UNDER THE INFLUENCE...
Posted by
Sid Smith
on Nov 14, 2013
- This post is archived and may no longer be relevant
It’s always interesting to learn of New Standard Tuning in non-traditional settings. Bay area band, Rocket Moth have employed NST on parts of their debut album, Mesolow.
Hannah Stobbart, British singer with the group said “We’re big Crimson fans...Our music doesn’t claim to be ’progressive’ exactly but there is a conscious Fripp connection - the Guitar Craft standard tuning features on several of our tracks.
I might be wrong, but I imagine that this represents a relatively rare usage of that tuning within a broadly ’Pop’ setting (and without any connection whatever to Guitar Craft/Circle etc). Funnily enough, one of the tracks in question has an almost ’country’ lilt to it! My other Fripp connection is that I’m owned by house rabbits”
Hannah Stobbart, British singer with the group said “We’re big Crimson fans...Our music doesn’t claim to be ’progressive’ exactly but there is a conscious Fripp connection - the Guitar Craft standard tuning features on several of our tracks.
I might be wrong, but I imagine that this represents a relatively rare usage of that tuning within a broadly ’Pop’ setting (and without any connection whatever to Guitar Craft/Circle etc). Funnily enough, one of the tracks in question has an almost ’country’ lilt to it! My other Fripp connection is that I’m owned by house rabbits”
The other half of Rocket Moth, Paul Craddick, commented "I don’t claim to understand any of the deeper intentions around Guitar Craft/Guitar Circle practice and pedagogy, but I like the idea of this tuning leaving the ‘cloister’ so to speak and entering the messy world of the self-taught, intuitive guitarist, within the envelope of broadly Pop music..
During the writing sessions for our debut album Mesolow, two and a half songs were written in GCST (one of which we plan on releasing as a bonus track, as it didn’t make it on the album). For the recording, two of our favorite guitar solos were played on a Les Paul in GCST, and many supplemental parts in the tuning were added to several of the remaining tracks.
The standout GCST track on Mesolow is Laura, which was written and performed on a beautiful Martin acoustic that seems to have welcomed being strung in GCST. ‘Laura’ is a very simple, open track -- with an almost countryish verse and a Beatles-y chorus.
To our ears, the song’s GCST chord voicings are really lovely and make the song. We considered thanking Robert on the album for ‘inventing’ the tuning (if that’s the right word), but decided against it as we worried that it might come across as o-t-t. Regardless, we’re grateful for this magical tuning, which is a real gift."
You can listen to Laura here and check out the rest of the album on a sampler over on the band’s website.
During the writing sessions for our debut album Mesolow, two and a half songs were written in GCST (one of which we plan on releasing as a bonus track, as it didn’t make it on the album). For the recording, two of our favorite guitar solos were played on a Les Paul in GCST, and many supplemental parts in the tuning were added to several of the remaining tracks.
The standout GCST track on Mesolow is Laura, which was written and performed on a beautiful Martin acoustic that seems to have welcomed being strung in GCST. ‘Laura’ is a very simple, open track -- with an almost countryish verse and a Beatles-y chorus.
To our ears, the song’s GCST chord voicings are really lovely and make the song. We considered thanking Robert on the album for ‘inventing’ the tuning (if that’s the right word), but decided against it as we worried that it might come across as o-t-t. Regardless, we’re grateful for this magical tuning, which is a real gift."
You can listen to Laura here and check out the rest of the album on a sampler over on the band’s website.
