Latest
- Wondering if I'm no longer left wing ...
- Arguing against menstrual synchony in a hot tub wi...
- I wish I believed in hell.
- Pictures from the Velux 5 Oceans Around the World ...
- "Strip Club for Sale" -- A Farewell to the Ghetto ...
- 10 Months Without a Top Right Incisor: A Reflection
- R.I.P. DCDrinks.blogspot.com
- "Gettin' fucked out your green by a white boy ... ...
- Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is a living middle finger ...
- In case you had any doubt whether Ernest Hemingway...
Best of
Archives
- July 2004
- November 2004
- December 2004
- January 2005
- February 2005
- March 2005
- April 2005
- May 2005
- June 2005
- July 2005
- August 2005
- September 2005
- October 2005
- November 2005
- December 2005
- January 2006
- February 2006
- March 2006
- April 2006
- May 2006
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
- September 2008
- October 2008
- November 2008
- December 2008
- January 2009
- February 2009
- March 2009
- April 2009
- May 2009
- June 2009
- July 2009
- August 2009
- September 2009
- October 2009
- November 2009
- December 2009
- January 2010
- February 2010
- March 2010
- April 2010
- June 2010
- July 2010
- September 2010
- October 2010
- November 2010
- December 2010
- January 2011
- February 2011
- March 2011
- June 2011
- July 2011
- August 2011
- September 2011
- November 2011
- July 2012
- October 2012
Blanketing opinions that I'll probably regret soon.
Friday, May 11, 2007
How It Feels to Play a Distorted Guitar at Full Volume (for the Layperson)
It's a shame that most people have never played an electric guitar on full fuzz distortion through an amp that's turned so high that the cops come.
I'll try and convey what it's like to you, the layperson.
When you play a power cord at full volume -- especially the first time it actually sounds GOOD -- there's little else on Earth that feels similar.
I re-visited this phenomenon while listening to the Smashing Pumpkins' album, Gish, with my friend Pat. We both agreed that learning to play the songs from Gish on guitar for the first time was one of the best feelings from our earlier days.
It's a rare exhilaration and power you feel when all the strings are tuned right and you can make it sound half-rhythmic, then put the volume "to eleven", so to speak. I've been trying to figure out how best to describe that feeling to the non-guitar-playing public, and finally came up with a proper analogy.
The only comparable feeling I've experienced in my life was back in 2004 in Cambodia when I fired 30 rounds from a fully automatic AK-47 machine gun at a firing range. Not joking. That's the same feeling. It's a combination of wielding something very loud, very powerful, a tad dangerous, and very annoying to most people in your vicinity. In short, awesomely awesome awesomeness.
So if you're musically disinclined, get yourself to a firing range and go nuts. Either that, or just take some guitar lessons, lazy-ass.
I'll try and convey what it's like to you, the layperson.
When you play a power cord at full volume -- especially the first time it actually sounds GOOD -- there's little else on Earth that feels similar.
I re-visited this phenomenon while listening to the Smashing Pumpkins' album, Gish, with my friend Pat. We both agreed that learning to play the songs from Gish on guitar for the first time was one of the best feelings from our earlier days.
It's a rare exhilaration and power you feel when all the strings are tuned right and you can make it sound half-rhythmic, then put the volume "to eleven", so to speak. I've been trying to figure out how best to describe that feeling to the non-guitar-playing public, and finally came up with a proper analogy.
The only comparable feeling I've experienced in my life was back in 2004 in Cambodia when I fired 30 rounds from a fully automatic AK-47 machine gun at a firing range. Not joking. That's the same feeling. It's a combination of wielding something very loud, very powerful, a tad dangerous, and very annoying to most people in your vicinity. In short, awesomely awesome awesomeness.
So if you're musically disinclined, get yourself to a firing range and go nuts. Either that, or just take some guitar lessons, lazy-ass.
Comments:
<< Home
Oh man I love to turn up the amp and pound out chords...it happens so little now that I've got kids and "responsibilities" you know. It is truly an energizing buzz you get from sheer volume. Now you're making me all nostalgic...
Great analogy - I think I will put it on my to do list.
I was watching this show where a lay person was permitted to squeeze off a few thousand rounds (no kidding) from one of those MIDI guns, where the barrels spin around and it sounds like a high pitched chain saw. Whatever he pointed it at turned into a cloud of sparks and dust.
I got a boner.
I was watching this show where a lay person was permitted to squeeze off a few thousand rounds (no kidding) from one of those MIDI guns, where the barrels spin around and it sounds like a high pitched chain saw. Whatever he pointed it at turned into a cloud of sparks and dust.
I got a boner.
My experience doing that was so life changing I wrote a song about it:"My First Fuzzbox". Perhaps you're familiar with it?
Last Thanksgiving, my family was at a friend's home for dinner. He has a new AMP and allowed to jam on one of his guitars. Even though, I play an acoustic guitar, I never had an opportunity to play an electric.
It was great. My wife kept coming into the room and asking to turn it down. Hell no!
I felt something go through my bones I had not felt, since working as a bartender for a live music country-rock bar in the 1980's. Next purchase is an electric guitar and amp.
It was great. My wife kept coming into the room and asking to turn it down. Hell no!
I felt something go through my bones I had not felt, since working as a bartender for a live music country-rock bar in the 1980's. Next purchase is an electric guitar and amp.
I remember myself and a friend blasting out Back in Black at ear-bleeding levels only to have a half the resident old biddies at the local old people's home call the cops. Who says old people are deaf??
Thirty years ago I had the experience of playing a power chord through a Marshall. I was amp shopping, and wanted anything but a Marshall, because they seemed so fashionable. At the shop I tried amp A, then amp B, and when I described that I was looking for a particular roar, they asked if I had ever. Truth was, I hadn't. They plugged me in and I hit an open A. It was smooth tuned thunder, a real jaw dropper.
I still own the amp.
Post a Comment
I still own the amp.
<< Home
Web Counters