Thoughts in My Head

thinking back and retracing each step i took in my passion in music, i remembered my first note i played was the E note. the person that thaught me that very first note and spark my interest and then later turn into passion was my late father. i remembered how he can always somehow attract us siblings and be quiet to listen to him play his guitar. he knew a lot of great tunes and i use to sing along with him while he played. he can even play the piano (an instrument i wish i could explore). it seems that somehow with playing the guitar, it’s a way for me to ‘relive’ the moment. a way for me to relate to him.

but enough about that. it seems i’ve never stopped playing my guitar. my interest varies from time to time. from metallica(heavy metal) - nirvana - pearl jam(seattle sound) - butterfingers(malaysian rock band) - steve vai/ satriani/vinnie moore/gary moore/bode/eric clapton(guitar heroes) - lefthanded, wings, search - to new bands such as jet and the darkness. but now my main interest are blues/jazz and rock n roll songs. if people hear me play, probably they will hear a little bit of jimi hendrix in it with a tint of BB King along with all the mix match of my influences. most people don’t listen to the blues anymore. don’t know why - i’m still figuring it out.

i had a recent chat a while ago with abang rom, founder of ROTTW (Rhythm of The Third World) magazine regarding why people today can’t play as well as guitar players in the 70s and 80s. he clearly defined that they don’t have enough blues in them. you see at that moment, the relativeness seems far fetch from what i thought back then. but then i tried to relate between the blues scales and the blues chord progressions with modern rock songs we have today. and it totally make sense. it seems that the chords used today are derived from the blues. the scales in doing a solo will always have a bit of blues. hearing back ngwie malmsteen, there’s always a bit of blues in his solo. the same for vai and satriani. and even jet as well as the darkness. they say that in the early years of the blues, it was the "devil song" because of it explicit lyrics (not all of em). from the blues, came rock n roll. jimi hendrix, led zepplin, gary moore, aerosmith, rolling stones, etc. pink floyd has a lot of blues sounds in their songs. if you heard butterfingers new album, the song ‘merpati sejoli’ is a total rock n roll song with a 12 bar blues progression (but creatively mix with other influences). you can also hear a lot of blues licks in pearl jam songs.

my point is - guitar players should take a step back and play the blues and expand your interest furthermore with other genre. it’s simple but complex. it’s sweet and harmony while heavy and harsh in the same time. and it could certainly teach you somehow in your guitar playing. and one thing - even though you know the pentatonic scale/blues scales, playing the blues is much more than that. ask around, play, experience - and you’ll soon find out what i mean.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2005 at 6:36 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.