In my last post I talked about Madonna's appearance at the Live Earth concert and all the controversy about whether or not she's really playing that beautiful Les Paul Guitar.
Well, I would just LOVE to report to you that the guitar playing is another product of Madonna "phoneyism" but after reviewing the tape several times ...
I think she's really playing that guitar.
First, before I talk about why I think she's playing it herself ... let me just say that that dress she's wearing is sexier than any of her 80's costumes - no matter how revealing they were. So she's done a good move here with the dress. And the guitar compliments the dress perfectly - so this is another example of Madonna's genius showmanship. You can't take that away from her.
Now ... on the guitar - and by the way I've been a guitar player for many years now - I believe she's playing it alrighty.
First - let's remember that George Harrison turned his guitar completely off one night when he performed a song live, on stage with Carl Perkins. George just said "Carl had it all covered - what part was I going to play? So I turned the volume off!".
No one knew that George's guitar wasn't making a sound that night - so that's evidence that some bad playing, or in George's case - even NON-playing - can be covered by the rest of the musicians in the band.
But I believe that Madonna was turned up - I believe you can hear her guitar - but it's a bit buried. Watch her hand movements - for 90% of the song she's playing two "power chords". Power chords are chords that are played on only two or three strings usually. Madonna's playing is basically a guitar reinforcement of the song's bass line. Listen to it ... two chords and they really don't change ... "Bom, Bom ... Bom, Bom ... Bom, Bom ... Bom, Bom"
So, it's not like she's playing a Jimi Hendrix lead here. Her guitar is not the one in the foreground - it's a backing guitar playing almost elementary rhythm. Even the most primitive 12-bar blues line is many times more sophisticated than what Madonna is playing.
There are a couple of times when she gets a little inventive and "surfs" the fretboard - but it's nothing complicated - it's just typical barre chord stuff - using the basic movable shapes (actually it looks like she's only using ONE shape to me and just sliding it where she needs it). I would estimate, that for what she's doing - if that's all she can do - then she's probably been playing for about 4 to 6 months and most of that time would be spent on finger dexterity and toughening up the fingertips on her left hand. Even though what she's doing is not complicated - there's a physical adjustment you have to get used to and those barre chords - even though simple - do hurt in the beginning.
It's not easy to get your hands to work through a whole song when you first pick up a guitar - so she's been playing. She could have practiced this song ... and only this song ... for a few months to get to this point but I doubt it. She's probably been playing for awhile now and was looking for a simple way to weave her guitar playing into a song. She did a very good job here because only a guitar player can really identify the basic level of playing she's demonstrating.
I would also add that it's clear to me she's been getting instruction - and probably from someone who's a "purist" player in the classical sense. She holds the pick a bit too perfectly and the barre chords look a bit too perfect also. You could contrast the way she's playing with the way Chuck Berry or Keith Richards sloppily moved around on a fretboard - they were very different, mostly because they were self-taught or learned from others who taught themselves. Madonna seems to be using textbook technique here - something that a good instructor would encourage.
The feedback trick she does at the end - is very sexy but it's very easy to do.
So in my opinion - Kudo's to Madonna - she's playing and perhaps we'll see more complicated things coming from her in the future. It's a good performance I think ... you be the judge ...
Well, I would just LOVE to report to you that the guitar playing is another product of Madonna "phoneyism" but after reviewing the tape several times ...
I think she's really playing that guitar.
First, before I talk about why I think she's playing it herself ... let me just say that that dress she's wearing is sexier than any of her 80's costumes - no matter how revealing they were. So she's done a good move here with the dress. And the guitar compliments the dress perfectly - so this is another example of Madonna's genius showmanship. You can't take that away from her.
Now ... on the guitar - and by the way I've been a guitar player for many years now - I believe she's playing it alrighty.
First - let's remember that George Harrison turned his guitar completely off one night when he performed a song live, on stage with Carl Perkins. George just said "Carl had it all covered - what part was I going to play? So I turned the volume off!".
No one knew that George's guitar wasn't making a sound that night - so that's evidence that some bad playing, or in George's case - even NON-playing - can be covered by the rest of the musicians in the band.
But I believe that Madonna was turned up - I believe you can hear her guitar - but it's a bit buried. Watch her hand movements - for 90% of the song she's playing two "power chords". Power chords are chords that are played on only two or three strings usually. Madonna's playing is basically a guitar reinforcement of the song's bass line. Listen to it ... two chords and they really don't change ... "Bom, Bom ... Bom, Bom ... Bom, Bom ... Bom, Bom"
So, it's not like she's playing a Jimi Hendrix lead here. Her guitar is not the one in the foreground - it's a backing guitar playing almost elementary rhythm. Even the most primitive 12-bar blues line is many times more sophisticated than what Madonna is playing.
There are a couple of times when she gets a little inventive and "surfs" the fretboard - but it's nothing complicated - it's just typical barre chord stuff - using the basic movable shapes (actually it looks like she's only using ONE shape to me and just sliding it where she needs it). I would estimate, that for what she's doing - if that's all she can do - then she's probably been playing for about 4 to 6 months and most of that time would be spent on finger dexterity and toughening up the fingertips on her left hand. Even though what she's doing is not complicated - there's a physical adjustment you have to get used to and those barre chords - even though simple - do hurt in the beginning.
It's not easy to get your hands to work through a whole song when you first pick up a guitar - so she's been playing. She could have practiced this song ... and only this song ... for a few months to get to this point but I doubt it. She's probably been playing for awhile now and was looking for a simple way to weave her guitar playing into a song. She did a very good job here because only a guitar player can really identify the basic level of playing she's demonstrating.
I would also add that it's clear to me she's been getting instruction - and probably from someone who's a "purist" player in the classical sense. She holds the pick a bit too perfectly and the barre chords look a bit too perfect also. You could contrast the way she's playing with the way Chuck Berry or Keith Richards sloppily moved around on a fretboard - they were very different, mostly because they were self-taught or learned from others who taught themselves. Madonna seems to be using textbook technique here - something that a good instructor would encourage.
The feedback trick she does at the end - is very sexy but it's very easy to do.
So in my opinion - Kudo's to Madonna - she's playing and perhaps we'll see more complicated things coming from her in the future. It's a good performance I think ... you be the judge ...
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