Music Reviews : Guitarist Derek Bailey Improvises at LACE

They probably don’t teach Derek Bailey’s brand of guitar improvisation at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood. The English guitarist’s enthusiastically received, hourlong performance at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions on Friday explored a wholly different path from the speedy solos favored by most rock or jazz guitarists.

Bailey, who has been recognized as a major influence on experimentally minded guitarists for 25 years, was more interested in coaxing sounds and textures from the instrument than any formal melodic structure or consistent rhythmic pulse. Playing what appeared to be a hollow-bodied electric guitar that had been gutted of its regular circuitry and fitted with a pick-up, he relied heavily on harmonics (often electronically sustained by foot pedals) combined with a picking and plucking technique that generated a popping, percussive sound from the strings.

It was pretty abstract, abstruse stuff guaranteed never to grace the Top 40 charts in any genre, but Bailey effectively lightened the mood halfway through the set when he began playing phrases against a repeated vocal command in a foreign language. He dryly remarked that the voice came from an alarm clock he used to remind him that the time was passing and that it was an old Japanese saying, “Something like, ‘Oh, come on and do something.’ ”

So Bailey returned to playing for 20 minutes, highlighted by one brief section near the end of the performance that sounded like a ball-peen hammer hitting a roll of sheet metal. After hitting a final chord, Bailey said, “Well, that’s about it,” and walked off.