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Fate Line Friday for October 24th

FATE LINE FRIDAY.
Here is our good Dr John’s second installation:

A few of you may be aware that I am a Who fanatic and have spent many years honing various Pete Townshend guitar techniques. Although his acoustic guitar playing is fantastic, he is probably best known for his slashing power chords on radio staples like Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again.

A standard chord involves playing the first, third and fifth notes in a given scale (with additional notes added for more complex chords). These kinds of chords sound great on acoustic guitars and non-distorted electric guitars. However when played through distortion, these chords usually sound very messy. The reason for this is that when two notes are played with distortion, a whole host of additional notes are generated. By limiting the notes in the chord to just the first and fifth, you also limit the number of extra notes generated and thus the chord sounds cleaner and more “power”ful. (You can sneak in a third note without making it too messy, but only if it is up high.)

In a Hand or a Face is far from my favourite Who song. But it does prominently feature power chords at the beginning, including the technique of cutting them off suddenly to make them more percussive.

Pure and Easy is a much better song, but the power chords only really come in at the end, starting at 4:03. Also at 4:07, you’ll hear Pete hit the power chord by hitting the strings open (no chord) initially and then hammering on the chord a split second later. This sounds like striking the strings twice but he is only doing it once at the start with the left hand hitting the strings completing what sounds like the second strike.

I use all of the above power chord techniques in Audience – the quick cutoffs, hitting the open strings and then hammering on the chord. I also do a lot of power chords in 17 Years, both in the refrain and particularly in the bridge.

I’ll admit it is very tempting to windmill these power chords in performance, but I am not sure such stage histrionics would fit the Shiners vibe.

—
John

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Fate Line Friday October 17th

Simon here with another FATELINE FRIDAYS post…in the run up to our album Fateline release party on the 15th November at The Jam Factory Co.

The Incomparable and Major Dude Neil Young with his haunting song Mr Soul. ( Originally a Buffalo Springfield tune)
I am constantly inspired… surprised…amazed by this great artist…a truly great man of our times. A prolific gifted songwriter , guitarist and singer who easily straddles the decades with integrity and honesty…serving at all costs “the music” . When making our album , which is the kind of record I had never produced before, I was guided and inspired by Neil Young’s approach which to me always has soul, a groove …a mystery about it… Here in this acoustic version his guitar voice and harmonica is so compelling.
To me he defines what an artist is: relevant, honest, mysterious, surprising….

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Fate Line Friday from September 12th

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Fate Line Friday from September 19th

Jen here – last week Simon weighed in – guess it’s my turn – and being a twin I’ve chosen two tunes for your listening pleasure. They are both sounds and songs I love! Straight out of the 70s, an era of music I grew up with and has surely influenced the music we’ve made on this record. There are the more obvious influences for me, sourced from my parent’s record collection: The Band, Jimmy Cliff and Ry Cooder. But today I wanted to share two sweet things (or thangs) from Shuggie Ottis and Chaka Khan – soulful songs whose vibe and groove really get under my skin. I reference Chaka’s “Sweet Thing” in “Learning to Dance Again,” a one-drop tune from our up-coming record. So please, taste the sweet and perhaps new to you – and enjoy!

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Fate Line Friday from September 26th

F A T E L I N E F R I D A Y S!!

Simon here with a gem from Robert Nestor Marley no less!

On our album Fate Line there is a song written by Jen – “Learning To Dance Again” that is based very much around the rhythm Bob Marley refers to in his song ” One Drop”

In Jen’s tune the lyric even mentions it,
“Oh.. from solo to paso doble
Oh.. Feeling the one drop!”

Pretty sure its also the world’s first reggae tune with a bluesy pizzicato viola solo in it…beautifully played by our own virtuoso soloist Jonathan Marks!

I found this excellent description of the beat in wikipedia:

The One Drop Rhythm is a drumset playing style of reggae, popularized by Carlton Barrett, long-time drummer of Bob Marley and the Wailers, created by Winston Grennan, in which the backbeat is characterized by the dominant snare drum stroke (usually a click produced by hitting a rimshot) and bass drum both sounding on the third beat of every four, while beat one is left empty.

Thus, the expected hit on beat one is “dropped,” creating the one-drop effect. A good example of this drum beat is Bob Marley and the Wailers’ song “One Drop”, which talks about this rhythm.

Heres the Master Blaster doing it Live in ’79.

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Fate Line Friday from October 3rd

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