distortions and the guitar

what is known about the guitar??

it is perhaps the most universal of all musical instruments
i would allow that there are more guitars in the world
owned by more people than any other kind of musical instrument

there is also a vast range
when one considers ability
the guitar is relatively easy
to learn on a rudimentary level
easier than the piano
(although some room must be made here
for natural proclivities)
but to learn just two or 3 chords
on the guitar is a portal to a
vast storehouse of music

on the other hand it could be argued
that mastering the technique required
for playing the classical guitar repertoire
of the 20th century requires more skill
and more dedication than any other instrument
for the requirement of training 4 fingers on one hand
and the thumb and 4 fingers on the other
to work both independently and in combination
is a challenge made by no other instrument
except perhaps the lute
this is complicated by the fact
that each hand performs seperate functions
and each hand is required to be in direct contact
with the production of sound on the strings

recently i have learned to use the plectrum
this poses a set of interesting problems and challenges
as well..flat picking executed with precision and expertise
is something to hear
listen to doc watson norman blake tony rice
and a whole host of bluegrass pickers
the tradition of using a plectrum
is as old as the development of the instrument
but it could be argued that the use of the fingers
creates a more varied and nuanced approach to the instrument we know

the instruments we see today
are descendant from plucked instruments
which go as far back as early life in israel
and greece and egypt and india
and most likely long before that in places like africa

the kithara the rebec the lute
the harp the vihuela the sarod
all of these instruments and more
have contributed something
to the evolution of the instrument

the baroque guitar
(similar in size and shape to the vihuela)
gave precedent for the spanish guitar
which arose in the spanish culture
of the 18th and 19th century
this instrument strung with catgut strings
became a common household and street instrument
and gave rise to the phenomenon
of a whole generation of salon players
in the early 19th century
the instrument was marked by its intimate sound
much quieter than good classical guitars of our day
and required a rather intimate setting
so the salons of private homes were perfect
where the hosts sponsored artists and poets and musicians
names like fernando sor- mauro giuliani - carcassi - carulli-
regondi - diabelli - paganinni - schubert
these men acquired skill
often developed in rather idiosyncratic milieux
and stand as not the first but certainly the
first concentrated effort to develop methods
for knowing and performing on the instrument known to the world as
the guitar

even at this time the vast majority of guitarists were
probably rather amateurish street musicians
people who upheld the genuine spirit of the guitar
as not an elitist instrument
but one suited for the average skill of the common man

this does not detract from the fact that there developed
a natural pedagogical knowledge of the instrument and
a concommitant natural development of skill
evidenced in greater levels of genius emerging
in every subsequent generation after the
glory days of spanish and italian guitarists in vienna

it would be difficult to argue the influence
in the 20th century of andres segovia
there is considerable dispute in classical guitar circles
as to his actual skill and understanding of music
in truth
his was a very idiosyncratic style
deriving from a reaction to flamenco styles in andalusia
and his marked preference and belief that the best classical music
could be played on the guitar
today most guitarists agree that segovias' transcription
of the chacconne from the solo violin partita in d minor by j s bach
was a breakthrough event in the classical musical world
and likewise it would be difficult to deny
that segovia
almost single handedly
made the classical guitar an instrument to be heard
on the stages of the world in the same way that
solo instruments like piano were heard

yet it remains curious
the technique of guitar building certainly was changed
at the behest of segovia
hermann hauser in germany and the ramirez family in spain
both went through rather excruciating developments
in guitar building in order to increase and maximize
the audibility of the instrument
and this phenomenon marks the world shaking changes
in regard to the instrument in general
still
the notion that the players of these instruments
will be heard in auditoriums and on recordings
seems to qualify the efforts of guitar builders
in strange ways
what the players hear in the practicing of pieces
is rarely if every actually heard in performance
unless the venue remains intimate

in the late 19th century instruments were made stronger
so that steel strings could be used
and this increased the sound of the instruments considerably
while this phenomenon followed the same advance in the viol family
it was situated for the most part in the USA
the martin guitar company more or less pioneered
the construction of steel stringed guitars

thus it was in the 2oth century that we see a virtual explosion
of development of the instrument we know as the guitar
and that has been marked primarily by the effort
to take an instrument with the natural character of intimacy
and produce by technology an instrument that can now
with the aid of electronic amplification
blow the windows out of a house

thus i ask
how is the guitar experienced in our day

i can only begin by positing the concept
of distortion
what the guitar can do and what it is constantly being asked
to do is a matter of distortion
and perhaps this could be understood as a metaphor
for all that is distorted in our world

we have Les Paul and the Rickenbacker phenomenon
to thank for advancing the sonic range and playability
of the guitar for bringing it out of the rhythm section
in bands and into its own as a solo instrument within the ensemble
mainly in the stream of jazz
(for in effect the guitar is the quintessential solo instrument)
capable of being heard from a distance
with audible range to compare with horns
thanks to electrical enhancement
this is both an advance and a distortion
both a comedy and a tragedy
yet i cannot deny here
the fact that some astounding music
has been brought forth with all this
django reinhardt and charlie christian
come immediatley to mind
although
django played an acoustic guitar (the macaferri)
into a microphone
his instrument was never electrically modified

i wish only to state that my experience of the instrument
and my lifelong pursuit of understanding with this instrument at hand
(since the age of 8)
brings me to the understanding that it is all but impossible
to hear the instrument in its natural character
simple quiet both percussive and melodic
and essentially heard or to be heard
within the backdrop and atmosphere of quiet

while it might be argued that charlie christian
and a host of other great jazz players
took the amplified instrument to a new height
and i would be the first to admit i have been impressed
and at least some of my musical insight has come
from this style of playing the guitar
still i would be hesitant to call the advance anything
more than a distortion

the phenomenon in pop music has been
by and large the effort to advance mediocrity
where technique is marked by gimmickry
more than skill

today we can hear the guitar in its natural character
in the music of latin america in the mariachis of mexico
in the quiet accompaniment of the bossa nova
in the folk styles and folk songs of the world
yet i note that as soon as the guitar is amplified
the natural character of the instrument is lost
and what is heard is a synthetic phenomenon
with the real quality being subsumed in the
effort to amplify

at a little festival in arizona a few years ago
i listened to a peruvian musician play the pan pipes
and the guitar in a beautiful little chapel
in which i conducted liturgical music
he insisted that a head mic and a little amplifier
were necessary for his performance
this was tragic comedy
in a space that would easily accomodate his pipes
his voice and his guitar he insisted on
conveying his sound through electronix
this seems to be the case more and more

i once stated this phenomenon in terms of a law:
the law of mandatory amplification
since we have microphones and speakers
we cannot not use them
they must be used no matter what
this is more important than the sound of
the actual instruments

the classical guitar world is a world unto itself
and while it is possible to hear some amazing players
exploring a repertoire and advancing new composition
this highly refined style is marked with an over emphasis
of perfection
and most players today are given over to the demands of
recording and have lost the sense
(perhaps available to us by the listening to the early recordings
of segovia) of the earthy innocence of the instrument
so much so that it is becoming vogue to cleverly amplify
good classical guitars with small microphones
furthering the phenomenon of distortion

i can appreciate the scraping the tapping the
squeeking strings the snapping of string on frets
as integral to the sound of the instrument
while the modern affect is toward a "clean" sound
imitative of the piano
where the human flesh is one step removed from the
making of the sound by a mechanism

today the electric guitar can be heard in extreme distortion
on recordings or live presentations of extreme metal
i can look to names like robert fripp and bill frisell and pat metheny
as exemplars of interesting modern guitar artistry
or it can be heard rather tastefully and artistically
by players such as Bo Ramsey whom i judge to be
a true artist of the electric guitar

i do therefore acknowledge that a serious artform
has developed in step with the technological evolution
of the guitar
however the mastery of that artform is decidedly a rare phenomenon
almost unheard of

with the increase in audibility by amplification
comes the increase of flashy speedy playing
and the natural instinct to be loud and distort
players who learn on the electric guitar
are almost always at a loss when playing
acoustic instruments

yet i can also acknowledge that the distortion can be
treated as a textural quality
art can be made from distortion

to be sure
guitar artistry is a many varied and complicated
phenomenon
in its essence it is a quiet little instrument
with (usually) 6 strings
heard very quietly in quiet spaces
but in the modern distortion is made to be
something which conveys sound and expression
far beyond the simplicity of its inherent design

so much so that i will state emphatically
mankind can no longer hear the guitar
we hear only the distortion now

i alone can hear the guitar
and i am alone
and no one listens

let us return to the human sadness
evoked by the simple guitar
heard as a matter of benign neglect
in the night in some shadowy corner
of a forgotten street in a forgotten town
only there will the knowledge of the essence
of the guitar be regained