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| 1. |
Pick
up your guitar - close your eyes. You are now holding
a drum machine and / or a sampler in a different
form.
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| 2. |
Play
"Funky Kingston" by Toots and The Maytals
and pay attention to the section where Toots hollers
"Give me some of that funky guitar ... Now
reggae." Play it 50 times then you'll see what
I'm talking about.
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| 3. |
Don't
play chords or notes - play a feeling, a thought,
an event or a place. Don't play Cm 7; play a volcano
erupting. Don't play some tired old Blues Riff;
play the sound of the Stock Market collapsing. Jimi
Hendrix was the first to understand this. Unfortunately,
his legions of imitators do not.
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| 4. |
Love
Bass and Drums more than you love the guitar. Use
the guitar to keep the Bass and Drums rolling. Listen
to all the other sounds that are happening around
you. Turning point; playing one note or not playing
at all are all skills in themselves. Listen to Lee
Perry, Scientist, King Tubby ... they know.
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| 5. |
99%
of the time, people play something that they know
when they pick up the guitar. Play something you
don't know. Play something the world has
never heard before. Always be a composer,
not only a player.
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| 6. |
Everything
within your reach is a potential instrument. Effects
are instruments, the amp is an instrument. Even
the buzz of an amp and its on and off switch. Try
to view the guitar as an appendage to the effects
and amp rather than the other way round. You will
find new sounds instantly.
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| 7. |
Attack
without mercy all principle and symbols of the guitar
establishment. This entails:
1) Burn all copies of any and every "Guitar"
magazine.
2) Go down to the guitar shop and burn every "original"
leaving only "cheap" foreign copies.
3) Destroy anything made by Marshall on sight.
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| 8. |
For
every "expensive" guitar, you could buy
ten "cheap" ones. Don't be precious! Retune
them, detune them, play them with knives and screwdrivers.
Play them with one string only etc. Abuse
the guitar. That's when it starts to sound good.
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| 9. |
Learn
sampling and MIDI. Contrary to general perceptions,
technology is the saviour of conventional
instruments. It will make you rethink the way you
play which can only be good. Also the fact that
you play guitar will inform your programming. The
first example of this principle in action can be
found on the early Def Jam singles (LL Cool J, Public
Enemy, Run DMC.) Check out our LP or "Brown
Paper Bag" by Roni Size for a continuing tradition.
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| 10. |
Now
I mention it, why bother to play the guitar at all?
Just use the case to stand the sampler on and forget
about it. Tee Hee!
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