The Not so Daily Privateer

Our Musical Career

The beginning of the band.  Let's see.  Did it begin when my mom decided I would play piano (sometime circe before I was born?)

No, it started when V. got a ukelele.  Our first trip to Hawai'i, in the summer of 96 made V. want a ukelele.  I thought everyone should have a ukelele and that V. would certainly be able to play one a little, since he loves instrumental music and pays attention to it.  As it turns out, he'd also had music lessons as a kid - accordion (so, keyboard) and then later piano lessons (again more keyboard) even though young adults didn't take piano lessons in the Soviet Union, usually.

But he had never had a stringed instrument.  Well.  He was really into Iz Kamakawiwo'ole and he ordered a ukelele on ebay.  That must have been around 2000, after at least one more trip to Hawaii.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone put as much into learning an instrument.  He decided he wanted to play like Iz from the very beginning and I sort of said "No, it doesn't happen like that" but he didn't listen and just went and sat in the garage and practiced and practiced.  At some point I think we discussed ukelele charts and he got the chords to the songs and I got him a chord book and off he went.  It was a lot of work learning the strumming and teasing the melody out on four strings. 

Around 2002, we found a classical guitar, pretty nice, at a garage sale in downtown.  V. was really excited to have a guitar and immediately the ukelele had some competition for attention. 

For Christmas 2003 (12-7-2003), V. wanted an electric guitar and I was surprised to learn that Fender made an inexpensive stratocaster (I didn't know anything about guitars). The same Christmas, Megan got her drums. V. was so excited.  Neither of us knew anything about electric guitars, except that we had both figured out along the way that cords and amps and electricity were all involved.  As usual, V. was able to figure out what sorts of amps and thingees there are.  At first, we used a leftover amp that I think Katey had had with her electric guitar (eventually Garrett's, I think). He was SO excited to get this guitar - I rarely see people that happy.  Wow.

Gibson Les Paul  11-2-2004.  This of course necessitated a new amp - the Fender was a silly amp to have with that Les Paul.  V. decided that he wanted that warm presence of live sound from the fifties and sixties - a Mesa Boogie kind of sound.  He likes surf guitar, although he was always playing many different genres.  Spanish guitar and flamenco style seemed to just come naturally to him - one might call it Gypsy guitar.  So the Mesa Boogie amp came along early 2005.  Opening the Les Paul that Christmas (he peeked at it in November but then made himself wait until Christmas to open it) was a really big deal.  He got tearful - he couldn't believe he really had such a guitar. 

I couldn't believe that having a new guitar would sound so much better right away.  I thought he sounded great on the Strat, but with that Les Paul began my own interest in the instruments themselves.  I had never paid attention or been able to hear the difference among guitars - but after that, I really tried to hear it. 

Gibson Hummingbird Custom  May, 2007

Gibson Longhorn mid-2008

So in a mere six years, he's gotten really good and composed a lot of music.  He gets better quickly at things he wants to do well, and he really wants to play guitar...so.

Adventures at Facebook

I've been active on Facebook for two days, and can't help making anthropological observations.

There are about 10 Guitar Hero groups to every group for real guitar.  Hell, it might even be 20 guitar hero groups for every one real guitar group.  And so many of the Guitar Hero people use the word "addiction."  Clearly, peeps want to play an instrument, and it must be so fun to get a song/tone out of a toy instrument by moving one's fingers in a manner similar to playing an instrument.

I like going on groups where people are beginning guitar or bass and answering their questions.  Each beginner asks the same question (What do I do?  How do I start?) and people give them the same variety of answers, often with too few details.  "Play a scale."  Well, sure - but how does a beginner do that?  They do that by plucking an open string (any one) and then moving up two frets (a Whole step) and plucking that, then another two frets (another Whole step), then one fret (a Half step), then Three Whole Steps, then a Half Step.  Y voila!  The regular do-re-mi (Ionian) scale.

WWHWWWH

I like the Myxolydian, myself, even though I don't like spelling it:

W-W-H-W-W-H-W

Pentatonic minor blues is a little harder to get across (uses a 1.5 steps, easier to explain if you just read music).

Reading music is not THAT difficult, and yet so many resist learning it - hence, they're back to Guitar Hero.

The level of discussion on Facebook groups devoted to academic type content is about the same as it would be at Fark or anywhere else - although it seems possible to have some kind of serious, civil discussion.  I'm thinking of breaking out Kant today, as my New Year's reading.  On the Philosophy is Sexy group, the active thread is about "Why not many women in philosophy?" (there are actually quite a few, and no one is actually discussing the reasons, thank goodness, since they are obvious).  Kant has an interesting perspective on women in his Preface to the Critique - it's oblique, but something to think about.

I credit Kant with inventing anthropology, in many ways (he tells why we need it in the Preface).

As usual, anthropology has a more popular and identifiable face on Facebook (Harrison Ford's).  There's actually a pretty interesting looking group on biological anthropology, so I won't feel so lonely.  I do feel very lonely at the college (which shall rename nameless), as even some of my most well-intentioned colleagues (and some others) don't seem to realize how much information anthropologists have dredged up and synthesized about the Deep Past and real human history - not just the kind that starts with Herodotus (whom I admire and adore, he's not the problem).

It makes me smile to see the Kula Ring active with anthropology buffs on Facebook. 

On an important side note, Claude Levi-Strauss (one of the most brilliant but oft-misunderstood anthropologists, in my view) is still alive.  He's something like 100 years old!  So, this semester, I think I'm going to use Kant and Levi-Strauss in the background as my meta-inspiration and try to get the students to see a little of the importance of logic, human reason and its universality.

Meanwhile, the French show that they really do not like cars - they have burned more than 1000 in celebration of the New Year.  Europe really went all out for its celebrations this year - England had an emergency call every 7 seconds, I hear.   Of course, in England it's apparently an emergency if someone spits their gum out on the street or, god forbid, the interior of your meat pie is the wrong color.

I do plan to find some help on Facebook in learning to play drums - well, the cymbal, really.  That little jazz swish sound is what I need.  Perhaps I can attach a brush to my foot (I have very well coordinated feet, thank you very much) and play along with the bass.  Then we'll have a true rhythm section and can learn more jazz songs, which is what I want to do!

But first, I have to fix the printer (it stopped being networked when we installed network security) and maybe get my "C" key repaired (new Lenovo computer - C key stopped working after just three months) and get the second broken freezer fixed (two in six months??)

Paul McCartney and me

Okay, it's possible I've said some unkind things about Sir Paul in the past, like that he was bossy or something.  I always thought he was the cutest Beatle when I was a girl, but then I changed to liking George in my teens, and I should have been open-minded enough to like all four Beatles at once.  I worship John, and so course, Paul had to take back seat and when John was mad at Paul, so was I.  

Then I started playing bass.  I don't think I knew there were different kinds of guitars when I was 10 or even 15.  By the time I was in the high school jazz band, I knew about basses - but we mainly used an upright bass and I still think I got electric bass.  I did get good at picking out bass lines and for years after, I was always listening for bass lines - Paul's, anyone's.

Now I want nothing more than to play even a teensy bit like Paul.  The people over at talkbass.com have been really helpful about giving me tips on tone.  I like nothing better than sitting around fiddling with the EQ on my Mesa Boogie amp to try and get a more Paul-like tone.  Except, I don't want to sound exactly like him, at all - just inspired by him.   I do want to get the notes right, though, if I'm playing one of his lines.

We started with Norwegian Wood, and then And I Love Her.  Norwegian Wood was pretty easy, except for my style.  Which will never be Paul's  And I Love Her is still difficult for me, and one of the prettiest parts ever written for bass.  I play a Fender Jazz Deluxe (MIA) not a Hofner, like Paul.  I don't know how Paul got those lines out of his old Hofner (I know he overdubbed some...long story).  Then, when trying to learn how to do walking bass lines, I discovered the line in All My Loving - and I figured most of it out on my own!  Then, with the help of copyrighted, purchased tab, I think I have it down. 

So now, I play duets with Paul - on that one song.  This has caused me to do a crazy thing - I've ordered a Hofner-alike that gets good reviews on harmonycentral.com and some Rotosound strings (long shiny ones).  It should arrive on Tuesday. 

I am thinking about cutting my bangs, but will likely stop short of that.

You know what's amazing?  He played that line and sang at the same time.

Bass Playing in July

The only topic I really feel like typing about is bass playing  We're going tonight to hear Steely Dan.  It's been 40 years or so since I started playing in the low end of a band.  I have no interest in playing anything by myself, despite 12 years of piano lessons and years of keyboard playing.  Keyboard sucks, unless it is jazz/rhythm keyboard or unless it is played by Mr. Fagan.  I'm very opinionated about music. 

I belong to several different bass forums, but I don't hang out with any other bass players in real life.  I think that's typical.  I'm really lucky to have a great guitar player living with me, and a drum machine (Boss DR-880) and no less than 3 live drummers who stop by once in awhile.