“Paint pictures with sound. First, find your white—the deepest, roundest sound you can play on the guitar. Then, find your black—which is the most extreme tonal difference from white you can play. Now, just pick the note where you’ve got white, pick it where you’ve got black, and then find all those colors in between. Get those colors down, and you’ll be able to express almost any emotion on the guitar.”
— Les Paul
Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send me a message here.
A lovely quote! Such an inspiring way to think about free improvisation and exploring your instrument’s sounds.
I found this one of the most valuable ideas in the David Lucas Burge relative pitch course – that by listening deeply you can connect the sound of individual notes to colours, and so begin to hear much more richness than purely the high-or-low pitch of the note.