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RE: musicality vs. gear quality (was Re: loop mud)




--- Nathan Bannow <Nathan@giza.com> wrote:

> Had the loopers you witnessed been practicing together on that on
> instrument
> (read: instrument + loopers + other gear) for over 10 years?  

I think it's closer to 20 years for Phish! I'm not a big fan, but I
remember hearing a live recording of them playing on the radio as I was
 driving from Nevada to North Carolina in 1985. They apparently already
had a following at that time.

> The reason
> Phish sounds so tight *together*, is because they have played
> *together* so
> much.  They know how to communicate with each other using a meta
> language of the music that they are actually playing!
> 
> I have NEVER heard a jam as cohesive as a Phish jam (post '94 let's
> say), at an open jam night.

Tbis is a really good point. You get a lot more cohesive the longer you
play with the same people. Plus, when you form a band, hopefully you
find people who you musically "click" with. That gives you a big
kickstart toward musical communication. I've played with a lot of
people over the years, and only a where things just really clicked.

Beyond that, even looping my own stuff, I've noticed how easy it is to
overdo it. The temptation is to play really full parts, but then when
it comes back around for the next overdub, there's no space to play
anything else in. Restraint and listening are always important musical
skills, but I think even moreso when looping, since things accumulate
so quickly.

The other thing is musical synchronization. The few times I've jammed
with people while doing looping, I noticed that random jamming didn't
work. I was the only one looping, and it was important that the other
musicians listened and followed the loop, since I couldn't adjust it to
fit what they were doing. It's like playing to seqenced or prerecorded
tracks, you have to fit yourself to them, 'cause they aren't going to
change. I would imagine this would become much more difficult if you
had multiple people with looping devices playing away. If someone makes
a timing mistake while recording their loop, it's not going to stay in
synch with someone else's loop (midi/cv synch methods aside). So I
could easily see an open jam with looping devices getting out of
control, even with highly talented and experienced musicians involved.

Greg


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