Welcome to the sound of novel improvised guitar playing
ALL MUSIC BY ROBIN PEARCE EXCEPT BACKING TRACKS ON 1, 3 & Chords to Zappa's Sleep Dirt. Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of this music will constitute an infringement of copyright.
I bought my 1st guitar, a 2nd hand electric for just £3 in 1973. The catalyst for this was hearing the music of Led Zeppelin, Cream & most of all Jimi Hendrix. About a year later I was able to afford an amp to plug the guitar into :-)
I started listening to jazz, but began to tire of the endless streams of cliches that straight ahead modern jazz musicians seem to play. Technically clever but unimaginative. Only the fusion folks seemed to be doing anything new such as Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, King Crimson, Brand-X, Bruford, Mike Stern, Zappa etc.
Towards the end of 2007 I bought a ’Line 6 UX2 Toneport’ guitar/PC interface, a Blackstar Duo valve pedal & a Vox Tonelab. This enabled for the first time to easily record my guitar playing in hifi without the need to set up amps, effects & microphones. I noodled on my guitar several times a day between Dec 07 to the present.
The result is this selection of spontaneous improvisations, some of which are bordering on being compositions created on the hoof. The only overdubs are on the tracks where I improvised the chords or lead or phrases first then improvised the 2nd guitar part over them.
I also improvised against two pre recorded tracks on the jazzy blues track & other unknown track both numbered 3. If anyone knows who's playing those backings I'd love to know. I found them on my hard drive !
The composer I admire most is JS Bach.
The contrapuntal style that he was the supreme master of fascinates me.
For what could be better than one melody ?
Two or more melodies interwoven with all the result permutations thus possible. He was the distiller of the essence of musical craft. His music floats above the transient & inconsistent attempts of even the very great composers who followed him ... and they knew it too!
It's unfortunate the contrapuntal tradition died out. Bach from 300 years ago. Still sounds like from 300 years in the future.
Bach's Fugue 548
