LARRY DONN writes for Now Dig This
SOUND AND SCOTTY MOORE'S AMAZING BRAIN
There is an old question, probably made up by some physics teacher to
make his students think, that asks: When a tree falls in the forest and
there are no ears present to hear it, does it make a sound? Or, if
Scotty Moore put his famous Echosonic amplifier in the middle of the
forest, using a mile-long guitar lead so he wouldn't be able to hear the
amplifier, then hired a small army to search the wood and remove
everything with ears, would the amplifier still make a sound? No. Sound
occurs in the brain... it is the brain's interpretations of waves in the
air, which are similar to the waves from a stone tossed into water.
Until the waves touch something that can detect and identify them, they
are just ripples in the air. The air around the amplifier, espcially in
front of the speaker, would be writhing with all manner of complex
waves, and might even shatter crystal, but it isn't sound until it is
detected by an ear and called sound by a brain.
Think for a bit about the sounds you hear every day; almost every
waking minute you are hearing something, even if it's just your own
heavy breathing, and most minutes you are hearing many sounds... traffic,
talking, dogs barking, leaves in the wind, insects buzzing. The brain
sorts them out, identifies them, notifies you of those that are
important... sudden, loud sounds can mean danger... and tells you which
can be ignored. It also tells you the approximate direction of the
source of the sound, and occasionally some bits of information about
it... the man next door is talking; sounds as if he has a cold; he has a
black beard; I wonder when he's going to return my lawnmower... oh,
there's the train, it must be two o'clock, and so on. Consider how
amazing it is that the brain can process all these sounds, check your
memories for related information, keep your body operating, allow you to
write a letter, watch a teevy show and eat a sandwich, all at the same
time.
When Scotty plays the guitar, his brain is directing his fingers to
press the strings at certain points and pluck them. The movement of the
metal strings causes disturbances in a magnetic field which surrounds
the guitar's pickups, including an electric current in the pickup's coil
of wire. The current travels through the guitar lead to the amplifier,
which makes it stronger and sends it to the coil of wire in the speaker,
causing the flexible speaker cone to move forward and back, making waves
in the air which cause Scotty's eardrum to vibrate, sending the signals
to his brain, which interprets them and tells him rather his fingers are
hitting the right notes. This all happens with every note he plays, and
the process is completed before he plays the next note.
When Scotty is playing with a band, his brain also has to co-ordinate
his rhythm with the other musicians, making sure his notes fit within
the boundries of the beat. If he hits a wrong note, sometimes the
brain will immediately change the next few notes to a pattern which will
make the "wrong" note sound right. I don't think I've ever heard Scotty
hit a wrong note, but then I've only heard him play in person a couple
of times. Of course there is that solo in 'Too Much' where he lost his
way and wandered around for several notes, but he eventually found the
way back and managed to end it on what sounds to me like the right spot,
and another "classic" Scotty Moore solo took a spot in musical history.
I wonder what he intended to play? It's quite possible that he had
nothing in mind, and intended to just let his fingers go wherever they
wanted, as many musicians do.
And I haven't (to this point) said anything at all about the discussion
Scotty's brain has with itself before each note or group of notes,
called "licks" by most pickers. It has to decide rather the "licks"
might be offensive to anyone in the neighbourhood. All the while, his
brain also has to think about the next song, how long before the show is
over, maybe the promoter has skipped out with the money, severe
abdominal cramps from yesterday's extra-hot chili con carne and can he
hold it 'til the show is over, the sore finger that got caught in the
car door, a sinus infection, a headache and about four hours sleep in
the past week. That's besides controlling his breathing, heart rate,
digestion, temperature, blood circulation and all the other things his
body requires to stay alive. Now, don't start thinking too hard about
what's going on in your brain while you're plaing the guitar or you
might get brain cramps and not be able to play at all.
I don't think I've ever heard Scotty sing, but if he decides to become a
singer as well as a guitar player, his brain will almost be doing
double-duty. The processing by the brain is slightly different for
singers than for guitar players, but if one does both at the same time,
the brain has to sort the signals out and give the proper instructions
to the fingers as well as to the lungs, vocal cords, throat muscles,
diaphragm muscles, tongue and mouth. The human mind can only give full
attention to one thing at a time, but the brain can put some things,
usually repetitive things like heartbeats, breathing, digestion and
blood circulation on a sort of "automatic pilot", and can be trained to
do the same with music. When I'm playing 'Honey Bun' on the piano, I
think of my boogie-woogieing left hand only occasionally; most of my
attention is on either my voice or my right hand, and I only give the
left hand a fraction of a second's thought every few beats, but it keeps
on playing. While I am singing, both hands are generally on
"automatic", but I will often put the voice on "automatic" for a few
beats so I can give full attention to the right hand for a few notes.
With practice, many musicians can eventually learn to shift full
attention from one hand to the other so fast that the brain can process
both signals as one.
When I was on the road in the '70s, we played many of the same songs
every night. We were pretty much playing "hit" arrangements then, and I
learned that after I played a song the same way several times, I could
put everything, even the solos, on "automatic pilot" and think about
some thing else while playing. While playing a club in Monroe,
Louisiana, in the mid-'60s, the bass player and I actually read comic
books on stage while we were playing. The organ had a flat top, and we
spread a comic book out on it. We only did this on the dull nights.
However simple you play, your brain and your fingers have to be trained,
to some degree. The more proper training they get, the more complex you
can play. What it all boils down to is practice. Your brain can't turn
you into a great musician if you won't co-operate.
In the early '60s, The Ventures did an instrumental called 'Walk, Don't
Run'. My guitar player insisted he couldn't play it, and apparently
didn't want to learn, so I decided I would learn it, though I had played
no lead guitar to speak of before. I sat down with the guitar and the
record and learned the song in an hour or so, then I had to play it over
and over about twenty times until my brain and fingers were trained well
enough to play it smoothly and accurately. I still play it
occasionally. I did the same with Floyd Cramer's 'Last Date'. I put
the record player on one end of the piano stool and worked it out on the
piano line by line until I got it right, then played it until I could do
it almost without thinking about it. Of course, learning to play a song
the way someone else plays it involves different brain circuits than
creating solos no one has ever played before.
I'd like (what guitar player wouldn't??) to browse around in Scotty's
brain for a few days and read his files. There are so many stories
recorded there that will never be told, and so many more "classic"
guitar solos that we will never hear. You know without doubt that in
his mind he has created some incredible solos from time to time over the
years that were never recorded, and most were never even played on a
guitar, except in his thoughts. Perhaps before he moves to Hawaii,
science will come up with a gadget that will store the entire contents
of his memory on computer disks, complete with sound and pictures. Now
that I think about it, I can't think of anybody in his right mind who
would want his life's memories recorded in detail for the whole universe
to see. I sure wouldn't, and I'll bet Scotty wouldn't either. Scotty,
if there are any stories you've never told, you can send them to me and
I'll say they came from "an authoritative source that wishes to remain
anonymous", like the newspapers and television reporters do.
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