On Jan 12, 2007, at 2:22 PM, sparaig wrote:
Eventually he started also doing this on a Harp
Guitar with sympathetic strings. More recently I've seen the Chapman
Stick evolve into the Warr Guitar which some players actually play
flat to the point where it looks like they are playing a keyboard. If
you've seen any the recent videos of King Crimson with Trey Gunn,
you've probably already seen this.
There's a great video of Dweezil Zappa which used to be on YouTube of
the Dweez playing Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" while demonstrating
some effects software (IIRC at NAMM). Once you see him play it, it
actually looks easier than it sounds. There's also a video on YouTube
of Segovia playing his variations on a theme by Mozart where he does
some pretty wild pull-offs and hammer-ons. It's on my list of pieces
to learn.
If you can find it, get John Duarte's _The Guitarist's Hands_,
which is a progressive series
of exercises mostly for the left hand. I never went past level 5
out of about 12, and still
had better technique than 99% of the guitarists out there. The
highest levels include
double string slurs with each finger working independently (e.g.
quarter-note/thirds).
Well, I gotta tell ya, while all that kinda thing at one time very
much impressed me--not so much now. Yeah you may be able to play more
notes per measure or two voices in contrasting time signatures, I
really could care less. Music's all an anahata nada, the sound of
brahman kinda thing for me. If it's not with feeling, from the heart
(which often means succinct), I'm unmoved by it. Sure I could play
it. But there's just no obsession with that mere precision. It's
senseless to me. It's gotta have heart.
BTW, here the Dweez's video on YouTube (believe it or not, his dad
would notate all this playing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkJyQ0r9xVE
