quote: I'd love to join your band! I think we've done the problem with meeting up... And right now all iv'e got is my acoustic guitar and a willingness to learn new ways of playing the fucker... And the only bass I could borrow is on almost permenant loan to someone else. When I get money together, however, I plan to buy meself an electric guitar and bass (as cheap and nasty as possible, with plenty o' pedals, keep your eye out for bargins, please).
What’s your budget? Do you have an amp? It’s worth spending a little extra up-front on amplifiers, because as soon as you play with a live drummer you’ll realise you need more volume/power/tone. I’m firmly of the “you get what you pay for mentality;” ie; buy a cheap shitty guitar, but make sure the intonation’s sorted so you don’t have to retune after every song (unless playing out of tune is your thrill, in which case… cool!).
(Aside: My mate was telling me about this shit-hot amp that comes with full midi sound modeling functionality. Forgotten what it’s called, but I could find out. Costs about a grand, but you can make your guitar sound like literally anything; from basses to the specific rigs of your favourite guitarist; from a keyboard to your own customised wall of squalling white noise and feedback. Yeah, it’s expensive, but find yourself a half-decent guitar and you’ll never need anything else. Buying on credit, anyone? My friend’s selling his Mesa Boogie rig, but you could get yourself the above beauty, a really nice guitar and trigger/expression pedals for the same price. Yeah, buying good gear isn’t the Way of True Punk, but it does allow you a broader range of sounds, and the ability to create noises that are far more horrible than anything the Pistols could have dreamed of. I’d love to have a band that can sound as extreme as Aphex Twin, without the synths and samplers).
quote: If someone could give me links for more info, I'd love to find out ways to enter communion with The Great Button Pusher In The Sky on an acoustic riff... But from what was said, it seems guitarists seem to enter trances when improvising (Tuppan mentioned Hendrix, who seemed in a rapture when in solos), while percussion is from repition... anyone got any ideas as to why that is? Now, I’m no expert on anything other than using the drums, but I can think of a couple of ideas:
Acoustic drums (especially djembes, with the aforementioned bass tone) allow you to physically feel the frequencies generated, as opposed to just hearing them. When I play kit, especially in my church hall, the sound response triggers deeper involvement. As a result, it may be harder to experience similar sensations with the acoustic (unless it has a pick-up, or can be mic’d up in some fashion). That’s not to say it’s impossible – I’ve seen worship leaders have all kinds of spiritual experiences with their acoustics (but then they’ve been singing at the same time).
Using Hendrix as an example is only of use if you want to use drugs to achieve similar feelings (something I’ve never needed and am not prepared to do). I would say it’s much better to learn to unlock these things within yourself, without an external catalyst). Lift to Experience seem to be able to attain other states through playing - do you want a copy of the album? It's fantastic.
Again, they’re an example of feeling “involved” with the sounds you’re creating. Being surrounded by the kit, feeling the heavy impact of the sticks on the drums and cymbals, feeling the frequency ranges coming back in my ears and in physical sensations, sweating heavily, maintaining balance and breath control, listening for inspiration from God and the other musicians, locking in tight with the flow and the rhythms of what is being created, as well as the pain and fatigue of playing past your limits: all these things add to my personal feeling of involvement in what is being made. Maybe you just need to find some of these characteristics in your own way, with the style of what you do.
(You should come to our church, mate – there have been times we’ve gone off on one and ended up playing spontanteous prohetic songs, which have sounded like a hyper-intense Mogwai after listening back. That was the particular session where I trashed my kit at the end of the service.  )
Repetition works very well because of the way in which we are built on repetitive cycles. We all have a body clock that dictates when we wake, eat, and sleep. Our heartbeat forms our internal metronome. We are surrounded by interlocking and disconnected rhythms of different sorts, from the drip of a tap to the sound of traffic. I once meditated for half an hour on the sound of the printer at work. My hands and feet involuntarily tapped on my desk, the sound of the machinery became melodic and of a composed quality. Our minds also have a way of editing out repetition and background noise. Have you noticed that you can usually only hear bird song by voluntary effort, even though it goes on around you all the time? The same is true of the aforementioned traffic rhythms. It’s amazing the way your mind edits out the networks of veins in you eyes, so that you can only see it in a certain light. This function of repetition means the rhythm has passed your conscious mind and entered the subconscious, which is the trigger for moving into an ecstatic state. It is also possible to attain this through improvisation, but only if you have a very developed sense of flowing with the movement of the music, rather than intellectually trying to control events. The inspiration doesn’t flow from the active, conscious mind. When I’m caught up, it feels like the music is blowing through me from somewhere else entirely (I feel like God is playing me playing my drums). Repetition also unites a group of people, allowing them a rhythmic base to their shared experience. I’ve also heard improvisation achieve the same (even from people who do not play instruments or know music theory; these principles aren’t just for musos) – there have been moments in church when the congregation has broken into spontaneous song in Tongues, all singing different interlocking harmonies in different spirit languages. Often, this occurs with no rhythmic or repetitive cue whatsoever.
A lot of this may be why the more accomplished some musicians get, the more divorced they are from their original passion. They’ve associated their music gifts with the wrong half of their brain, and while their vocabulary is larger as a reulst, they simply don’t have anything to say.
That was very rambling and disconnected. Sorry. Let me know if you think it was bullshit, or if you’d like me to go into more detail. It's all theories built from personal experience, so I'm afraid I don't know any sites that may be able to explain further (but I will have a look later today, after I've finished work).
I understand the problems in meeting up. We could arrange for you to borrow a guitar and amp until you have your own. As far as band arrangements go, would you like to continue the discussion via e-mail (to prevent the topic derailing)?
I'd still like to try that seven/four piece I mentioned earlier. One for the band, maybe... |
