:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: Friday, July 18, 2003 ::

Piggybacking off that last post, one blues guitarist I especially like is Stevie Ray Vaughn. It amazes me how much raw feeling this guy can express with six strings and a plank of wood.

Blues is one of those genres of music that is best when listened to through a set of good headphones while sitting back on a comfortable chair, eyes closed so the only actively working sense is hearing. It isn't that bluesmen are the best or fastest guitar players out there but but each one offers up their own nuance, their own idiosyncratic style. Even if it's something as simple as tone. Albert King's tone is smooth, yet brawny. Buddy Guy has a sharp, raw, cutting sound. B. B. King's tone is thick, heavy with almost a liquid quality to it, if that makes any sense. Every little lick, every muted scratch, every string bend that unlike classical or jazz guitar, just seem to ooze emotion. When Guy sings “Damn Right I got the Blues,” you know it’s true, not just because of his lyrics but you can feel it through his playing. When Vaughn tell you he misses his woman in “Texas Flood” you can’t help but feel his pain, again not just from his lyrics but because the notes he plucks from his guitar conveys his passion so emphatically.

I’ve occasionally made the mistake of getting a little too engrossed with some songs while driving. I distinctly remember this one time I was listening to “Texas Flood” and the solo started right when I pulled up to an intersection. So naturally, turn up the radio, lean my head back, close my eyes and let myself get saturated within those sublime twelve bars… only to be jolted back to reality by some chick behind me who informed me that the light had turned green with a rather vigorous honk. Not that it bothered me, considering the source. She looked like she listened to some boyband crap anyway.

Don’t fear for my safety though, things like that don’t happen that often. You know, as much as I love music and playing guitar, I'm kinda surprised that I've never blogged about this before. Oh well, I guess I'm still a relative neophyte to this whole blog thing.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:59 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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