Squall of the pipes or the harp?

["Jeff House" <whocasa@hotmail.com>]

From: "L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>  Talkin' 'bout guitar feedback...
"The squall is the pipes, of course, whether Scotts or Irish, and tin
whistles can be pretty shrill and atonal, as well.  Likely everybody who
ever played an electric guitar had made the mistake that produced the sound, 
but they just said, oops, and tried not to do that again.  But being 
northern Celts, the Brit kids said, "Wow, listen to that--pipe sounds 
without the pipes!" and the sound took off right away.  Notice it was The 
Chieftains that Roger invited to his Celebration show, and not Chuck Berry."

Sorry.  They may have been where the real white people got it, but check out 
nearly any Muddy Waters stuff from the 50s.  Little Walter's harp is full of 
the squall you're talking about.  I'm going to guess that the young 60's 
Brit guitar heroes were listening to more Muddy than Celtic tribal music.

keets "The question is, what did Hendrix hear in it?"

I think that what made Hendrix such an innovator was the fact that he was 
EXTREMELY open minded about sounds and rhythms that come from different 
sources.  He was most interested in channeling whatever appealed to his 
soul, interpreting it, and blasting it back out through his instrument(s).

Rock came about because T-Bone Walker injected electric guitar (which had 
been used as a lead instrument in country before) into the post-war big band 
sound.  Because Chuck Berry and Johnnie Johnson brought boogie-woogie piano 
riffs together with hillbilly guitar twanging.  Because Elvis brought 
gospel, hillbilly and blues together with white-style crooning and his 
incredible sex appeal.  Because the Beatles gave Little Richard a pretty 
white face.  Because Keith Moon brought surf beats together with Motown 
melodies.  Because Pete Townshend brought opera together with rock.  White 
people who were not afraid of black music, black people who were not afraid 
of white music, rock musicians not afraid of opera, etc...

This is the missing link that is often overlooked when we examine rock 
genius.  It is also the reason why I say that rock does not need to be dead. 
  There are combinations that have not been discovered yet.

Moral of the story:  Get back in there TED!  Open your minds and souls to 
each other and the sounds that you love.  There is still some great work 
that can be done.  If they can pull Roger's Johnny Cash stuff together with 
Pete's Simon and Garfunkel and classical stuff, mix in a little Ox-flavored 
Max R&B, and make it groovy - the walls will come tumbling down and we will 
all be dancing in the aisles!

Jeff
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