02023-02-18 | Guitar, Music
Came across this interesting post about Santana history. I remember loving the album Caravanserai when it came out, and should listen to it again. It’s been decades. I didn’t know that the band did a month of shows without Carlos in 1971… There is even a recording of that.
More troubles were awaiting the band after the release of Santana III. The drugs intake did not subside and Carlos Santana decided to take a stand. On the eve of embarking on a US tour to promote the album, he made a demand: “I’m not going unless we get rid of [manager] Stan Marcum and [percussionist] Michael Carabello, because they’re suppling the band with the heavy stuff and we sound like shit. We’re not practicing, and it’s embarrassing. Either those guys are out or I’m out.” Ok, said the band, and flew out to play a month of Santana shows with no Santana in the lineup. Shrieve remembers that bleak period: “I think that when cocaine entered into the scene for us it kind of closed us down. We were still playing well, but our hearts and minds had closed down to each other.”
Santana 1972-1974, Part 1: The Road to Caravanserai
02023-02-13 | Guitar
When it’s cold backstage one has to be careful when filing one’s nails for the performance. Colder temperatures make the flesh on one’s hand contract and the nails stick out more, and therefore seem longer. When the temperature rises, either because of the audience (large groups of people will automatically raise the room temperature) or because the venue uses old fashioned incandescent lights, the flesh of the plucking hand will get fuller and will obscure the nail. Suddenly the nails are too short!
02023-01-22 | Guitar, Santa Fe, Video
I came across this little video on my phone the other day. :-)
02023-01-22 | Guitar
from the D’Addario website – Pro-Arté – EJ25B:
Pro-Arté Composite strings offer the traditional elegance of our Pro-Arte’ line, with the added benefit of an elevated bass response. The exclusive composite core bass strings in the set produce a bold, projecting low-end, providing a more influential tone than nylon basses. Paired with black nylon trebles, this set of Pro-Arte’ Composite strings offers a sound which is both alluring and commanding. This Flamenco Tension set delivers a flexible feel, while still maintaining the quick response that is essential for flamenco players.
I started using D’Addario strings around 1990. I didn’t have a Flamenco guitar when I recorded NF. I only had an inexpensive (around $350) classical guitar and used D’Agostino strings for the basses and Savarez strings for the trebles. Or maybe it was the other way around? Under the microscope of the recording studio, I didn’t find the strings to be very dependable and sometimes I had to change strings several times until I found some that were in tune and the overtones sounded correctly. When we started touring in the Summer of 1990 I had to find something more reliable. I tried D’Addario classical strings and liked them. Each set appeared to be identical. There were simply no bad sets. (I think I rejected only one set in thirty years… that’s unbelievably consistent!)
Sometime in 1990 I was added to the list of D’Addario artists and began to receive free strings. D’Addario responded to problems, like when two D-strings broke during the filming of a TV interview in Canada. Within a few months D’Addario changed the design of the D-string, by adding an additional filament on the inside, and it never broke again.
D’Addario developed the Pro Arté composite strings and I used different versions of those. In 2010 I was using the basses from the EJ45C Composites Normal Tension set and T2 Titanium Normal Singles for the trebles. A year later I discovered the black nylon Flamenco set and have been playing them ever since! When I discovered the EJ25B set and put them on the guitar for the first time I knew they were nearly perfect and a huge step forward. The G string fit much better, both in diameter and in sound, and was more in tune. Nearly 12 years later and I can’t imagine anything better. From time to time different string manufacturers have offered me their strings to try but I have never found anything I liked better. I have been a D’Addario artist for so long that I am grandfathered in… my name is not found among the many names of guitarists on their website. That suits me fine, because I am still getting free strings, which is what matters to me.
I sent Stephen Duros a few sets of EJ25B to try and here is what he wrote:
I’ve always been a fan of D’Addario nylon strings and when Ottmar suggested that I try the EJ25B Flamenco strings, I did. They are exactly what I am looking for in a set of strings. The tension is perfect, the tone is great, bold and punchy. This set of strings has all the qualities I want and my guitar has never sounded better.
So this is my ode to strings. These strings work. I don’t have to wonder whether the B and G strings will be in tune for Waiting in Vain… I can expect a set to last about two weeks and for most of that time it will be rock solid. After two weeks I will hear that some overtones have shifted and it’s time for a new set.
PS: I remember when a member of our crew once offered to re-string my guitar. When he saw my disbelieving look, he said that he played guitar himself and knew he could do it right. I remember replying that while I had no doubt that he would do a good job, I considered changing the strings to be an essential part of playing guitar and that there was no way that I would not do it myself. I guess I wasn’t meant to be a rock star! :-)
PPS: I also appreciate that D’Addario has a recycling program. I participated in all kinds of string programs that collected used strings to send them to areas where people can’t afford to buy strings. These programs didn’t usually last long, shipping costs probably being too prohibitive. The D’Addario recycling program has been going strong for a bunch of years and I always collect old strings in a bag.
02023-01-21 | Guitar
Guest post about Jeff Beck, by Jon Gagan. Jon wrote about Jeff Beck and I found myself nodding in agreement with every line. So I asked him whether I could post it here.
Jeff Beck 1944-2023
The true power of music lies in its ability to make us feel. It almost doesn’t matter which feeling is evoked: joy, sadness, inspiration, anger, we want to be moved.
It is a true rarity when an instrumentalist comes along who can harness that power to the fullest. Jeff Beck was one of those players. While absolutely no one could out-rock him (one needs only to read the tributes pouring in from just about every legendary rock guitarist alive to know that this is a widely held view) his real genius was perhaps in his ability to play beautifully.
Here was a guy who invented and mastered his own guitar language, wringing emotion out of every note with his hands, the volume knob and whammy bar on the guitar, and his amp. He had the lyricism and expressive powers of the best vocalists and combined that with high voltage to create a singular voice on electric guitar. It’s obvious that he cared deeply about going for something way beyond being impressive, beyond being a rock star or guitar hero. He created beauty, whether it was the rich wall of sound coming from masterfully controlled high-decibel feedback, or gently bending the string into an evocative cry.
His version of Puccini’s Nessun dorma* (Emotion & Commotion, 2010) fully exhibits this incredible emotional range. Nessun dorma is an aria that opera tenors have used as a tour-de-force since Puccini wrote it in the early 20th century. Jeff Beck played it on guitar, complete with the kind of devastating climax that made Pavarotti famous.
He had skills as an improvisor that put him in the company of jazz musicians. The flow of ideas in a typical Beck solo is truly astonishing. He was able to cook a stew of memorable spontaneous melodies, inimitable guitar techniques, and a deep grasp of the blues into masterpieces.
His passion for pushing the boundaries of electric guitar led Jeff Beck to be a serious person. Absent from his life story are the tales of excess and self-destructiveness so common among his generation of famous musicians. In this way he has provided a guiding light for many of us who have a straightforward passion for being as good as we can be as musicians, never mind the trappings of stardom or the rest of it. He reminded us over an extraordinarily long and vibrant career that music and playing instruments is a worthwhile pursuit for anyone who chooses to be truly devoted. He was 64 years old when he recorded Nessun dorma, fully at the top of his game. It wasn’t an isolated feat, either. It is but one example of the stellar work he did in the last few decades of his life. Forever searching, learning, innovating, and expressing emotion.
For me, he has always been the ultimate inspiration.
R.I.P. Jeff Beck. Your contribution to the world is beyond measure.
*also mentioned by Steve in the comments section of Ottmar’s original post on Jeff Beck
02023-01-13 | Guitar, Music, Philosophy
There are, for those with the requisite sense, currents, energy flows, and dialogues to be discerned in the Japanese garden. Shunmyo Masuno contends that when arranging rocks, for example, one must “converse” with the stone, waiting “until it seems to speak and say where it wants to be put.” According to some of the subjects of Listening to Clay, a similar collaboration, or consulting, takes place between potters and their material. Artist Michiko Ogawa, for example, is very specific on this point, stating that she attempts to, “listen to what the material has to say,” posing the question, “What does the clay want to be?”
Listening to Clay
Some will read this and wonder whether that conversation is entirely imagined by the artist, and will question whether it can, in fact, be a dialog. I believe that not only is it a dialog, it’s more real than the consentual hallucination of regular life.
I think there are a few different movements that are part of this experience, several steps of this dance. There is getting out of the way. There is getting into the flow. There is also, acknowledging being part of a larger web of things. We are all just molecules dancing in space, whether we are humans, rocks, or melodies.
I feel kinship with these words: Listen to what the material has to say and What does the clay want to be is analogous to my experience of What does this piece of music want to be. The sentence It seems to speak and say where it wants to be put relates just as well to the notes of a melody as it does to a rock. I get out of the way of the flow and allow the music to materialize itself. The music moves my hands — that is the feeling when it really works. I don’t know where my music comes from. It doesn’t feel like it’s mine. It comes through me is the sensation I have.
Now I am lying here wondering whether that’s how a tree feels about their branches and leaves. They simply grew where they needed to go.
I woke up at 0200 and was wide awake. Now it’s 0322. Better try to get out of the way of sleep.
