A New Practice Regimen (A Season Of Al DiMeola)
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metropolis_4
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Extended lunch break at home jamming along to DiMeola-era Weather Report.
Such a great album! All four of them are amazing here
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Gonna have to start calling you La SzuMeola.It's insane how good they all are on that Album. The musicianship is just top
notch. Love it!
You're definitely putting in the listening time. Great album!
Stone
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Yup agreed love the golden Era of fusionIt's insane how good they all are on that Album. The musicianship is just top
notch. Love it!
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Gonna have to start calling you La SzuMeola.
Haha! Only problem is that would be a total insult to Al.
I am putting my time in listening, though. There is great power in
just listening. Or so I have come to believe.
The other thing Al is doing for me is training my ear. I have not looked
up any sheet music (or Tab) and am leaning totally on my ear in copping
his parts. It's fun as fuck, FA! So rewarding to nail a part and then realize
the more you do it, and get close, the better and faster your ear becomes.
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I found some live footage of them back in the day. Have you seen this, Met?
I am just blown away by the level of musicianship on display. Literally 4
freaking virtuosos.
metropolis_4
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I found some live footage of them back in the day. Have you seen this, Met?
I am just blown away by the level of musicianship on display. Literally 4
freaking virtuosos.
I haven’t seen this yet! Thanks for sharing
I’ve only had time to watch the first 1/4 or so but I love it so far
metropolis_4
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@la szum I just finished watching the whole thing.
One thing I can’t stop thinking about is that conversation we were having about Plexi’s and how they’re so responsive.
Al isn’t using any pedals here. The whole thing is just Les Paul -> Plexi for everything from his distorted lead tones to clean chord comping.
I feel like that kind of control is becoming a lost art. How many of us today would either have multiple pedals, or channels, or presets to cover all those sounds?
I admire the simplicity of the gear and letting the notes do the talking
One thing I can’t stop thinking about is that conversation we were having about Plexi’s and how they’re so responsive.
Al isn’t using any pedals here. The whole thing is just Les Paul -> Plexi for everything from his distorted lead tones to clean chord comping.
I feel like that kind of control is becoming a lost art. How many of us today would either have multiple pedals, or channels, or presets to cover all those sounds?
I admire the simplicity of the gear and letting the notes do the talking
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I think it is why I dig Al so much as a player. That's right up my alley. Control all the
timbre of the notes with your right hand and the volume and tone controls on your
guitar. You can hear it on his first few Solo Albums, too. Rolling the volume back
and playing lighter, and then digging in for more bite and intensity.... and then rolling
the volume all the way up and flaming wide open.
The coolest thing--and this is what I try to do to---is that he is seldom wide open and
usually his core tone is more subdued. He doesn't start on 10 unless the song calls for
it. I just love that approach, and in an era where dynamics are often not part of any
song or performance I cherish those players and approaches that work to use the
entire dynamic range an electric guitar is capable of.
timbre of the notes with your right hand and the volume and tone controls on your
guitar. You can hear it on his first few Solo Albums, too. Rolling the volume back
and playing lighter, and then digging in for more bite and intensity.... and then rolling
the volume all the way up and flaming wide open.
The coolest thing--and this is what I try to do to---is that he is seldom wide open and
usually his core tone is more subdued. He doesn't start on 10 unless the song calls for
it. I just love that approach, and in an era where dynamics are often not part of any
song or performance I cherish those players and approaches that work to use the
entire dynamic range an electric guitar is capable of.
metropolis_4
Rock Star
- Messages
- 2,910
I think it is why I dig Al so much as a player. That's right up my alley. Control all the
timbre of the notes with your right hand and the volume and tone controls on your
guitar. You can hear it on his first few Solo Albums, too. Rolling the volume back
and playing lighter, and then digging in for more bite and intensity.... and then rolling
the volume all the way up and flaming wide open.
The coolest thing--and this is what I try to do to---is that he is seldom wide open and
usually his core tone is more subdued. He doesn't start on 10 unless the song calls for
it. I just love that approach, and in an era where dynamics are often not part of any
song or performance I cherish those players and approaches that work to use the
entire dynamic range an electric guitar is capable of.
It seems like before guitarists had so many gear options there was more of a focus on what the player could do to shape the sound rather than what the gear could do. Now we’re all much more dependent on gear to do these things for us and focus less on the player.
I became a huge fan of this approach when I started using a Les Paul. I even chose to have my HSH theatre-caster wired with separate volumes on the neck and bridge so I could do the same thing on it.
I always miss the ability to do this when I play anything with just a single master volume control.
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