mpointon wrote:
There's one reason I can jump on almost any track here and hopefully get the gist of it (ignoring any structural complexities). It's because I have a stock of 'basic styles' in my repertoire. If I hear a reggae track, I know straight away to start with the kick drum playing on the 2 and 4 or the 3 in half-time patterns. I also know staying away from the downbeat and playing fills that finsh either before or after the '1' is a signature of the style. If I hear a jazz track, I know to have hi-hat ticking on the 2 & 4 and quarter notes on the ride with a skip beat and fills generally contain phrasing or pushes. This may not be what I want to play, but it's my 'template' to work from - knowledge of the signatures of a style/genre... Furthermore, you'll be very surprised how you can completely change the flavour of a track by mixing these contexts. Take Ska, for example: that's just reggae and punk fused together!
In the guitar world I guess you could, using the examples above, start on a reggae track with a jangly guitar playing on the off-beat as that's the norm, or jazz you'd go for a nice round, clean tone with the top-end rolled off playing all those weird 7ths! Knowing these 'basics of style' really give you a springboard to jump in on a track leaving more time for you to enjoy it rather than worrying about it.
That presents an interesting thought on the way generations "categorize" musical styles in their approaches.
Back before technology ...when people actually sat around and listened to "albums and records". You had your parents musical tastes and your musical tastes and everyone elses tastes all neatly organized. Record shops had albums arranged very clearly into "categories". "Rock" "Blues" "Easy listening" "Big Band". It all basically boiled down to seven musical styles for many many years and going to record shops...you browsed those sections all the time.This is burned into anyone over 40. Genres were very clear and seperated.
Todays "young 'uns perhaps dont have that clear concept that "reggae should sound like this .. " as you didnt have "Ska " or "dub step" hybrid definitions all over the place back then. To me those genres are "reggae playing with certain sound and feel". I am not trying to delegitimize but jrather just saying my upbringing musically only allows me to see seven basic playing styles and everything else is a tweak to the sound.
There were less "hybrid definitions" back when i was growing up like "Death Core metal/ Hair metal/Thrash metal... it was all just "metal". Pounding and big drums, thumping bass , attacking guitars and screaming, growling and grunting meant to raise the testosterone in teen boys.
Not saying that is bad just that the categorization and organization of musical templates in our repertoire , may mean something totally different for a younger generation. It may actually be more clear cut to old guys like us where as the sub categorizations just add and may be too vast to organize in the head "reggae is basically this" or "blues is basically that".
To this day I do not recognize "unplugged " as a category of music. Its still "rock" or "blues" or "jazz"in my head because the artist is playing those styles."Unplugged" to me simply means the artist chose to go acoustic to present their country, blues or rock tracks.
What is "techno" or "electronic music" really? The artists stills plays basic major /minor scales and the songs if done on different instruments other then synths or keys could easily be reclassified as rock, blues, classical etc... It very possibly could be a genre built on sound style not playing style when you break it down. Not downing it, just breaking it down to its core "essence". When you hear "techno" you know its going to have synth keys yet does that really effect the makeup of the song playing style?
Tangerine Dream was a rock band for decades. Now youll find them in the "Electronic music" section to accomodate all the other "electronic artists" . But does "electronic music " mean they are playing a unique set of chords or progressions that create an "electronic song" or is it simply refering to the overall sound of rock and classical songs updated with modern instruments? Just asking?
How many people break down Pink Floyd into a blues band? I do. Strip it all away and Gilmour is a blues guitarist who fully utilizes studio production and sound effects for some very creative rock songs using the usual verse/chorus / bridge structure.
A great example: When Paul Simon released the "Graceland " album . It was HUGE! it was the FUTURE OF MUSIC! It was played non stop on every radio station and crossed multiple genres. Peter Gabriel, The Talking Heads all reinvented themselves to capture this revolutionary new sound people craved! Artists added South African singers to their bands and the fretless bass, previously limited to just "jazz" was mainstream and everywhere!
It was such a unique album yet Simon was always "Rock" or "Folk" in many peoples heads yet that album spawned the sub category term "World Music". That was hard to adjust to that term as his previous work fitted into such a neat and tidy "Folk rock" category yet here he is with South African artists and South African rhythms that were still folkish. Being all the artists adding south african flavorings to replicate the "Graceland Sound" ,thanks to Mr Simon, the term "World Music" emerged and became a new record store section.
Took me many years to accept "World" as a legit category but in my head now, "World music " means to me a blend of different cultures styles within a rock, pop, folk or blues song.Ifyou ask me to play on a "World music " track, Im still going to come up with a "folk " part or a "rock " part or a "jazzy lick" and maybe change the sound for flavoring.
It always goes back to the seven basic categories at least for me and the sub categories I still view as distractions. The essence of the overall basic styles is what Im concerned with.
It works for me that way and again ...not saying blurring the differences is bad, just that categorization I learned as a teenager listening to albums is definitley a plus for me and keeps my approach somewhat focused as to what I plan on doing. It adds confidence for me I can neatly break something down and its going to be one of a few basic "styles" I have to concern myself with.
To illustrate the point Im trying to make here is the song that spawned the term "World Music".
Lets pretend for a second Paul Simon asks us to play on his track. Here would be my thought process.
To me if you listen to the musicians without the South African backing singers and south african percussive instruments which "flavor " the track, it all boils down to basic country playing. If I had to play on this track I would categorize it and pull all my "country roadhouse" playing .Even the fretless is doing standard country pop playing. Its just being played on what previously was a jazz style instrument back then.Yet in its day it was so unique over all ...it warranted its own musical genre. All I hear is a very standard and basic country roadhouse 2 step with some very clever and ingenious flavorings:
[youtube]H9M4XJXnCcw[/youtube]
