Somewhere in August 1996, while pillion riding on a motorbike with a buddy of mine, WL (who will eventually play a major role in my formative electric years), the engine clutch malfunctioned and I was thrown from the bike. Not before having my leg caught in the wheel and twisted – breaking my fibula and ankle bone…
It took an ambulance ride (with siren) to the neighbouring state, four surgeries, few painful sessions of physiotherapy, one month on wheel chair and two month on crutches to make me walk again. But then again, the recovery period of three months actually helped in developing the techniques I have today.
The only guitar I have was a Yamaha Classical guitar – CG100A. To play some rock solo on it was indeed a great challenge. One of the very first song I learnt was Def Leppard’s When Love and Hate Collide. Bending successfully at pitch on a classical guitar is extremely hard – imagine trying to yank off the strings – that hard.
Subsequently, I could do stuff like Smell like Teen Spirit, Back in Black, Enter Sandman, solo to Nirvana’s Lake of Fire, Goin’ Where the Wind Blows and many licks that Yngwie does on acoustic, including the intro to Black Star and Vengence...all on the CG 100A.
I did attempt Steve Vai’s Crying Machine as well….yes, on the classical.
Looking back, my ears functioned much better then. Chord changes were picked up much easier. Improvisation was an every day affair. Play a song and you just wank whatever – fills, chords filler and all that. Today, maybe it’s because of the “knowledge and skills” I tend to think too much when improvising.
Want to challenge yourself on improvisation? Get Pat Metheny Group’s Quartet.
Because of the fret distance were much bigger, I had no choice but to force my fingers to flex and stretch. This is where my classical training come in handy. Tell me the next time we play what you see. Pay attention to how I position my fingers. All four digits will be used and placed on adjacent frets. That pattern will remain. Good or bad, I let the Guitar God in you to pass the verdict.
Strumming was substituted with palm muting, and “plucking” was done mostly with pick. Heck, I also learn my first sweep arpeggio on the classical.
The acoustic nature of classical guitar requires the player to pay very close attention to the playing dynamics (especially if one is playing flamenco – which was a part of my classical training). Knowing when to accent and how to keep the overall tone colour in a uniform frequency was a major emphasis during classes. That eventually was infused into my playing style years later.
Blues and neo-classical were very much what I played during that time. I learnt how to bend strings, I learnt how to build up speed, scales like minor harmonic and pentatonic were memorized and arpeggios and pedal tones were part of every improvised solo. The blues part stays though, but it took “Mind Games” to coax the neo classical stuff out again. If you listen back, the solo has no bends!!
All those and many more (non-essential details – like practicing with a NIKKO
Didn’t come six years later though…………
Mum said to me once “if you can spend the equal amount of time playing guitar for your studies, I will be happy……”
Dude, I am very sorry about your accident. I remember the first time you told me and I thought wow, that was an insane crash. I suppose the bright side was that you we're able to hen your skills and listen to some music to get you through some tough times. The thing about you and I is that we started trying extremely ambitious things on either a classical or acoustic guitar. I remember when I first picked it up in high school and I tried to play all the solos to Fade to Black on the acoustic, one of the "mat rocks" who was well known in my school for being able to play all Metallica tunes told me I could not do it and that I need an electric. I worked on it till my fingers literally bled, and was able to play both solos on the acoustic no matter how stupid it sounded.
ReplyDeleteI then showed up at one school performance night and played it, and our mat rock friend was shocked. So dude I enjoy reading your resilience and perseverance in playing extremely ambitious tunes on a limited capacity. Once again I think it's is perseverance that made you the good axe slinger which you are today.
Look forward to more of your stories, and especially those over the influences which have played such a huge role in your life!