Monday, November 05, 2007

WHAT THE F !


A Spanish acoustic guitar is fantastic in many ways. It sounds great, is relatively easy to start playing (not easy to master it though), if you play chords well it can be a great accompaniment to a good singing voice, simple to carry around - most of all it can solve some problems for lonely musicians. Okay- most of my musician friends would raise their eyebrows in harmony if they hear that word being used in my context. (I confess, I am not one. lonely, sometimes, but "musician", not yet!). Lets, settle for Lonely Wannabe Musician.
So here is the thing - When I was in College, we started this light rock band called Dhwni and played together for more than 3 years. All of us still say that those were the best years of life. Yes, college had a part to play in it - but it was the music, the special bonding amongst band mates and the adrenalin rush of performing live was the real stuff - the kind of stuff that can come back to you when you are getting towards mid 30's in your fancy tie and stuck in that traffic jam in your fancy car !
Anyways, I was the drummer in this band and once we left college , while the guitarists and the singers and the piano guys continued to do what they were doing (musically speaking), I was stuck. Wanted to play, but there was no outlet. You cannot sit in your bedroom on a Saturday afternoon and bang away on the drums really, its not that kind of an instrument. At least that's the way it works for me, I need a band to play with and solo was not my deal was never good enough to do a solo.
The above state of affairs has continued for the last 12 years and all along I have thought of taking up the Spanish Guitar. My friend Neeraj Khanna ( A very accomplished Guitarist - Lead Guitarist of Sonic Flare) even gifted me a box guitar - a nice jumbo with a very good hum - which i played for several years. Over the last 3-4 years this guitar was getting very difficult to tune and I began to doubt my own ability - "If I cant even tune a guitar - then I cannot play it". Therefore I stopped when i had started picking up the guitar a bit.
But, last Friday, some thing happened that changed things - I was in conference organised by my organisation and like all our conferences, this one too ended with a session of singing late into the night with much alcohol and delirium. My friend Harsh had got a guitar for me to play and sing. A brand new F Cut beauty. I tuned the completely out of tune guitar in about 40 seconds in a reasonable inebriated state (no it was not the alcohol - i also checked with some sane parties, if the sound was OK) and played it for 3 hours after that. Confidence boost happened and this confirmed that my ear was not really out of tune but the problem was more with my old guitar that had warped and bent with age and cannot be tuned unless repaired.
So, last Sunday, I have acquired a beauty - A brand new YAMAHA Acoustic 310 Spanish Guitar. Cost me a bit - but every sound that it produces gives me a ROI and I am feeling great. Have been trying to play a lot of things and am trying to continue from where I left 4 years back. I just recalled that I was stuck last perfecting the F Major Chord properly. I can play most of the other Chords, their minors, their suspended versions and the works, but I just cannot master the F major Chord. Therefore, the only thing that stands between the lonely musician and his music today is the Major Chord F. What the F !

13 comments:

SunnyBlueSky said...

i still remember your headbanging on "november rain" at the amphi party...that too at 3am......ROCK ON DUDE........

Dev said...

Waah - koi to mera blog padh raha hai. maza aa gaya

JV said...

What fun...love love LOVE playing the guitar. I remember when I was in the 8th grade, I literally guilted my poor mom in to buying me a guitar for all of 1000Rswith her first salary...she had just started a job. Anyway, all these years later, it is still at home waiting for me...need to bring it back with me on my next trip. Of course it was nothing fancy but gosh I still have dreams of being a rocker chick...:-)))

Dev said...

JV - is that you Jaya ?

Harsh said...

Oh man are becoming hi tec now a days literature!!!! Chad yaar daru saaru peena ha & lets enjoy. But I 'll tell you good time u spent in writing blogs. Good Job!!! Now you have to travel a lot & suggest us where to go. From your experience only we'll visit new places

Sudhir syal said...

It showed in our Drunken discourses at Coorg Dev, You or we were quite fantastic. :)

I think in life, it's very important to try and be a perfectionist. To perfect an art, to set the benchmark high and to aim for quality. If there is one thing, I hate about the internet, it's the fact that it gives undue attention to talentless pretenders.

Pretenders who get away with being ordinary, they can't write, can't communicate, can't command respect on their achievments alone. Why, because on the internet, quality is no longer important. Quality has no value.

You scratch 5 peoples backs, they will scratch yours. And it's a vicious cycle, cause none of those 5 have any connotation or intention of ever producing something that's truly quality. And why would they, quality as someone put it is difficult to create and even more difficult to consume. I mean wouldn't it be easier, for you to put sum random photo, talk about some random event and scribble 3 lines in ordinary English?

It would. It would be even more easier for 3 ordinary people to come over and put 3 ordinary comments.

But, I think in everything you do Dev, it's great to see that you believe in doing it well. Going that extra-mile and learning how to stand out. There is a lot to learn from you.

Sorry for my ramble, but there is something I will tell you about in due course which has triggered it. As for the pretenders, as the famous saying goes, "You can fool some of the people, some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people, all the time but not all the people all the time."

And that time is very near...

Dev said...

I agree with your observations Sudhir. What is the point in doing something if you are not doing it for yousrself too. And how can you do some thing for yourself, if you do not think highly of it as well. I have read your posts and let me tell you, there is some very high quality of writing there and some super humour as well. You will go very far my friend, just keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Dev,

YOu were awesome in the green rooms at SIT. I recollect a guy called Martin used to come from SSIT. Also, I remember you gave vocals for "Takin it Easy" by The Eagles. You were really cool. I am desperately trying to recollect what else you guys used to play -- GNR's sweet Child of mine and I think Smoke on the Water by Depp Purple too....or, was that something that Rubber Band played later? Just hazy man...but, believe me, you were really cool -- in your bike doing tthe Blore-Tumkur trips...your friendship with Chennabasvappa or whatever that Princi's name is, your dadagiri on the localites (I have no idea how you managed that, man -- must be the BiHarry in you...ehe he he he...)

Sri

Dev said...

heh heh Sri - thanks a lot dude - clearly we know each other- so who are u ?

Ya, we used to play Eagles, Bon Jovi ("Always" being the favourite), a bit of Deff Lep, lots by GNR (Knocking on heavens door, sweet child of mine etc)- a few Hindi Songs...ya rubber band did deep purple not us !

Great that some one remembers at least ! Sri - u made my day today man

Anonymous said...

Dev,

Come on man....

How can you even question if someone remembers you?!!

Let me give you some pointers on your legacy....

1. You were the sole master and conqueror of Room No 20 in BV Block -- the room allocated to all maharajas of SIT i.e. all the dadas and luchchas. You were the big dog that got the big room yaar.

2. You were the best JAM master that SIT has ever known or will ever know man. You were fast, crisp, witty, engaging, popular, you had your shares of subtle double entendres....

3. You changed the culture of SIT from a backwaters, "yen maga" and/or "kya be" and/or "yenna da" culture (as demonstrated by folks from the extreme South and extreme North of our nation, respectively). You were the pioneer and visionary who started the rock band Dhwani and our annual college festival (you know what...I forget the name...was it Halcyon..I recollect you told me why it was Halcyon...something about temperate climes and so on..or spirit of enquiry and so on...). You made SIT more cosmopolitan...you gave hope to those of us who came after you that we could have a LIFE in that swamp (my SIT memories are, unfortunately, not as rosy as yours. In fact, this sounds weird...I woke up late last night thinking that I had lost my elgi...believe me, I still get nightmares..this is absolutely true..my experiences there were not good man...)

4. You were the king of Anantram's tuffrey yaar -- with all your paltan...that guy Sudham who probably still has that duffer hat of his every single second of the day...I think he had it stitched to that quasi-mullet of his..who else do I recollect...there was a short and thin guy who was also your roomie (Abhi? The same Abhi of Bong intellectual fame? I think he was in Chemical Engg...)...then there was Madrasi Amar..who went to Detroit for some Y2K work...there was that muchchad Vinu/Dinu...who looked like the next avatar of any quintessential South Indian hero....the hairy scary types (I kid...actually he was very sweet)....your gang was all set man...you loved your sandwich and banana milk shake at Anantram's tuffrey man...I have also seen you belt major bhajjis and samosas at Murthy's tuffrey...

5. And, since your missus is going to be reading this blog...I am not going to mention about that watering hole that you and your paltan frequented, opposite of the college gate...I believe it was Laxmi bar? (Yeh padhke mera post delete mat kariyo).

6. On top of all this madness, you performed very well academically, you were bum pals with the college Princi, you kept the localites tight on a leash (as they deserved to be), you played badminton too (am I right?)....how did you not get insane man??

Sharab aur kabab ka tu badshah tha yaar...as far as shabab is concerned..I do not know...I think you were quite disciplined on that front...he he he....And, you are wondering if "someone remembers"?!! Come on dude!!! You were omnipresent and omniscient in SIT man. Teri yaadein (ya pagalpan...jo bhi kaho) hamesha ke liye, aneko ke dimaagon mein rahengi...

Sri

Dev said...

abe sri ! Any one who reads this...I did not write the above post. Some called Sri has.(rest of the name not disclosed)...baap re !!

Sri - pls write an email to me and disclose your identity as the suspense is getting too much now dude !

Btw Halcyon is a brid that comes from far away lands and signifies the change of weather and hence commencement of celebrations and much festivity.

Anonymous said...

This is great info to know.

Unknown said...

What the F......is soon going to turn to .....
yes .....this is the F.......

Let's keep rocking......trust me its going to be a fun journey.......