Playing What You Can’t Play

The theory of "Don't program it until you can play it" expressed here is an interesting one, and the author certainly took the time to delve into it and consider the issue from different viewpoints. It is not, for instance, the knee-jerk opinion expressed about Vernon Reid's guitar solo by a member of Blind Melon quite a few years ago. Basically, he said the part was terrible because "you can't hum it."

If I wanted to hear it hummed, I listen to somebody hum it. I listen to that part because it's something that the instrument (and likely, that soloist) is singularly capable of performing.

So I go into this theory with a little trepidation, precisely because the tools are capable of doing more than what has been done previously. But at the same time, not everything can or should be boundary-pushing. I want to hear what is possible, but I also want to hear the Hold Steady, too. Comfort listening, if you will.

Drawing notes is boring, time-consuming, and a little lifeless, really. But it's a tool to get to where you need to go, and I'm guessing that you probably tried to play it through once before giving up and drawing it in. If you've got a little skill on an instrument, it's easier to give that a whack and modify it from there.

But before it's set in stone, I think I'd like to play with the envelopes or settings just a bit. Just in case making it an un-hummable part makes it better. We have the tools, after all, and that guy from Blind Melon probably isn't going to ever hear it anyway.