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Looper's Delight
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My Aikido instructor of 7 years, spent most of his time during class yelling "rewax...rewax...Noooo...Thomson...must rewax..." After an hour of having the shit pounded out of you and being totally exausted...you WOULD HAVE NO CHOICE but relax. Then he'd say in a deep baritone "Yes!...That's the way...Smoothly!" what does this have to do with looping? I don't really know. Except I wish I had recording of him saying that. I did do a little ditty a few years ago called "heartgrinder" with samples from my answering machine of 10 different females breaking dates/canceling on me. There bogus excuses sounding SO obviously phony over the grinding music beneath. Very funny listening...and very empowering. >From: Todd Madson <crash@waste.org> >Reply-To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com >To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com >Subject: Why they DRUG OUT [a story] >Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 13:52:56 -0500 (CDT) > >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 > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com