the Electric Guitar Organ [EGO]
Where does it come from and what does it do?
in short:
the EGO is an instrument consisting of an electric guitar and some pedals with a special routing.
this special routing makes it into a breathing organic instrument, like a harmonium.
[to see and to make this routing yourself look at the ‘system diagram psd’]
where does it come from?
ever since i began playing the electric guitar i felt that the sound reminded me of an organ sound.
I felt deeply attracted to this sound, to me it was pure sound of great quality.
i never questioned this but from time to time i wrote some notes about it in sketchbooks or heard music on records where the two instruments [electric guitar and organ/ harmonium] were used.
Between 2008 and 2014 i did a project concentrating on electro acoustic music which gave me new ideas about sound[s] and how to make them in the ‘real world’. [from laptop to analog instruments]
Modulair thinking had entered my musical world.
But it was only until i began to study the music of Morton Feldman that my quest for the electric organ sound could really begin.
bellows and breathing:
the main thing is breath, breathing. this concept is vital.
Listening to some Feldman compositions [Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello; Piano and StringQuartet] i noticed the way the strings moved, like a bellow. Here lies the foundation of the EGO.
I realized that its solution might be in this breathing organism. But how to translate this concept to the guitar. And here my modulair thinking helped me out. It might have to do with routing.
I started experimenting with some pedals and slowly slowly my guitar started to breathe.
The solution [to this point] that is most satisfying consists of a Freeze sound retainer and a volume pedal.
The routing was the most challenging part, but once found is extremely simple.
You just take the volume pedal away from its traditional place at the start of a chain and bring it to the end.
As you can see in the system diagram you need 2 Freeze sustainer pedals and 3 Volume pedals for best results. So you always need one Volume pedal extra [the one you use to get a controlled signal out of your guitar].
So this is all about SOUND, the realization of a soundwish.
How to use this sound, in composition, is for another story.
andré hogeslag/ sijme storm
