Why they DRUG OUT [a story]

[Todd Madson <crash@waste.org>]

In my opinion, a lot of it has to do with relaxation.  Fripp always said
lots of his guitar craft students were "stiff as boards" and I can totally
identify with that.

Years ago was a young pod, I played in several groups with people who were
better than I was (at that time anyway).  These people knew it and would 
always try to find ways to HUMILIATE and that served to CONSTRICT me.  A 
real bad thing to get into is criticizing people who you play with in a 
non-constructive manner.  It makes them tighten up and shrug themselves
until their head dissappears between their shoulder blades.

For the longest time, I would always play with my jaws clenched, so much
so that I nearly gave myself TMJ.  I would always play really hard too,
and eventually it got to the point where the day after a practice or a 
gig I'd need to take a day to recover.  My teeth and jaw hurt so much that
I practically gave myself TMJ and my hands and fingers hurt for days 
after.

Then, later, a friend made an observation and said "you're playing guitar,
not rowing a boat."  From there I began to modify my approach.  I went
from staccato Al DiMeola of doom sounding to a more smoother, flowing kind
of player.  But I still didn't quite get it.

Once I stopped clenching my jaws I was able to relax a little more - the
more I relaxed the better I seemed to play and the better tha band played.
We swung and flowed more as opposed to stridently blasting along.  This 
was especially noticeable when we had a long day job to do before we 
went onstage or whatever.  If we were tired, we listened to each other 
better and we also weren't afraid to try little things and be open to 
what the music wanted to do....I have tapes before and after with the 
proof that it made a huge difference.

This is what I think is going on with the droog infestors...relaxing the
patient so they can better respond to the musical power.  Not an ideal 
situation but it works for some of them.

In fact, one of the best guitar solos I ever played was when I was dog
tired, just exhausted.  I was just about to go to bed and I got an idea
for a part on a tune I was working on.  I cued up the tape (in my pajamas)
and played the part and went to bed.  The next day I listened to the tape
and I could scarcely believe it was me.  The playing was so relaxed it 
made J.J. Cale's efforts sound like death metal extravaganzas.  Big on 
mood and feel, lots of space between the notes and just so there...

So, some get to the ZONE thru chemical modifications, some get there 
through relaxation/meditation, and some get there through excessive
lack of sleep.

For me, a loop can be hypnotic.  Like the lovely Vortex 16 preset - I
had my wife sing a several octave arpeggio and after about two hours
of looping that it was bouncing around the room amazingly.  It made up
the drone (or root) of a new tune....really cool..

I'll shut up now.

Todd Madson
Musician, Mountain Biker, Stunt Kite Flyer, BeOS/MacOS/Linux/WinNt user.
http://www.waste.org/~crash/index.html