music: andy timmons.

wednesday, day after type 1. the day of resting and peace.

first day back after the holidays and the essay was due in. was probably the most intense essay i've had to do since it was all pure research as i didn't know anything about the topic beforehand; discussing the use and role of the electric guitar in a specific period of jazz.

i chose bebop/hard bop. turns out bebop is a more complex, instrumental and virtuosic style of swing and the big band genres that preceded it. when most non-musicians think of "jazz" they think of bebop. i focused on wes montgomery and charlie christian and detailed some of their playing techniques and styles.

instead of normal ensemble playing (whole class gets divided up into bands and plays together) we all were together and people shared turns in jamming together and the teachers critiqued them and we saw the teachers play and how they do it. they played a jazz standard "free" style; you completely lose the tonal centre and have no idea where "one" is. very weird.

here is a video of my guitar teacher at ANU shredding, jazz fusion style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfXhyKJRvRM

still battling with the sustain/harmonic issue on my guitar...

First post

3:52 tuesday afternoon. time for type 1 at anu. i wish i could go home. tomorrow i have an empty day with 5 free hours. i have no idea what to write about. maybe this blog will be about steve vai or music or something. first post done.