... got to say Frank was kind of WEIRD...
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Too Many Notes?
- Thread starter krautmaster
- Start date
Lavane
Lunatic Member
Back in the 70's I watched a variety show, don't remember what one, where Roy Clark just shredded his guitar. And it sounded great. The guy could really play! I also remember thinking "why doesn't he record music like that?" It wasn't really country music either. You could tell when he was really into it too, his tongue started wagging around.
Is this the one?Back in the 70's I watched a variety show, don't remember what one, where Roy Clark just shredded his guitar. And it sounded great. The guy could really play! I also remember thinking "why doesn't he record music like that?" It wasn't really country music either. You could tell when he was really into it too, his tongue started wagging around.
roy clark on the odd couple - Search Videos
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I think he was shredding on an Odd Couple episode also.Is this the one?
roy clark on the odd couple - Search Videos
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Edit: I didn't read the link I quoted
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Lavane
Lunatic Member
No, not that one. He was playing an electric guitar.Is this the one?
roy clark on the odd couple - Search Videos
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I think he was shedding on an Odd Couple episode also.
N0rt0n
Super Member
I have the Zappa Plays Zappa DVD. Sometime Dweezle plays Frank better than Frank but my gripe is he is just way too mechanical and has zero emotion or stage presence
Mystic
We're all born mad
I'll post another ... yeah.duplicate
Mystic
We're all born mad
That was his bent. Sometimes it worked for him but @ other times ...
I have been doing sort of a Zappa deep dive lately. Very interesting. And then I started to realize just how complex his music can be. All these parts that have to come together. Dweezil even talks about that. How hard it is to play his dad's music. I think Dweezil is quite talented. But maybe just being able to play his dad's music is one thing. Conveying all of the emotion that Frank did. A pretty monumental task.
Frank might indeed be the ultimate noodler. And some musicians did say that his solos went on too long. Crazy that he put out 60 albums...
Sam08861
Super Member
One thing I found about fast guitar music or even uptempo piano and percussion, was that once I got 'guitar amp friendly' woofers and bi-amped/set the crossover and compensatory EQ just right, the tone became much more realistic and the blurriness disappeared, transforming some songs that were previously a cacaphony into comprehensible and enjoyable melodies.
Of course, the melody itself must be an underlying structural element of the music, but I can certainly appreciate the OPs sentiment.
As a result of this experience, I tend to evaluate the system side of listening based on the ability to reproduce guitars, bass drums, pianos, string instruments and woodwinds, with attention to blackness in silent passages and broadness of soundstage. Definitely a personal preference, but where I'm currently at in my own journey. I like synth and electronic music too, but harder for me to evaluate, so perhaps some compromises there.
Of course, the melody itself must be an underlying structural element of the music, but I can certainly appreciate the OPs sentiment.
As a result of this experience, I tend to evaluate the system side of listening based on the ability to reproduce guitars, bass drums, pianos, string instruments and woodwinds, with attention to blackness in silent passages and broadness of soundstage. Definitely a personal preference, but where I'm currently at in my own journey. I like synth and electronic music too, but harder for me to evaluate, so perhaps some compromises there.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
The Zappa concert I went to was one of the best ever. Soooo many musicians on one stage! There wasn't room for the horn section, they were off in the wings. Two drummers, various guitar players and bass players, a percussionist up on scaffolding running the full length of the stage, Jean-Luke Ponty playing electric violin, and Zappa. It was wild.
Some of the people that came to see him were interesting also.
N0rt0n
Super Member
You mentioned no room on the stage....Same thing the night I saw them at the Spectrum in Philly the Sunday night after Frank did the Coneheads skit on SNL. The whole band came out and played as Coneheads for the show and there was so much gear and amps and players on the stage they had no place to move. Frank did one of the craziest feedback solos that night.The Zappa concert I went to was one of the best ever. Soooo many musicians on one stage! There wasn't room for the horn section, they were off in the wings. Two drummers, various guitar players and bass players, a percussionist up on scaffolding running the full length of the stage, Jean-Luke Ponty playing electric violin, and Zappa. It was wild.
Some of the people that came to see him were interesting also.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
Yup, same thing not much room to move around.
When I saw him it was his "Sheik Yerbouti" tour. One other thing was he had this huge bald muscle bound guy with no shirt on leaning on the right stage pillor watching the crowd the whole show. The guy was covered in tattoos.
When I saw him I instantly thought of Bradbury's "The Illistrated Man".
Someone tossed a doll head stuffed with love letters on stage, flowers, and of course panties.
Zappa was "strictly commercial" after the show too. No encore's.
He went into a whole thing about union contracts, expencive overtime pay, etc.
With that may musicians I guess that made sense. 
Zappa was against drugs..., but that doesn't mean the band members were. I personally knew Terry Bozzio, the drummer, because I used to see him at the same pot dealer's house when I would visit. We called him Bozo. This would have been in ~1974. I saw them at the Santa Monica Civic ~1983 with my wife and the sound was terrible.
N0rt0n
Super Member
Yet Tripping is one of the best ways to have enjoyed a Zappa show
Lavane
Lunatic Member
Yup.Yet Tripping is one of the best ways to have enjoyed a Zappa show
The 1975 Oxford version you have there is the one that Trouser Press magazine said, was enough to send cocky guitarists back to their practice books. The one I was lucky enough to have seen is the one you referenced from “Flypaper” recorded at the Bottom line in 1983. Thanks as always.
My favorite rock guitarist is the late Leslie West from Mountain. The guy had monster tone and was a master of less is more soloing, favoring emotion over flair. After him I favor Johnny Ramone who didn't solo at all but had huge, heavy roaring tone and presence in his live act--seeing the band in 1977 was an epiphany. Then come Scott Gorham and Robbo from Thin Lizzy who struck a nice balance between emotion and shredding in their playing. Then I go back to Scotty Moore who was just so perfect and suitable in everything he did. Same with James Burton.