“Putting a banjo tuning on the guitar was a very easy, good thing to do. Another tremendously good idea was playing against the tuning key — if you’re in open G, play in the key of D. You get these inverted chords. And rhythm mandolin was a pretty good idea — if there’s three guitar players on a session, why would you want to be the fourth?”

- Ry Cooder, via Rolling Stone: Link.

I love Cooder’s work. He’s an awesome musician with a range of talents — sensitive and gutsy at the same time.

Those three good ideas belong to an earlier stage of his career (he’s now 61). Of his more recent work his says:

“Since the Cuban experience, I am at least a hundred percent better. Before, I knew some moves, and I thought of three good ideas. But now everything is more fluid with the rhythms.”

~ Karl Jones

© karl_g_jones for Babel: The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Gavin Edwards, Guitar, Ry Cooder

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