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Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing (1996)
- user-unknown 2y ago[flagged]
- AndrewKemendo 2y agoThank 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 2y agoTrout 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 2y agoTrout Mask Replica is the ultimate "it grows on you" record. A masterpiece.
- jeffbee 2y agoI am mostly questioning the assertion that it is obscure and overlooked. Major Boomer critics fawned over this record non-stop for fifty years.
- xbar 2y agoIt 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 2y agoEhhh, 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 2y agoI 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.
- ocodo 2y agono, it really isn't... it's complete trash. To feel like you're hip, you "learned to like it"
- Affric 2y agoI just had a long look at the list. Sure they have got rid of some chaff but there sure is a lot that sucks in there. Disaffected Millenial here.
- jeffbee 2y agoUndoubtedly. Pretty sure that Neutral Milk Hotel is now holding the place that Captain Beefheart previously occupied, and future generation will be puzzled.
- user-unknown 2y ago[flagged]
- gwbas1c 2y agoMusic is art, and art is fundamentally an emotional experience. You clearly got lost at "If you're guilty of thinking, you're out".
- Jeff_Brown 2y agoFeelings are certainly part part of it, and hard to teach, so I appreciate the Captain's efforts. But music is also largely engineering and math, and it won't sound good if you haven't done a lot of intellectual homework (although plenty of good artists will claim otherwise, because claims like that are appealing).
- AlbertCory 2y agoZappa did do his homework. There's some anecdote about him conducting an orchestra in the studio, and one of his musicians asked, "How did you learn to do that?" He said, "I went to the library."
- dumpsterdiver 2y ago> and it won't sound good if you haven't done a lot of intellectual homework Before you can create a language or theory around music, there must be music. The math didn't come first. First came the music, and the math simply describes what is already there. The first person who had a smidgeon of an idea that if they put two sounds together it might sound pleasing to the ear, probably didn't run to grab a pen to mathematically describe the concept of how frequencies behave together before discovering sounds that are pleasing. You speak of doing intellectual homework in order to make music sound good, but the homework you mention required its own homework. Determining if something sounds good is not a mathematical operation, but a subjective and visceral one.
- gwbas1c 2y ago
- microtonal 2y agoI am confused, Captain Beefheart didn't even play guitar, did he?
- itqwertz 2y agoCaptain 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 2y agoDisagree with you 100%. This is why music is subjective.
- slothtrop 2y agoI 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 2y agoI 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 2y agoI 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 2y ago
- chrisdhoover 2y agoShiny Beast is a great album
- imp0cat 2y agoSome 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 2y agoThat 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 2y agoLancaster CA is high desert.
- zzzbra 2y agoDid not expect to see wfmu.org's Beware of the Blog on the front-page of Hacker News but here we are.
- localghost3000 2y agoYou 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.
- wappieslurkz 2y agoI dare you to try once more with the album Shiny Beast. IMO this is the best starting point in to Beefheart. Fun fact: I never liked rock music, close to hating it. I'm into soul, disco, jazz, hiphop and house. But Shiny Beast is one of my all time favourites.
- codelikeawolf 2y agoThis is excellent advice. I started off with Trout Mask Replica and thought "hm, maybe this isn't for me", but then I listened to the song "Love Lies" on a whim, then the rest of the album, and was hooked.
- localghost3000 2y agoListening now. Will report back!
- localghost3000 2y agoOk. Gave a listen to the whole thing. While this is certainly a lot more musical than the other stuff I’ve heard like Trout Mask Replica, it’s still not really for me. The absurdist lyrics are a real barrier as are some of the guitar sounds. That said I like this voice a lot. Has really interesting timbre. I had heard it before but this album does a good job of putting it front and center.
- 2y ago
- vajrabum 2y agoI 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-tips-for-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/ https://indiemusicfeedback.com/words-of-advice-for-musicians...
- seanhunter 2y agoThelonius Monk is a source of amazing quotes. Apparently he came offstage one night and someone said to him "That was fantastic!" and he said "No. I made all the wrong mistakes."
- Simon_ORourke 2y agoThere'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 2y agoWell 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!