Re: LOOPING PHILOSOPHY (condensed)

["Mikell D. Nelson" <mnelson@dmans.com>]

Ian///Shakespace wrote:
> A DJ's abilities as a DJ are just as inate as a guitarist's abilities as 
>a
> guitarist... you're born with a certain amount of talent that you hone
> through practice. ... I really don't see a difference between a 
>guitarist practicing his
> craft and a DJ practicing his. ... a DJ is grafting, adding elements and
> removing, much the same way as a guitarists picking or strumming may add 
>or
> take away notes from a riff.

  Creativity can be brought to almost any human endeaver, but that
doesn't make two activities equal in a more important sense. A jock can
pick the sample, playback rate, & what context he drops the sample into.
But a guitarist can do equivalent things AND choose tone, phrasing, &
attack; he can bend notes, add vibrato, & play harmonics. The number of
options available for expression affects the power and expressiveness of
the instrument or method. A 7 note thumb piano is not as capable of
expressing human emotion as a tenor saxophone.
  Another way to say this is that if you don't play guitar but want to
play like Alan Holdsworth, then you had better get started; it'll be a
10 or 20 year journey if it's even attainable for you. However, becoming
a great DJ might take a few months to a year and a half; again, if you
have it in you. So... is there a difference in the activities because
one is more difficult. Certainly. If you master a more powerful,
expressive medium you can create more emotional, evocative music.
  Another angle is that the DJ chooses a piece of music (sound), *that
someone else created*, to add to his mix. The guitarist makes the same
choice but uses his own pallet, his own voice.

  On another, somewhat related, note I have always thought that some
instruments are more expressive than others, and wondered why. Why are
there more sax, guitar, trumpet or violin solos than other instruments?
The best answer I've come up with so far seems to be the point I was
making above about the options. The number of ways an instruments can
shape a note is directly related to it's expressive power. There is a
reason sax is more popular than French horn; or guitar more popular than
banjo. I believe great players can touch us more deeply with these
instruments.

Look out... incoming...

Motley