Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Ibanez: Herman Li clinic (S'pore)

Last night was my 2nd Herman Li clinic attendance. The reason why I made it a point to do so was because the man doesn't hold back when it comes to sharing which was also the reason I enjoy guitar clinics more than live shows. There were interactions with the musicians & much education would take place due to the insights discussed. Of course, the crowd didn't comprise of instrumental dweebs entirely so there were some amusing questions being asked (which wasn't Ibanez related, of course) but the most memorable query concerned whammy mechanics which a member of the audience had difficulty with. According to the individual concerned, each whammy moment would entail in the guitar going out of tune. So master Li did a further probe by asking the fan which guitar was in use. A (Fender) Squier was it. Herman Li's most comprehensive reply to the problem was:


Oh, you can't do much with that one...

The crowd went wild. Cheered. Clapped. Roared. 

This wasn't a glorious moment in the mockery of another brand name but a reality check: You want to do whammy gymnastics, you gotta get equipment which is right for the job. Certainly, the Squier isn't equipped with the right whammy bridge to manifest a Herman Li-type whammy abuse, yes?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sub, pardon my ignorance, in the picture, what's the "thing" on his finger?

subversion.sg said...

that's his finger-operated wah unit. it's based on laser optics, when he moves his fingers, it's synched to a receiver.

Ijau D. Koceng said...

the face expression was priceless...

Anonymous said...

That device reminds me of Roland VG-99 efx.

Part of Herman's sound trick was to pull out his whammy bar and "scratch" it against the strings, but with his new Egen18 models which sports the Edge Zero Trem (push+screw in type whammy bar)...expect no more such tricks?

Fitch

subversion.sg said...

this time, he scraped the strings with his cable :-)

Anonymous said...

Nice line by Herman. Can imagine his face when he said it, and that of the individual concerned. ROFL

subversion.sg said...

it wasn't absolute derogatory, Herman Li started off with the same guitar (according to him, that is...).

reuel said...

i hope that wasnt the only thing he said. brutal truth but abit too bluntly put lol

subversion.sg said...

in my opinion, such up-front answers are sometimes the best but it can do without the sarcasm. he he... we tend to be accomodating when we address certain technical issues pertaining to our peers'/ friends' instruments while trying not to hurt their feelings especially when it come to product competence & such. some guitars are certainly not made to manifest certain aspects of playing.