Eggnition is the start of it all.
It’s the genesis of the funk. The flash in the magic pan. The flow of neutronic action music-ward. It’s the barrel-rollin’ blast of the ‘in-the-know’ towards the ‘way to go!’.
All imitators leave the floor please – this is for elite troops only.
How many times have you truly, truly spent the time, energy, focus, drive, attention and brain-power harnessing the potential in your fingers and frontal lobe by simply gettin’ down to gettin’ DOWN…and practicing?! And I don’t mean practicing just to practice, I mean practicing just to PLAY! That’s eggnition! That’s where it all begins.
Without question, y’all, the press and onslaught of daily drudgeries have absolutely impacted our opportunities to go to ‘the woodshed’ and put some blood on the floor of our creative intentions. Whatever your bag, it takes no less than intersteller attention these days to sling out from the gravitational greed of need, and urgency, to break INTO the place where your legend is born. The cradle of chops. The tune-tattoo chair. Where tonal expression burns in like computer chips on the Groove-Mother’s mother board.
What’s it take to get there? You just gotta DO it, yo! Go through it. This week. This day. MAKE it happen. Rub ten minutes out of your planner and let it flow through the cracks, downstairs….into the studio…into the glow of amps; the cocoon trance of Travis-picking chordal dance; the hum of bucker’s screams and stings. Rattle the bones of overtones! Raise the specters of song and vectors of long-denied, unsatisfied desires…. ‘til the moanin’ cows of duty moo for being milked again.
For beginners on the guitar journey, start with just ten minutes a day. And don’t say,”oh, I gotta…”. Say, “Ohoooooh! I GET ta…!!” Fingerdance. And after some passes on the floor, try some NEW moves. Throw a bend in you’ve never felt, or mastered. Release yourself to let the joy of sound be your fundamental frequency; your perfect pitch. Then work it, baby, work it! In the environment of toil there thrives development. As the cells of a beehive honeycomb are six-sided, so let those six strings spill sweetness as yet unattained into the ruse of your usual. You’ll never be the same.
Eggnition is decision. You must DECIDE to act. Act now. Do it NOW. You can find the time. You MUST find the time. For when you feel eggnition rising….there’s no denying…it is time.
Meetcha in the honeycomb. ;-)
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
The history of playing guitar 101
As we are inundated daily with pictures of swaggering rock dudes and diva goddesses slinging shapely, powerful axes underneath streaming spotlights, we may guess that there was always such adulation and ubiquitous acceptance of the guitar. Well.....not so. Way back when, the life of a guitar-slinger was veeeeeery fringe, fraught with uncertainty, fragile hopes for a daily meal, and most certainly UNglamorous.
So where'd it start? In 15th century Spain we find the classical guitar's humble beginnings. Did you know when it started it was smaller and had a total of EIGHT strings? Four pairs of strings originally played across the sound-hole. It was sort of like "one day I'll grow up big and strong and be a 12-string!!" Each pair of strings was called a 'course' at that time.
Another fine instrument, the lute, caught most of the glory back in those days (if you're interested, you can hear the lute played by Sting on his album released last year called "Songs From The Labyrinth"). It took some decades before the guitar was taken seriously. Around the 17th century a fifth 'course' was added to the guitar. It was then that the instrument finally began to be taken seriously and some very fine classical composers began to write music around its potential.
Finally in the 1700's the guitar was transformed into something more akin to our current models: the string pairs were reduced to single strings, and a sixth string was added to round out the sound and expand its tonal range.
So what took so long for the Beatles, for heaven's sake? ;-)
The esteemed luthier of violins, Stradivarius, also made guitars. If you happen to have one of those...well, come on...it's SO old now! You might as well just send it to me before you mistake it for firewood on a cold winter's night. I'll, uh....I'll find, uh....SOMETHING constructive to do with it. I promise. ;-)
The only thing left to do to bring the guitar into our modern styling was to increase its size. It was still pretty small and narrow back then. So, in the mid- to late-1800's the Spanish father of the modern guitar, Antonio de Torres, improved the instrument dramatically by enlarging it, changing the internal bracing, and sculpting the shape so that it resonated much more.
The whammy bar though was still a ways off. ;-)
Other interesting factoids: Franz Shubert often composed on a guitar that he hung above his bed. Until 1946 guitar strings were made of (faint of heart stop reading here)...the small intestines of sheep (some violinists today still use these 'catgut' strings)! And what about steel strings? Those were first put on by a German immigrant to America, Christian Friedrich Martin, (yes, THAT Martin) who designed guitars with steel strings so they could be heard over another louder American instrument - the banjo!
Well, that pretty much brings us up into the 20th century. More about the SUPER proliferation of guitar kinds and styles in the past century in my next entry.
Now let's all go have another Thanksgiving turkey sandwich, shall we....! ;-)
So where'd it start? In 15th century Spain we find the classical guitar's humble beginnings. Did you know when it started it was smaller and had a total of EIGHT strings? Four pairs of strings originally played across the sound-hole. It was sort of like "one day I'll grow up big and strong and be a 12-string!!" Each pair of strings was called a 'course' at that time.
Another fine instrument, the lute, caught most of the glory back in those days (if you're interested, you can hear the lute played by Sting on his album released last year called "Songs From The Labyrinth"). It took some decades before the guitar was taken seriously. Around the 17th century a fifth 'course' was added to the guitar. It was then that the instrument finally began to be taken seriously and some very fine classical composers began to write music around its potential.
Finally in the 1700's the guitar was transformed into something more akin to our current models: the string pairs were reduced to single strings, and a sixth string was added to round out the sound and expand its tonal range.
So what took so long for the Beatles, for heaven's sake? ;-)
The esteemed luthier of violins, Stradivarius, also made guitars. If you happen to have one of those...well, come on...it's SO old now! You might as well just send it to me before you mistake it for firewood on a cold winter's night. I'll, uh....I'll find, uh....SOMETHING constructive to do with it. I promise. ;-)
The only thing left to do to bring the guitar into our modern styling was to increase its size. It was still pretty small and narrow back then. So, in the mid- to late-1800's the Spanish father of the modern guitar, Antonio de Torres, improved the instrument dramatically by enlarging it, changing the internal bracing, and sculpting the shape so that it resonated much more.
The whammy bar though was still a ways off. ;-)
Other interesting factoids: Franz Shubert often composed on a guitar that he hung above his bed. Until 1946 guitar strings were made of (faint of heart stop reading here)...the small intestines of sheep (some violinists today still use these 'catgut' strings)! And what about steel strings? Those were first put on by a German immigrant to America, Christian Friedrich Martin, (yes, THAT Martin) who designed guitars with steel strings so they could be heard over another louder American instrument - the banjo!
Well, that pretty much brings us up into the 20th century. More about the SUPER proliferation of guitar kinds and styles in the past century in my next entry.
Now let's all go have another Thanksgiving turkey sandwich, shall we....! ;-)
Guitar And Egg - Your audience has arrived!
Warm online greetings, all who dream with six-stringed soundtracks!
Whether you've never performed in front of people on your guitar, or have already had the privilege of sharing your gift with others live or via video on, say, YouTube, you are welcome to pull up an armless chair and relax a while here, where we will be perfecting the art of tonal expression via manipulation of vibrating elements - herein known as guitar-playing!
We'll have a friendly musical patron for all of our musical expeditions - Mr. Egg (or Mrs. Egg, depending upon your current gender bias). He (or she) will be our audience, our vortex of encouragement, our symbol of the fan base that awaits you, if you merely put in the time and energy needed to become adept at your instrument. The Egg can be....your DESTINY!!
Oh, and did I mention he makes a mean omelette?
If you can play, let's get better together, for even a player of 25+ years, as I am, can always learn something new. If you cannot play, then learn here. Mr. Egg and I will provide a safe, non-judgemental environment for you to progress in - always aiming high, yet ever mindful of the myriad of modern distractions that rob us of our potential day to day. Despite them all, let's get better...one string at a time!
Whether you've never performed in front of people on your guitar, or have already had the privilege of sharing your gift with others live or via video on, say, YouTube, you are welcome to pull up an armless chair and relax a while here, where we will be perfecting the art of tonal expression via manipulation of vibrating elements - herein known as guitar-playing!
We'll have a friendly musical patron for all of our musical expeditions - Mr. Egg (or Mrs. Egg, depending upon your current gender bias). He (or she) will be our audience, our vortex of encouragement, our symbol of the fan base that awaits you, if you merely put in the time and energy needed to become adept at your instrument. The Egg can be....your DESTINY!!
Oh, and did I mention he makes a mean omelette?
If you can play, let's get better together, for even a player of 25+ years, as I am, can always learn something new. If you cannot play, then learn here. Mr. Egg and I will provide a safe, non-judgemental environment for you to progress in - always aiming high, yet ever mindful of the myriad of modern distractions that rob us of our potential day to day. Despite them all, let's get better...one string at a time!
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