anothercup
Strummer
Posts: 23
My main instrument is: small guitar
|
Post by anothercup on Apr 9, 2018 3:19:11 GMT
Recently took a tour of the Martin factory in Nazareth and played some amazing instruments. If anything, I think I learned that I'm probably going to buy an Eastman E20-oo or Waterloo.
In any case, the guitar that I want is still a while away financially. I think I'll pull the trigger towards July. So what do I do for a few months? Well, I found some music that's sonically right in my wheelhouse, but technically it's way out of my league.
Wu Wei, Pierre Bensusan
I made a nice dent in the melody the first few days by ear, but I downloaded the sheet music today from Pierre's website. Holy god, this man is insane. I'm thinking this piece might be further away than my financial goals for the new instrument!
Does anyone out there have suggestions for a second piece to pick up of similar difficulty?
I'd like to buckle down on two for some variety in my practice. It would be very nice to finally pick up my new instrument and to have grown as a player. Why shell out the cash to play the same stuff as before, right?
Extra gratitude for song suggestions that are also in DADGAD or similar, because that is the tuning where this new guitar will live.
Best, a
|
|
|
Post by scripsit on Apr 9, 2018 4:11:30 GMT
PB has a longer finger reach than the majority of guitarists, certainly much more than mine.
When he was touring Australia and offering master classes a few years ago, he suggested that participants become familiar with "L'Alchimiste" from his "Intuite" album. It's a lovely piece, and you should be able to find it for purchase.
I gave up on attempting to play his versions of "Wu Wei" and "L'Alchimiste" after some months of effort: I could never get either piece sounding smooth and natural, mainly because of some horrendous fretting hand transitions and painful necessary left hand finger plants.
Good luck.
Kym
|
|
|
Post by oustudent on Apr 9, 2018 6:10:40 GMT
I have his DVD, he does not do it for me. I find it very hard to concentrate on his style of music. If you want to get into DADGAD follow Simon Fox
John
|
|
|
Post by scripsit on Apr 9, 2018 7:22:28 GMT
I have his DVD, he does not do it for me. I find it very hard to concentrate on his style of music. If you want to get into DADGAD follow Simon Fox John ... who also is fond of 5 or 6 fret stretches in some pieces, although most of his stuff is much more accessible/manageable than PB. Kym
|
|
|
Post by andyhowell on Apr 9, 2018 8:27:39 GMT
Bensusan is certainly insane, not least in the sense that he decided to only use this tuning. He gets more out of DADGAD than almost anyone I've ever heard. A couple of things to think about.
On the one hand DADGAD is more versatile than many people think. I use it for blues and country stuff as well as for celtic style stuff. It is great for creating a driving rhythm — at least one reason why it is so popular with irish guitarists playing in traditional sessions. At a basic level it is quite easy to use but at a more subtle or advanced level it can be very challenging, which bring me to my second point.
DADGAD can be quite limited and sometimes a bit thin sounding. English guitarist Martin Carthy sites this for never really having used it a great deal. Nearly everything is played inD (and related capo keys). Playing in G makes a nice change but in the main I think Carthy's criticisms remain valid.
You will get more variety out of it is you switch between DADGAD and, say, C sus 4 tuning. And remember, variety is the spice of life :-)
|
|
Phil Taylor
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,415
Mini-Profile Name Color: 680908
Mini-Profile Text Color: 121311
|
Post by Phil Taylor on Apr 9, 2018 8:35:14 GMT
I'm a big PB fan but would never even attempt one of his. Way out of my capabilities. Rye Whiskey by Martin Simpson is in DADGAD. It's a nice tune and reasonably easy to play particularly comparing it with Bensusan's stuff - that's why I decided to learn it a few year's ago Phil Ps just listening now I realised the sound isn't very good
|
|
|
Post by scripsit on Apr 9, 2018 8:56:01 GMT
DADGAD can be quite limited and sometimes a bit thin sounding. English guitarist Martin Carthy sites this for never really having used it a great deal. Nearly everything is played inD (and related capo keys). Playing in G makes a nice change but in the main I think Carthy's criticisms remain valid. Most of Simon Fox's stuff uses keys other than D or drifts between keys: he's quite complicated melodically. I don't know what the big deal is about playing mostly in one key, anyway. The majority of the great blues players had their favourite keys and stuck to them, and the ones that used tunings rarely did much outside the obvious. Al Petteway is another player who gets a lot out of DADGAD, and likes to reuse shapes and runs, hence is often in D or related with a capo. I don't hear this as 'thin sounding', and admire the fact that he can mix celtic/new age/blues licks into attractive packages in the same piece. Like most musical things, it's a matter of taste. Csus2 is OK, Gsus4 doesn't make much sense to me for noodling, but I find Orkney to be reasonably flexible. I think it's a matter of muscle memory once you're familiar with a few pieces in the different tunings. I must admit, I don't do the theory stuff well beyond the 1, 4 and 5 stuff. Kym
|
|
|
Post by fatfingerjohn on Apr 9, 2018 10:09:09 GMT
I'm a big PB fan but would never even attempt one of his. Way out of my capabilities. Rye Whiskey by Martin Simpson is in DADGAD. It's a nice tune and reasonably easy to play particularly comparing it with Bensusan's stuff - that's why I decided to learn it a few year's ago Phil Ps just listening now I realised the sound isn't very good Lovely playing Phil. Your 'reasonably easy to play' brings a smile/grimace to me!
Special request. When and if you win a future Friday giveaway, can you offer as the next giveaway about 1" of each of your fingers so that one of us can have a better chance to play like you!! (And I know that a lot more practice would help too ...).
|
|
|
Post by andyhowell on Apr 9, 2018 11:28:58 GMT
DADGAD can be quite limited and sometimes a bit thin sounding. English guitarist Martin Carthy sites this for never really having used it a great deal. Nearly everything is played inD (and related capo keys). Playing in G makes a nice change but in the main I think Carthy's criticisms remain valid. I don't know what the big deal is about playing mostly in one key, anyway. The majority of the great blues players had their favourite keys and stuck to them, and the ones that used tunings rarely did much outside the obvious. Al Petteway is another player who gets a lot out of DADGAD, and likes to reuse shapes and runs, hence is often in D or related with a capo. I don't hear this as 'thin sounding', and admire the fact that he can mix celtic/new age/blues licks into attractive packages in the same piece. Like most musical things, it's a matter of taste. It all depends how good you are !!! Cathy was making a good point. Playing in one key is not a problem at home. But if you are playing to an audience I think it makes sense to vary keys from song to song or piece to piece — it adds a bit of variety. Petterway is, of course, a wonderful player as is Bensusan. I am not and I was thinking of myself and, perhaps, the rest of us. I ran a club for many years and encouraged solo guitar players. I saw a lot of people coming un-stock over DADGAD. SaveSave
|
|
|
Post by andyhowell on Apr 9, 2018 11:36:21 GMT
I'm a big PB fan but would never even attempt one of his. Way out of my capabilities. I have seen quite few people try playing pieces from Intuite that they clearly learnt from tabs. Not very nice at all — and not as nice as your piece. I just feel that one tuning is a bit limiting — in the hands of us mere mortals. SaveSave
|
|
davewhite
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Luthier
Aemulor et ambitiosior
Posts: 3,546
|
Post by davewhite on Apr 9, 2018 13:13:45 GMT
DADGAD can be quite limited and sometimes a bit thin sounding. English guitarist Martin Carthy sites this for never really having used it a great deal. Nearly everything is played inD (and related capo keys). Playing in G makes a nice change but in the main I think Carthy's criticisms remain valid. Not sure that I remotely agree with that view. Playing in the keys of D, C, F, G, A, Em, Am, Bm, Gm, Dm is pretty easy in DADGAD without resorting to a capo. Other more esoteric keys such as Bb, Eb etc are not that tricky either. Not sure what you mean by thin sounding - listen to players such as Ed Boyd (Flook, Lunasa guitarist) or Mark Thomson. Sure people get lazy with DADGAD using two or three chord shapes and a capo but the problem doesn't lie with the tuning.
|
|
|
Post by andyhowell on Apr 9, 2018 13:44:45 GMT
I would agree to some extent davewhite but I was quoting martin Cathy and I think he has a point. Bensusan is remarkable in that he only plays in DADGAD. Petterway who has also been mentioned I ebleive plays in a variety of tunings. My point was that I think — for most of us — working with a number of tunings (though to too many) might be a good approach. As for being lazy with DADGAD, I'm quite happy being lazy with most tunings ....
|
|
leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,666
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
|
Post by leoroberts on Apr 9, 2018 14:26:46 GMT
Sure people get lazy using two or three chord shapes and a capo ... There are more than three chords??? You're winding me up, right?
|
|
davewhite
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Luthier
Aemulor et ambitiosior
Posts: 3,546
|
Post by davewhite on Apr 9, 2018 14:34:45 GMT
I would agree to some extent davewhite but I was quoting martin Cathy and I think he has a point. Andy - can you point me in the direction of his quote please. I've heard him say that DADGAD didn't make intuitive sense to him and so he developed his own tuning from it, I've never heard him say it was thin sounding.
|
|
|
Post by RodB on Apr 9, 2018 14:41:45 GMT
Whilst I admire your desire to push forward I feel progress does not only come from the complexity of arrangements we try, but also by playing within our technical capability so that we can express the music with some degree of freedom. I enjoy listening to some of Pierre Bensusan's work but following faithfully his arrangements is also beyond me, so can't suggest anything of his.
I enjoy different tunings for what they bring to the sound of a given piece, often arranging music to suit, rather than approaching a given tuning as a challenge and trying to play every piece I know in it. Some would probably consider certain tunes I play to be thin sounding whether in DADGAD or anything else but I like the melody (and tone of the instrument) to predominate.
|
|