I picked this up in a music shop. I went in looking for something else, and this squier telecaster was hanging there looking a bit battered. It was £59, and I guessed it had come in as p/x on something. I tried it, and had to buy it. I'm really getting into the tele sound and feel. Gigged it for the first time last night, and plugged it straight into the amp. I don't know if this is true of all teles, but the variation in tone is huge. Never had a guitar change character so much with just one flick of the selector. This is a relatively cheap guitar, and it reminded me of a story. When I was about seventeen years old, I had been playing guitar for around one year. I had taken a few lessons with a local teacher, and I had accumulated some basic skills. I stopped the lessons and went to drama school, where I started taking music classes and also got a great opportunity to jam with other players from different backgrounds. Many of these players were well trained and much further along with their instruments than I was, while others were completely self taught and had the idiosyncratic approaches typical to that type of musicianship. During this time, I had reached some kind of stumbling block with my playing - one of those frustrating times when you can't see any improvement in your instrumental abilities or your musicianship. I was somehow under the impression that the fault lay with my guitar. I thought that the reason I couldn't play 'well' (which at that level of experience probably meant 'fast') was because my guitar was a cheaper model, and therefor harder to play. One evening after classes, a few of us had a jam set up. Another guitarist from the year above came along. He had his guitar with him. It was a plywood thing, paint chipping off, no name, really cheap hardware. The bridge had fallen off, and he had replaced it with a magic marker wrapped in gaffer tape. The wiring was shot through, so he had rewired it himself without solder (and without a proper grounding). It was a real piece of shit, and it looked un-playable. We got to the jam, and he played ten times better than me on that thing. Lesson learned. I don't know who made this, but I had to share it!
C, E-flat and G go into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve minors," and E-flat leaves. C and G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished and G is out flat. F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. D comes into the bar and heads straight for the bathroom saying, "Excuse me, I'll just be a second." A comes into the bar, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor and sends him out. Then the bartender notices a B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and shouts, "Get out now. You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight." Next night, E-flat, not easily deflated, comes into the bar in a 3-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender says: "You're looking pretty sharp tonight. Come on in. This could be a major development." Sure enough, E-flat takes off his suit and everything else and stands there au naturel. Eventually, C, who had passed out under the bar the night before, begins to sober up and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. So, C goes to trial, is convicted of contributing to the diminution of a minor and sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an up scale correctional facility. The conviction is overturned on appeal, however, and C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental, and that all accusations to the contrary are bassless. The bartender decides, however, that since he's only had tenor so patrons, the soprano out in the bathroom and everything has become alto much treble, he needs a rest and closes the bar. Really digging these guys at the moment. Huge sound from a quintet. Really intricate arrangements. Love it. I know it is crass to make comparisons, but if you're not tempted to click on the pic to link to sounds, I hear Zappa and Bitches Brew-era Miles, amongst other things. Well worth checking out! KS3 Music students studying blues may find this short introductory presentation useful. Enjoy! :) This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. When you quote content from this site, please link. Copyright © 2012 Ian Hartley. All rights reserved. Certain projects, images and products are trademarks of and/or copyrighted by their respective owners, used here for non-profit educational purposes only.
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never odd or even
the unofficial official blog of musician ian hartley. archives
January 2015
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