Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Don't Compare Nights at the MusikCircus!

Comparing one night to another at the MusikCircus is like comparing motorcycle riding to scuba diving as the comparison makes no sense.  Comparing a guitar to a synthesizer makes no more sense than comparing a tuba to a bass drum.  They're different instruments so there's no logic to comparison.

A synthesizer can't do what a guitar does in that a the harmonics that will fly off a string will vary depending on how you touch it.  This isn't a comparison, it's a fact.  It's a fundamental difference as the note won't change on a synth with how hard you strike it, only the intensity will.  However, the touch on a guitar will make a huge difference to the intensity and the fundamental qualities of the note.

I don't like comparing performers and I never have.  I think it's hugely insulting to say to a guitarist, man, you sound like Jimi Hendrix as the reaction when I hear something like that is, well, I just wasted forty years of my fookin' life, didn't I!  I don't mean at all to denigrate what Hendrix played as the regulars know how much his music moves me but I'm not trying to sound like Hendrix, I want to sound like myself and I would bet everything I own (what little that is!) that every performer feels that way.

All your life you search for your signature in your sound and that's why some will play a guitar and some will play a synthesizer.  The characteristics of each one and particularly their differences give one the choices as to what paints your portrait the best.

So, don't fookin' do it!  (laughs)

No comments: