Guitar
I recently had occasion to listen to some of the recorded work I did over the last year. In total I "surveyed" about fourteen tunes from three different projects, and was struck with a simple fact: in not one of those tunes do I make it through without screwing up in some way.
In fact, I can hear a mistake or five in every recording of everything I've ever done. And don't talk to me about playing live; I'm a walking clam-bake, and always have been. Yet, strangely, people keep hiring me?!?
I have a problem that will probably keep me out of the big-leagues forever: I can never play the exact same thing twice. I'm constantly trying to best my last performance, to rethink my previous assumptions, to play something truly inspired. The problem is that most of the recordings I work on are super low budget, with everyone's time being the most precious commodity- let's face it, it's easier to get people to commit to many hours of work if there's some money involved. In the era of pro-grade private studios popping up like mushrooms and a sickly music industry, a lot of us are working pro bono, or at least awaiting the release of the product to see our session fees (producers and engineers, too). As a result, independent recordings are recorded under the same time pressures as they always have: this is gonna' have to be quick and dirty!
It's tempting, under those circumstances, to try to pick a part and stick with it through however many takes it requires to nail a band track. But I can't seem to do that; I'm constantly trying to trim away any fat in my parts, and find a little piece of something transcendent to really put the whole thing over the top. It results in sensitive playing, but somewhat inconsistent presentation- things'll be going really great then something weird happens, that I then have to try to justify musically.
Sometimes the gods smile, the muses get happy, and the mistakes take on a life of their own and become a defining moment. Sometimes the mistakes are just mistakes.
In the heat of the moment, in the middle of a session, there are times when a beautiful bed track happens that features a really clammy moment and I think "no problem, we can punch that in", or "I'll come back in and redo that part later". In my experience, this almost never happens unless you pursue it immediately; there's simply so much going on in any one tune, that the needs of the guitarist's ego over a millisecond of oops is not necessarily the top priority of everyone else.
So, once again, I ask myself "Can I live with this?"
And yeah, I can, but lord knows I'd still like a few do-overs.
- A Little Heads-up For Jammers
You guys play nice or you're going to separate rooms... Whilst visiting a jam session as the special guest of a friend of mine last night, I noticed a couple of the greener jammers causing some common faux-pas. As a long time jam host...
- Solo (you Can't Hear It)
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There's been a few interesting developments in the world of D this last week, the first being a corporate gig I was hired to do in a swanky hotel downtown. Basically we had to provide audio wallpaper for a gang of municipal employees...
- Boneshaker Pedals Pt. 2: The Review.
Rat-inspired and bass-optimized rock'n'roll machine. When I first started playing in bands back in '89, it seemed that every rock'n'roll guitar player either used a Marshall 800 series amp or a RAT distortion box, or both. The...
- Comfortably Numb
Into the great wide-open, a rebel without a clue... I had an interesting revelation last night: I played better (more dynamically and sensitively) when I had had no idea what was going on than when I did. As regular readers know, I host a...
Guitar
Learning to Live With It
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| Under the microscope again... |
In fact, I can hear a mistake or five in every recording of everything I've ever done. And don't talk to me about playing live; I'm a walking clam-bake, and always have been. Yet, strangely, people keep hiring me?!?
I have a problem that will probably keep me out of the big-leagues forever: I can never play the exact same thing twice. I'm constantly trying to best my last performance, to rethink my previous assumptions, to play something truly inspired. The problem is that most of the recordings I work on are super low budget, with everyone's time being the most precious commodity- let's face it, it's easier to get people to commit to many hours of work if there's some money involved. In the era of pro-grade private studios popping up like mushrooms and a sickly music industry, a lot of us are working pro bono, or at least awaiting the release of the product to see our session fees (producers and engineers, too). As a result, independent recordings are recorded under the same time pressures as they always have: this is gonna' have to be quick and dirty!
It's tempting, under those circumstances, to try to pick a part and stick with it through however many takes it requires to nail a band track. But I can't seem to do that; I'm constantly trying to trim away any fat in my parts, and find a little piece of something transcendent to really put the whole thing over the top. It results in sensitive playing, but somewhat inconsistent presentation- things'll be going really great then something weird happens, that I then have to try to justify musically.
Sometimes the gods smile, the muses get happy, and the mistakes take on a life of their own and become a defining moment. Sometimes the mistakes are just mistakes.
In the heat of the moment, in the middle of a session, there are times when a beautiful bed track happens that features a really clammy moment and I think "no problem, we can punch that in", or "I'll come back in and redo that part later". In my experience, this almost never happens unless you pursue it immediately; there's simply so much going on in any one tune, that the needs of the guitarist's ego over a millisecond of oops is not necessarily the top priority of everyone else.
So, once again, I ask myself "Can I live with this?"
And yeah, I can, but lord knows I'd still like a few do-overs.
- A Little Heads-up For Jammers
You guys play nice or you're going to separate rooms... Whilst visiting a jam session as the special guest of a friend of mine last night, I noticed a couple of the greener jammers causing some common faux-pas. As a long time jam host...
- Solo (you Can't Hear It)
One is the loneliest number... I just landed a steady solo gig, the first in about two years since I had a serious falling out with the proprietor of the last joint (where I had cooked for eight years and performed for three-and-half). This...
- Weekend Update
There's been a few interesting developments in the world of D this last week, the first being a corporate gig I was hired to do in a swanky hotel downtown. Basically we had to provide audio wallpaper for a gang of municipal employees...
- Boneshaker Pedals Pt. 2: The Review.
Rat-inspired and bass-optimized rock'n'roll machine. When I first started playing in bands back in '89, it seemed that every rock'n'roll guitar player either used a Marshall 800 series amp or a RAT distortion box, or both. The...
- Comfortably Numb
Into the great wide-open, a rebel without a clue... I had an interesting revelation last night: I played better (more dynamically and sensitively) when I had had no idea what was going on than when I did. As regular readers know, I host a...