May 23, 2010

get loud.

i just got home from band practice and still feel like crap. i've been coughing for the last two days and haven't been sleeping well. although i have been able to catch up on a few movies i've wanted to watch. like "It Might Get Loud" with Jack White, Jimmy Page and The Edge.

it was quite intriguing to see the three different backgrounds and how each guitarist had developed their sound through different inspirations. the opening scene is one of my favorites in the entire documentary. Jack White is on the porch of an old farmhouse with several boards, nails, coke bottle and an amplifier. he hammers two nails into a small 2x4, one at each end and stretches a wire between them. he then nails a small block under the string and wedges the coke bottle under the string and against one of the nails. one more nail to hold the pickup in place and its time to plug it in. the amplifier hums once it is clicked on and Jack begins to play slide on a single stringed 2x4. after several licks he takes a drag from his cigarette and clicks off the amp and says, "who says you need to buy a guitar?" (click here to watch vid)


Jack White is all about bare bones music. don't let the instruments get in the way of the feeling. where as The Edge, from the band U2, is enveloped in how much he can manipulate a guitar tone to be exactly what he wants. Not saying either one is better than the other or even that one is right and one wrong. however i find myself more so in agreement with Jack White. how much feeling can your music portray with simply the bare necessities? i think we can get lost in the production of it all and drown the emotion of the song.