Background: When I heard that my lovely sister was soon to be married I wanted to contribute something to the wedding. I had been messing around on my nylon string guitar. I figured out a little kind of light jazz piece and thought it had something going for it. I realised it needed a bit more and so I played versions of the piece into my son’s looper and improvised to my piece in our lounge. This went on for several weeks and I figured my piece should be dedicated to my sister and her husband. I ended up playing it at the wedding while the newly-marrieds signed the register. (On the day I needed some extra music to fill in, so I did a version of “Ian’s instrumental” which happens to also be in the key of “E”. You can also hear this piece on this website – although I had to play all by myself without the great Simon’s guitar work).
Why the name “Two in One”? This song is really about the challenge of one life joining with another. In fact the two parts should be in “conversation” with each other, but I had to “chat” with myself. The parts are complimentary, the first part by itself would be boring, the second by itself perhaps frivolous and nonsensical. Together, I think they produce a meaningful whole. Of course, ideally marriage carries these elements of give and take, mutual deference, reciprocity and so on; the Two becoming One. It has been my experience that marriage needs lots of help these days, not only from the two hearts that choose each other, but also from those around who help to encourage the couple. My own marriage would not have made it without real friends and The friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Some recording/tech details: The guitar I used is a Yamaha Silent guitar – SLG110N. It is an odd hollow shape made for practicing really. I saw a video of my guitar heroes (Lee Ritenour) playing one and I remembered it when I saw this one on sale, special price …. what could I do? I added a guitar to the collection and we have just passed on my wife’s original Yamaha nylon string to our guitaring son (so I am still not hoarding!). I recorded this version at home without a looper. For those who know how these things work, you will realise that I start the second guitar piece just before the original “loop” is done. In fact I didn’t use a looper at all for this recording, I figured the quality would be better this way. I recorded direct in and used Logic Pro effects. I realise there are small errors. I worked really hard to get it perfect, but the wedding was in December and I haven’t put in enough practice time really… and I figured it’s the way marriage is, wonderful and a little out of time with each other and sometimes not quite in tune…… Hopefully the errors won’t distract too much. BTW thank you, Tanya, for helping to name the song and for listening to it soooooo many times while I worked on it.
