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Too many guitarists


Eric Iverson

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I remember once meeting a girl carring a French horn case, and I mentioned to her "you don't see people carrying those too often." And she said, "Yeah, well, sometimes I think there are too many French horn players." [Probably due to competition for jobs, or so I assume.] I laughed and said, "Sometimes I think there are too many guitarists." And she said, "THAT'S FOR SURE!!!"

 

For the record, I don't think there are too many guitarists.. I love the whole bunch. Easy for me to say, since I'm not doing it for a living!

 

But it would be fun to have a French horn player or oboist or cellist on certain tunes.... or am I the only one who thinks so?

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Absolutely not. (The only one who thinks that. ;) )

 

I love the cello and clarinet, and would love to play with musicians on either instrument.

 

Harry Chapin, among others, was fond of cello and had cello parts in many of his songs. Not just use of it because he had it in the band, but really special parts of songs.

 

Kevin Gilbert's baby, Toy Matinee (with Pat Leonard, a jingle guy and producer of some Madonna albums) has a great, strange song about Salvador Dali (Does that give you an idea how strange it is? :D ) that has a smokin' clarinet solo at the end, backed up by three part clarinet harmonies on top of the pop/rock groove laid down by drums, bass, horns, piano, guitar and more.

 

The whole album is fantastic! :thu:

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

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Thanks for the Toy Matinee tip! I think I'll get it!

 

Re: French horn solos: I love the one in "For No One" by the Beatles, and the piccolo trumpet in "Penny Lane"; and come to think of it, the clarinet parts on "When I'm 64", which Paul McCartney will soon wish he hadn't written, I think!

 

Who knows what tomorrow may bring? Maybe a latter day Jethro Tull will come along with a clarinet or English horn or viola as a lead instrument, and suddenly kids will be standing in line to buy one!

 

Seriously, my dad is an amateur musician whose hobby is collecting instruments, and I think he has one of everything known to Western man, except a drum set. (And about 30 violins, and several violas and cellos.) So I grew up around them and appear to have inherited his love for all of them. A genetic defect maybe... I know it's not right to blame your parents, but I do blame him, and furthermore, he knows I do! He even seems to think it's funny!

 

But he makes up for it by giving me instruments on occasion! Keep up the good work, dad!

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I used to play the viola and the clarinet but I sucked more at those instruments than I do at guitar... I like the way they sound tho.. and I dont think there can ever be too many but maybe thats just because Im not competing for gigs... I just think that the more that are out there that are better than me (which is pretty much all of you) the more I can learn....
Eat a Peach for Peace..........
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Pete Townshend used french horn on the Tommy overture, and a lot of other orchestral instruments on a lot of his stuff. But on pop and rock tunes, it seems like a lot of the time folks use three & four part vocal harmonies to replace string & horn sections. Works out pretty well most of the time.

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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Great call on several of my fav Beatles tunes. For No One is amazing, and the French Horn part adds just the right emotion to the break. And yes, the clarinet in When I'm 64 is a large part of why I love that instrument.

 

EVH and AVH's father was a clarinet player, and they paid some homage to him with Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) off one of the early albums. VH2, IIRC. :thu:

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

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Were those French horns harmonizing on the Carpenters` tune Superstar? love that sound. The oboe gets right to me-kinda reminds me of the loon, Minnesota`s state bird. Some of the junior high schools here have brass band clubs where they basically practice every day. One of the school I`m at had their club in the national competition, they totally kick butt.

Same old surprises, brand new cliches-

 

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I like good sax and trumpet players.

 

For a guitar, you have the choice of playing harmony or melody. Sax and trumpets, however, are limited to melody. An old jazz guitar teacher of mine told me that because of this limitation, you have to be good when you're playing one of these instruments.

 

This is why I like to cop solos from guys like Coltrane and Parker. They were melody masters.

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RE: on the not enough bassists post above.

 

I have to sub for some bassists every once in a while.

 

I'm so stuck on the axe, it's tuff to find time to practice the bass.

 

I love the French Horns on Mission Impossible

 

I like the 20th Century Composers' string arangements the best, because of the textures w/the percussion instruments

 

Nothing like a killer Cello concerto

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Well, I thought I was a voice crying in the wilderness.. turns out I was wrong. Not all guitarists are totally oblivious to other instruments!

 

It's good to be wrong once in a while. And this column is a chance to practice what I preach: "don't be so quick to assume you know what somebody else is thinking.. after all, you're not a mind reader! You can always ASK him...what a concept!"

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  • 1 month later...

Yes, I have it. Send me a cashier's check for $10,000.00 and I'll fax it to you.

 

 

Back on topic. Julian Bream, John Williams, Christoher Parkening...those guys get to play with orchestral intrument accompaniment all the time. ;)

 

Speaking of which....I have DVD called Guitarra! A musical Journey through Spain with Julian Bream and The Chamber Orchestra of Europe. It is a very interesting series of eight 30 minute films which sort of chronicle the beginnings and the history of the guitar. Julian Bream plays a vihuela and a Baroque guitar, plays with Paco Pena and throughout the thing plays some virtuoso classical guitar. It's long, but it's really interesting.

"And so I definitely, when I have a daughter, I have a lot of good advice for her."

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BWAAAHAAAHAAHAAA!!!

 

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