JObeast wrote:

You wanna know why blues suck? Because they use the same 5 notes across all 3 chords! At least when surf guitarists played I-IV-V in 1962 they would play 5-note scales on each chord!
That's the difference between blues and rock'n'roll.

You know why skyscrapers suck? They block my view. Ronnie Earl advises in his instruction video a friend of mine had back in the '90s, to learn how to play ONE note expressively, then, add another.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3a01z_ronnie-earl-blues-guitar-with-soul_music

Yep, fenderfan. I'm an admirer of Ronnie Earl as well.

Elmore James and His Broomdusters sure know how to play the Blues.

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

JObeast wrote:

...
I just hate the way blues music became associated with a very mainstream idea of badassery that brings us the likes of a Bonnamassa whose putative awesomeness is supposed to blow us all away.

Who associates what with what now ?
Dude, are you complaining about the "Camel guy" image, at 2016, seriously? Who buys it? (not much unlike Surf... sadly), and who sells it, expect ol' Joe B. and a couple of other sunglasses totting cats. They're dwindling constantly.
Someone has to hold the torch, still. Any music genre is worth persevering, and we never know if there's a kid somewhere around the corner that can inject incredible new soul into it, like SRV did for example.

The youths, aren't into him, relax.
I don't know if they're better off though, with the likes of Taylor Swift or whatever is REALLY popular these days, autotuned, quantisized and compressed 3 times until mp3 form.
Sad times, yeah, but just like the ground, it needs to rest in garbage for a while until it's ready for a fresh, wonderful crop.

At least someone plays an instrument, live, with a real band, and not some laptop. He does what he does boringly well, and his decaying crowd thanks him for that. I see nothing wrong with this picture.

I wouldn't listen to him, and find Clapton also boring as beige paint, but after 4 hours of doing sound at a wedding, believe me, ANY natural guitar track is like water for the soul.

Last edited: Aug 27, 2016 13:33:39

JObeast wrote:

Aww Dave I was being sardonic. But it's a true fact of music theory!
I just hate the way blues music became associated with a very mainstream idea of badassery that brings us the likes of a Bonnamassa whose putative awesomeness is supposed to blow us all away. It's an art form whose heroes are utterly lacking in irony and ambiguity, and taking themselves way too seriously deserve to be lampooned.

When I saw your opening statement, I was in a moment of weakness... had just woke up. I have a tough time with statements like that. Go listen to the Muddy Waters box set, maybe the Ray Charles box, then, try to to emulate the vocal performance using a guitar of the Elmore James song posted above.

The guy you mention plays too many notes for me, seemingly, from an intellectual vantage point. I have noticed he has a nice left hand vibrato, though.

This music, in my opinion is not to be judged by how many of the 12 notes are employed during what duration of time, but, the expressiveness of the playing.

The difference, for me, comparing surf type instrumentals, is that the quality is determined by the imagery created by the playing/music, as well as the expressiveness.

-dw

Last edited: Aug 27, 2016 21:55:22

Dread wrote:
"Dude, are you complaining about the "Camel guy" image, at 2016, seriously? Who buys it? (not much unlike Surf... sadly), and who sells it, expect ol' Joe B. and a couple of other sunglasses totting cats. They're dwindling constantly."

Yeah, the Camel Cigarettes "Hard Pack" of yore. But that predates Joey B. I think he must have modeled his look on them, with help from Steve Segall the famous guitar collector and blues man who hangs with Lukashenko lately.

In response to the Joey B. Hardpack, it would be cool in a bad way to see Shoggoth Otis with his Boneless Combo lay down some smoking blooze ooze lines in imitation of the culture of the Great Old Ones who invented the form, in the Nameless City on the Plateau of Leng beyond the Mountains of Madness a billion years ago, when shoggoths knew, or rather inchoately sensed their proper place in the order of "things". Now every young Shoggoth thinks itself a badass and thus we have to suffer the blooze bloviations of a Joey B. & a Jon Mayer.

Squink Out!

Last edited: Aug 27, 2016 22:38:23

Thanks for this, hilarious.

JObeast wrote:

In response to the Joey B. Hardpack, it would be cool in a bad way to see Shoggoth Otis with his Boneless Combo lay down some smoking blooze ooze lines in imitation of the culture of the Great Old Ones who invented the form, in the Nameless City on the Plateau of Leng beyond the Mountains of Madness a billion years ago, when shoggoths knew, or rather inchoately sensed their proper place in the order of "things". Now every young Shoggoth thinks itself a badass and thus we have to suffer the blooze bloviations of a Joey B. & a Jon Mayer.

A friend of mine started a cult some years ago: "Cool Immortality".

from "God Emperor of Dune" (Frank Herbert):

These were not Fremen! These poor creatures lived on the margins, trying to retain parts of an ancient wholeness. And all the while, that lost reality slipped farther and farther from their grasp. What had Leto created here? These Museum Fremen were lost to everything except a bare existence and the rote mouthing of old words which they did not understand and which they did not even pronounce correctly!

and a bit after:

Idaho felt shamed by the plaintive request. He spoke without thinking: "I will teach you anything Fremen that I know." He looked up to see Nayla scowling at him. "It will help to pass the time," he said. "And who knows? It may return something of the true Fremen to this land."