chaoseverlasting said:
Wow. Those are amazing songs. What other songs are there along the lines of Albatross and Wicked Games? Another song that I like is Since I've Been Loving You (Led Zep) which is also quite hollow in certain places.
The thing is, that I'm part of a band, and whatever stuff we write on our own, tends towards blues based classic rock, but they're very "involved" (I don't know if that the right word). As in, they're complex but are very full as opposed to the hollowness of say Albatross or Wicked Games, and most of the music I've been exposed to is complex but also very full and I wanted to try something like this, but I had no idea what to listen to or where to start looking.
Can I give you some advice? If so, read on.
Pare down your arrangements. Not everybody has to be playing at the same time, and if they are, most of the parts should be simple, leaving room for one another. Guitar leads don't have to be heavy, riff-laden, or over-the top. Accurate bends and tasteful vibrato can sound great in a pared-down setting. Listen to Freddie King - he sings a bit, his guitar "sings" a bit, etc, all over a spare rhythm section. This is perhaps the flashiest lead I've ever heard from Freddie, but that's because he's working the crowd in a live venue. His studio stuff is meticulous, and Eric Clapton has copied him to a "T" on lots of pieces.
Next, your rhythm section should be playing rhythm, with the drums and bass keeping the beat and reinforcing one another. Sounds simple, except that this is a real problem for lots of bands, especially starting out. The drummer wants to throw in some flashy stuff, and the bass player has listened to too much Jaco, and wants to infest your music with pops and snaps like the Seinfeld theme. In a band setting, the bass player should stay in the lower registers most of the time, providing a foundation for the music. I used to run blues jams on weekends sometimes, and it was pretty depressing to see bass players showing up with 6-string basses and cabinets loaded with aluminum-coned speakers. When bass players (older guys, often) would show up with a Fender Jazz bass and an old Ampeg portaflex amp, that usually bode well for a good afternoon/evening.
I generally played humbucker-equipped guitars through my home-made Tweed Deluxe clone when I wanted a little "dirt". That small amp is easily overdriven and you get some nice tones without blowing the audience's ears out. Switch over to a Strat for cleaner tones, and you've got a lot of territory covered. You can accomplish this with a Blues Junior or other small Fender tube amp. If you have to use pedals for distortion, you're taking too much amp to your gigs.
Here is another Fleetwood Mac number - "Like it this way" The sound quality isn't what it could be, but for a live performance in that time-frame, it's not bad. Several things to note:
MacVie and Fleetwood play simply and stay tight. They were the best rhythm section in the British blues scene, and Peter Green named his band after them, even though MacVie had not yet agreed to leave Mayall's Blues-Breakers to join them.
Green and Kirwan stay out of each others' way, so even though this song gives them both a chance to be flashy guitar-slingers, they don't muddy things up. They take turns swapping leads, and for further "space" Green keeps his tone fat (heavy midrange) while Kirwan keeps his tone thinner. A pair of guitarists trying to pull this off without considering this would really stink up the place.
The song is simple and concise. The lyrics are very basic and serve as a framework within which the guitarists can swap leads. Also the leads (as such) tend to be simple, and are delivered in a call-and-answer format that accentuates the tonal differences between the guitars (one fat, one thin).
By the way, did you know that Peter Green wrote Black Magic Woman, and FM had a hit with it before Santana covered it? Note how solid the rhythm section is, and how spare and clean the guitar is. It isn't until the middle of the piece that Danny Kirwan starts jumping in with some backing riffs, and Mick Fleetwood starts driving the beat with cymbals. All through the first half of the song, the drumming is so spare that you could drive a truck through it anywhere. The surprise comes at the end when you realize that the "reverb" is actually ambient reflected sound, and the song was recorded in front of a live crowd. The studio version is very good, too. BTW, this version may have been recorded at the Boston Tea Party.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ELydnDgKY&feature=related
I hope this helps. I certainly wish someone had cued me in on some of this stuff back in the '60's. Trial-and-error is a hard way to learn, especially on-stage.
