[kj] OT: Speaking of Bo Diddley...

ade ade at the-lab.zetnet.co.uk
Sat Jun 7 06:09:02 EDT 2008


He does indeed mix it up rhythm-wise. I wouldn't say there's any specific time-signature, he'll
mess about within the current time everyone is in. He's a bastard ;)

-----Original Message-----
From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net]On Behalf Of sade1
Sent: 07 June 2008 01:02
To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
Subject: Re: [kj] OT: Speaking of Bo Diddley...



For all the guit'enthusiasts on here,

i read somewhere last night that Bo Diddley tended to use a certain time-signature as part of his trademark rhythm/sound. I think they said it was 5/8 [i know nothing about time sigs, i couldn't tap out a 4/4 if my life depended on it]

My question is, doesn't Geordie also use a certain rhythm/time-sig in lots of his work? I hear something constant in lots of his work and i thought maybe it's a time-sig or similar.







... ... ... ... ... ...
(looking at the current state of things)

'Save me..
save me from Tomorrow..
I don't want to sail in this Ship Of Fools...!'


--- On Fri, 6/6/08, ade <ade at the-lab.zetnet.co.uk> wrote:


From: ade <ade at the-lab.zetnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [kj] OT: Speaking of Bo Diddley...
To: "A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)" <gathering at misera.net>
Date: Friday, June 6, 2008, 2:30 PM


Totally pioneering - I think it took someone like Hendrix to then come

along & mutate that rhythmic barrage of Diddley's into the 'next

step',

or progression.



All fucking Alchemists in my mind. Nevertheless, I'd say the ideas behind

something like Geordie's use of slap-back delay on lots of Nighttime goes

directly back to Rock'n'rollers, Rockabilly, etc. As you say, the

'twang'.

Dirt that twang up slightly, add chorus, turn up the repeats on the slap-

back & you have the bells of Nighttime!



Even Hank Marvin was initially awe-inspiring, with tape-delay, trem, etc.



I think those sounds had a profound effect on Geordie. Sabre Dance, for

fuck sake - says it all, really. As well as the influence of the earthy

rhythm (& lead) gods such as Angus Young & Jimmy Page & the

intellectualism

of John McLaughlin.



If guitars hadn't been big boxes all those years ago, with all that fat

bottom-end, it might not have become the rhythmic instrument it is today!







-----Original Message-----

From: gathering-bounces at misera.net

[mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net]On Behalf Of B. Oliver Sheppard

Sent: 06 June 2008 21:20

To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)

Subject: Re: [kj] OT: Speaking of Bo Diddley...





Ade,





Yeah, that's an incredible video.



The thing I like about Diddley's style, I am finding out (I always

ignored or avoided him because he seemed like someone my parents would

like, which meant I would automatically shun it, and I missed out on

some decent stuff because of that stubborness) -- is his really weird

utilization of the more percussive, chunky, chunk-chunk-wokka-wokka

aspects of the guitar that are amplified through certain types of

distortion. And the way he effortlessly maneuvers across the fretboard

while swinging the damn thing around. The opening of, for example,

Killing Joke's "Tabazan," where Geordie does that weird,

palm-muted

"chukka-chukka-chunk-chunk" thing before playing outright

identifiable

notes -- that is the kind of thing I guess Diddley was going way back as

early as the 50s..????



The Sun Records crew, god bless them, in the 1950s were more interested

in Western-style twang for their rockabilly. I like that style, too. But

Diddley was going down this really chugga-chugga, chikka-chikka type of

guitar path that wasn't fully exploited until heavy metal came along,

when you would have regular palm muted "rhythm guitar" essentially

trying to play counterpoint to the drumming, chugging along to the

drums. I'm not an uber-scholar, but from all I have seen, it looks like

Diddley is one of the pioneers of that aspect of rock guitar.



That video you posted is indeed pretty incredible.



-Oliver



ade wrote:


> Excellent Olly! Here's another!



>



> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgzn7VyoqEw&NR=1



>



> We're all standing on the shoulders of giants, innit.



>



>



>



>




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