-
About 6 months ago I purchased the Bean The Trio CD and another 2 album CD with Bean and Pisano. Nice stuff especially The Trio CD. Bean plays in the style of Tal Farlow and as noted it all works and he has a very nice, flowing sound. Made in the early 60s, I highly recommend these recordings for fans of 50s' style jazz guitar.
Originally Posted by Irez87
Billy Bean is great, btw. Check out his stuff with John Pisano andhis stuff in The Trio. As stated, he doesn't go overboard with his solos. Everything works ands sounds like his listening. I am typin with my badhand now sry for mistakes
-
09-16-2015 02:56 PM
-
-
I wish the other guy would have let Wes talk a little more, instead of spending so much time telling Wes about Wes, but it's still a great thing to share -- thanks!
-
But Wes says he plays like this because he can't play properly, as a self-taught he assumes that all his playing comes experimentation and somehow from a kind of ignorance, he was a very modest man.
-
I would have loved for someone -- somewhere -- to have asked him how he practiced, what it took for him to go from becoming a Charlie Christian copyist to someone with an original style, how he spent his time with his instrument when he was off the bandstand, and what he worked on when he worked on tunes. Originally Posted by Lionelsax
Sure, the answers are all in the recordings, and transcription can reveal a great deal, but I keep hoping something will turn up where the man was given a chance to talk about the music, instead of just about his thumb. Still, I treasure everything we do have, and this interview is one of my favorites.
-
In the 2nd clip, at about 1:20 Wes is describing why he switched from practicing without an amp, to using an amp, but I cannot make out what he is saying. Can anyone decipher what his exact words are?
-
He barely says, you hear well the notes with an amp but them he started to disturb the neighbours, so he decided to stop using it.
I'm sorry, I'm French, I just understand the idea.
-
No, I got that part...He says there is some undesirable aspect of practicing without an amp, that he is talking about, but I can't understand exactly what he says. Something about what it does to the sound of the notes...?!
-
I think he said after playing without an amp for a couple of months, when you play with an amp you hear more noise than you do notes.
I guess he means you need to play more lightly and cleanly because the amp magnifies any sloppiness in technique. So then he preferred to practise always with the amp, but using his thumb to keep the volume down.
(Can you imagine being the guy next door who told Wes to stop playing!)
-
Yes thanks-- that would make sense.
Re: neighbors, is why I ask. I sometimes get "requests" from the neighbors not to play, so late at night and early morn is "grab the (unplugged) strat time". OTOH, the kid who lives downstairs is not listening to so much rap-crap, and he gives me a respectful nod when we pass in the hall. If we can only get him to turn off the video games, life will be wonderful.
-
Yeah, late at night I have to play my 175 unplugged AND with my thumb so the family don't hear it!
-
I think Wes reveals some of his genius in his story about discovering playing with his thumb and playing octaves.
His genius seems to be in his ability to recognize something good and keep working at it until it's something brilliant.
-
I think Wes reveals some of his genius in his story about discovering playing with his thumb and playing octaves.
His genius seems to be at least partly in his ability to recognize something with potential and keep working at it until it's something brilliant.
BTW, does anybody know which book he was referring to as about to come out?
-
I don't know, but in '68, shortly after Wes' passing, this book was published - long since out of print. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
-
Wes talks about his practice regime in the interview at the end of the "Body and Soul - Live at Ronnie Scott's" CD.
DG
-
Originally Posted by daveg
-
so happy to see the great preparedguitar blog has recently added some new posts! yay...
here's great interview reprint from '65...wes shows off his super hip thinking side quite well..a heady little interview
here's a little taste-
Q- Can you get the same sound with any guitar you pick up and play?
WM- Well, as you know, all amplifiers have different peaks, tonewise. That's one reason why I never want to go into the electronic end of it. I mean, for pick-ups, you've even got a resistor for your controls, man. If you're going to count on one, you've got to count on everything. If the sound has to be that fine - whew! you're in trouble. Search for the sound you want, but give your self reasonable space within it. You have to find the instrument you want first. This is much more important than the amplifier. You've got to feel comfortable. As far as the pickup's concerned, you could check that out with your amplifier. It shouldn't take you that long, because your concern is not all amplification. If you spend too much time trying to find out what bar does this, or what pick-up does that, you'll be getting away from the axe. Your first concern should be what you hear, what you're producing on your instrument. All this other stuff is secondary. I'm concerned about my set-up, but up to a certain level I always give it a lot of play. I got a standard box - I don't never want nothing special. I want it just as standard as I can get it. Then, if I drop my box, I can borrow somebody else's. Like, if I've only got one amp, with the precise sound, and it falls off on the floor - I don't have no job. And if they want to get with Charlie Christian - he had tape all on his box and everything. They tell me the controls and the tail-piece had fallen off, and he would be taping up holes, and things. Nobody wants that. That would look too bad. But you heard what he did with it.
a highly worthwhile read @
PREPARED GUITAR: Interview with Wes Montgomery in Crescendo 1965
cheers
-
Love the first sound file, a rather eccentric blues.
-
I remember this interview.
as much as those guys kept trying to tell Wes that natural talent had something to do w/ how great he played, Wes wasn't having it!
-
well i think the success of the interview relates to the 3 "interviewers" who were amongst the then cream of the crop uk guitarists and theorists...certainly brought out the best of wes in abundance...and he certainly spoke well for himself...so many great thoughts! a wes guitar philosophy!
cheers
-
Wes is the anti Martino when it comes to interviews, very simply stated
by all accounts he was that way as a person, very meat and potatoes, no nonsense cat
-
"simply stated", but deep...a wise man!
cheersLast edited by neatomic; 12-20-2019 at 05:50 PM.
-
That's the sort of thing you play very late at night, when the crowd is thin and few, if any, of the customers are listening. It happens. Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
Last edited by citizenk74; 12-21-2019 at 07:41 PM. Reason: Correction
-
Thanks, N for the great post! It was interesting for me in two respects: firstly, Wes acknowledges the concept of talent when he says: "Natural talent? Now, I've had a lot of arguments on this. My interpretation of natural talent, or gift, is something that you don't have to indulge in at all." (WM)
This has always been the mantra of musicians in my generation (baby boomers) and older. We acknowledge that you can't learn everything from a book or copying others solos which is contrary to many contemporary, younger musicians concept of learning music today. There is talent, seasoning and much trial and error. Secondly, Wes makes the point that his music is HIS sound, not someone else's which, in my opinion, is sorely lost by many players today who are always described as "He sounds like X, he sounds like Z." when most really sound the same. Wes was an original in technique, sound and message. . . something sorely missing among most young players today. Good playing . . . Marinero
Reply With Quote
Julian Lage Trio, Amsterdam, April 17 2024
Today, 02:19 AM in The Players