Getting Closer to Pure Improv?

[VikingBlues]

Take a Spider Capo. Set it up like this:-

03 Spider 220022 tuning.jpg (13.51 KiB) Viewed 4803 times

A Phrygian tuning of sorts - sounds of the desert and shifting sands to be had?

No barre chords to be used - that would be cheating. 10 minutes to have a quick try and get a bit of a feel for how the notes sound when adjusted with the capo like this. One Tanglewood TW45, one condenser microphone. One take, one track only. Improvise something .... GO!!!!!!!

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This is the closest I've got to pure improv. Listening for runs that work - try to remember them and bring them back in to give the listener something to latch on to. It does start off quite ragged and a bit hesitant - I think it gradually gets stronger and more confident - maybe gives the recording an "arc" of sorts. I was quite invigorated by this. I'm not a risk taker by nature - so this method of recording goes against all my instincts.

I just love the sounds of my Tanglewood too - this Spider Capo is allowing me to play it creatively and enjoy it much more and stop it gathering dust. Hope some of you might find something positive in it as listeners too.

[12bar]

Definitely a Spanish sound, or even Arabic. Improvising to this is out of my league, but with this tool you pretty much master it. Great acoustic sound!

[HalfBlindLefty]

Reminds me of improvs I've been listening to in theaters when I was young. Impressive stuff.
aside from the arabic/spanish influences I detect some swamp sounds to. Lovely :)

[VikingBlues]

Definitely a Spanish sound, or even Arabic. Improvising to this is out of my league, but with this tool you pretty much master it. Great acoustic sound!

Thank you. Funny - I was playing around yesterday and tried the same tuning with the Spider Capo. I could get nowhere near this sort of performance. Very much a recording inspired by the moment - one of those happy occasions when everything works. I have no idea how this soundscape came together like it did!

There is actually quite a lot of pentatonic runs hidden away in here - just that the open string notes being played around them disguises that. Great way of being able to play lots of double notes and mini chords. Cheating really.

I've finally got the right microphone and the right microphone position for a good sound from the Tanglewood. The guitar has a wonderful sound - took all of 5 seconds of playing it in a guitar store for Sandra and I to know it was "the one". Nothing else in the shop came close. Shame it's then taken me over 5 years to get to play it properly!

Reminds me of improvs I've been listening to in theaters when I was young. Impressive stuff.
aside from the arabic/spanish influences I detect some swamp sounds to. Lovely :)

Thanks. It's very difficult to exclude the blues influences - even when I don't know what I'm doing!

I appreciate you both listening and being so encouraging in your comments. Very much a style of guitar that's not really "right" for a blues forum. But I wanted to share my excitement at my new discovery with my friends.