What really grinds my gears

Fatalmasterpiece · Post by **Fatalmasterpiece** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:08 pm

All these kids playing Guitar Hero now, would rather play that than pick up a real guitar. We actually had a kid come to my drummer friend who wanted lessons on drumming and thought it would be easy because he was good at the drums on the video game Rock Band. Needless to say, it wasn't a simple transition.

Then, I am searching online for a replacement battery cover for my guitar, and all I can find are ones for the video game instead of real guitars.

Maybe if some of these young people took some time to actually learn something about music, they wouldn't be listening to all this Nickleback crap on the radio.

... sorry lol

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 2:04 pm

I couldn't agree more!

I stopped teaching guitar simply because these kids think they can pick it up in a few lessons, and then get all frustrated when the instant gratification doesn't kick in.

Learning to play music, is the second best thing I ever did with my life, it's opened doors, enriched my life tremendously, put me in the position to find the love of my life, and so much more, but I can find no words that can really enlighten these youngsters to that.

It's very sad, but.....I'm just happy for those of us that did stick it out, and become musicians.
We know the wonders of it, and that's just the coolest thing, for me anyway!

Post by **Sharp** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 3:52 pm

+1 to what Stephen said.

Fatalmasterpiece · Post by **Fatalmasterpiece** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 4:40 pm

Indeed.

I have had several people say, they want to take lessons so they can learn the piano. I tell them, you don't need lessons to start. 80% or more is teaching and practicing yourself on your own time. They seem to think it is a matter of paying someone and suddenly they can do it.

Music is a great sacrifice that in the end is rewarding to those who truly love it.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:34 am

Sadly, as great as technology is I feel that progress is largely to blame for the frustrations you guys have expressed. Progressive technology has placed music in the hands of anyone who has a computer. While on the surface this would seem a great step, perhaps even the most fantastic step in musical history (giving ALL the chance to make music), it has really robbed them of making music.

Instead of being musicians, they are merely program operators. Since the program can pitch and tempo stretch, it is merely a matter of picking the prefabbed beat you want and putting the other pieces in. It was for this reason that I always hated construction kit sample CDs. It has just been taken to the next level.

What sparks our flames, if we are really honest with ourselves, is not so much that people are being robbed of talent insomuch as we are being robbed of dignity and respect. Tracks that I spent hours or even days on to perfect can be cut and pasted for the most part from Garage Band (a tool that in the hands of a real musician becomes thousands of times more powerful, for the record so as not to piss off Apple lovers). This makes it discouraging to make music...especially of the modern flair.

In agreement...sacrifice is part of the formula that is lacking in many "music makers" today. It is not nostalgia that draws us to music of yesteryear, it is the longing for something real.

In essence comparing musicians to the new breed of program operators is like comparing a war hero from WWII to the guy down the road who beat Call of Duty in a few hours...not on the same page...not even in the same book.

Solo

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:18 am

what happens here in my area is kinda different: I never seen so many young guys playing an instruments, there is a large number of bands and I have to say that maybe they're too much... but I'm happy to see people like music here. What is wrong is that many of them are happy to play just so-so, and don't try to grow in the music

Anyway I think it's a good starting point versus the general "guitar hero generation"

Regards, Lorenzo

Diego · Post by **Diego** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:59 am

I've had some pupils before start working full time...
Maybe I'm wrong, and not up to date with modern music teaching methods, but what I've always saied to my pupils was "you can't do math without knowing numbers, you can't do grammar without knowing alphabet, you can't do music without knowing notes".
I agree that lots of musicians actually make music without knowing where sits a C on the score, but I've always hard trained with solfeggio (in all its forms: first reading, training with percussive instruments, and so on), but something that can give a strong musical basement before start playing any instrument.

Hey, please, don't start thinking about "Keyboard hero" game, or we'll see Jordan Rudess on Playstation III, too

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:04 am

Diego wrote: Hey, please, don't start thinking about "Keyboard hero" game, or we'll see Jordan Rudess on Playstation III, too

playstation III in every DT concert plus some JR clinics and instructional video... "Hi I'm Jordan Rudess... this is my brand new PSIII and this is the amazing keyboard hero..." please I want'em!!!

Synthoid · Post by **Synthoid** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:39 pm

Lorenzo wrote: I'm Jordan Rudess... this is my brand new PSIII and this is the amazing keyboard hero..."

No thanks!

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:48 pm

Synthoid wrote:
Lorenzo wrote: I'm Jordan Rudess... this is my brand new PSIII and this is the amazing keyboard hero..."
No thanks!

ahahah are you afraid aren't you? ghghgh

Post by **Sharp** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:02 pm

Jordan Rudess could probably get into the Guinness Book of records for the highest number of keys pressed in under 10 seconds, but what I'd love to hear him do is actually play a song with feeling.

He's an excellent keyboard player, but he seems to be caught up more in trying to impress people with playing as many notes as possible rather than playing the ones that matter most and that put feeling in a song.

No disrespect to the guy intended, he is truly gifted.

Regards.
Sharp.

Diego · Post by **Diego** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:46 pm

Can't agree more Sharp!

I just think that he've been from endorsment and products he use: I think he can really play a song with feelings (if you listen to his old cds you can actually find something really interesting), but now he's just interested in promotion and "auto-celebration" instead of being a serious musician...
BTW, don't open the "rudess chapter" because we should have to fight quite a lot, especially if we flame Lorenzo about JR

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:15 pm

I've noticed similarly with musicians and non-musicians alike, is the general fading-out of the understanding of actual musical complexity, and more of an interest of 'who can play the fastest'.
Its good enough to hear people showing off and saying "I can play 287bpm" or such, BUT it still depends on what you actually play, and whether you put feeling and skill into it, or you just have fast hands.

But I feel that no-one else understands... The reason it has got like this is because people find it easier to judge speed than skill and finesse.

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:04 pm

X-Trade wrote:The reason it has got like this is because people find it easier to judge speed than skill and finesse.

You're right!

One reason is that you can actually measure speed, expression....mmmm, not so much.

There's a lot to be said in most musical pieces, and I prefer the players that allow every instrument to have it's say.
Just a subjective opinion.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:34 pm

Diego wrote:Can't agree more Sharp!

I just think that he've been from endorsment and products he use: I think he can really play a song with feelings (if you listen to his old cds you can actually find something really interesting), but now he's just interested in promotion and "auto-celebration" instead of being a serious musician...
BTW, don't open the "rudess chapter" because we should have to fight quite a lot, especially if we flame Lorenzo about JR

oh yeah! I love him so much that I wrote here and there on the net many good things about him, I really understand Sharp's comment on the poor Jordan, this forum is really evil if we can speak in this way about the great Magician ghghghgh
regards, Lorenzo

p.s. maybe one day JR will discover the difference between a sinusoid and a square wave...