That's me!When it comes to steel guitar, the pedal player need only to place the bar on the current chord fret and mash the "A" and "B" pedals furiously.
Country Music (not a slam or complaint)
Moderators: Dave Mudgett, Janice Brooks
- Ulrich Sinn
- Posts: 297
- Joined: 9 Jun 2007 12:07 pm
- Location: California, USA
- Contact:
- Doug Beaumier
- Posts: 15642
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Northampton, MA
- Contact:
I think most of us would conclude that something is wrong when songs are not recognizable from each other when the lyrics are omitted. Great melodies and chord changes make great instrumentals. But those things are not important in today's formula country music. Today it's pounding drums and bass, rhythm instruments, cliché lyrics about pickup trucks and hot chicks with cowboys hats... etc, etc. The melodies are very weak, almost non-existent. That's why the songs can not stand on their own as instrumentals IMO.I never said there was anything wrong with it... I made an observation that it would be difficult at best to recognize the songs in instrumental version. Not a slam, or complaint.
- Alvin Blaine
- Posts: 2250
- Joined: 17 Apr 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA
- Contact:
-
- Posts: 874
- Joined: 28 Nov 2006 1:01 am
- Location: Maryland, USA
I don't care for the new country at all and agree with most of the comments.
However occasionally I will hear a song that I somewhat like and it is usually by the band Perry, occasionally Lady Antebellum or sometimes Zak Brown.
I wonder back when Faron Young, George Jones, the young Paycheck, and Ray Price were on the airwaves how much of the stuff played was junk? I remember there was a lot of lousy music back then too.
However occasionally I will hear a song that I somewhat like and it is usually by the band Perry, occasionally Lady Antebellum or sometimes Zak Brown.
I wonder back when Faron Young, George Jones, the young Paycheck, and Ray Price were on the airwaves how much of the stuff played was junk? I remember there was a lot of lousy music back then too.
- Bill Duncan
- Posts: 1123
- Joined: 10 Jul 2008 1:53 pm
- Location: Lenoir, North Carolina, USA
The point I think I was trying to make is that there are not many memorable melodies. The music is played well, and the musicians I feel are very good. It's just that I get the feeling that the songs were written by a computer program.
The melodies just can't grab hold of the listener to make a lasting impression, and I believe it would be very hard for them to stand alone as an instrumental.
I don't know the words to, A Way To Survive, but I still love to hear it played, and like to play it. It can stand on the melody alone, and it is instantly recognizable.
I get the same feeling about contemporary gospel music as I do about country music. I sit and listen to the songs, and when they're over, I can't for the life of me hum or whistle the tune. Many times the words don't rhyme either.
So it ain't just country.
The melodies just can't grab hold of the listener to make a lasting impression, and I believe it would be very hard for them to stand alone as an instrumental.
I don't know the words to, A Way To Survive, but I still love to hear it played, and like to play it. It can stand on the melody alone, and it is instantly recognizable.
I get the same feeling about contemporary gospel music as I do about country music. I sit and listen to the songs, and when they're over, I can't for the life of me hum or whistle the tune. Many times the words don't rhyme either.
So it ain't just country.
You can observe a lot just by looking
- Doug Beaumier
- Posts: 15642
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Northampton, MA
- Contact:
Ever notice that most of the instrumentals we play were written in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Sometimes I look through song lists on line, popular songs, to play as instrumentals. There are very few songs in recent years that translate to good instrumentals IMO. I always end up choosing tunes from the 30s through the 60s. And for Hawaiian stuff... most of the best tunes are about 80 to 100 years old! Go figure. The downslide in great melodies started happening when The Rock era began IMO. Band members started writing their own songs and professional songwriters became fewer and fewer.
-
- Posts: 4818
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Rehoboth,MA 02769
I view a fellow on youtube that is very opinionated and is a very good country guitar player, chicken picken style. He mentions that this style of country guitar playing, except for Brad Paisley as he is his own front man and lead player does not exist in new country music today. It's a 70's rock rythm and the tele, strat and Fender tube amps that were the basis of standard country music are being replaced withLes Pauls and Paul Reed Smith guitars and Marshall halfstacks with a bit of fiddle and steel guitar to project the image that it's a country song.
Also, what about showmanship and originality? You don't have to wear a Porter Wagner suit but you don't have to look like you crawled out from working on an 18 wheeler. Just venting hear for what it's worth
Lenny
Also, what about showmanship and originality? You don't have to wear a Porter Wagner suit but you don't have to look like you crawled out from working on an 18 wheeler. Just venting hear for what it's worth
Lenny
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
I was listening to an instrumental the other day. I said, that sounds like "Thrills that I can't Forget" by Welby Toomey. Someone else said, naw, that is "I'm thinking tonight of my Blue Eyes" by the Carter Family. Someone else said, no, no, no, that's "Great Speckled Bird" by Roy Acuff. My other friend said, what are you smoking crack? That's "The Wild Side of Life", to which my wife said, you are all crazy, that's "It wasn't God who made Honky Tonk Angels."
It is easy to recognize the old tunes when everyone used the same one.
It is easy to recognize the old tunes when everyone used the same one.
-
- Posts: 6895
- Joined: 15 Nov 2002 1:01 am
- Location: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
- Contact:
NPR featured www.carlenecarter.net/ http://www.npr.org/2014/04/04/299060528 ... ry-lightly this morning and out with a new CD, damn fine REAL country. Plus a killer cameo by Willie.
-
- Posts: 21192
- Joined: 16 Feb 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
While that may be true, it is nonetheless a fact that the music of the '50s, '60s, and '70s is still around, and still being played. Now...I could be wrong, but somehow I doubt that any song that's on the charts today will be heard at all in 25-50 years. Not only is the stuff purveyed today ultimately forgettable fluff, but the generation that's that's buying and listening to it has the attention span of a goldfish. Memory drills and and paying attention are skills that simply aren't being taught anymore. The biggest detriment of all the computer technology and everything that has come along with it is that it makes remembering anything unnecessary and obsolete.Ed Heins wrote:While I agree with the sentiment here. I think it's interesting that I heard the same complaint in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, etc.
No doubt this is why so many people today don't know their own phone number, and can't give it to you unless they have a I-phone in their hand.
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
"but somehow I doubt that any song that's on the charts today will be heard at all in 25-50 years. "
People always listen to the music of their youth. the songs today will trigger emotional responses in those who are coming of age, and they will associate the good times of their youth with the songs.
As it always has been.
People always listen to the music of their youth. the songs today will trigger emotional responses in those who are coming of age, and they will associate the good times of their youth with the songs.
As it always has been.
"People always listen to the music of their youth. the songs today will trigger emotional responses in those who are coming of age, and they will associate the good times of their youth with the songs. "
You should really qualify that answer by saying "some people!"
When I was young, I listened to the Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, CCR etc. I haven't listened to any of them since I left those days behind. Now, I listen only to "real" country music, not the garbage Nashville is putting out today. The only "real" country today is coming from Texas![/quote]
You should really qualify that answer by saying "some people!"
When I was young, I listened to the Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, CCR etc. I haven't listened to any of them since I left those days behind. Now, I listen only to "real" country music, not the garbage Nashville is putting out today. The only "real" country today is coming from Texas![/quote]
Rebel�
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
If I was going to qualify it, I'd say "most people". Why else would we still be forced to listen to Bachman Turner Overdrive and witness the popularity of "classic rock".
When I studied guitar with Dave Van Ronk he had the theory that most people really didn't like music. His point was, they listened to the music that reminded them of important moments in their life, but if actually sat them down and asked them to listen to something new, forget it.
Not that you'd ever see that on THIS forum.
When I studied guitar with Dave Van Ronk he had the theory that most people really didn't like music. His point was, they listened to the music that reminded them of important moments in their life, but if actually sat them down and asked them to listen to something new, forget it.
Not that you'd ever see that on THIS forum.
- Joachim Kettner
- Posts: 7523
- Joined: 14 Apr 2009 1:57 pm
- Location: Germany
Only true to some extent. It can also remind you of good times turning into bad times, but if the musical content is good, I still listen and try to forget memories that are attached.Bill McCloskey wrote:People always listen to the music of their youth. the songs today will trigger emotional responses in those who are coming of age, and they will associate the good times of their youth with the songs.
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube.
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
Yes, but we are speaking in general terms here. The question is will today's country music be played in 20 years. The answer is yes and it will be remembered fondly and with nostalgia. And the same people will be complaining, when they are older, that the current music scene is no good, not like the old days and they will predict the music won't be heard in 20 years. Just like they said with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and Elvis for that matter.
The thing that never changes is that people will continue to not recognize that in themselves.
If you ask anyone when was the greatest period in music, they will inevitably point to the music of their youth, regardless of what age they are.
The thing that never changes is that people will continue to not recognize that in themselves.
If you ask anyone when was the greatest period in music, they will inevitably point to the music of their youth, regardless of what age they are.
- Joachim Kettner
- Posts: 7523
- Joined: 14 Apr 2009 1:57 pm
- Location: Germany
Bill I wouldn't ask anyone, I would ask someone if the old stuff still holds up. And that would be somebody who thinks about music all the time, like most of us here on the Forum do.If you ask anyone ...
Last edited by Joachim Kettner on 7 Apr 2014 8:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube.
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
- Joachim Kettner
- Posts: 7523
- Joined: 14 Apr 2009 1:57 pm
- Location: Germany
- Jerome Hawkes
- Posts: 1385
- Joined: 8 May 2009 7:16 am
- Location: Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
i recently got some old reel to reel recordings of live opry shows from the late 50's - 60's a friends uncle had recorded live....let me say, time is an excellent filter because there was just as much BAD stuff back then as today. what was exciting was to hear a young and fresh Loretta Lynn get up there and nail some amazing early stuff (i had never heard before - i.e. not her greatest hits), you could tell she was going to be a huge star - i don't hear that kind of talent today (on the radio). the music industry has always thrown out a bunch of dung to the masses & see what sticks.
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II
- Leslie Ehrlich
- Posts: 1295
- Joined: 21 Nov 2002 1:01 am
- Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
It's funny that you should mention BTO. They were the group that inspired me to play guitar. I was about 13 turning 14 at the time.Bill McCloskey wrote:Why else would we still be forced to listen to Bachman Turner Overdrive and witness the popularity of "classic rock".
When I was younger (about 5-10 years of age) I listened to what my parents exposed me to, which was basically the 'traditional' country music that some SGF members lament the passing. I liked it (and still do), but it didn't inspire me to become a musician.
Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind!
- Barry Blackwood
- Posts: 7352
- Joined: 20 Apr 2005 12:01 am