As I mentioned previously in this post, I love the Velvet Underground. Especially Pale Blue Eyes, which is the song in the post. Since the day I posted that, my gears have really been turning.
You see – recently I’ve been in a creative slump. By recently I mean for about 2 years or so. Through the course of events of my life I’ve gotten a little lost from myself. My sense of style, my sense of self, my affinities. . .
Yesterday afternoon I woke up (I’d been sleeping like the dead all night because I was quite sick) with that song stuck in my head and I couldn’t get it out. I had to figure out how to play it on my guitar, so I did a quick youtube search and found a pretty informative video on the rhythm guitar section of the song. For me it was informative, anyway. I own several guitars and have dabbled over the last 20 years or so, but I am by no stretch of the imagination a guitar player.
I learned a form of drop tuning that the Velvet Underground uses quite a lot, how to play the song (of course – which is actually quite simple I might add) and the guy in the video talked about Sterling Morrison’s lead guitar playing.
Now starts the spiral. . .
When we were first in college, my brother and I used to play this game with Wikipedia where we’d look something up we were interested in and then once we’d read the article, we’d click on a link to something referenced in the article. More on this process in the next post.
I am a curious person. I always have been. Therefore, whenever any little thing pops into my head, I have to look it up and read about it, hence my brain is full of a lot of useless knowledge that is only of interest to me as a whole (I’m sure that is not uncommon. . . ). I’ve had friends tell me that I’ve always got a “scientist fact” to add about whatever non-sense we are talking about.
Because of this – I’d like to do a little series for my reader(s) about what I’ve come across in this most recent delving.
Stay tuned for part 1 – The Velvet Underground.
xoxo
-S
Diet Coke and Hair-Spray 