SIDEBAR
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WHO’S DOING WHAT AND WHERE TO LEARN MORE
For those who’d like to learn more about what others have done with guitar preparations and modifications, here are a few avenues to explore. BOOKS There seem to be just a couple of other books on this subject. Only one is currently in print and easily available. Prepared Guitar Techniques, by Peter Yates and Matthew Elgart, was published in 1990 by California Guitar Archives, and remains available through www.calguitar.com. It’s a 24-page pamphlet focused on classical guitar. In addition to describing a number of preparations, the authors provide a section on notation for prepared guitar, a list of prepared guitar compositions and recordings available at the time of the pamphlet’s publication, and notes on the preparations for a couple of specific pieces. The Contemporary Guitar, by John Schneider was published in 1983 by University of California Press. It is now out of print, still available used but at high cost. This book does not emphasize preparations or modifications foremost, but it covers the broad range of contemporary styles and playing techniques in depth. John Schneider for many years has been a leading player and scholar of contemporary classical guitar. WORLD WIDE WEB As you’d expect, there are lots of web sites and YouTube videos to be found. You can try search terms like “prepared guitar” or “guitar preparations,” “tabletop guitar,” “extended techniques for guitar,” and “guitar modifications.” A fine example, available at the time of this writing, is a YouTube video entitled Keith Rowe - Prepared Guitar*. The video features performance footage accompanied by Keith’s philosophical reflections on many years of avant-garde guitar work. PERFORMING ARTISTS Of people who have explored the field of modified guitar, the list is long. Many of these people have recordings available, and many have some presence on the internet. Jimi Hendrix was known to use a wide range of alternate extended techniques arising from his left-handed guitar playing on upside-down right-handed guitars. This allowed him to use the tremolo arm while playing rhythm guitar and fast on/ off switching with his hand on a Strat. Syd Barrett experimented heavily with his Zippo lighter as a slide in tracks like ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and other early experimental Pink Floyd songs. This technique was used by many blues players before him, but he took the technique to much more radical levels of unruly expression. Although Hendrix, Barrett and other contemporaries developed a lot of extended techniques, they still played a regular guitar that was not adjusted with added objects that affected the timbre of the guitar itself. One of the first guitar players who adopted John Cage’s prepared piano techniques to guitar was Keith Rowe, starting around 1965. Unfortunatelly Rowe spent many years in obscurity, until he was re-discovered in the 90s. In 1974 Fred Frith popularized the technique by releasing the famous prepared guitar album called ‘Guitar Solos’. Many other guitarists followed in the mid-70s. Among experimental free jazz guitarists especially, it was hip to flirt with these techniques. In the ensuing years, preparations and extended techniques found a place in the modern classical environment as well, as can be seen in the books by John Schneider, Peter Yates, and Matthew Elgart mentioned above. With apologies to any we may have omitted, here is a short list of other players of prepared and modified guitars: In Germany Erhard Hirt, Frank Rühl, Annette Krebs, Hainer Wörmann, Hans Tammen. In France Jean-Marc Montera, Sharif Sehnaoui. In the US Glenn Branca, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Bill Horist, Roger Kleier, Nick Didkovsky, Chris Forsyth. In Japan Kazuhisa Uchihashi. And in the UK John Russell and most recently Mica Levi (aka Micachu). Other guitarists including Neil Feather, Bradford Reed and Hans Reichel are known for their instrument building as well as for their prepared guitar playing. *www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnUVpiFHhmM
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