Hit It! (Mostly About Hitting Things)

You don't make a musical sound by just sitting there. You have to fight for it.

This longish episode is about turning kinetic energy into mechanical energy into sound energy. It's about force. It's about electrical circuits, making stone arrowheads, and playing the piano. It's about how we learned to clench our fists and hold guitar necks, and how we learned to manage the delicate interplay of the bones and muscles in our hands. It's about Stanley Kubrick, and the Ramones, and how we learned really important skills from breaking things, blowing speakers, and abusing musical instruments with coins. Some of it is about me in 5th grade, and it's all about leading up to the fact that the guitar is inevitable.

One of the ways music begins is through little acts of controlled violence. And we've been learning how to do that for a very, very long time.

It rambles a bit, but I think you'll get the point. Hit it!

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