Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing (1996)

You know, I have tried on numerous occasions to get into Beefheart and it never lands. Fans of his stuff describe it as some higher level of musicianship and sophistication but it just sounds to me like a band that can&#x27;t play and is just kind of owning that.<p>I watched a Beefheart documentary once where a fan said something to the effect of &quot;It sounds like noise but if you listen closely, each band member is playing a totally different time signature and key&quot;. I mean yeah. That&#x27;s pretty much what it sounds like lol.

There&#x27;s a story my uncle told me about meeting Beefheart after some gig in Phoenix in the early 70&#x27;s, where he literally bumped into him outside the stage door after the show. My uncle, basically awestruck, offered Beefheart a smoke, which the great man heartily accepted and promptly ate.<p>One of nature&#x27;s great prototypes...

Thank you for posting this. My son is a prodigy guitarist and I’m sending it to him.<p>CBAHMB is overlooked in the history of rock unfortunately - like most great artists - but Safe as Milk is breathtaking

I love this sort of stuff. Here&#x27;s some advice that the famous jazz pianist and composer Thelonius Monk gave his musicians as written down by the Saxophonist Steve Lacy in 1960. It&#x27;s not quite as off the wall as Captain Beefhart. Still great stuff and also idiosyncratic. &quot;They tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along &amp; spoil it.&quot; might be the best line for non-musicians: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;faroutmagazine.co.uk&#x2F;thelonious-monk-25-handwritten-tips-for-musicians&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;faroutmagazine.co.uk&#x2F;thelonious-monk-25-handwritten-...</a><p>And some lists of advice for songwriters from a couple of songwriters: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;indiemusicfeedback.com&#x2F;words-of-advice-for-musicians&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;indiemusicfeedback.com&#x2F;words-of-advice-for-musicians...</a>

I am confused, Captain Beefheart didn&#x27;t even play guitar, did he?

Shiny Beast is a great album

Did not expect to see wfmu.org&#x27;s Beware of the Blog on the front-page of Hacker News but here we are.

Some are great: When you&#x27;re not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don&#x27;t play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.<p>Some are weird: Don&#x27;t wipe the sweat off your instrument

Well now that site is a crock of gold from the Old Web, isn’t it? Just the kind of thing I enjoy exploring in my idle minutes, and far better for my state of mind than doomscrolling Reddit, Facebook, instagram, TikTok, and the rest.<p>Thank you for sharing!

Captain Beefheart music is the type of music you’re _supposed_ to like , but really doesn’t live up to its reputation.<p>Zappa music, otoh, reveals the genius behind it once you pay attention. Then again, half of his catalog is just self-indulgent wankery he himself admitted he funded through the juvenile songs.<p>Listen to “Inca Roads” or the whole “Zappa in NY” album and you’ll see Zappa’s greatness.