Play it with feel

Hi fellow twangers. All is well on Tamborine Mountain. The rains finally came and though the drought is still not officially broken, it's nice to know that the wet stuff can still fall.

I recently set up the Slide Guitar Forum at my site http://www.bottleneckguitar.com , and I'm happy to say that it's finally taking off. We now have about 40 members and the number is growing every day. If you're at all interested in what I consider the most fun of all types of guitar playing -- slide guitar -- then come and join in the daily discussions and share some knowledge.

I visit many guitar forums ("fora", to be precise), and I've contributed to many threads over the years, usually answering questions about theory and the way music works. Music is indeed a complex subject -- scales, modes, chords, time, tempo, triads, double stops, etc. -- all combining in specific ways to create the system that we love to listen to, and in our case, extract from our guitars. As with many complex subjects, the whole is greater than the parts.

I am, of course, talking about that elusive element we musicians refer to as "feel", and I will try to define what we mean when we speak of it.

If music were just notes and combinations of notes in specific sequences, we would just let the technology make our music and leave it at that. It used to be that human beings were the only source of music, in fact some say that it is what makes us most human, and there's no doubt about the fact that humans love music. It's a huge part of our existence. But these days, we can program computers to make music. So why hasn't it taken over? Because we can hear that it has no soul, there really isn't any music there, it's just ordered noise. To a degree, it has taken over in the dance scene and some genres, but all in all, humans can sense the lack of feel to it and dismiss as trivial.

So I guess the underlying meaning of the word refers to that human aspect of making music. When a person plays an instrument, he or she has the ability to bring to life a series of notes through a stretch of time, to mould the moment, to alter the dynamic of the tune, to increase or decrease the volume, the attack and release of the various elements -- to make the piece of music live. It is something that is expected by most of us, especially non players. When we turn on the radio or go to a concert, we expect the players to "have a feel" for music and to deliver, and as difficult it is to describe, we sure know when it's missing. We know because what we are listening to when that element is not there is no longer music.

A friend of mine is convinced that gravity has something to do with feel. I know exactly what he means too. When we watch a poorly made sc fi movie with Godzilla crushing skyscrapers, we can instantly see that it's a model or an animation. We can sense that gravity is not working properly and dismiss it as phoney. It's a subtle thing, but we're all so familiar with how gravity affects mass that anything but the real thing is obvious immediately. Same thing with music. When the feel of a piece of music goes astray, we all know it.

Feel is not about perfection but rather the opposite. Feel is about the slowing down and speeding up, darkening and lightening, hardening and softening of the various elements. It's about controlling the variables to evoke an emotion, a feeling. Music is extremely powerful in this respect. When the feel is right, music can make the listener laugh or cry, feel sorrow or invincibility, feel scared or secure, downhearted or uplifted. It can activate your follicles and make your neck hairs bristle.

Another meaning of the word refers to specific underlying pattern of a particular piece of music, like a "bossa nova feel", or a "Chicago blues feel". In this case, the word usually describes the rhythm section's part. I seem to remember DJ's of yesteryear talking about "the beat" of the latest release. Same thing. "Vibe" could well be used also, as in "play this blues with a John Lee Hooker vibe".

Feel is the most subtle of the many elements of music, but the most important. It IS music. You can express a musical feel by tapping out a rhythm on a table top with your hands, there is no need for elaborate instrumentation. If you've got it, they'll hear it and tap along. If you don't they'll ask you to stop irritating them. If you can get four or five players together who hear the same kind of feel when playing together, you've got yourself a great band. When I listen to some of my father's collection of big bands from the war years, I marvel at the incredible feel that these 30 or so players set up together. How did they do it? It can never be written into an arrangement, it can only come from the players themselves.

If you're stuck on what to practice, practice feel. Easier said than done, but closing your eyes will help. Being the player AND the audience is the approach, and of course, listen, listen, listen.

As usual. I'll plug my book PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book, which still goes out all over the English speaking world. The simple visualization technique reveals the 'trick' to seeing the music laid out the length of the fretboard, the "master template" to which all else refers, the key to being able to improvise. Check it out at http://www.lorange.kirk.net -- there are many free lessons there as well.

My other site http://www.guitarforbeginners.com still gets over 700 visits per day. Have a poke around the free content if you're just starting out on the guitar, and if you like it, join up.

All the best,

until next time, never stop twangin'

Kirk
http://www.kirklorange.com