{"id":932905,"date":"2026-09-09T03:17:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/09\/altered-tunings-obliterated-my-knowledge-of-the-fretboard-to-where-i-just-put-my-hands-on-the-guitar-started-playing-and-found-i-was-using-only-my-ear-it-was-liberating-bentley-a\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T03:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:17:31","slug":"altered-tunings-obliterated-my-knowledge-of-the-fretboard-to-where-i-just-put-my-hands-on-the-guitar-started-playing-and-found-i-was-using-only-my-ear-it-was-liberating-bentley-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/09\/altered-tunings-obliterated-my-knowledge-of-the-fretboard-to-where-i-just-put-my-hands-on-the-guitar-started-playing-and-found-i-was-using-only-my-ear-it-was-liberating-bentley-a\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAltered tunings obliterated my knowledge of the fretboard to where I just put my hands on the guitar, started playing, and found I was using only my ear. It was liberating\u201d: Bentley Anderson is imagining a strange new future for guitar music"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Alone in his dorm room, transfixed by the bloom and decay of a single note, Bentley Anderson discovered his obsession and his voice on the guitar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent years trying to learn how to play proper guitar, and I was totally mediocre,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cI could never learn how to shred, even though I really tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson weaponized that sound and resonance from his dorm into a glorious noise. Carved from saw blades, chisels, metal rods, and a Fender Jazzmaster<\/a>, Valence<\/em> \u2013 his latest collection of hellish soundscapes \u2013 dares the listener to turn away, offering catharsis only to those who return. Still, to describe Bentley Anderson\u2019s music as \u201cjust noise\u201d would be reductive at best.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re someone who\u2019s never heard anything outside of, you know, Barry Manilow, you\u2019re gonna be like, \u2018What the fuck is this?!\u2019\u201d Anderson says. \u201cIt\u2019s not a literal racket. You can glean some kind of narrative from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can make all kinds of sounds, but they\u2019re not all necessarily good. You have to dig deep for compelling sounds,\u201d he says. \u201cThe saw blade just has this perfect kind of metal weight and size. I hold it over the pickups<\/a> and hit it with my fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI found it on the ground,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cI find all kinds of shit here in New York. I call them my \u2018implements.\u2019 It\u2019s a little bit like a prepared-instrument situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Anderson views playing guitar as an opportunity for deconstruction. Inevitably then, when he began interning at Sonic Youth\u2019s studio in 2005, the band\u2019s use of alternate tunings became another tool for Anderson to employ as he found his voice on his instrument.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe guitar on Valence<\/em> is, low to high, F#, F#, D, G, A, C#,\u201d he says. \u201cAltered tunings obliterated my knowledge of the fretboard to where I just put my hands on the guitar, started playing, and found I was using only my ear. It was liberating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has traditional guitar-based music run its course, then?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think someone will always be writing an amazing song in a standard tuning,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019ll ever stop, and I don\u2019t think people will ever get bored with that. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m bored with that either, but I\u2019m obsessed with sounds, resonance, and weird. You have to find your strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n