tim motzer guitar workshop  July 7, 2011 Kimmel Summer JazzCamp

experimental guitar: conception, sound, techniques. and improvisation.

this approach boarders both conceptualization and the sound itself.

possible pathways to new musical landscapes.

opening doors to unexplored areas of your playing.

purpose: to get out of ruts and find new sonic terrain to explore. i am always trying to find new ways to play, or achieve different sounds out of my guitar or with effects, or with the laptop. all lead to new ways of composing and improvising to get to new ideas. this is how i approach guitar. lot’s of instinct involved and improvising but also working with modes, scales, tunings, sounds, etc that stir the imagination.its important to turn off the brain sometimes. language. creating new language. is difficultbut it’s essentially what you do for yourself. creating your own dialect or unique stamp.improvising with new sounds, materials, prepared treatments, new techniques, modes,intervallic…leads to new ideas. new possible paths to go down.

sound affects how you play, approach, or react to your instrument.

audio effects  (distortion, modulation, delay, reverbs, filters, plug ins, the studio)

prepared treatments  (ie: john cage prepared piano)

techniques  (david torn, fred frith, marc ribot, keith rowe, robert fripp, eno)

tunings – DADGAD, all E’s, etc. (sonic youth, jimmy page, kaki king, etc)

   check my website for a huge list of tunings to investigate.

modes/scales – the world of modes (balinese, turkish, middle eastern, latin, etc)
many books and sources online outline loads of world modes and scales to investigate.
i would recommend checking out the dennis sandole book: guitar lore.

here’s a few scales to examine:

ex 1: C lydian

C  D E F# G A B

ex 2: C arabian dim

C D Eb F F# G# A B C

ex 3: C middle eastern

C D Eb F G Ab B C

process— find chords and melodies within and how they relate to various scales and chord progressions. how would this work in a blues? i try to find chords and make progressions and compose works using scales as a way of learning and creating.
stack 3rds and 4ths. look at all notes on fret graph. see the chords and geometric shapes.

intervals-2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths,9ths, 11ths, 13ths, b6, b9, tritone, etc

 

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improvise

 

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texture

landscape

place 

architechture

structure

 

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yin and yang:

dry vs wet

acoustic vs electric

muted vs feedback

low octave vs high octaves

clean vs distorted

texture vs melody

rhythm vs space

technique vs naive

inspiration vs work

and so on…

 

all create very different reactions and approaches to guitar…
and of course different outcomes.
you may find that those fat jazz chords don’t work with all
the rich overtones on a fuzzfactory or maybe you will.
you may find that when you tune your guitar in a way that you don’t
know how to play it anymore, it will lead you to find new sounds/harmonies/etc.
experimentation is the key. all this is helpful to break out of ruts and into new areas.

 

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my key footpedals:

volume pedal

whammy pedal (octaves, intervals, pitchbending)

autowah

overdrive

fuzzfactory

delay/echo/regeneration

delay looper

preamp

 

auxillary gear:

guitar synth

dj efx like: chaos pad, air efx

reverb effects

samplers

laptop: using plugins via ableton live 8

 

treatments + tools

ebow

bow

slide (metal/glass)

string

alligator clips

nails/metals

musical box

capo

found objects

dictaphone, iphone

 

guitars & other string instruments:

baritone

nashville

12 string

jazzbox

acoustic

saz 

banjo

strat w/ tremelo

lapsteel

mandolin

ukelele

baritone uke

soprano uke

 

approaches:

less is more

more is more

more is less

play nothing

play everything

listen

drones

cycle

layering

rhythmic

no rhythm

straight time 4/4

odd time  3/4 5/4 7/4 9/4 7/8 9/8 11/8, etc.

structures

blank canvas

 

thoughts:

play from your soul

find your own voice

if you listen to music —listen to everything.

listen to sounds on the street. animals. etc….

it all affects you – what you like and what you hate and all between.

don’t just listen to guitar music. be influenced by everything you hear.

struggle is good.

it’s all been done before.

jam with cultural genres.

 

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solo

improvising/collaborating w/ other musicians.

improvising/collaborating w/ multimedia/film/visuals/tv

improvising/collaborating w/ dancers, DJs

improvising/collaborating w/ found sounds, city sounds, etc.

finally-to work as a musician requires extreme skills. my advice is
utilize all you have. be diverse. learn all you can. not all your eggs in one basket.
try to find your niche.  be open. most importantly is be yourself.  find your voice.
also, listen to as much music as you can. i have a huge record library, and still
buy records weekly. i think it’s very important to listen a lot. transcription is good
to check things out that you are curious about, but the key is to hear the vibe
under the note…or ‘what is behind the note’. listen and feel it.

!

 

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selected tim motzer discography:

nine horses-snow borne sorrow w/ david sylvian (samadhisound)
jazzheads-avant wot not (1k)
base3-darkmatter (1k)
nucultures-butterflies, zebras, and moonbeams (1k)
nucultures-zebramoon remixes (1k)
burnt friedman and jaki liebeziet Secret Rhythms 2 and 3 (nonplace)
global illage-sushi love sessions (equalarea)
king britt presents sister gertrude morgan (ropeadope)
tilomo-soft lunch (1k)
secret voices-no time for silence (1k)
ursula rucker albums: supa sista, ma’at mama, she said, ruckus soundsysdom
sylk130-when the funk hits the fan (sony)
kenny lattimore – the soul of man (sony)

 

link to tim motzer guitar player magazine interview:

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/tim-motzer/September-2009/99927

 

more players, groups, and info to check out:

david torn/adrian belew/terje rypdal/jeff beck
fred frith/henry cow
norwegian scene and history: ECM + Rune Grammafon records
supersilent, arve henriksen, deathprod, jan bang, punkt festival
jon hassle, miles davis (electric periiod), freddie hubbard
marc ribot
robert fripp/frippertronics/-no pussyfooting
mahavishnu orchestra/john mclaughlin
brian eno
blues: albert king, john lee hooker, bb king, muddy waters, chicago,
delta, aftrican blues…on and on.
jimi hendrix: band of gypsies, electric ladyland, 1983
the wire magazine
nels cline
fennesz
japanese experimental scene
the stone/nyc