How Do You Tattoo Music?
Okay, I want to get a tattoo representing music. I have quite a few tattoos already and they are all well done (i was even fortunate to win a couple awards and be in a magazine - that’s my 15 minutes of fame!). So, I’m coming to you guys with a request. I am looking to get a tattoo that represents what music means to me. But I am having a problem with trying to define music with an image. I would like to avoid anything stereotypical like a guitar with wings, or a music note, etc. I am very passionate about the music I listen to but do not claim to be an expert by any means, so I also don’t want anything that would make someone think i’m a blues, jazz, metal freak, you know? Anyone have any ideas?
Here are my existing tattoos:
Those tattoos completely rule. I don’t care what skeptics say, they’re a bona fide art form.
Comment by Supergenius — September 25, 2007 @ 11:17 am
And I’m not just saying that because I own a tattoo parlor.
Comment by Supergenius — September 25, 2007 @ 11:18 am
Anyways, to your question: yeah, you have to avoid the typical music notes, etc. that people use. If there were a band with an iconic logo that you adored, you could go with that — but again, not very creative. Tough question, because you’re asking how to visually represent a sonic medium. Interesting.
Comment by Supergenius — September 25, 2007 @ 11:20 am
That last one is scary!
If it were me, I’d probably just do a line of text from a song. Right now I’m leaning towards:
With light in my head, you in my arms
From my all-time favorite song, “Fisherman’s Blues” by the Waterboys.
Comment by Susan M — September 25, 2007 @ 11:21 am
yeah, i thought about that too, but the band i absolutely adore is small enough that it would be completely stalkerish if i were to ever meet them and they saw their lyrics/face/logo permentantly tattooed on my body!
Comment by jenma — September 25, 2007 @ 11:31 am
You might also consider a major symbol from a particular song, or maybe a song title. Text tattoos are a little dicey IMHO - they seem less creative and I’m not sure how well they fare over time. But if I were a deadhead, I could see a Sugar Magnolia tattoo.
Comment by Supergenius — September 25, 2007 @ 11:34 am
Maybe something with sound waves. You know how iTunes has that feature where you can turn on screen saver-type images that show the wave forms of the music as it’s being played? That stuff hypnotizes me. Some color combinations are really beautiful and perfectly fitting for the music being played. Of course, you don’t want a screen saver tattoo, but using iTunes or some other program you could probably capture the wave form from one instant of one of your favorite songs and then design in kind of an abstract way colors around it that the music evokes. You could circularize the wave form, too.
That would be cool. When someone asks you about it you could say, “That’s 1 min. and 37 seconds into ‘A Day in the Life’.”
Comment by Tom — September 25, 2007 @ 11:39 am
Smaller than Ben Folds?
I know a number of people with “his” piano drawing tattooed somewhere on their body.
When I lived in SF, I went to Lyle Tuttle’s shop on Columbus. He had a fantasic museum with all sorts of artifacts. But he sold the shop, so I don’t know if the museum is there anymore.
I am a total wuss, painwise. I would like a tattoo or two though. One of Max, from Where the Wild Things Are, mid-rumpus. One of the ax weilding librarian from Binkley’s anxiety closet.
Comment by Jennifer — September 25, 2007 @ 11:46 am
i before e except after c.
Comment by Jennifer — September 25, 2007 @ 11:47 am
yeah, smaller than Ben Folds, don’t you think Susan? yeah, i think Lyle’s museum is still there, somewhere at least. SF is the best place to be if you want a tattoo! you can’t throw a rock without hitting some big named artist!!
Comment by jenma — September 25, 2007 @ 12:16 pm
oh and i was going to say the sound waves is an excellent idea, but maybe not quite what i’m looking for. that’s what’s tough, i want an abstract idea in a concrete image.
Comment by jenma — September 25, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
Yeah, they’re smaller than Ben Folds. He’s actually pretty popular.
Comment by Susan M — September 25, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
I have to say, that sugar skull is really fantastic. I don’t remember seeing it when I last saw you—did you have it then?
Comment by Susan M — September 25, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
The smoking baby image from VH’s 1984. That says “music” to me.
Comment by Greg — September 25, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
Yep, i had it in Tucson. and I actually got Michael’s name tattooed below it on the inside of my wrist when we went through San Jose.
Which smoking baby image?
Comment by jenma — September 25, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
A squeeze box. Definitely a squeeze box.
Comment by JKC — September 25, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
How can you not remember this, Jen?
http://www.rockingems.com/files/VanHalen1984Poster.jpg
Comment by Susan M — September 25, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
you know, i never realized the baby was smoking!! no wonder my parents never censored my music, i wasn’t gettin’ what they were saying to begin with!
Comment by jenma — September 25, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
when i think of squeezeboxes, i think of Laura Branigan.
Comment by jenma — September 25, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
I think of the Who. “Mother’s got a squeezebox, daddy doesn’t sleep at night”
Comment by Susan M — September 25, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
Might be a bit bland, but how about a chord chart?
Comment by William Morris — September 25, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
same song, i just wasn’t that hip in the 5th grade. i heard the Laura Branigan version first!
Comment by jenma — September 25, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
A friend of mine has Beethoven’s Ode to Joy melody notation circling his arm. I thought that was original (the tattoo, not the melody).
Comment by Steven B — September 25, 2007 @ 7:48 pm
you might consider something adolf wolfli inspired. a few places to check out: google images,raw vision, and a gallery write up.
Comment by william — September 25, 2007 @ 9:29 pm
As a bassist, I would go with a bass clef. Since it just looks like a backward “C,” most folks might think it’s dumb, but as a person with tattoos, you’re probably comfortable not caring what others think. The baritone clef is cool too. The treble clef might be too cheesy, but if done right, it might turn out cool. Here are the clefs.
Comment by David J — September 25, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
I thought of The Who, but that’s because I wasn’t even hip enough to know Laura Branigan. But it also brings to mind the Decemberists with Mariner’s Revenge, and this weird little band Dark Dark Dark that seems to have a penchant for pirate music.
I suggested the squeeze box because even though I’m not particularly crazy about squeeze box music, a while back a friend and I were having a conversation where we decided that the squeeze box is cool because it’s easy for anyone to play, it’s like the accordion but more democratic. That’s when my friend said “Squeeze box: accordion for the people.” And that phrase just stuck with me. I think it would be a cool name for a band or album, but maybe that’s just because it reminds me of Automatic for the people.
Comment by JKC — September 26, 2007 @ 6:51 am
It could be cool to just have the music lines go around your arm/leg but no notes. And then tell people “it’s symbolic of my life ahead of me and I have to fill in the notes” or some crap like that.
Comment by Rusty — September 26, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
Yeah, I would start with the music lines, bass and treble clef, and then have the lines morph, intertwine, and spin out into something different and striking, so the tattoo itself changes from a concrete to a more abstract symbol.
Comment by Brian G — September 26, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
that’d be pretty funny to do the music lines with no notes and then give people a line! with all the tattoo shows out now, everyone is always asking what my tattoos “mean”. “why a tiger? what does that symbolize?” uh, nothing, i’m really not that deep!
Comment by Jen — September 26, 2007 @ 5:37 pm
I’m a classically trained singer, so music is pretty important to me, too. I’m very technically minded, so I wanted my tattoos to reflect that. On my left wrist I have a lens diagram (I’m also a photographer, and it’s a diagram of a lens I have always wanted and will probably never own because it’s rare and expensive). On my right wrist i have a c-clef (someone called it a baritone clef above, but c-clef is the generic name). I got that clef specifically because I hardly ever sing the same voice part in all the ensembles I’ve been in. So it meant a lot more to me than a bass or treble clef would have meant. And after I land my dream job with this group in San Francisco I have a back piece planned. I’m going to get an illuminated manuscript version of the plainchant that Guido d’Arezzo derived solfege from. The group specializes in medieval and rennaisance music.
I guess what I’m saying is figure out what music means to you, and what about music is important to you. Then again, maybe your tattoos don’t have to mean much to you.
Comment by Joey — November 20, 2007 @ 5:33 pm
[...] back, Jen posted asking for advice on how to represent her love for music as a tattoo. She got her music tattoo last week, and asked I that post an update (she doesn’t have time [...]
Pingback by Kulturblog » This is how you tattoo music (Update) — December 17, 2007 @ 10:49 am