Epic Interlocking Tapping Sevenstring Gamelan Metal Goodness!

[Durero]

This past Tuesday I participated in one of the most joyous performances in my life!

It was a world music fusion concert with a really strange & diverse mix of rock band, Korean drumming, and Balinese gamelan played in rock band as well as bluegrass band formats.

The highlight of the evening for me: (I'm on the left)





A bit of explanation: this piece is called Kotekan which refers to the extremely elaborate and complex style of interlocking melodies which is a dominant feature of Balinese music. The only practical way to perform the high speed interlocking parts on electric guitar is to play touch-style with a fabric damper on the neck because the parts consist of running 16th notes split between pairs of instruments (in this case two guitars) with each player doing 16th note rests when the other plays her 16th note in rapid alternation.

Here's an example of the kind of interlocking parts I'm talking about on traditional gamelan instruments:



And here's the same piece Kotekan played by our gamelan percussion orchestra a few years ago: (I'm second from the left in the front row of players)




The other two pieces I played in were rock fusion with Korean drums & percussion:

Youtube is running really slow, the only video that's working for me is the last one. But that was pretty good.
The hand hold gong sounded really bad, and I don't know if it is just me, but it sounds like his rhythm is a bit off from time to time.

[kung_fu]

Excellent videos, great music! Must have been a lot of fun for you to play with so many percussionists, only drawback being you can't make any drummer jokes. Awesome stuff

[Durero]

Originally Posted by Desecrated

Youtube is running really slow, the only video that's working for me is the last one. But that was pretty good.
The hand hold gong sounded really bad, and I don't know if it is just me, but it sounds like his rhythm is a bit off from time to time.

Yeah east Asian percussion can take a bit of getting used to - very loud and somewhat grating - but the player is playing his thing accurately, it's just hard to recognize the polyrhythmic effects sometimes when the phrasing is so unfamiliar. I got to rehearse with them a bunch of times and it took me quite a while to feel how everyone is relating to the underlying beat.

Originally Posted by kung_fu

Excellent videos, great music! Must have been a lot of fun for you to play with so many percussionists, only drawback being you can't make any drummer jokes. Awesome stuff

Thanks a lot! Guess I'll have to stick to viola jokes for now

[Apophis]

Great stuff, thanks

[ElRay]

Sweet. Now I hear the reason you've been looking at those pick-up that only respond when a note is fretted.

This is definitely in the direction I was heading. More rhythmically complex "single note" playing, almost to the point of transcribing a six, seven, eight piece drum score to a six, seven or eight string guitar.

Ray

[Durero]

Originally Posted by ElRay

Sweet. Now I hear the reason you've been looking at those pick-up that only respond when a note is fretted.

Originally Posted by ElRay

This is definitely in the direction I was heading. More rhythmically complex "single note" playing, almost to the point of transcribing a six, seven, eight piece drum score to a six, seven or eight string guitar.

Ah very interesting. So do you think that single-string gated pickup idea would suit your designs as well?

[ElRay]

Originally Posted by Durero

Ah very interesting. So do you think that single-string gated pickup idea would suit your designs as well?

I don't know. I don't play touch-style. I like playing with a full five-finger "classical" right hand. I also like pull-offs to open strings (the biggest disadvantage of the All-Major-3rds tuning -- only three open notes).

I don't know about the rapid-fire back and forth between two guitarists. That requires a whole level of skill that I don't have yet. I still only "see" where I think I want to be in the context of one guitar.

Time will tell. I'll get back to you in a bit over a year.

Ray

Oh, not to steal your thunder, but I found this while digging around on YouTube looking for more of your shows. Gamelan Ska/Big-Band with some Grateful-Dead Dancers?

Ray

[Durero]

Originally Posted by ElRay

I don't know. I don't play touch-style. I like playing with a full five-finger "classical" right hand. I also like pull-offs to open strings (the biggest disadvantage of the All-Major-3rds tuning -- only three open notes).

Ah yeah I can see how the single-string capos would be particularly valuable to you then.

Originally Posted by ElRay

Oh, not to steal your thunder, but I found this while digging around on YouTube looking for more of your shows. Gamelan Ska/Big-Band with some Grateful-Dead Dancers?

That was great! I've seen that name - Gamelan X - before but never seen or heard them perform. That some really fun fusion!



As an example of traditional Balinese gamelan, these folks - Cudamani - are imo the best balinese gamelan group in the world. This is the level that we aspire to here in Vancouver, but will never reach...

[ElRay]

Originally Posted by Durero

Guess I'll have to stick to viola jokes for now

Ah, that reminds me of the last time I went to a concert. There was a ruckus in the string section. The conductor asked what the problem was. The first violinist said that the first viola was turning her tuning pegs. The first viola replied, "She did it to me first, and won't tell me which one she turned!"

Ray

[Durero]

^

[Mattmc74]

Different but really cool sounding!

[whisper]

So frickin' amazing.
Hey Leo, have you heard of VIRAEMIA bassist Scott Plummer? He's into tapping insanity as well, and plays a sick home-made 10 string.

[Durero]

World music & fusion kicks ass

[whisper]

I just realized with that Kotekan vid that the other hand is choking after the hammer strike. Unreal.
and, man, the playing with the Korean drums, trance inducing.

[Durero]

Yeah that's exactly right - it's a fundamental part of the technique that you have to damp the last note you played at the same moment you play the next note otherwise notes overlap and it sounds like crap. After a while it's pretty unconscious and automatic though.

[muffgoat]

Leo you a madman! I LOVE IT!! yeah world music is amazing i love it soo much, we gotta take some inspirado from that shit but we must get together soon and play some guitar duuuude

[Durero]

Totally dude - I've been writing some metal stuff for us to try which uses this style of interlocking - it should be great fun.