An Ethereal Guitarist's Path

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

First post: An introduction

I'm starting this because I've been inspired by my brother, once again. Pretty much, Id like to write about guitar but more specifically my personal experiences and feelings about it as i go through so many of them throughout time. I like to read my thoughts over, it helps for self reflection and makes me understand them better, so thats one reason I'm writing this. Also, I figured id share with other people into music as much as I am, as its just interesting to hear others thoughts and perspectives.

So I'm going to start off by first describing all the musical projects I have underway so far.

1. Subjugate- This is my technical death metal project. Its more than just regular old death metal, I am adding new ideas to the table. Things like using whammy bars and effects pedals in normal riffs, something that isn't done very often if at all. Also, I am arranging songs, of course how I think they'd flow naturally, though my arrangements, to me, seem different than the common death metal band. This is my favorite project, It is just me doing this, though I may get people to help with vocal duties.


2. Archon- This is a HIGHLY experimental black metal side project. I emphasis the experimental part, because as it will be primarily black metal, there will be many other songs that don't fit into metal at all. I am working together with my friend Pagan, it is just the two of us. We plan on including elements of ambiance, sound scape, drone, jazz, classical, most kinds of metal, and whatever else we think of. Even though a good portion of this will be black metal, we chose to not limit what we write at all.


3. (Currently no name)- This will be my own free-form jazz and classical project. This will probably move along the slowest because I am just starting to study jazz and classical music, whereas I know metal very well. I want to incorporate elements of death metal, such as certain guitar techniques and song arrangements but keep this completely jazz and classical.

4. (Currently no name)- This will be a classical/ambient/experimental project with my brother playing cello. We dont have so much time to jam and write, so this isnt too big yet, though I am very ambitious about it.

Lately I have been learning and figuring out what tension is and how it relates to and effects my guitar playing ability. Staying relaxed is very important in everyday life and to playing an instrument. It keeps the body more comfortable and easier to maintain. Ive noticed things become much easier ti play when I'm very relaxed and im not stressing my muscles. One technique Ive begun learning, rather quickly I might add, is the use of a metronome and slowing everything i play down. This helps dramatically. It makes apparent the mistakes I am making in a piece, because I play the same way fast or slow, thus if I am making a mistake on this one little part when playing it fast, I will do the same when playing it slow. The key to recognizing the mistake is to listen to how I sound rather than listening to the techniques I am playing.



To end this introduction, I would like to say that this will be more than merely talking about guitar and how its a part of me. I will also include anything I do musically, and anything i think musically. Ill have times when i talk about unrelated things if they intrigue me enough, but most importantly, I want to focus channeling my thoughts in a different way and not keep everything inside.

P.S. A quick explanation of "An Ethereal guitarist's Path"
Well pretty much I'm an ethereal guitarist. By that i mean i don't really have a strong foundation. Ive sorta been floating around blending in and working with what sounds good and whats appealing to me. So basically now after years of playing im trying to find direction, and that is my path

1 comment:

Steve said...

thank you for the post, im surprised someones actually reading this lol. Im going to start it up again but i havent had an internet connection. I take it you are a guitarist as well?