Don’t die with the music in you
I came across this quote by Wayne Dyer and it got me
thinking.
I was pondering the reasons why some people make a success
of music and others do not and I thought the quote the about quote somehow
suggested an answer to this.
The point which was raised was that Hendrix was the greatest
guitarist of his time now I am a fan if the man and I am quite happy to state that
he was a genius of the highest order, however what I do not subscribe to is
that technically he was the best of his day because he was not.
The jazz guitarists and classical players around at the time
were technically far better than Hendrix. The likes of Tal Farlow, Barney
Kessel and Kenny Burrell to name just three could run rings around him.
The thing that Hendrix did have was an extraordinary ability
to internalise music and then re frame it and then reproduce what he was
hearing with the emotional charge that comes with great art; that was his great
genius.
The idea of the internalised music is a common factor
amongst the great artists for instance Louis Armstrong stated that he would
listen to the rhythm section in his head UNLESS the guys outside were better,
this gave him a consistency of performance almost unparalleled amongst musicians.
So the other point here is the interpretation of the music
into something fresh. For those of you who listen to Jimi you will know that he
was able to play a riff that he had stolen from say John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters
and make it sound like himself the classic example of this is Voodoo Chile
which is a series of riffs by the above that sounds like Hendrix not Waters or
Hooker.
Often you will meet people who seem to have something
special about there playing, not in the speed or the knowledge but their
ability to transfer a feeling through what they do; these are the movers and
shakers the people who can make changes. Then by giving these people the
knowledge so that can short circuit and understand what they do, they can
create more. That I believe is the real and possible only use of the theory and
the technique in that it can create a vehicle for the emotion and message of
the music and without that emotion and message there is no music just sound and
maybe just noise.
So get the music in you out and then help others to do the
same.
Vic
