"THE CLINIC" Guitarists comments?

[Big Poppa]

Ok I posted this on the manly bass side.......

At the Bash we had that was billed as the Big Bottom Clinic. IT really was mislabeled as I think it was a master class for musicianship. IT featured new family member Dave Marotta, Cliff Hugo, Dave La Rue and Tony Levin, and me. I kept thinking in the back of my mind that I wanted to take this thing a different direction from the canned gear oriented questions and canned demos......

I invited John Ferraro to join in and Jimmy Cox ( Who is the Number One Keyboard cat in LA)


I wanted to talk about the bass and its role in rhythm and melody......It was intentionally not gear specific except for a little talk about the bongo's place in the mix and what axes these guys have that has the "mojo" IT started by tracing the roots of funk and CLiff was elequent in both his verbal rap and his playing demonstrations backing it up...Dave Marota really explained a lot about bass and its funtion and responsibility as the bottom note of the chord
Dave Larue said he missed all of the cats that Cliff Talked about and joined the funk and pocket world with Marcus Miller and on....Ferraro demonstrated ghosting notes an d all played with it and it was cool. You had the "ITs the notes you dont play approach to the many notes are good if you know where oto put them schhool"


It went way over the scheduled time and I hope that you guys liked it. The other cats all commented that they actually learned something from the other guys. Special kudos to all of the guys...


Oh yeah...then we brought LUke and Steve Morse up and it got really interesting.
John Ferraro made some points that I hope all of you in attendance got....IT was gold from the hills.

What did you guitarists think?

 

[ivanmihaljevic]

Damn, I wish I could have been there!!!

 

[GWDavis28]

The clinic was great, there was a lot of information flow about and they are remarkable musicians. Yha you talked about bass, but it pertained to guitar as well with Luke and Steve side of things. I still think that Steve question was a highlight and as far as an answer they were kind of all over the place.

Thanx, Glenn |B)

 

[TNT]

. . . . .as soon as I wake up in about 2 days!!

*Thanks Sterling, another "unimaginable" vacation for us!

. . . .zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[robelinda2]

sounds amazing! All of you who were there witnessed something special!

 

[dmullen]

 

[beej]

I thought there was a lot of gold there. I have to say, while I loved hearing the bassist's view, it was especially valuable to hear Jimmy Cox and John Ferraro talk about their view (and not just b/c most drummers aren't that articulate ...). Great advice and stories from a group of masters.

And though you can't tell from the pic ... Cliff strikes a mean golf ball.

 

[roburado]

I thought it was great, BP. I'm glad that it was about musicianship in general, because at so many clinics, you get very gear-specific questions like:

"What are your amp settings?"

"Could you tell us how you have your volume pedals hooked up as expression pedals, Steve?"

"What pickups are in your guitar?"

"How do Energizer batteries sound in comparison with Duracell?"

Or, you get very artist-specific questions like:

"Who were your influences?"

"How did you come up with the lick/riff from [insert song here]?"

"Could you show us that lick/riff?"

Those questions are well and good, but I thought this was far more interesting. The thing I liked about it is that it went over basics--for lack of a better word--that don't really get taught. I think people can get caught up in the minutiae of playing/gear during clinics or even in their own study of an instrument (for instance, crazy, advanced picking techniques or getting their picking speed up so they can play 16th notes at 200bpm, or something) and they miss out on working on things like how to play within an ensemble, how to make things groove, when not to play, how much to play, how little to play, note duration, etc. It seems like people often think they have the basics down, but they really don't. Personally, I think of myself as perpetually a beginner, because I know I don't know those things that were talked about (and a few thousand other reasons). I thought what we heard that night was as good as gold from people who have made gold and platinum--records, that is.

A big thumbs up! Thanks, BP! That was a great idea!

 

[Colin]

the whole experience was overwealming. How often do you get to see this? Dave Larue doing his Jaco was a memory I won't forget in awhile.

 

[ivanmihaljevic]

roburado, you forgot THE QUESTION - "Why did you cut your hair?"

 

[beej]

Exact except for the rock stars and music gear on stage ...

If you see Luke or Morse at the next Amway meeting let me know ... I'll attend.

 

[Big Poppa]

whats your point, Bill? I think it was nice of D mullen to post it and next time we will make a note to get annie leibowitz to arange a proper photo shoot for you. The first example of "No good deed goes unpunished" of the weekend.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

I found the chats about note duration and "fitting in the pocket" extremely informative. What Ferraro and the guys demonstrated about not always having to play the most notes possible & how to leave space was invaluable.

I also found the discussion comparing "what's in your monitor mix/do you use in-ear monitors" very helpful, also.

 

[roburado]

roburado, you forgot THE QUESTION - "Why did you cut your hair?"

Yeah! That's a good one.

 

[roburado]

I found the chats about note duration and "fitting in the pocket" extremely informative. What Ferraro and the guys demonstrated about not always having to play the most notes possible & how to leave space was invaluable.

I also found the discussion comparing "what's in your monitor mix/do you use in-ear monitors" very helpful, also.

Yeah. I totally agree. I completely forgot about the monitor mix thing/in-ear monitor thing. There was so much covered.

 

[kbaim]

I enjoyed the exchanges as well.

But what really makes me happy at these big events Sterling throws, is getting to hear Steve Morse play his own music (and with Dave!). It's rare these days, so when the opportunity presents itself, it feels like a gift.

I even opted out of the factory tour, as Steve was onstage doing a sound check with Dave and John. Very difficult for me to walk away from. Especially with Tyler doing a soundcheck after.

Btw Tony Levin is hilarious and a lot of us were trying to decide whether we enjoy Luke's playing more...or his commentary. Luke's the funniest guy you could ever meet.

 

[GoKart_MoZart]

It went way over the scheduled time...

BP, it wasn't long enough! What a treat. Son#2 and I will never forget it ('course, he's a bass player). Informative, enlightening, and just plain fun. We can't thank you enough for providing that for us.

-Steve (and Tyler)

 

[francric]

I thought it was great....................inside info and tips that you would never hear unless you were part of the music industry.

 

[Beth]

No offense anyone but that picture dmullen posted reminds me of an "Amway" meeting I was dragged along to by my in-laws. Pretty much an exact snapshot of the pic posted but the "cats" were holding individual cheques for thousands of dollars and "nothing's gonna stop us now" was cranking in the background.

Bill

Believe it or not, Bill, those same lineups happen in the music industry too.... someone needs to post the pic of Sterling at the NAMM board meeting in flip-flops (or even better, the "Presidents" year when he went to the meeting dressed as George Washington with the whig and white face and all...) NOW

DUDE, now I have that song stuck in my head

"...and if this world runs out of lovers
we'll still have each other
Noooothin's gonna stop us
[NOTHING'S GONNA STOP UUUUUUSSSS NOOOOOWWWW]
Nothin's gonna stop us now"

I guess the guys at Amway are lovers?

 

[Ponch]

Big Poppa that was great idea, clinic is always a good thing for sure. I think people nowadays come to the clinic not just to see how the quality of the guitars/products being explained and presented by the world class music expert, but we (the costumer) actually want to know much more about people from the company, such as yourself Big poppa and the Ernie Ball crew (who really knows what's going on in their house).

I've attended several clinics for the past few years..and it's always the same..just about products, silly questions, and that's it...seriously it's like there's no connection between the company and the costumer. From my experience attending the Ernie Ball event in Texas, man..it feels like a family reunion and for the first time I feel like the part of the family of the company..man i was so impressed . Thank you Big Poppa for open this thread and I'm looking forward to come to the EBMM clinic in the future.

Humbly yours,

Ponch