There is a wonderful teacher, artist and musician around the area. His name is Larry and I went to his show recently. He bailed out the 'Country&Wesley Show' at the bandshell with his duct tape, Bose system and Mississippi saxophone, backing me up on a few tunes. I was very grateful for the musical comradery and leaving band practice with my Bose that day, I was willing to offer it to him, if needed.
Wasn't needed. Arriving at the pavilion, he had his electronic gizmos surrounding his chair. Harmonizers, loopers and doopers, buttons to push, dials to dial, reverbs, boomers, twangers and wires, lots wires and cable. All the whiz-bangs. His sound system was solid.
His guitar playing is innovative, not like any I've seen. He uses short capos and tunes weird. He's real good. I would like to play more with him because I know from playing past he knows his way around a song, rips great lead and blues harp. For the show he goes artsy, I get it. I like Larry, he's quirky, and genuine and enjoys being a teacher. I like that. I've learned from him.
Somewhere during the show, watching and listening, I took in the whole scene. In all his sound tsunami, Larry became the most insignificant part of the music. He was singing along with a machine, voices pre-recorded or looped. With all the electronic trickery applied to his guitar, it became clear even with his great playing, Larry, the artist, became part of the machine. Acting like a robot, he could easily be replaced by a robot.
I compliment Larry heavily here. His musicality is tremendous. My observation is not diminishment. It only validates what society has become. It seems people have been conditioned to digital machine noise and the brain process of healing aural acoustic sound has been diminished. People prefer the noise instead of the music.
This thought has only solidified my desire to present my guitar as my guitar and myself as myself. I do use amplification sometimes and the unit has a few dials, set them and play is what I do. If I can't make that guitar express what I want, I'll only practice more. I'll sing as best I can, ain't much, like it or not, it's me. I am not software enhanced, I yam just what I yam.
My audience may be shrinking daily.
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