Electric Guitar Orchestra

Thanks for being part of the EGO!

EGO! is based on two premises:

– All of us are capable of contributing to a great musical experience
– Everyone should be given the opportunity.

It takes a lot of sacrifice and practice to play in a band. EGO! is for everyone who loves music but just can’t make that sacrifice. Anyone who can hold a guitar and pluck a few notes can be in EGO! Everyone is welcomed, including the very young and old, physically-challenged, etc.

Our Cardinal Rule: We ALWAYS have room for more.

Our Orchestra is divided into four sections, with our First Section playing the easiest parts. The parts grow increasingly difficult, with the Fourth Section requiring players of an intermediate level. Anyone with a few weeks experience is capable of the First Section.

You do NOT have to know how to read music. Everyone will get a three-ring binder with your part to all the songs in easy-to-read tablature.

We will play some of the most beautiful music of the last 400 years, only a little simplified.

ZERO COMMITMENT

Show up and participate as much as you like. You already have enough pressure in your life. THIS IS ABOUT HAVING FUN. The idea is to have so many members that we won’t ever need more than half for a performance. And if everyone shows up, all the better!

We’ll rehearse in a public park maybe twice a month and perform every couple months.

WELL, SOME COMMITMENT…

We’re going to need four Section Leaders who love the project enough to help keep their section from devolving into chaos. As Section Leader, we need you to spend a little time alone with your players to make sure everyone is on track with their parts. So, we’ll split up for the first half of each rehearsal, with each Section in a different area of the park. Then we’ll all come together for the second half.

Every time we book a performance, i’ll send an email to the whole orchestra. If you can do the show, you contact your Section Leader and let them know. They’ll let me know if we are short anywhere.

COACHING

We ask everyone in EGO! to coach one new player as they come on board: Answer questions, make sure they are playing the parts right, etc. We want someone there to help you get started and then you to do the same for the next. No big deal if you can’t.

YOU WILL BE PROVIDED WITH:

• A binder with all your parts
• MP3 recordings of your part alone and the complete group, for all songs.
• A coach.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Electric guitar (We’re NOT turning you down if all you have is an acoustic!)
• Small, battery-powered amp
• Tuner
• Folding chair
• Music stand

WHY WE SHOULD SOUND GREAT

• In the studio, if a guitar track sounds weak, they often have the guitarist play it again and then use both tracks doubled up. It sounds much richer that way. We’re going to “double up” with eight, ten or more guitars.
• An overdriven electric guitar produces incredibly delicious overtones and harmonics. The little amps we use also have reverb/echo/flangers/phase shifters and a million other cool effects. The modern electric guitar is the most expressive musical instrument ever invented and second only to the piano in historical importance.
• We’re playing the music of geniuses. If the Voice of God speaks through music, we surely hear it in these most magnificent of all melodies. They don’t lose much of their greatness with a little simplification.
• Fretted instruments combined with digital tuners are a tremendous help for keeping beginners in tune.
• The sheer exuberance of people playing music, or in a band, for the first time, is a force to be reckoned with.

View or Download Tablature Notes

View or Download Bach: Air on the G String

View or Download Boccherini: Minuet in G 

View or Download Prokofiev: Dance of the Knights

View or Download Verdi: Grand March