[HN Gopher] Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments of Guitar Playin...
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Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing (1996)
Author : ohjeez
Score : 69 points
Date : 2024-07-26 15:23 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.wfmu.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.wfmu.org)
| AndrewKemendo wrote:
| Thank you for posting this. My son is a prodigy guitarist and I'm
| sending it to him.
|
| CBAHMB is overlooked in the history of rock unfortunately - like
| most great artists - but Safe as Milk is breathtaking
| jeffbee wrote:
| Trout Mask Replica was a top-100 album on Rolling Stone's list
| until 2020 when it got tossed out in the Great Purge of Boomer
| Trivia That Sucks Actually, and to be quite honest I don't
| disagree.
| ldx1024 wrote:
| Trout Mask Replica is the ultimate "it grows on you" record.
| A masterpiece.
| jeffbee wrote:
| I am mostly questioning the assertion that it is obscure
| and overlooked. Major Boomer critics fawned over this
| record non-stop for fifty years.
| xbar wrote:
| It is not obscure or overlooked.
|
| I would say that it is so hyped that it is been evaluated
| by almost everyone, but that most people give less-than-
| a-full-listen and conclude "I'm out."
|
| I respect their decision.
|
| Sometimes I tell people to watch the Vox Earworm about
| it. I find it expensive to engage with, so usually I do
| not--but I never feel like a listen is wasted time.
| BoingBoomTschak wrote:
| Ehhh, I think it mostly sucks. Some pearls ("Dachau Blues",
| "Ella Guru", "Sugar & Spikes"), but way too uneven and
| basically a big forced meme.
|
| With some extensive fat trimming, it could have been as
| legendary as its reputation, really.
| therouwboat wrote:
| I don't really get trout mask and I rarely listen to it,
| but I feel like it needs to be crazy and uneven to be
| that legendary. If it was just good, it would be like any
| other record.
| danieldk wrote:
| I am confused, Captain Beefheart didn't even play guitar, did he?
| DaoVeles wrote:
| Not that I am aware of, but he sure did like tormenting folks
| that did play them.
| sambapa wrote:
| Beefheart(guitarist(guitar))
| itqwertz wrote:
| Captain Beefheart music is the type of music you're _supposed_ to
| like , but really doesn't live up to its reputation.
|
| Zappa music, otoh, reveals the genius behind it once you pay
| attention. Then again, half of his catalog is just self-indulgent
| wankery he himself admitted he funded through the juvenile songs.
|
| Listen to "Inca Roads" or the whole "Zappa in NY" album and
| you'll see Zappa's greatness.
| greenthrow wrote:
| Disagree with you 100%. This is why music is subjective.
| slothtrop wrote:
| I never understood Beefheart either, but wasn't without talent.
| Then again, I never understood the Mothers.
|
| Zappa is great. I prefer his more progressive albums.
| vjulian wrote:
| I never understood Zappa until I listened to his orchestral
| and chamber music. I thought he was a rock guy and doing the
| usual trite "with Symphony Orchestra" music that rock guys
| did. I was wrong. He knows what's he's doing, and he's
| outstanding.
|
| I find his later compositions for rock ensemble are way out
| there but brilliant. Earlier stuff like in Burnt Weeny
| Sandwich (Igor's Boogies, Prelude to Holiday in Berlin) I
| find brilliant and hilarious. I don't understand the
| attraction to some of his pure rock music, but I can
| understand his interest in the vernacular.
|
| Beefheart bore obvious similarities and parallels with Zappa
| in some respects, but I don't think one way or the other
| about his music. He's clearly one heck of an all round artist
| though.
| DaoVeles wrote:
| I would say they are both similar in that they both tried
| to push the boundaries of their art, even if it would come
| off as silly at times.
| rwmj wrote:
| Beefheart's music is fantastic and certainly does live up to
| his reputation.
|
| But having said that he did have a very variable and sometimes
| terrible middle period (Bluejeans & Moonbeams and similar).
| KwisatzHaderack wrote:
| Here is his acclaimed album "Trout Mask Replica" if anyone
| wants to hear for themselves https://youtu.be/aF0g-2SeoMM
| rwmj wrote:
| It's a great album, but I probably wouldn't start there.
| Safe As Milk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_as_Milk)
| is a more straightforward blue album, or the more
| "experimental-yet-commercial" Clear Spot
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Spot).
|
| Edit: I wanted to add that the first few times I listened
| to Trout Mask Replica I really didn't like it and didn't
| get why anyone would think it was good.
| dpifke wrote:
| Normally, I avoid YouTube comments like the plague, but
| gotta give it up for the top comment there:
|
| _@bigman1688 4 years ago_
|
| _oh ok, when captain beefheart does advanced polyrhythms
| and experimental time signatures he 's a "visionary" and
| "avant-garde musician" but when i do it i'm "annoying" and
| "need to leave guitar center"_
| DaoVeles wrote:
| I would defend Bluejeans & Moonbeams by itself, it is
| pleasant enough and I like the laid back vibe of the whole
| thing. But in comparison to everything else he had done, it
| was a low point.
| blast wrote:
| I strongly prefer Beefheart to Zappa. Beefheart was a genius
| with a vision from another planet. Zappa was talented but his
| smugness and middle-school humor ruin it for me. His freakiness
| always seems showy, like he's trying to prove how different and
| smart he is. Beefheart on the other hand was a being who
| absorbed different chemicals from Earth's atmosphere.
|
| He was abusive to his TMR bandmates though - to the point of
| running a cult. They resorted to shoplifting just to eat.
| karaterobot wrote:
| I tried to like Zappa. I like the idea of Zappa. My brother got
| a tattoo of Frank Zappa's face on on his bicep in the army, and
| we agree on a lot of music. Imagine my dismay when I admitted I
| couldn't like _any_ of it. On the other hand _Trout Mask
| Replica_ is at least an interesting album.
| NDizzle wrote:
| You don't like ANY of it? Not even Apostrophe / Overnite
| Sensation?!
| zzzbra wrote:
| Zoot Allures was pretty good. besides that the only thing I
| like by him is his earliest stuff, like Lumpy Gravy. 90% of
| the his discography is unlistenable to me, and I listen
| mostly to stuff that people would classify as unlistenable.
| DaoVeles wrote:
| Zappa is the Dr Pepper of music. Either you like it or hate
| it.
| jawilson2 wrote:
| I feel the same about the Grateful Dead. I like jam bands, I
| like all of the bands and musicians that hung out with or
| played with them, all of my friends like them. Ripple is
| pretty nice. I should absolutely like them, but whatever
| magic is there my ears don't pick up on. Their studio version
| of Good Lovin might be the worst thing a "good" band I have
| ever heard recorded, like a shitty band at the community 4th
| of July party that 17 people are dancing to and the other
| 2000 are trying to ignore.
| nick12r55t1 wrote:
| I just listened to a Zappa song for the first time... bobby
| brown. Sounds just like Reggie Watts to me! Add in some Weird
| Al.
| nine_k wrote:
| Zappa is technically breathtaking; for instance, Steve Vai is
| listed in a few of his orchestra tracks as "doing impossible
| guitar stunts", and there are many more examples.
|
| But Zappa was never, like, serious, he always was ironic,
| sarcastic, or downright clownish, and always, it seems, looked
| down at the audience. This makes his music sound great at a
| Saturday night show, and less so elsewhere.
| DaoVeles wrote:
| What makes you think he looked down at his audience? It
| always seemed more like the audience was the people that
| didn't take it too seriously and thus that is why they were
| fans.
| nine_k wrote:
| > _In the old days it wasn't like that. At that time the
| audiences were hostile to what we did. They gave us a bad
| time. Now, historically, musicians have felt real hurt if
| the audience expressed displeasure with their performance.
| They apologized and tried to make the people love them. We
| didn't do that. We told the audience to get fucked._
|
| Interview to The Rolling Stone,1968.
|
| https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-rolling-
| st...
|
| There are many more snarky comments which Zappa directed at
| his audience, and any audience in general, and likely the
| humankind as a whole. I think this is the reason he created
| technically brilliant and invariably ironic pieces: he did
| not think that a worthy audience exists, maybe except his
| orchestra and a few other musicians.
| the-rc wrote:
| That might have been 1968. It's not like he worshipped
| his audience later, but he did get to a point where the
| fan base was large enough and more "in tune" with his
| thinking, organically. He made the comment that nobody
| could get 100% of what he'd do, simply because
| everybody's life experiences are unique, but maybe
| someone somewhere has enough context for 50-60% of his
| output. In later interviews he said that he offered a
| certain kind of product, which many might not like, but
| enough people did like, kinda employing him for
| entertainment. He just wouldn't go out of his way to
| cater to them. And he did know that the people at his
| concerts or buying his records were not a monolith. The
| most he might have done for them was when the band
| learned Whipping Post a whole seven years after a fan had
| interrupted the 1974 concert in Helsinki to request it.
| :-)
|
| (If you think he liked orchestras, you should read about
| his LSO recordings and how he had to rescue them by
| editing tapes with razor blades. He wasn't actually happy
| until he recorded with the Ensemble Modern at the end of
| his life.)
| noefingway wrote:
| Always been a Zappa fan since the first Mothers album. I
| always found is humor in music and words appealing. His band
| was always tight, great musicians. I many of his albums but I
| have to say Live at the Fillmore East (1971) is my favorite.
| vjulian wrote:
| Zappa in New York... it is truly amazing to me how
| exceptionally skilled his ensemble his. Without exaggeration,
| that's one of the most skilled ensembles I've ever heard, and
| I'm not just talking rock music.
| chrisdhoover wrote:
| Shiny Beast is a great album
| imp0cat wrote:
| Some are great: When you're not playing your guitar, cover it and
| keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more
| than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.
|
| Some are weird: Don't wipe the sweat off your instrument
| mrob wrote:
| That water tip might be a good idea if you live in a desert
| climate, but in a lot of places it's only going to make your
| guitar go warped or moldy. Ideal humidity for acoustic guitars
| is usually stated as 50% relative humidity. It's not so
| important for electric but you still want to avoid extremes.
| crb3 wrote:
| Lancaster CA is high desert.
| zzzbra wrote:
| Did not expect to see wfmu.org's Beware of the Blog on the front-
| page of Hacker News but here we are.
| localghost3000 wrote:
| You know, I have tried on numerous occasions to get into
| Beefheart and it never lands. Fans of his stuff describe it as
| some higher level of musicianship and sophistication but it just
| sounds to me like a band that can't play and is just kind of
| owning that.
|
| I watched a Beefheart documentary once where a fan said something
| to the effect of "It sounds like noise but if you listen closely,
| each band member is playing a totally different time signature
| and key". I mean yeah. That's pretty much what it sounds like
| lol.
| vajrabum wrote:
| I love this sort of stuff. Here's some advice that the famous
| jazz pianist and composer Thelonius Monk gave his musicians as
| written down by the Saxophonist Steve Lacy in 1960. It's not
| quite as off the wall as Captain Beefhart. Still great stuff and
| also idiosyncratic. "They tried to get me to hate white people,
| but someone would always come along & spoil it." might be the
| best line for non-musicians:
| https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/thelonious-monk-25-handwritten-...
|
| And some lists of advice for songwriters from a couple of
| songwriters: https://indiemusicfeedback.com/words-of-advice-for-
| musicians...
| Simon_ORourke wrote:
| There's a story my uncle told me about meeting Beefheart after
| some gig in Phoenix in the early 70's, where he literally bumped
| into him outside the stage door after the show. My uncle,
| basically awestruck, offered Beefheart a smoke, which the great
| man heartily accepted and promptly ate.
|
| One of nature's great prototypes...
| bartread wrote:
| Well now that site is a crock of gold from the Old Web, isn't it?
| Just the kind of thing I enjoy exploring in my idle minutes, and
| far better for my state of mind than doomscrolling Reddit,
| Facebook, instagram, TikTok, and the rest.
|
| Thank you for sharing!
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(page generated 2024-07-26 23:11 UTC)