short little hendrixy ballad i wrote...

[nathanael hale]

http://www.myspace.com/nathanelhaleproject

 

 

ballad of jimi

[CheapAdviceGuy]

And indeed reminiscent of Hendrix in guitar sound and style. Nice light touch!

 

You might mention that the song in question is called "blues ballad short sample" since the link just leads to your overall page and a different song started playing when I landed there.

 

I also checked out "epiphany short sample" - lots of fancy guitar playing going on in there!

 

-CAG

[Dee_Eff]

That has a nice Hendrix feel to it. Thanks for posting it!

[blue2blue]

It was interesting... certainly reminiscent of Hendrix in a couple ways.

 

I have to say that the chromaticism in the intro and about 3/4 of the way through kinda bugged me. I liked the way Hendrix handled his chromaticism -- he bent your expectations -- but only for a moment -- and then the next thing would (typically) give some context that made it all make sense (on some level). But the descending chromatic figures you use just sort of march down the neck in a cascade of 'wrong' notes -- or perhaps I should say mechanistically modulated. There's no real attempt to get the phrases to recontextualize... it feels clumsy and mechanical.

 

Breaking out of the key is something that is always provocative -- you're playing with people's expectations. I think sophisticated listeners may well feel cheated when the breakout becomes just a repeated riff that slides down the neck without any attempt to make it fit -- or work against -- the context key.

 

Admittedly, this is a problem I've heard with other shredders and maybe it's just something they think sounds cool or something. Me, I don't.

 

Of course, that's not really a songwriting issue -- but then it's kind of hard to give songwriting critiques on your snippets.

[rsadasiv]

 

I liked the way Hendrix handled his chromaticism -- he bent your expectations -- but only for a moment -- and then the next thing would (typically) give some context that made it all make sense (on some level).

 

 

Nice Hendrix analysis. I was trying to say something similar about his phrasing and dynamics here, but as you point out, he also used tonality in a very varied and expressive way.

 

"Jimi really slid around, but he was never tentative about it - you always know that he is coming back onto the beat and that his little detour will pay off at some point. One of the great things about Hendrix is the way he sat right on the edge of the amp breaking up - if he played single notes or picked more gently it could get pretty clean, but if he played chords or picked harder he would get some crunch, and he used these tonal dynamics (in addition to the volume dynamics) very expressively in his playing."

[blue2blue]

Yeah... Hendrix really talks to me. When I was a kid, before I played guitar, all I heard was the savagery of his first album -- which I liked. But at the time I was drawn more to the linear note flurry of someone like Cream-era Clapton (so soon to lose his grasp on just about every little half-understood chop he had).

 

But after I started playing guitar, Hendrix started revealing himself to be the genius I think of him as today. Careless, offhand genius, to be sure... nobody can turn a mistake into something cool like Hendrix. He was utterly fearless -- and I think that's one of the prime lessons I took from him. That and those cool little hammer ons he'd sneak in under the main figure.

[mxclod]

I enjoyed it...altho--I think the comment about the chromaticism is true.Still it is a great piece---with a little work it could be even greater!I liked the other stuff there too--very experimental.