April 28, 2009

For My Son:

I spent the entire day with my son in one of those situations where you sit around waiting for hours in boredom. Luckily (for him) I had my iPod, and although our tastes in music are vastly different, there are a few bands we both like.

One is Rage Against the Machine. When I mentioned to Keven that I had seen Tom Morello play once and how iincredible it was to watch him, Kev spent ten minutes explaining to me the technique Tom uses for his unrivaled sound. I loved hearing him get excited about music. Since I can't remember his exact words, I'll just use the explanation from Wikipedia:

Critically acclaimed, he is said to use the guitar in a unique and imaginative way; rather than just plucking the strings, his maneuvers include toggling between two pickups - one on and one off - while rubbing his hands on the strings over the pickups (his signature vinyl scratch effect used in "Bulls on Parade"). He also uses techniques such as rapidly hitting a pencil on the strings ("Cochise", although he now emulates the sound by "baby-slapping" the strings), scraping an Allen wrench on the strings for a whole song ("People of the Sun") and even tapping the bridge with his audio jack cable ("Testify" and occasionally on "Bullet in the Head").


So, this video is for my son, Keven (who has never looked at my blog but - hey there's a first time for everything, right?)

7 comments:

Plochmann said...

Very cool moment w/ your son.

Mike aka MonolithTMA said...

I love Rage Against The Machine! Always wondered how he got that sound. Thanks!

Sean Coleman said...

Morello is a very smart guy, in addition to being a great guitar player. Great post.

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Isn't it wonderful to be able to share a common love?

Bar L. said...

Plochmann, yes, thanks it was.

Hi Mike, now ya know!

Sean, yes, my son also told me that Tom graduated from HARVARD! I didn't know that!

Bond, it is, I hope the kid's taste will improve over the years to include a love for classic rock ;)

drewzepmeister said...

It's great that you spent some quality with Keven! I'm sure that he appreciates that. My son also likes Tom Morello. He says he pretty hard to play to on guitar hero.

Guitarman5150 said...

How is your son by the way?

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