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Looping newbie!
Hey everyone,
This is my story, sorry if you've already heard it:
I discovered looping last year when I was working in the offices of Jazz Camp. I decided to visit camp to see what I had been working on all year while processing registrations and such. On a whim I decided to take a beatboxing class from Kid Beyond. The class was fun and amazing. Right after in the same room he was teaching a live looping class.
"I don't know what this class is going to be about but the first class was so great, might as well see what the deal is." I thought to myself.
I had been frustrated with trying to perform music in general because everyone I came into contact with seemed to be the wrong fit for me either because they were too flakey or too insular or just didn't think like I do in some other way.
Anyway, the teacher started singing into the looper to demonstrate and then as the loop played back he harmonized with himself, in real time. Solution found. Who needs a band when you have a looper?
Ok, new problem. How do I get one?
Fast forward a year to a cancelled Ex-Voto show in Santa Cruz. Rick Walker sits down next to me at the bar. The second thing out of his mouth was about how looping is his passion. He makes some remark about the no-show band then launches into an explaination about how looping is his passion. I immediately spill my similar feelings on the subject. Mostly involving how I see looping as a revelation, my woes about the cluelessness guitar center regarding loopers, the seeming lack access to gear I was encountering and my desire to give this medium a crack. He heard my story and a little while later brought me a line 6 to could borrow on one condition: I had to perform at the Y2K8 loopfest a month later. I was floored but accepted the challenge.
The first week was eye-opening, discovering the limitations and abilities of the device. The next week was full of sheer uninspiration since the initial lustre of the new toy had worn off. I started recording what I wrote into my digital camera to get perspective on what was happening and see if my thoughts were panning out. Things picked up a little in the final days before the festival.
Even though the set was ten minutes too short and fraught with unfinished pieces the performance went rather well. It went so well in fact that I was awarded a Looping Endowment from the festival which was a gift of a Digitech Jamman.
Speaking of which, there haven't been any threads on here that I can see about this looper. Who's using one?
Lindsey
