| Subject: | RE: Re: [RESOGUIT-L] Angry Dobro Syndrome | | Date: | Saturday, September 8, 2007 07:58:38 (-0700) | | From: | Foote,Tom <FooteT @.........edu>
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On Sep 8, 2007, at 12:25 AM, Greg Tucker-Kellogg wrote:
What I think? I think every student of the music should
learn from the greatest, and be willing to listen
critically at the same time.
yup.. you gotta start somewhere and it might as well be
with those held up as the ideal. It's my favorite thing about
reso... you can bust your butt trying to be Mike, Jerry, Rob etc
and, as you pointed out, never get there. There are simply too
many choices in the fingerboard about how to get from one
place to another. And, the way you choose to go is going
to result in a different sound than the next person.... and
there's all that brain stuff going
on about what you really like to hear. The result, of course, is
as it should be -- you wind up sounding like YOU... it can't
be helped and that's a good thing.. makes for your own unique sound
sooner or later.
Mike Auldridge didn't become
as great as he is by reifying the playing of Josh Graves,
Jerry didn't become Jerry by reifying the playing of Mike.
When I wrote "I've already said too much"
one of the things that happens with those guys is they play
all the time. Most of us don't have the stamina to play
12 hours a day the Mike and Jerry do or did.. when I took
my double lesson from Mike 3 years ago he was apologetic
saying "I'm down to playing 5 - 6 hours a day." Now, I don't
know about anyone else, but much as I like reso, I can't
get close to putting in that kind of time. The result, of course,
is much slower progress toward whatever goal I think I
might be working toward.
it was because I
expected that making any comment like that would be
perceived, wrongly, in a broader context.
naw... that's why I put a smiley face on it.. it was
a joke.. but, it got us all thinking about what we're
doing and that's always a good thing.
This is a funny aspect of the list, where criticism of
excessive hammer-ons and pull-offs -- implicitly a criticism
of Jerry and folks who imitate his playing style -- is
welcomed as a sign of good taste, but other forms of normal
critique are seen as beyond the pale.
seems like people gravitate to reso for different reasons.
Those who want to play banjo instrumental type tunes are
going to need a lot of flashy hammers and pull offs.. that flashy
instrumental virtuosity is what most of us like about Bluegrass.
But, reso is broader than that, I'm finding out. I played banjo
for 10 years in a band and the only time the reso came out
was on the slower stuff... weepers, kickers and the like..
and now that I'm no longer playing in a band, I find myself
gravitating toward Swing and Pop stuff, which is great fun
on reso. So, I leave the flash to the younger players and
those who play mostly Bluegrass... doesn't mean I've
given up on Bluegrass, only that I'm exploring other
aspects of what's out there for reso...
and besides I'm an unapologetic pedal steel head, and
while I love the sound of C6, it's the surging, swelling E9
quarter tone pedal one that makes all the hair on my
body stand up.... I thought about getting a Tee shirt made
with a pedal steel guitar on it and the message "I hate you Tom
Brumley -- You Ruined My Life!" but I digress... : > )
It might be instructive if people shared whatever practice
regimen they have. What do you do when you decide to
get to work on reso? How much of the amount of time
you spend playing/working on stuff do you spend playing
old familiar tunes as opposed to working on some aspect(s)
of technique or challenging new stuff?
Anyhow, this screed got longer than I intended, but this kind
of discourse reflects how we all respect and continue to
marvel at what can be achieved on reso.
Tom, who gets up too early... : > )
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RE: Re: [RESOGUIT-
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