo.

  • @bazonics Mr McL says "10/8 going into 20/8" in a Syracuse NY 1972 performance of the song, which you can find posted a few places on YouTube... including a 50+ minute posting of the show!

  • 10 or 20 or 5 - it's all the same really, the main thing is he uses a device to create a shuffle effect by grouping the riff in 6 groups of 3 but it's followed by one group of 2, totaling 20 counts in all. You're tempted to tap your foot along with the shuffle groups of 3, but that gets you in trouble when you get to the 2 group. Instead, do what they do and tap every two counts, you'll end up at the top in sync every time. Lila's dance from Vision of the Emerald Beyond uses the same device.

  • @theman2890

    Confirm -That is what Mclaughlin himself says it is.

  • @theman2890

    Confirmed - This is what Mclaughlin himself says it is.

  • @theman2890

    It's 10/4, going into 20/8 when billy comes in with the 6/8 but it's practically the same timing really. It's about the hindu idea that though things may appear different, they can still be the same, which annoyingly makes the song even more genius.

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  • @theman2890 You're absolutely right here. It was given to me as a 1st year dictation test when I was at Leeds Music College, England 1973. 20 over 8. I didn't get the right answer at the time and when it was explained it made great and logical sense. Still does. Ever tried playing in this time? Its a right one to count!! Just feel it. So much easier. Kindest Regards

  • Where did you get 6/10?

    It's 5/4 or 10/8, both would write out evenly, though I would write it in 10/8.

  • Because I suck at music obviously.

  • Yeah - a non-power-of-two number on the bottom is basically undefined...

  • @toof please tell me how to play or even count a 6/10 bar.

  • no such thing as 6/10

  • @toof 1-2-3 - 1-2-3 - 1-2-3-4 = 10 / 8. Around 2:00: 123 123 123 123 123 123 12 = 20/16 =10/8 with a different feel.

  • @toof I'm not sure 6/10 is a real time signature, but it's definitely got a five pulse to it, so call it 5/4, 10/8 or something like that, depending on how you wanted to write it I guess. Boogie in five!

  • THANKSSSSSSSSSS Bazonics..!!

    This is AWESOME CLASSIC Mahavishnu.

    Johns is on FIRE..!

    the sound is great...boosted

  • Love the synergy between Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman. It was inevitable that they'd record something together post-Mahavishnu Orchestra.

  • l.shankar is the name you are after. even maestro zappa

    loved l.shankar. ravi is a sitar player contrary to violin virtuoso

    l shankar.indian violin players are ever so uplifting and original. bless l shankar and mr mclaughlin .

  • John Mclaughlin did play with Ravi Shankar mostly accoustic stuff also had an album out 1976 called Shakti with John Mclaughlin and one of the Shankars.Mahavishnu orchestra was basically a full on electronic acid jazz version but John Mclaughlin playd a lot of eastern/indian type stuff on the acoustic with Ravi Shankar on Sitar, I saw them years ago in a small venue in Sydney Australia,it was awsome,as if the instruments,drums tablas, Sitars guitars suddenly started talking to each other

  • does anyone know if ravi shankar played in the Mahavishnu orchestra??

  • Jerry Goodman on violin, and Rick Laird on bass. Rick Laird played bass with the father of my band mates when I was in high school and in my 20s .. [their father was a well known pianist locally].

  • I know thats Billy

    cobham on drums and Jan Hammer on keys but who is that violin player and the bass player?

  • Rick Laird plays bass Jerry Goodman on violin

  • what time sig. is this in?

  • DKV,

    10/4 on the killing intro melody and then 20/8 ( 3x6 + 2) for the solos.

  • thanks!

  • Blue violin player win.

  • i first discovered MO, in the last 10 years or so. Have a couple of their cd's. Their music was SO ahead of its time. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see them back in the day (was born in '71) Is there any of this or other footage on DVD?

  • This song is in my opinion is the closest Mahavishnu song to a depressed kind of disturbed tone. That starting riff is untouchable. It would have been interesting if Mahavishnu delved into darker themed music, still bloody brilliant!

  • masterofscotland, spot on. Tried to have the dj at my daughter's special (for her for some reason) "important" 30 year bday play this from IMF and, even though it most of the folk had left, to say the least the young folk freaked out. Way too dark.

  • 10/8 and then 20/8 in the blues beat. I love you Mr. McLaughlin.

  • Screw the Beatles! We need an MO RockBand!!!

  • LOL!

  • @deepislandboy true that but itd be impossible to beat! they were just too damn good!

  • @deepislandboy lol, I wonder how many plastic guitars would get smashed in frustration trying to play MO in RockBand?

  • @ncscotty hahaha, i'm sure very many.

  • @deepislandboy THAT NOT A ROCK BAND THATS FUSION,JAZZ

  • Little known fact, that getting "that" Marshall Plexi tone requires the use of a curly guitar cable. Look at any classic video of a blazing Plexi in use back in the day, JM, Hendrix, early Van Halen, you name it. All used a curly guitar cable.

    All these dorks in recent years have been paying $50.00 for their straight "oxygen-free", gold contact, Switchcraft tipped, Russian solder, Gore Tex shielded esoteric cable, and the real deal is a cheap curly cable that we used to buy back then for $2.99!

  • i doubt this, but i guess its worth the try.

  • Curly leads? That's all we had back then! Sounds great in the right hands.

  • Esel Mejor Jazz Rock que se ha hecho. La Mahavishnu es sencillamente extraordinaria

  • john: no writing in 4/4! and if you do youre out!

    others: ok

  • LOL!! Funny one. The first time I listened to these guys I was 20 years old and this was too much information for me to understand. Luckily I grabbed them again, and never cease to amaze every time I listen to their records. These guys couldn´t be touched by anyone. I would love for them to get back, they still can since they are young and very alive. Imagine seeing them live again.

  • I fell instantly in love with them after listening to birds of fire at age 18-19, that was over a decade ago maybe. Coming from rock, Cobham and McLaughlin were the main atraction, but these days I get what a well oiled machinery they are.

  • I dont know what minor 7 tonic function is but I know the chords are a mixture of 7ths and maj7#4's

  • minor 7 tonic function

  • Anyone know what kind of scale is used in the beginning?

  • It's based on E symmetrical and E super locrian scales.

  • Thank you very much. :)

  • "Dance of Maya" my favorite and probably the moce intricate tune from the ORIGINAL Mahavishnu Orchestra!

  • It's realy incredible

  • The thing that stuns me (more than anything else) is just how damn effortless they make this look.

    This is music at one of its highest peaks. Beautiful, just beautiful.

  • inialny,

    sounds like you blow with the wind...

  • Aw come on now, each one of these musicians is a virtuoso, and this combination was a gift to us all, words can't capture the music, just marvel at it and enjoy.

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  • I love John M. ,but where is,"Eternity's Breath on YTUBE?

  • how the hell did they fit all that talent up on one stage?

  • magical isn't it!! :)

  • Who's a Jam band?

  • The interplay between Biily & John starting around 6:50 is INCREDIBLE!

  • Bazo,

    LOL at the descriptor "Great JM solo a 4m.50": NF-ing shit!!! Thanks!!

    NO PUSSY music here.

  • Saw Frank Zappa as the feature with John Mclaughlin as the warm-up in May of 1973.

    Just great stuff.

    Then again I meet Bobby Weir on a sidewalk as he was waiting for his drummer to show up at the Living Room and that was Billy Cobham who pulled up in the limo and they went on stage a I laughed and pointed all night.

  • Check out Wolfgang's Vault website. Incredible Mahavishnu and its free.

  • I love Jerry Goodman!!!

  • best "jam-band" ever

  • BEST FOR EVER,NADREAL MUSIC....

  • Argh!!!!!!!!!!! such cool exciting music.

  • Intro in 11 and Delta blues in 7...way to go John !

  • ehh... actually it's intro in 10, and delta blues in 20 :)

  • That is one HUGE china cymbol.

  • john mclaughlin has the best solos!! no one sounds like him

  • YEa and so inovative

  • Viewers may like to CHECK OUT MY VIDEO:

    "Mahavishnu Orchestra - Earliest Live Recording"

    avs002

  • ........avs002, I doubt it very much!!

  • 'The Noonward Race' is by far my favourite track. The live versions are out of this world and I am trying to obtain as many live versions as I can. I have about six versions. Does anyone have any more?

  • man zappa on zappa is....so good.....so so soo goood. i dig blow by blow so very much, and dont get me started on weather report

  • haha same here

  • what is that, zappa on zappa?

  • he means zappa plays zappa i think.

  • As much as Miles Davis loved having this brilliant and highly skilled Guitarist in his band, he called John McGlaughlin to the side and told him that he was ready to start his own band. Isn't it amazing what a little advise can do?

  • that's true ... miles encouraged john to start his own band and the result was mahavishnu

  • Fantastic, masters at work

  • OmG you cut the clip off at the very best part!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo.

  • This track is incredible, i think it's my favorite one they did.

  • I learned the entire catalogue on guitar in my early 20's, and later forgot it because it left the common man in the dust...As I look back on it, I have mixed feelings because it was memorable writing, but the mainstay was the portrayal of facility rather than music for it's own sake.

  • whyyy does the video cut out at my favorite part...

  • this is what fusion used to be. Say 'fusion' now and people think of Kenny G. How sad. The first 1:30 of this is some of the most powerful music ever written. Thank god people took chances at some point over the last 40 years.

  • When i hear fusion i pretty much just think Mahavishnu and Return to Forever

  • Some of the best music of the 20th century in ANY genera.

    They tried to put a tour together a few years ago but Jan wasn't interested, or so I've heard.

    There has never been a band with as much God given virtuosity in it as the MO.

  • They could always hire Derek Sherinian, who is basically the new Jan Hammer.

  • well, it may not have been the volume...it may have been the almost unbearable INTENSITY.

  • If you ever saw MO live...FUCKIN LOUD! Just you and them and nothing else. One of the best shows I ever saw.

  • I have a friend who saw them after the release of Birds Of Fire, and Him and his wife

    had to leave before the concert was finished

    because of the volume.

  • Superior.

  • I uploaded a video of my version of Dance of Maya

  • This post brings back so many memories. Thanks much for the post bazonics! I saw this version of the MO at an outdoor concert and it was amazing to see. Wow.

  • You can hear many live versions of dance of maya from audio recordings of mahavishnu concerts at website JAZZ FUSION TV (do google search on "jazz fusion tv" to find it) There are hundreds of hours of fusion concerts , and at least 10 mahavishnu concerts with all lineups . Its the holy grail.

  • this fucking kicks ASS!!!

    take that Kanye!

  • I bet Simon, Paula ,and Randy wouldn't let these guys past the first audition..lol...

    seriously.. the average, rythmically challenged, moron, that comprises today's music buying,(sorry...downloading)pu­blic, could not understand anything this cool...jeez..there's no references to "bitches", and no lyrics about "da hood" anywhere....yes I'm bitter!..thanks for the post of this classic stuff...keep it coming please!

  • Thanks for the memories.....when music was worth listening to....no apologies or thanks to all the very lame music industry know-it-alls of todays climate in music.....thanks for this posting bazonics and Cheers to you!