Talk:Chameleon (composition)

Untitled

It says here the bassline was played on a Minimoog, but on the Head Hunters page it says it was played on an ARP Odyssey. Anyone know which is correct? 81.175.133.73 (talk) 12:08, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

I also think this was an ARP.--78.53.73.90 (talk) 06:07, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

It also says here that the song is built on a 2 chord vamp, but that ignores the rundown bits, and the second section (starting at around 8'30") has 2 *different* chords... 93.97.40.109 (talk) 15:30, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Minor Pentatonic

Amplifying the issue with the 2-chord vamp, the ABAB... section isn't based on a Dorian scale. The melody is based on a Bb minor pentatonic scale. I've always used the song to teach youngsters about the use of pentatonics (and about 16th note syncopation). Of course, the cadence (and scaling) is more complicated in the C section, and I bypass the theory in it, especially with Middle School kids. I'm not taking the authority to actually change the article because 1) it's not my article, and 2) I can't find references specifically stating that Mr. Hancock intended to use a Bb minor pentatonic scale for the song. I did find http://www.jazzinamerica.org/Media/Audio/22?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=640&width=500, but I'm not sure if its authoritative. Weyandt (talk) 17:45, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Chronology

The beginning of the article describes the song as "1974 jazz standard", while the album it appears on was released in 1973 (also mentioned in the article). Is it a mistake? Or is there some logic behind this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.190.44.175 (talk) 12:37, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

9:41 Edit?

The article makes the following statement:

"The 9:41 edit omits an out-of-tune segment, features a new bassline added in at around 6:40 and new instruments added in post-production."

I can't find an officially released version of Chameleon that is 9:41 long. It only seems to be found in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejaumVVHAUQ . I matched up this version with the original version and there was no edit in the "out of tune" section, nor is there any additional instrumentation. All it does is do an abrupt fadeout at roughly 9:30 into the original track.

Technically, the version in this video isn't even 9:41 long - there's about 10 seconds of silence at the beginning.

The only references I've found to the 9:41 edit are in the comments section of this article: https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/04/21/the-iconic-sounds-of-synthesis-herbie-hancocks-chameleon-bassline/ .

This is a long way of saying that I think this text needs to be pulled from the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jerfocom (talk • contribs) 01:57, 9 June 2023 (UTC)