Iām a great fan of the band DryCleaning. Ever since i learned about the existence of Florence Shaw via the Sleaford Modās song Force Ten From Navarone.
Now iāve read an interview with Tom Dowse, the guitar player of the band, and i was surprised to read that he doesnāt know the names of chords. This, and some other things, really blew me away.
Quote:
āI donāt really know the names of chords. I naturally made my own path, not because I wanted to do something different, just because Iām not very good at learning technical things. I never really learned other peopleās songs or looked at tabs. Use your ears instead of looking at a tab because then youāll end up with a bad version of that original thing, but maybe something good of your own.ā
End quote.
Cool song. Interesting blend of electronic and melodic punk maybe, totally Indy type music for sure. I would not expect to hear on the radio but down at the university.
I guess since their label Rough Trade is a independent record company they are technically an Indy band.
Interesting approach in our time. I could understand this was more common a few centuries back when literacy was not so widespread and most people who played whatever instrument just had to rely on their ears and what their parents / friends showed them, but in the context of the present, it seems somewhat of an ignorant approach to me. Sure, if the end results justify this approach and it works for him, more power to him. But if I knew someone who wanted to learn any instrument, Iād definitely recommend them to learn at least some basic theory, even if naming your open chords is not āreallyā a question of theory at that stage.
Iām very cynical when I read that musicians donāt āknowā basic things. Of course he knows the names of chords. He is being disingenuous. Deliberately I believe. I have just watched some of their KEXP performance. He does play some interesting parts, melodic riffs that have him holding some strings high up the neck with maybe one or two open strings. He may not have enough theory to fully name those āchordsā he is arpeggiating. But I can guarantee he knows G, Am, D, C etc.
I remember, long, long ago, in my formative teenage years, reading an interview with Alex Lifeson, of Rush, in which he claimed that he didnāt practice scales. I was taken in by this and decided I didnāt need scales etc. to play great music. I was wrong and spent many years in the wilderness of being a crap player making noise with no value. I was being creative and finding my own voice but it was all rubbish. What Mr Lifeson really meant was way more nuanced - having learned scales, he spent his time using them to create and make music. If anybody today, including Alex himself, were to tell me he doesnāt know scales, I will call it out for the falsehood it is.
@Jozsef exactly what i thought. These days itās really easy to get info about any topic you want. Including guitar. I couldnāt do a thing without at least some basic theory.
@Richard_close2u I wonder why he would do that? Does he want people to look at him like heās some sort of savant, or something?
If heās being disingenuous, that would be a shame. If you can tell that he does know his basic chords, then surely other people, who know, could too.
Saying you donāt know basic things in an interview, when on stage you clearly display that you do, makes him look disingenuous indeed.
This troubles me. Why not be honest about it? He could have told the story of how he got where he is now, instead of this.
Iām listening to Trout mask replica right nowā¦
I must say that it soundsā¦ well, letās just say itās not my cup of teaā¦
Never understood this kind of music to be honest.
Donāt understand his method either, until i read that he said he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. That somewhat helpsā¦
I suspect itās at least in part for brevityās sake. I tend to talk too much and lean towards telling stories like that. And I can tell that some people donāt like it. But my brain doesnāt always work with brevity in the middle of a conversation. I have to sit with something fleshed out in detail and edit it down.
And part of it, I bet, is related to the way the question was posed, also. Article author is trying to avoid lengthy anecdotes for their article and so phrases the question in such a way to nudge the subject a particular direction.
Maybe if given more time to think about it, the musician could still be brief yet also cover some of that nuance. But in the heat of an interview/conversation, they miss those details.
Iāve spoken to people who have been interviewed by the media. At length in the case of my wife. Theyāre very skilled at getting soundbites and quick quotes. But those never tell the whole story.
