At 10:28 AM 7/9/01 -0600, scmorris wrote:
>I was wondering if anyone out there knows if Joni knows how to
>read music or guitar tablature
She does not read music and would have a difficult time telling you what
chords she's playing. Her view is more towards shapes, colors, and feelings
rather than individual notes. She has developed over 50 different open
tunings for guitar which she has used over the years. Basically when
composing she will hear sounds in her head and then fiddle with the guitar
strings until the open chord shapes sound right. I believe she then will
make a numerical notation of a plus or minus, depending on how far she has
relaxed or stretched the individual string from standard tuning (read:
number of frets). For example if she took the bottom "E" string on a guitar
and tuned it down to a "D" she would note "minus two" on that string,
having taken the note down two half-steps from its origin. Once her open
tuning is set she will experiment with combinations of barres to achieve
the chord patterns she wants. I've not heard or seen her talk much about
developing the melodies but I would guess she might kind of add them in as
she's working on the progressions. I have heard that Joel Bernstein, Joni's
long-time friend and guitar-tech-dude, has an extensive knowledge of all
her tunings and if this is the case it wouldn't surprise me in the least if
she has forgotten several of the tunings and would have to consult with
Bernstein if she were to revisit some of her older material.
Her piano songs are done totally from memory as once again she has no idea
the chord names or the individual notes. I suspect her piano playing and
composing comes from a zen-like state where she just lets it happen without
conscious thought.
In the studio Joni the producer would often hum or sing the parts she
wanted other musicians to play and they tried to duplicate what she was
presenting. The exceptions were Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter, two
musicians whom she gave a much freer reign, because she felt they were much
more in synch with what she was trying to accomplish than the usual pro
session players. With Shorter, in particular, Joni would describe a
setting, like, say, a dark stormy night, and then let Shorter just go from
there.
Joni knows, and has been told countless times, that her music is often
complex, her chords "peculiar." That she possesses some kind of genius is
widely accepted (especially here on the JMDL :-) but it's achieved with a
keen ear, attention to details, and an abstract sense of painting with her
music, not by slaving over a piano or a guitar and writing down each note
as they fall into place.
Scott
