The Creation Is More Important Than the Explanation
I once tried to explain to a piano player why I bring two guitars to gigs, so I could play certain songs, like “One Way Road” on a retuned guitar.
(Guitar players will understand this: the second guitar is tuned a whole-step down, so a C chord is a Bb. It’s so I can sing songs in my vocal range, but still use certain open chords with intricate riffs.)
Her response was, “The guitar player in my band changes the key to songs for me all the time, and he only brings one guitar. Can’t you just…”
“No, I understand why that works for many songs, especially blues–I do that too–” I replied, “but let me show you why that doesn’t work for this riff.”
I showed her the opening riff to “One Way Road.”
“See how my fingers need the open strings for the dissonance? How the pull-offs are essential to the tone?”
She looked skeptical.
“See how I need the chord shape to this riff, but I need sing it in Bb for my vocal range?” I pleaded.
“I don’t know…” She said. “My guitar player changes keys…”
So I gave up explaining. Her frame of reference was the piano, where changing keys can happen more easily than certain guitar parts; where a note isn’t bent, slide, pulled-off or hammered on.
Plus, she had made up her mind that I was wrong.
More importantly, I realized that it didn’t matter if I convinced her or not. I would always play “One Way Road” on my whole-step down guitar. She wasn’t convincing me to only bring one guitar to gigs.
When you are the creator, you don’t need to explain yourself. The creation is more important than the explanation.
An early version of the song, with an example of the opening riff:
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