Entertainment For Lively Minds
Spare us from TV people using rock clichés
I know this is like shooting ducks in a barrel and I know we should sympathise with anyone called upon to write puffs on the BBC website but this billing just caught my eye. It's for something called "Guitar Heroes At The BBC Part 4".
Series featuring legendary guitarists treading the boards and trading licks at the BBC studios.
This edition kicks off with big hits from the Rolling Stones and David Bowie before taking things down a notch with the acoustic picking of Michael Chapman and the Irish mysticism of Horslips.
However, it's not long before the likes of Motorhead, Nazareth and straight up blues-rocker George Thorogood turn the volume right back up to 11. A spot of flamenco from Paco De Lucia and a classic track from Strat-master Eric Clapton round off the show.
Filmed in the 1970s for shows including Top of the Pops, Parkinson, Rock Goes to College and The Old Grey Whistle Test, these rocking tracks will leave you wondering why pianos were ever invented.
Now I know I'm the pedants' pedant, but how much "trading licks" is going on here, assuming lick trading is what you were looking for? Many years ago, in the dim and distant past before the BBC had a website, "lick trading" was applied to those situations where two guitarists passed the same phrase back and forth between them. This might apply to the two blokes out of Wishbone Ash or the Allman Brothers. It cannot, by definition, apply to a bunch of instrumental trios (like Motorhead, Nazareth and George Thorogood's Destroyers) and it was never in a million years applied to the Rolling Stones, let alone Paco De Lucia or Mike Chapman. And that other cliche, "picking", was generally used to indicate the relatively precise stylings of Nashville country music not, as in this case, to anyone who doesn't deal in distorted power chords. I consider this language so debased and bent out of shape by misuse to be barely worth using any longer but sometimes it still has the power to elicit a bat squeak of objection.
Tell you what. Why not use plain English to describe what is going on here?
- More from David Hepworth.
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Quite a lot of miming going on too,
certainly the Stones, Bowie and Horslips. George Thorogood's amp was so tiny though it probably would have to be on at 11. The only lick trading I spotted was between Clapton and his other guitarist, rather feebly too. Still, nice to see some Michael Chapman - Wellington the Skellington!
Disappointingly
no mention of 'plank spanking'.
The Michael Chapman clip was stone, cold brilliant
but it's extremely difficult to see who he was trading licks with. Himself? He was playing so well it sounded like 3 players (ditto Paco de Lucia) but I'm in agreement with Mr. H: this was not lick trading, nor was it in some case "treading the boards" (sitting down being the case). And please: do we have to use phrases like "Strat-master" any more?
And why do we only have to wonder why pianos were ever invented, especially as a few keyboards were in evidence. I didn't see any flutes though; I wonder why they were ever invented?
Why pianos were invented...
in case you were wondering:
Arvo Pärt - Alina
http://open.spotify.com/track/3k3KgXgMDJWcOCpIYy4pR8
Shouldn't it be...
...Strat-O-Master?
Agreed
It makes the writer sound like someone's dad trying to get "in wiv da kids". And failing.
providing those kids
are all in their mid to late 40s.
Oooooh!
He's damn good.
Yes, very lazy...
Maybe he/she was pressed for time (hmm...) So many cliches, so few paragraphs.
Loved the Be-Bop Deluxe clip, though, for what it's worth. :-)
Knowingly done
The reference to the amp being turned to 11 is a giveaway, surely?
11
The writer might be the same person behind the development of BBC Radio's pop-out player. Cheekily it goes up to 11 too.
"You see son!"
shouted Jim Word excitedly. "This. is. what. it. is. all. ABOUT!".
With that he sprang up and tried to mime the striking of a power chord through 10,000 watts in front of an adoring multitude. In so doing, his new slippers - a Christmas present from his son - caught on the edge of the rug and he fell somewhat awkwardly back on to the sofa, upending the rather nice glass of Merlot he was enjoying in the process.
His son looked at him unblinkingly and said "Not sure I can see what all the fuss was about. Nowhere near as good as The Killers" and with that he left the room.
"Where did I go wrong, Suze?" inquired Jim of his wife.
"Oh well, I'm sure you did your best love. How about a nice cup of tea?"
"Yes please, love" said Jim as,in the background, Eric, aka "God", held a particularly fine diminished seventh accompanied by an equally fine soulful grimace.
Diminished seventh?
Liverpool's league position come May, surely...
Can you get more than one duck in a barrel?
Depends on the size of the duck
Depends on the size of the duck. And the size of the barrel. But isn't it fish that you shoot in barrels, not ducks, according to popular metaphor?
Ducks, fish, Piers Morgan...
they're all fair game.
Far be it from me to take Mr H. to task..
..but: 'And that other cliche, "picking", was generally used to indicate the relatively precise stylings of Nashville country music not, as in this case, to anyone who doesn't deal in distorted power chords.'
Pedantry time. It might have been used to indicate "the relatively precise stylings of Nashville country music". Doesn't mean it's right, though.
Picking is the act of twanging an individual guitar string. It can be done with a plectrum (or "pick" as it is known in the US) or with the fingers, which is known as fingerpicking. It isn't a cliche to refer to acoustic picking. Unless he's strumming. In which case, it isn't a cliche. It's just wrong.
The phrase "power chords" is, however, a cliche bandied about by music journalists who don't know much about music. Mr Hepworth will, of course, not be one of these and will know that (and forgive me if my musical theory is off the mark) a power chord is a triad formed by the root, fifth and octave notes of a major scale. Which are the same as the root, fifth and octave notes in most minor scales. Thus you have a chord which is neither minor nor major and gives a powerful, fundamental sound when played.
We must remember Paul Morley, unable to distinguish a major from a minor by ear.
i thought a power chord was...
... just a major chord played loud on electric guitar, a bit like that A (it is an A, isn't it?) at the beginning of Won't Get Fooled Again by the 'orrible 'oo from Shepherd's Bush ...
Indeed, Glenbervie.
Your job at Mojo awaits.
The opening chord of WGFA is an A5. An A which is neither major nor minor. A Power Chord.
power chord
...and all this time I thought a power cord was what I used to plug in my CD player. Learn something new everyday....
And all this time I thought power cords...
were what Phil Taylor wore when away from the oche.
i thought a power chord was...
... just a major chord played loud on electric guitar, a bit like that A (it is an A, isn't it?) at the beginning of Won't Get Fooled Again by the 'orrible 'oo from Shepherd's Bush ...
/double clickage - my apologies
Lenny's right
It sounds more powerful (and less subject to modal variation) if it is stripped down as he describes. The voicing matters, removing major/minor
I think that the chord at the start of "Won't Get Fooled Again" is voiced that way, too.
A bore writes...
A power chord is, normally, the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the major or minor chord in question.
Quite easy to play. Sound great through distortion or just played loud giving off a rich and meaty tone uncluttered by the other notes usually played within the chord. These other strings would normally be 'muted', ie the rest of the hand just lies over them deadening them, or not touched at all
Used in rhythm playing and riffs. See Page, Jimmy for the exemplary use of.
Actually, I think a power
Actually, I think a power chord has to be just the 1st and 5th (probably octaves of these notes), in that the 3rd of a chord would make it clear whether it's major or minor.
That works
Quite so.
What you originally described is the root triad
Not many people know that they're called power chords because of their power to cause arguments between band members trying to work out the chords to songs in which they appear:
"It's a major"
"No, it's a minor!"
Whereas in fact with the 3rd missing it's neither (or either, or both).
I'm extremely conflict-averse, so when in doubt I just write the root note of the chord and present it to fellow band members with the caveat that my working out is "modally agnostic".
I can well imagine
Thankfully for me (and for yourself come to think of it) I don't play guitar in a band.
I play guitar in my underwear and socks in the spare room after a long day at work. I'm not very good. But it's the second best fun I've had while semi-nude.
Is that a guitar in your underwear
Etc, etc.
Could well be
Plenty of room for one in all this cold weather...
Hmmmm
Not being a pedant (well, a bit) but isn't a root/5/octave power chord a diad? There are only 2 notes, though one repeated an octave up.
Almost certainly right, Sir Twang.
I assumed a triad to be any three notes but you make much more sense. I defer with cap in the "doffed" position.
correct
Many guitarists believe that power chords are just ordinary ones played very loud. The difference between major and minor is known to them only by chords shapes and not what's actually going on in terms of harmony.
I'm pleased we've got this far..
..without anyone discussing intervals. Which always, with my limited grasp of musical theory, make my head start to spin round like a wheel of fifths.
Isn't intervals....
....simply the interval between the notes on a scale?
eg in the scale of C Major, the notes are CDEFGAB.....so D would be the 1st interval, G the 4th interval etc etc.
It's exactly the same for the scale of B Flat minor.....but you have to know the scale in the first place....and that's usually the problem....certainly my problem!
Of course, this may be hogwash......it's just in my (false?) memory somewhere.
Almost right
An interval is the distance between two notes, usually expressed in terms of the distance n from the root note of a scale to the nth note of the scale:
C to C# is a semitone
C to D is a tone or a second since it's the gap between the first and second notes of a scale
C to E is two tones, or a third, since it's the gap between the first and third notes of a major scale
C to Eb is one and half tones or minor third, since it's the gap between the first and third notes of a minor scale
C to F is a 4th
C to G is a 5th
C to A is a 6th
C to B is a 7th sometimes called a Major 7th to distinguish it from...
C to Bb is a minor 7th
The interval is given the same name whatever the notes happen to be, so for example
G to A is a tone
A to C# is a major third
A to C is a minor third.
Etc.
Someone else can do about diminished and augmented intervals.
There's 1352 guitar pickers in Nashville.
The Lovin' Spoonful had a census.
Watch hairy men spanking planks on Auntie Beeb
economical use of language but direct and to the point
Poor show overall
Can anyone name the "Guitar Hero" who was in "The Motors" ?
It seemed to be more "Bands from Jeremy Clarkson's Dadrock CD".
You probably need to be of a certain age....
....but the guitarist in The Motors was the unforgettably named Bram Tchaikovsky. He went on to have a brief solo career. I bought the album "Strange Man Changed Man". I still have it but no record player to play it on.
I qualify as being "of a certain age"
and I was fond of them back in the day, had the 12" of "Dancing The Night Away".
But Bram hardly qualifies as a Guitar Hero - the majority of the show seemed to be "Guitar Rock" with only the occasional Link Wray or Davy Graham (sporting a splendid shiner). Given what the BBC has in the archive, I would have liked to have seen some more interesting choices - James Williamson / Jimmy Reed / Keith Levene / Johnny Ramone / Tom Verlaine / Danny Gatton
They had an Alice Cooper clip but didn't identify either of the guitarists in his band - that seemed to sum it up for me.
(bigsteviecook - thanks for the helpful answer : I'm not having a pop at you, but for the BBC to bill this as a "Series featuring legendary guitarists filmed in the 1970s for shows including Top of the Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test" is not quite true.)
"You're my guitar hero!"
Much as I love Johnny Ramone's work, I'm not sure I'd have him and Levene as 'guitar heroes' - doesn't the term imply a level of showing-off ones technical skill as well as a love of posing and posturing (what we used to call "throwing shapes")?
Page, Blackmore, McLaughlin, Gilmour, Hendrix, even Mick Jones are traditional 'guitar heroes'.
Strummer, Ramone, Partridge, Holdsworth, et al seemed to go out of their way to not conform to the guitar hero stereotype.
My test would be, could you envisage them playing a twin-necked Gibson? If so, then they're a guitar hero :-)
Tomatoes tomaetoes
Maybe some guitar heros and some heros playing guitar??
I haven't seen the programmes but I do have them recorded for later.
Kind of
I think Ramone & Levene are both more influential than any of The Motors or The Runaways, and would be a better fit to appear in a program called "Guitar Heroes". (I'm not meaning this to run down either the Motors or The Runaways, my gripe is with the unimaginative selection by the BBC).
I would argue that Johnny Ramone was one of the most influential guitarists of his generation, and that there were a lot of guitarists who followed up early PIL.
I had left Mick Jones off my list because I don't think there will be much in the BBC Archive of him.
I thought Bram played piano..
As I stretch my memory back to The Motors doing Airport on TOTP. Let me make haste to YouTube..
There y'go.
*ahem*
That's Andy McMaster on keys - Bram is the extremely skinny red-haired dude, who went on to make excellent powerpop albums
The Motors
On their TOTP 'Airport' turn the bassist and guitarist looked like they taken advantage of a Camberwell carrot before performing.
Makes me laugh every time.
Love the bit at 0:57
when the singer turns round to see what the hell's going on behind him.
pianos were invented
so that piano players could be called "keyboardists", who "tinkle the ivories" and get asked to "play it again Sam".
'Keyboard merchants'
surely?
Why not use plain English?
That is, I suspect, the problem. The writer is incapable of using plain English to express him/herself and so has to resort to lazy cliche to fill the required quota of words.
The plain English campaign
I bet the writer would have been happy to use plain English, but was ordered by a superior to jazz it up a bit and ended up overreaching him/herself.
By the way, is it just me or can anyone else not see the expression "rock cliche" without putting it to the tune of Robbie Williams' "Rock DJ"?
It's probably just me.
I could...
until you put that idea into my head.
Now I won't be able to.
Thanks. For. That. :-)
Sorry,
Mikhail.
Strangely fitting though,
isn't it?
What is rock...
...without clichés? That's entirely the best thing about it.
However I would agree that the writer of that quote has really tried to push as many as he can into his piece. Otherwise it would say 'Features players of varying ability performing either on acoustic or electric guitar, some standing, some sitting down, some playing live and some not. The enjoyment to be gained from this show depends on if you have already seen some of the clips.'
Axe Wielding
I'm off to see that new film with Mr James Page, The Edge and Jack White in a couple of week. I hope to see some trading of licks, plank spanking and my personal favourite - "axe wielding" (if that's how you spell it).
New?
It's been out for months - the recent kerfuffle relates to the DVD release. You don't even need to go out to see it now :-)