A New Modwiz Video

[Elen]

Just a short note for now...I can empathize with you...it happened to me when somebody cut down a tree that I used to climb in as a child and that gave such wonderful ambient energies. I wept for many days as I realized that it was gone, and I realized that I would never see/feel it again, besides I wondered how other people couldn't feel it too. It felt so empty...quiet. In other words...I know what you're talking about, Radagast!

[Dreamtimer]

They cut down some beautiful Kwanzan cherry trees near a bank when they re-landscaped. They literally replaced the grassy patch and trees with an asphalt hill. It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I guess no-one wanted the responsibility of the trees. They were not old or big. The place looks trashier now than before. I was surely fighting off tears when I saw the trees had been cut down.

There's another place about a mile up the road from there that trims them just as they're starting to bloom. It obviously ruins a gorgeous blooming season but it also makes them look atrocious. This is at a Checkers. (We never ate there and certainly never will now).

Here is one:



Hope you don't mind, Rad.

[modwiz]

I am experimenting with an additional live stream format that is music based. This is the premier show. "Mystic Muse". "Can't You Hear Me Gnostic" will continue on Monday nights/eves/ or Tuesday afternoons depending where one is on the Earth.

All about music and how it works and where it comes from. If it is music related we can discuss it here. Equipment, songwriting, theory and musicians of note all fall into the category of this live stream. Instruments do get used for 'instruction' and there is some music played as well.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_5v03xBLmw

[Elen]

They cut down some beautiful Kwanzan cherry trees near a bank when they re-landscaped. They literally replaced the grassy patch and trees with an asphalt hill. It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I guess no-one wanted the responsibility of the trees. They were not old or big. The place looks trashier now than before. I was surely fighting off tears when I saw the trees had been cut down.

There's another place about a mile up the road from there that trims them just as they're starting to bloom. It obviously ruins a gorgeous blooming season but it also makes them look atrocious. This is at a Checkers. (We never ate there and certainly never will now).

Here is one:



Hope you don't mind, Rad.

And the only explanation you'll get is this: "It's called progress".

[Dreamtimer]

I think the Checkers people don't want the flower petals even though they're not over the tables. They will kill the trees doing that and they make it look like crap every spring.

Good that you put progress in quotes, Elen. Nothing' progressive about replacing grass and trees with asphalt which will crumble and have to be replaced. And also looks like crap.

[modwiz]

Hmm, two comments and nothing about the stream from last night. Maybe it would help if it is mentioned there is a discussion of very basic music theory and me playing different song parts and demonstrations on acoustic and electric guitar. Very different than my usual streams.

[Dreamtimer]

Hadn't listened yet...

[Dreamtimer]

When you discuss octaves and theory you called to my mind the stuff Mark Cocking talked about. Octaves are at the foundation of his work.

I studied piano in college, thus theory, and I recall that the 'one' is the tonic. (There's a great band called Tonic)

We went on a band tour in April to Ireland. The guitarist talked about how when a guitar is old and has been played a lot it becomes more resonant from the vibrations of being played over the years.

He loves to go to music stores and ask to play all of their $40 guitars. He occasionally finds gems which have that resonance he speaks of.

Still listening...

[Dreamtimer]

I'm gonna show this to my husband. He wants to play more and this will be really helpful to him.

[modwiz]

I'm gonna show this to my husband. He wants to play more and this will be really helpful to him.

Thank you for sharing. I got great feedback during the live stream and from friends. I look forward to this new series but, will likely do it on Saturday night EST (USA Time). That will be early Sunday afternoon for our NZ friends.
My other show will continue on its regular Monday night slot. For me, the two shows are not so much different in spirit, just in how that spirit is expressed. I do have more fun with the music because it does not challenge any deep programming.

[Aragorn]

Hmm, two comments and nothing about the stream from last night. Maybe it would help if it is mentioned there is a discussion of very basic music theory and me playing different song parts and demonstrations on acoustic and electric guitar. Very different than my usual streams.

I haven't commented about it either, but I did watch the recorded stream on YouTube itself — according to the YouTube info, it was eight hours after it had been streamed — and I've also read most of the comments in the chat box, which was displayed underneath the video and seemed to scroll in sync with the elapsed time on the video.

I had some comments of my own popping up in my mind, too, but I know I can be pedantic and that's why I hadn't commented yet so far.

For instance, on account of the "A equals 432 Hz" — and please don't interpret this as if I'm saying that your explanation doesn't jive, because I have indeed heard other people say that with A tuned to 432 Hz instead of 440 Hz, the sound does get warmer and fuller — the thought came to me that the rationale behind 432 is actually physically unsubstantiated, given that the definition of the Hertz as a unit of frequency is that "1 Hz equals 1 full sine vibration per second", and that the second as a unit of time is an entirely man-made construct.

So I'm just playing the devil's advocate here for a moment. Like I said, I do accept that people say that "A equals 432 Hz" does sound more lively and warmer. But personally I've always stuck to the standard "A equals 440 Hz", and I can't find anything wrong with that either.

Also, you mentioned "the devil's note" — i.e. the dominant seven, also known as the diminished seventh — which made me think of "the devil's interval". The later is the interval you get in a diminished chord, where you have a minor third and a diminished fifth. This interval was officially forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church at some point in history because it was considered "the devil's interval". Just thought I'd throw that out there as extra information.

As it just so happens to be, I've also watched a guitar clinic with Tosin Abasi on YouTube earlier today — I'm not sure whether it was before or after watching your stream — and he spoke a lot about music theory, and about one of my favorite subjects, being the use of modes. Perhaps you can address the subject of modes in a future session — it's not an actual request, mind you, but more of an idea.

One point of "criticism", though... You mentioned the most basic chord — i.e. two tones in unison — as being comprised of the root and the third, but I do not agree with that, given that this already adds the decision on whether to use a major third or a minor third. Therefore, the most basic chord shape that works for every chord in a song is the root and the fifth, also known as "the power chord". That way, you don't have to worry about major and minor.

I was actually hoping to watch you bring out the Jaguar with the P-90 pickups, but you went for the Telecaster instead. I've also watched you talk about the hemp cone speakers earlier, and I agree with you that they sound much better. They seem to have a much wider range of frequencies compared to regular speakers. You get warmer lows and brighter highs than with the regular speakers.

Of course, the microphone you're using, the fact that you're playing through small speakers — which does of course work well enough when you're playing at low volume — and then the fact that the videos are digitally compressed and that I'm listening to them through a set of speakers which isn't the greatest but also not exactly the worst, all colorizes the experience. But yes, from where I'm sitting, the hemp cone speakers do sound better.

[enjoy being]

Good on you for making the new direction of series, I am sure people will be interested and enjoy it. I but only skipped through it because I only have a passing interest in music nuts and bolts when weighed up to my data stores

[modwiz]

One point of "criticism", though... You mentioned the most basic chord — i.e. two tones in unison — as being comprised of the root and the third, but I do not agree with that, given that this already adds the decision on whether to use a major third or a minor third. Therefore, the most basic chord shape that works for every chord in a song is the root and the fifth, also known as "the power chord". That way, you don't have to worry about major and minor.

Good point to 'riff' on for my next Mystic Muse.

I was actually hoping to watch you bring out the Jaguar with the P-90 pickups, but you went for the Telecaster instead. I've also watched you talk about the hemp cone speakers earlier, and I agree with you that they sound much better. They seem to have a much wider range of frequencies compared to regular speakers. You get warmer lows and brighter highs than with the regular speakers.

The Jaguar, a Modern Player and not the original, will be coming out in the shows. Just when that might be is not yet clear but, I like to do things that listeners enjoy. I like the simplicity of the Modern Player Jaguar and love the P-90's for the tonal middle ground between single coils and humbuckers. Certain kinds of Rock n' Roll just work with P-90's.

[Aragorn]

Certain kinds of Rock n' Roll just work with P-90's.

Carlos Santana certainly agrees with that. This was recorded while playing a Gibson Les Paul Special — actually, a Gibson SG, but the early 1960s SGs were sold as Les Pauls (without Les Paul's consent, which is why they were relabeled to SG by the end of 1963) — with P-90s. He also used that guitar at Woodstock, as well as for the studio recording of "Oye Como Va" and for his own version of Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman".

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5AUm_xaE9A

Pete Townshend also liked the sound of P-90s. This song, too, was recorded while playing a Gibson SG with P-90s — as you know, I own a reissue of that guitar.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AKbUm8GrbM

He switched to a slew of Les Paul DeLuxes later, to which he had his roadies add DiMarzio Super Distortion humbuckers in the middle position, even though he never used that pickup. He only had a humbucker added to the middle position for aesthetic reasons. And nowadays he's only playing Stratocasters anymore.

[Aragorn]

For instance, on account of the "A equals 432 Hz" — and please don't interpret this as if I'm saying that your explanation doesn't jive, because I have indeed heard other people say that with A tuned to 432 Hz instead of 440 Hz, the sound does get warmer and fuller — the thought came to me that the rationale behind 432 is actually physically unsubstantiated, given that the definition of the Hertz as a unit of frequency is that "1 Hz equals 1 full sine vibration per second", and that the second as a unit of time is an entirely man-made construct.

So I'm just playing the devil's advocate here for a moment. Like I said, I do accept that people say that "A equals 432 Hz" does sound more lively and warmer. But personally I've always stuck to the standard "A equals 440 Hz", and I can't find anything wrong with that either.

An additional note — pun not intended — about the "A4 equals 440 Hz" tuning...: In the stream, you mentioned that "A4 equals 440 Hz" was invented by the Nazis, but that is actually not correct.

The calibration of the fourth A on a piano to 440 Hz — also known as the Stuttgart Pitch — already dates back to the year 1834, and it was pushed as an international standard by the United States of Acronyms in 1939 — well before Nazis were ever enlisted in the service of the US government and its assorted alphabet soup agencies.

So the United States of Acronyms was already good at telling the rest of the world what to do from before World War II. And not much has changed in that regard since.