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Have You Seen This? How to masterfully play a broken guitar
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When music is life, you find a way to make a broken-neck guitar a musical wonder. - photo by Pixabay

THE FRET BOARD — When life hands you lemons you’re supposed to make lemonade, as the cliche goes.

But what about when you’re an accomplished musician and life hands you a big ol’ crack in the neck of your guitar? Let’s answer with another cliche: necessity is the mother of invention. And that’s exactly what you’ll see as you watch guitarist Santi Fumière show off what he can do with an instrument that most would consider unplayable.

The Argentinian's guitar is cracked all the way through the neck near the top, but the whole thing is still held together with the fretboard. The tension of the strings is bowing the neck away from the strings, because that’s how physics works, but that doesn’t stop Fumière.

In the video, the young guitarist uses the new shape to his advantage. As he plays, he manipulates the neck to distort the plucks, harmonics and strums of his profession.

What comes out is a sort of mix between classical guitar and a 60s horror movie soundtrack with a little slide guitar sounds mixed in plus something I can’t put my finger on. Basically, it’s a unique and fascinating sound and performance.

If I were Mr. Fumière, I would patent this accidental invention to create a whole new guitar style category.

You can see more from Fumière on Instagram.

Martha Ostergar is a writer who delights in the ridiculous that internet serves up, which means she's more than grateful that she gets to cruise the web for amazing videos to highlight for your viewing pleasure.
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Have You Seen This? Street musician slays with clarinet
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Better than almost every face-melting guitar or drum solo. - photo by Facebook video screenshot

THE BIG EASY — Yeah, yeah, we all know that New Orleans is stuffed to the gills will incredible musicians.

But knowing that fact and then hearing that fact are two different things. You can step into any number of jazz clubs on any given night on Bourbon Street, and you’ll probably be impressed with virtually every act. Or you can sit at home on your comfy couch and watch this featured video.

In the video, you’ll see a woman who is in the groove. She is swinging hard, and wailing on her clarinet with a practiced expertise that makes it sounds so easy.

From note one you’ll be drawn in; your appreciation will grow with every second, and then your face will melt off when you realize how incredible she really is.

If you’ve never played a woodwind or a brass, you may not know everything that comes with a performance like this. Lung capacity and breath control are huge factors in keeping your notes clear and loud, and hitting those high notes is especially difficult.

So when this woman hits that high note and holds it for several seconds, you know you’re dealing with an exceptional musician. It means she has worked hard for years to develop skill on top of her natural talent, and we get to benefit.

It kinda makes you wonder how we let people get away with mumble rap and autotune when talent like this exists in the world.

I wish this video were longer, and I wish I had more information about this woman, but as it is, we’ll just have to appreciate the little flavor of New Orleans jazz posted by the Facebook group Clarinet Life.

Martha Ostergar is a writer who delights in the ridiculous that internet serves up, which means she's more than grateful that she gets to cruise the web for amazing videos to highlight for your viewing pleasure.
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