PLECTRUM:
A SONIC
QUEST
Dunlop .60mm Pick. Photo by Mars Ramses.
This is the plectrum of choice for many
years. Its flexibility due to its nylon
construction, creates a great pick for
fast and detailed rhythmic strumming.
MARC RAMSEY
Marc Ramsey Playing a show at
Birdstock Festival 2014
What does it mean to make one’s sound/vibration? I am
a musician and I am always in the process of creating
something new and defining and redefining my sound.
I decided to question the way that I interact with my
guitar, mainly focusing on the plectrum, aka the guitar
pick. The guitar is the main instrument (besides my
voice) that I play and is an extension of my own body.
One of the main interfaces of my biological vehicle
and the guitar can be found within my right hand—the
pick. Originally picks were handmade by each musician for their own instrument. I endeavored to do
something similar and create a connection with my
sound by creating my own picks with the 3-D printer.
Now with the technology to 3D print so many things, I
saw an opportunity to interact with my sound by creating my own pick, customized to my own liking. I can
even make a Toothpick that strikes the
strings twice in one
sweep.
My goal is to make
musical matter that
connects the musician to the instrument and literally
“make” my sound. Photo by Marc Ramsey
Tooth-picks 3-d printed
Picks are very important to me and in batches on the raft
I am very selective
about the kinds of
picks that I use. Over
many years I have
tried many picks and
then settled with a
Dunlop .60mm nylon
pick that defines my
specific sound and
Photo by jacothedog
style.
Turtle shell picks
There have been
many different innovators of sound throughout the
centuries. People have used many types of materials to
create distinct sounds. “Musicians have used plectrums
to play stringed instruments for thousands of years.
Feather quills were likely the first standardized plectra
and became widely used until the late 19th century. At
that point, the shift towards what became the superior
plectrum material took place; the outer shell casing of
a Atlantic hawksbill sea turtle[…]” [Hoover, 11-12]
Even now people are improving on the original plectrum design and editing it to create their own sound. A
company, named Pykmax, has created “a patented new
style of super comfortable guitar pick that fits perfectly
in the player’s hand.“ [“A Guitar Pick Revolution by
Pykmax - The Best Guitar Pick Ever” http://www.pykmax.com/] [http://youtu.be/E2JAZw8dda8] I bought
and have used this pick quite a bit and it is really growing on me. When I use this pick I never have to worry
about dropping the pick or strumming too fast or hard.
This pick has revolutionized the way I can play on my
Guitar. This pick is now my standard pick of choice.
Pykmax Plectrum. Photo by Marc Ramsey.
My hand is highly refined to integrate
my being-ness with that of the guitar.
There are also other approaches to guitar picks such as
the Jellifish pick that attempts to emulate the sound of
a 12-string guitar by having multiple strands of metal
hit the guitar depending on how one holds the pick.
Famous guitarists have had to explore and create their
distinct tone. The creation of different tones is dependent on many different variables such as guitar strings,
body, pickups, plectrums (aka picks), effect pedals,
and amplifiers. Guitarists such as The Edge from U2
has a completely different effects setup for each song
that he uses and the effects are just as much a part of
his guitar playing as well as the actually playing of the
guitar. [check out how he uses rhythmic delay to make
his sound in this song] [http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3FsrPEUt2Dg] Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead used a Fender extra heavy flat pick, as well
as a plethora of different stompbox effects. [“Grateful
Dead - Jerry Garcia Guitar Rig Gear and Equipment.”
Accessed November 3, 2014. http://www.uberproaudio.com/who-plays-what/433-grateful-dead-jerry-garcia-guitar-rig-gear-and-equipment.]
Jimi Hendrix created for himself a sound that was
uniquely his with his guitars, picks, strings, pedals
and amps, and even what parts of his body he used
to pluck the strings with [such as using his teeth to
pluck the strings]. “Jimi’s obsession with his guitar
garnered him a nickname around Clarksville: Marbles.
He was so named because people thought he had ‘lost
his marbles’ and was crazy as a result of his excessive
practicing. The guitar had become an extension of his
body[…]” [Cross, 1727] It is interesting to see how he
too, saw the extension of his own identity or sense of
self onto his guitar. He also used that same approach
into his effects. “[Ivor Arbiter] said, ‘Can’t I make a
fuzz unit with a different shape?’ I saw microphone
stand with the cast iron base, and I said, ‘Why don’t we
make it round so it won’t slip?’ Hence the Fuzz Face,
which had some very nice sounds. Hendrix especially
liked it. Jimi used to visit the Sound City shop a lot,
and he got his first Fuzz Face there or from Manny’s
in New York.” [Thompson, 426] Many times the artist
would work very close with innovators of effects
pedals to make their sound. [http://youtu.be/9irsg1vBmq0?t=1m]
The sounds that musicians create for themselves is
actually not a material object, but they use material
objects such as effects and picks to create the sound or
muse[ic]. The word ‘music’ stems from the word ‘muse’
which means to think or contemplate. Music is not
matter but rather exists in the realm of ideas or forms.
“[Plato] believed that [..] there is certain truth, but that
this material world cannot reveal it. It can only present
appearances, which lead us to form opinions, rather
than knowledge. The truth is to be found elsewhere,
on a different plane, in the non-material world of ideas
or forms.” (“Plato’s Realm of Forms”) Plato makes an
interesting distinction between the material world and
the conceptual world, and actually asserts that since
the conceptual world [in theory] makes perfect sense,
that it is in fact more real than the material world with
its seemingly flawed essence. For instance: “When we
see a circle that has been drawn well what we are actually seeing is a close approximation of a perfect circle.
In fact a perfect circle could not be seen at all. Infinite
points which make up its circumference do not take up
any space, they exist in logic rather than in a physical
form. As soon as someone tries to draw it, even if he
uses the most sophisticated computerized equipment,
it becomes imperfect. But although the Ideal Form
of a circle has never been seen, and never could be
seen, people do know what a circle is, they can define
it while at the same time accepting that it cannot be
translated into the material world without losing its
perfection.” [“Plato’s Realm of Forms”]
Music in a sense shows how thoughts take form but
that form is only conceptual and not material. The
medium by which it is expressed—such as records,
CD’s, and MP3 files—are a sort of material, but the
actual song/sound is not material, only carried by it.
Ontological questions then arise on
what constitutes reality. Many think
of reality as only the material world,
but I disagree. Certain truths are
necessarily true by definition such
as the statement: “Nothing does not
exist.” That is a necessary truth in
that the very definition of nothing
is: “that which does not exist.” If
nothing does not exist, than it also
follows that everything does exist.
The question is not if something
exists or not (if it is something, than
by the very definition of ‘something’
it is not ‘nothing’) it is rather a
question on how and where something exists.
Jimi Hendrix [http://www.theriffrepeater.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ab11b4bfa6668b57123079b6e62192e8_
large.jpeg]
The one place I know that everything exists is in the
imagination. I have been on a quest to bring the imagination into the material realm. One such example of
this is in creating an “Imagination Station.” This was
originally imagined as a space for Creators to create in
with a focus on the imagination and creating art such
as music, visual art, and body art. I then proceeded to
create space in my garage and made this idea into the
material realm. Now this idea is turning into the start
of a record label. The vision is to create the ultimate experience of all senses, which results in holistic healing.
So I see that we extend our mind into our things, but
also materiality is not the only thing we know to exist,
in fact it is one of the things that Berkeley shows that
we cannot prove to exist apart from the mind. “All the
choir of heaven and furniture of earth - in a word, all
those bodies which compose the frame of the world have not any subsistence without a mind.” [Berkeley,
WEB] A pick is a material object that is meaningless
without the mind or muse[ic], but when understood as
an extension of the mind into the material realm, it is
then really making music matter.
What does the future look like for innovators of
sound? I have to explored the lives of experimental
guitar artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Jack White, Jerry
Garcia and more discovering how they “made” their
unique sound using things. Things play such a vital
role in the formulation of a unique sound, and when
thing are now easier than ever to create, I wish to
capitalize on my ability to design and print specific
picks for specific sounds that I am looking for. When
I first posted a picture of my first 3D printed pick on a
social media site, I immediately had people interested
in custom designed guitar picks. I think the future will
boom with people getting creative and making new
instruments and instrument accessories--both analog
and digital--to really mold their sound.
I have studied the formation of new pedals and guitar
effects. The connection that artists such as “The Edge”
from U2 had with their sound and new effects technology is something that I find fascinating and learned
much from. “Widely recognized as one of the most
creative and influential musicians of the 20th century,
Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive possibilities of
the electric guitar. Hendrix’s innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created
a new musical form.” (http://www.jimihendrix.com/us/
jimi) Jimi Hendrix used things that people never
thought of using before to create his unique sound.
I wish to inspire people to create more music and to
branch and see how they can make innovative things
that give music new life and a new way to play. Musician’s such as the band Mutemath have created interesting new instruments (https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=5zdtzk5mYf4) that make sounds like no other. When seeing this instrument played live, it opened
my eyes to the possibilities of what kinds of sounds we
can make and create new soundscapes with. “Music
soundscapes can also be generated by automated software methods, such as the experimental TAPESTREA
application, a framework for sound design and soundscape composition, and others” (http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Soundscape)
While there are many ways to create sounds in a digital
audio workspace (DAW), I wish to focus on the creation of analog or physical objects that create unique
sound. There is much going on in the digital realm,
but I feel a material connection to music is irreplaceable in an age of digitalizing everything. I feel this creation of my own sound will inspire others to also hone
their sound and think out of the box. The digital realm
is very analogous to the masculine principle of thought
and then is brought into actualization by the feminine
principle of material form.
Berkeley, George. “George Berkeley Quotes at BrainyQuote.com.” BrainyQuote. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Hoover, Will. Picks!. San Francisco: Backbeat Books,
1995. Print.
“Jimi Hendrix’s Guitars and Gear.” N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov.
2014.
“Grateful Dead - Jerry Garcia Guitar Rig Gear and
Equipment.” N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
“Plato’s Realm of Forms.” N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Cross, Charles R. Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of
Jimi Hendrix. Hyperion, 2006. Print.
Thompson, Dave. The Stompbox: A History of Guitar
Fuzzes, Flangers, Phasers, Echoes and Wahs. Backbeat
Books, 1997. Print.
“Guitar Pick - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” N.p.,
n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
“A Guitar Pick Revolution by Pykmax - The Best Guitar
Pick Ever.” Pykmax. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Berkeley, George. “George Berkeley Quotes at BrainyQuote.com.” BrainyQuote. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
01 The Interplay Of The Other Self in the Imagination Station
https://soundcloud.com/marsdavidramses/01-the-interplay-of-the-other-self
The experience can be very hard to be truly captured. This recording is an ode to the trec of my life. All is one.
One is All. The interplay between these two is what creates the illusion of what we consider to be life.
This raw analog experience is that of beyond my wildest imaginations, and has a very difficult time being translated to The Digital Realm.
Every moment is a death and rebirth, the solemnity of that moment resonates in my awareness.
The nature of the universe is predatory. By predatory, I do not mean it is spiteful or vengeful, but rather only that
it pushes itself to become more aware. The predator helps keep the prey in awareness, as the prey in its awareness
keeps the predator growing in its awareness. We always have a predatory nature in us, and that helps the exterior
universe evolve. As we evolve we discover more refined ways of helping other/selves become more aware, such as
the use of stronger and more refined philosophies that obliterate weaker philosophies. The universe hates stagnation and will fight to keep itself moving forward or reintegrate that part into something that will move forward.
“Imagination Station”
The trec is the destination
In the imagination station
The gradation of vibrations
Perfecting all creations
Am I fuckin with me?
Tripping up my mind
Am I fuckin with me?
I’m seeing images and signs
Am I fuckin with me?
Syncing up my mind
Am I fuckin with me?
Opening my eyes
The universe within
Is becoming infinity
By looking in the mirror
And seeing…
The universe within
Is becoming infinity
By looking in the mirror
And seeing…
Creations eyes
Multidimensional Sculpture in Earth Sanctuary. Photo by Mars Ramses. This scultpure
resonates with me deeply.