Speed: Missed Notes and feeling

[Dave Hicks]

'[Richard] Thompson explains his decision to leave Fairport Convention at the start of 1971 by saying that he felt Dave Swarbrick was playing too fast for him to get anything out of it...'

“I was feeling musically unsatisfied,” he says. “That that was one of the elements in it. I wasn't expressing myself musically which is crazy to think when you're in this band and you've got all this power, but somehow the material just felt unsatisfying. Swarb was going down a storm, playing really fast, and the audience response was fantastic so it was hard for me to say we have to slow down. I felt a bit out of step with the band, really."

https://www.hotpress.com/music/the-t...rview-22851926

D.H.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Timing and musicality -- my wife has a CD of Bill Monroe and Doc Watson duets (Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40064). When I listen to it, I always wonder why Doc doesn't take Monroe's mandolin and smash it over his head. To my ear, Monroe is RUSHING THE BEAT. It comes across as an ugly form of musical bullying, which Doc appears to ignore.

As well as his amazing runs/leads, Doc had a wonderful ability to KEEP THE BEAT. Part of Monroe's unique style was 'playing ahead'. His (Monroe's) uncanny perception of rhythm allowed him to bend the rules (and re-straighten them) in ways that other's couldn't. Just one of the reasons his style is so difficult to properly emulate.
As far a Doc ignoring an "ugly form of musical bullying"... maybe so. Or maybe he was the gentleman he seemed be and not so easily offended.

[Bill McCall]

I don't play a tune faster than I can play it musically.

That’s a trait uncommon in many jams.

[Steve Finlay]

Doc Watson also played with great fluidity and ease. About 45 years ago I went to a bluegrass festival where he was one of the headliners. After hearing a different guitarist play, another audience member said to me: "I think he picks that old flattop better than Doc Watson". Not to my ear -- yes, the guy was fast, but it sounded like he was really working hard. Doc made it sound effortless.

Bruce Lee is supposed to have said, "The less effort, the more power." That seems to apply to Doc.