Welcome to GSUBI Learning Center
This is where you’ll find everything you need as a skipper or a guitarist to learn how to play the creations of GSUBI.
Guitars on a drunken boat
The 100 guitars on a drunken boat is an evolutionary project created by Gilles Laval in 2017, composed for 100 electric guitars and inspired by the French poem of Arthur Rimbaud, “Le bateau ivre”. The “eco-poetic” musical creation is made of 7 parts around the theme of the ocean. The composition oscillates between “sound tableaux” and written pieces.
The creation is aimed at both amateurs and experienced or professional guitarists. The writing has been thought through to make the piece accessible to as many people as possible. Orality being more important than writing in popular music, we have designed a transmission system dedicated to this project, which may be suitable for reading or non-reading musicians.
Interactive learning
Each part can be played interactively in any web browser or using your phone. It is the go-to place for each guitarist to learn the bits and pieces of the creation. Click any of the pieces below to start learning.
De ses longs cheveux bleus
From her long blue hair. The “long blue hair” is the reflection of the moon on the water. It begins with the wind blowing over the ocean, announcing rain and thunderstorm. The next hypnotic passage…
Embellie
Embellie talks about the moments of bliss that the beauty of the oceans inspires us. The melodies of Ebows intermingle with chords spelled out in clear sounds. Whales and mermaids invite each other, singing during…
Roches
Roches (Rocks) sets off winds and waves, metal and tribal riffs, and also summons eels… The unpredictable ocean, symbol of freedom in Rimbaud’s poem, gives free rein to his imagination. The play ends on the…
Chaloupes
The piece celebrates an imaginary aquatic ceremony, a hymn dedicated to the ocean, to its immensity bubbling with life, to its magical flora and fauna, so strong and so fragile. Seven notes played simultaneously form…
Bateau Ivre
The foghorns echo in the thick fog, the seagulls cry and flutter above the bridge. The waves, obtained with the effect of volumes on the guitars, invite us into a calm and wild sound immersion.…
Cachalots Hugs
Sperm whales exchange with each other via clicking cycles (codas). The coda used for this piece invites these sea giants to hugs and other expressions of affection – important social acts for these mammals. Mermaid…
Unsaved
Navigating on an obstinate rhythm, Unsaved ends the voyage of the drunken boat with storms of notes and whirlwinds of strings, “mare e festa”. This piece pays tribute to the tragedy of migrants crossing seas…
Download Conductors and Cheat Sheets
We provide a convenient notation called Conductors. They give a full picture of each part and the (approximate) timing of each section. Time signatures and tempo are given at the top of the conductor (for example: 6/4 – ♩ = 95). The number of bars of each section (when available) is indicated in red at the top of the conductor (for example: 4 (3x) means 4 bars repeated 3 times). At the beginning of each implementation, every guitar player is assigned a horizontal track with his/her name on it – on the left of the table. Each track corresponds to the actual track within the full musical notation sheet available above.
Cheat sheets provide convenient memory-cards with the most useful musical motifs for each sub-section in each part. We have written these using standard musical notation, tablatures and chords (when appropriate). They can be very helpful during the learning process. Keep in mind that they do not replace the full notation score.
LEGAL NOTICE
All work provided in GSUBI Learning Center is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Music, notation files and videos are Copyright (c) Gilles Laval / GSUBI.