Comments on: My Ambient Education

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:43:30 +0000

Thanks, Jon. I’m glad you liked it. I sometimes get the same exact feeling that the more I play the worse it gets. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

By: Jon Tron

Jon Tron — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:10:59 +0000

I played the piano seriously (8 hours a day) until having an injury when I was 25. It pushed me to a more mellow style and I also ended up playing guitar much more. Sometimes I think the more I play the worse it gets, like my personal energy just gets completely out of control. The mind is such a critical element and when a person loses control/patience/calm they inevitably lose potential. Good article. Made me think.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:00:09 +0000

Thanks, Rich. John – the guy I wrote this with – is a huge Eno/Fripp fan.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:02:09 +0000

Lovely piece — I’m quite a fan of this kind of thing and you’re right, it’s a fantastic discipline for all of us trigger-happy scale-noodlers.

Players who are unhappy with their soloing style sometimes think more speed’s the answer, but often they’re just overplaying. Lay back, think about the next note and don’t be in a hurry. Sans Direction’s spot on with the Miles reference.

For those who don’t know the genre it’s worth checking out some of Robert Fripp’s solo stuff, Brian Eno’s Ambient series or some of Paul Schutze’s albums, all of which this track reminded me of in different ways.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:05:07 +0000

Thanks, CP. It was a great experience. I think John and I will be doing some more recording together.

By: CP McDill

CP McDill — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:23:41 +0000

Great recording! I am quite fond of ambient works involving guitar, and I’m always on the lookout for them, as much for my own enjoyments as for my ambient music netlabel. I’d like to see guitar play a larger role in ambient, especially with the availability of increasingly amazing convolution reverbs and delay effects.

Your insights about musicianship in ambient music are right on the money. Patience, less is more, all those things. One thing that has always intrigued me about the genre is the way a work with so little “input” can really carry a listener, even in recordings that stretch on longer than an hour.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:43:09 +0000

Thanks, SD. It was fun. I haven’t watched that Miles performance in a long time; maybe I need to break it out again.

By: Sans Direction

Sans Direction — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:02:52 +0000

I was watching the video of Miles Davis at Isle of Wight when Carlos Santana started to play “In A Silent Mood”, which is based on an E chord. I picked up my guitar and what you said is exactly right, I wanted to play more but the music wanted me to play less. The tension is so much and the style is so far from what I normally play that I want to do it much much more.

I like your audio and hope you get to do much much more.
Sans Direction recently posted: A Good Thing

By: John

John — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:56:11 +0000

Great post Josh and you are too kind. It was a great day…..fun…..and we wrote some nice music I think.

By: Tweets that mention My ambient education | Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons -- Topsy.com

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:37:21 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Guitar News, Josh Sager. Josh Sager said: My Ambient Education | http://tinyurl.com/25f8s44 [...]