PINC11 – Rocking Outside the Box

This week i had the pleasure of being invited to PINC, a TED-like conference about People, Ideas, Nature and Creativity (thanks to COO at Getronics) organised in Zeist, The Netherlands. I had spoken to many PINC devotees in the past years but never been able to attend.

The range of speakers was very stimulating: lectures on wireless electricity (in shops from next year, apparently!), A-frame holiday homes (i want one), images from the microcosm (strange beauty) and the history of the entire world in just over 20 minutes. Truly inspiring.

But the most refreshing example of ‘thinking outside the box’ i’d heard in a long time came from celebrity comedian/conferencier Freek de Jonge. His brilliance came to life through a song, which he accompanied on an electric guitar. Nothing special at first glance… until he told us he’d only been playing for one year. The true brilliance though is this: rather than a traditional 6-string guitar tuned E-A-D-G-B-E (which sounds horrible if you strum the loose strings), his guitar was 5-string, and tuned to a chord (G in this case).

This means that basically any idiot can play the guitar. Every other chord can be made by laying a finger across all strings, sliding it up one or more frets (bars) to raise the note.

Feel like a rock star but didn’t take guitar lessons? Do like Freek and you’ll be jamming like Slash in no time. No more frustrating evenings in your attic: straight to stage. A rocking example of thinking outside the box.

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