Re: Happy 50th anniv. A Major event :)
Much appreciated words from all of you. Fifty years of doing one thing, that turned into a few hundred things, is indeed life fulfilling. Now I hear this sentiment echoing back to me - changing lives, maybe even saving two or three. That's a great personal reward.
Now some smart-ass words in return:
- To Mike, I never played the Birthday Song because I couldn't reckon with one chord. It falls on the first syllable of the named person. Your soulful and exploring rendition in A puts that chord at the subdominant D major. Still, I'd like to hit Db7 first, or even Ab7 with a passing tone back to A and then to subdominant D. I have a similar harmony problem at "Rain" in "Over the Rainbow".
- To Mark, the name "Emmett" is of humble Irish origins (though I'm not Irish). It means an ant that lives in the mud (but there's a google of us). As for the "flux capacitor", it would likely store magnetic force as a power source, but who needs it? It has nothing to do with gravity or time travel (as far as anyone knows) and seems to be its own circumscribed thing (diminishing by the cube of the distance).
- To Steve, the song is still a beauty with the expansive harmony stretching at the edges, but what about that slowly descending bass movement? Have Yuta and I been walking toward early retirement? (As explained, these are my wise ass comments.)
Also to Big George, big thanks for crediting my Stick design and especially the playing method that I discovered on Aug. 26th, 1969.
Finally, my gratitude to Gene and Robin for hosting a recent Free Hands Academy concert evening celebrating of the 50th year of "Free Hands" at The Guitar Merchant on Sat., August 3rd. After the performances, Yuta and I were awarded a a plaque and a rose bouquet and I gave special thanks as in this link (hope it activates):
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/bba49f ... 001/927154All the Best, Emmett.