|
Post by martinrowe on Mar 25, 2022 15:19:02 GMT
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 25, 2022 20:33:03 GMT
Great video. I'm more than happy to play all this stuff wrong :-) I think that's allowed in blues... but don't dare try it in gypsy jazz. The GJ police will hang draw and quarter you....
I do like David's channel, playing, and videos.
|
|
|
Post by vikingblues on Mar 26, 2022 12:18:37 GMT
Enjoyed that video - absolutely true too .... it doesn't matter if you can play it "right". Getting to the musical root of a piece, getting to the feel and mood of it, and getting something of yourself in to the music, seems a better idea. But I'm biased as I get no joy at all in trying to play someone else's work exactly as they did - it feels so soulless.
Good point Derek - with blues it really should be different every time!
Mark
|
|
|
Post by PistolPete on Mar 26, 2022 12:47:12 GMT
I would tend to agree, it doesn't matter if you get things note for note, as long as you capture the spirit of the piece. However, the comment section of many a YouTube video would imply that there is a persistent and vocal minority who definitely care if you do it "right"*
*My favourite ever one was when Ed King, who co-wrote Sweet Home Alabama and played the iconic guitar riff, shared a shaky mobile how-to video on his personal Facebook page and a third of the people commenting were telling him he was doing it wrong.
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 26, 2022 14:12:15 GMT
In a similar vein a few years ago I spent some time at Jimmy Bruno's online school and he was often bemused at the analysis that the professional transcribers did of his solos, saying Jimmy had used this scale, that scale, this idea, that idea, and Jimmy would say it's all nonsense, he just used the major scale and the outside notes that he liked the sound of.
|
|
|
Post by vikingblues on Mar 26, 2022 14:41:11 GMT
However, the comment section of many a YouTube video would imply that there is a persistent and vocal minority who definitely care if you do it "right"* "The empty vessel makes the loudest sound" as Plato said.
Sadly it gets more serious as I'm afraid in this era of cancel culture that persistent and vocal minorities are increasingly having a dominant role in shaping society.
Mark
|
|
Phil Taylor
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,398
Mini-Profile Name Color: 680908
Mini-Profile Text Color: 121311
|
Post by Phil Taylor on Mar 26, 2022 19:34:09 GMT
In a similar vein a few years ago I spent some time at Jimmy Bruno's online school and he was often bemused at the analysis that the professional transcribers did of his solos, saying Jimmy had used this scale, that scale, this idea, that idea, and Jimmy would say it's all nonsense, he just used the major scale and the outside notes that he liked the sound of. Jimmy Bruno. Now there's a character.........
|
|
|
Post by fred7 on Mar 29, 2022 9:46:03 GMT
I've seen Eric Clapton over 30 times and he played Layla just about every time. Don't think he played it the same twice so if it's good enough for him it's good enough for me.
A friend once asked me to form an acoustic duo and as we practiced a song I was fingerpicking around the chords. He wasn't happy and pointed out that on the record it was just rhythm strumming. This was true but the record also had bass, drums and keyboards on it so two acoustics strumming the same thing was never going to be the same (or remotely interesting). We lasted about two practice sessions. Sometimes doing it different is the only way.
|
|
|
Post by Matt Milton on Apr 1, 2022 9:08:04 GMT
What's interesting is when you watch a video of John Miller playing. He is totally OCD about playing old blues tracks EXACTLY the way the original was, and is a genius at deducing what tunings someone was using, and which string they used to play each note. Even whether they used their thumb to hit certain notes rather than fingers (by the timbre of the notes). In every case I'm sure he's right.
But the interesting part is that in practice, his performance still doesn't necessarily sound like the originals.
Part of that is that a lot of those old blues recordings were low fidelity and we can only hear them through crackly records, so a lot of the low end detail isn't heard and a lot of the trebley notes cut through more prominantly. Playing those songs today correctly, note for note inevitably sounds a lot more 'normal' and less strange because you end up hearing a more coherent bass etc.
I think that paradoxically you can make some of the old blues songs sound more like the original recording by playing them differently. When I worked out some Skip James tunes I added a few discordant notes and a few 'ringing double notes' (eg open string E and an E on the B string simultaneously) because that's the kind of thing my brain 'hears' on Skip James songs - even if he didn't actually do those things.
|
|
|
Post by shez on Feb 6, 2023 12:42:51 GMT
I found the video heartening, until I got to the bit where he said "you have to play it correctly first, then...."
|
|
|
Post by frankieabbott on Oct 15, 2023 10:48:21 GMT
I've never heard anyone play guitar in my 'style' (thank heavens)....so why should I try to play in theirs?
Joking aside.....I think the feel and essence of playing is more important than technical perfection....although maybe I'd like to be perfect once in a while.
|
|
juliant
C.O.G.
Posts: 325
My main instrument is: Lowden L23
|
Post by juliant on Oct 15, 2023 20:33:11 GMT
Jeepers... the (very) few pieces I've written I can't play the same twice, so who knows what the 'right' way is?
I'm sure that many old bluesmen would laugh at the idea of a right way.
|
|
juliant
C.O.G.
Posts: 325
My main instrument is: Lowden L23
|
Post by juliant on Oct 16, 2023 18:28:38 GMT
I just found myself singing this to the tune of Ralph McTell's "One of these days I'm going to do it right".
|
|