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The slow death of the electric guitar

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Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#171

Post by Naga »

anoonmoose wrote: post #154
manmal wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I'm downvoted on HN for mentioning Nickleback now? If you listen to the whole of their albums and not only the commercial hits, it's a really solid rock band. Now give me some of the other examples of rock bands that regularly make it to the top 10.

The writing is juvenile, the band's attitude towards other music is insulting, every album sounds more or less the same, and there's an argument to be made that their fame partially stems largely from a Canadian law requiring Canadian music to make up a certain percentage of radio time. According to sources[0], their new album is getting outsold by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit's new album, they're a fairly straight co…

CanCon, as the process is known, has many problems. It has forced radio stations to constantly play the Tragically Hip as well, who I would argue deserve to be played.

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#172

Post by rorykoehler »

agumonkey wrote: post #113
kaoD wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could it be that you're uneducated (which is fine, there's so much music produced nowadays that's hard to be educated in all niches) and listening to shitty electronic music that the mainstream industry is advertising endlessly to recycle the same formula again and again for cheap gains? Similar to shitty music like "The Archies - Sugar Sugar" or anything from The Ramones. There's an endless stream of shit music from…

How many people in the electronic genre could play Bach ? I mind no medium, no genre, nothing at all. If you give me something musical, even tapping on bamboo, or an old DX7 (see this demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3rrjQtQe5A , the pianos samples are dense, and the harmonies aren't dull) synth, I'd welcome it. The link you gave are not bad, but they lack soul, feel, weight. It's a common thing in electronic mu…

I know a fair few electronic musicians that would feel right at home performing bach.

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#173

Post by jghn »

larrydag wrote: post #165
kochthesecond wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also argue metal was never mainstream. The mainstream was always further takes on pop, which to an increasing degree draws from all the others innovating, if in a moderately expressed way. Listen to mainstream popular music now and you can often find some of the intensity extreme metal explored.

I have to agree that metal was never mainstream. I always looked at metal as an evolution of punk.

By many measures metal predates punk

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#174

Post by agumonkey »

vidarh wrote: post #168
agumonkey wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people in the electronic genre could play Bach ? I mind no medium, no genre, nothing at all. If you give me something musical, even tapping on bamboo, or an old DX7 (see this demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3rrjQtQe5A , the pianos samples are dense, and the harmonies aren't dull) synth, I'd welcome it. The link you gave are not bad, but they lack soul, feel, weight. It's a common thing in electronic mu…

> How many people in the electronic genre could play Bach ? More than you might think. Some, like Isao Tomita, built their careers on electronic versions of classical music, including Bach in Tomita's case (though I don't care much for his adaptations). Others, but many others, like Jean-Michel Jarre has an education in classical music, and took a long time to "break free" from classical formats in his composition.

Tomita's style is so weird. I didn't know about him until your comment. He seems into pure rendering of classical style in other instruments. But I miss something, it's too precise or constricted.

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#175

Post by analog31 »

I play an "obsolete" instrument, the double bass. And I play jazz. So my gut reaction is: Welcome to the club.

Electric guitar (and electric bass) enjoyed their day in the sun, and it was well deserved. When the Fender guitar came on the scene, a dance band required as many as 19 musicians, all playing instruments that took years of training just to even make a decent sound, much less to play at a performance level.

The electric guitar and bass had a much different learning curve (not better or worse, like C vs Python) and 3 or 4 musicians could take the place of 19. Of course changing musical styles played a role in this transition as well, so I'm really over-simplifying here. The simpler harmonic structure of songs made it easier to crank out hits, and the manipulation of electronic effects allowed the creation of new styles such as hard rock, heavy metal, and so forth.

Rock music also had a certain social appeal. As opposed to taking lessons and then sitting at home and practicing scales, you joined a bunch of friends, and all learned together in the absence of any adult supervision. Many bands create new songs together by trial and error. Styles and songs were learned by ear -- the folk music tradition, which certainly has its own historical precedent.

It couldn't last forever. Fifty years is a pretty darn good run. New instruments have emerged, with their own learning curve and cultural appeal. That's great. Meanwhile, playing an obsolete instrument can still have its own attractions.

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#176

Post by [deleted] »

agumonkey wrote: post #145
coldtea wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some examples of some classic stuff -- but like anything new, they probably require repeated listenings to get the layers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgzjFCXCA8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WTxC8wnXQo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnXVIsMimHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw5AiRVqfqk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7bKe_Zgk4o&index=5&list=RDX... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FGtd3oH_PQ http…

IM starts nice, the rest isn't my cup of tea. I'll keep it under my pillow for a second run. ps: here's a gift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj3GkvFIqSc

[deleted]

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#177

Post by badosu »

agumonkey wrote: post #114
coldtea wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't listen to much electronic music, but I find no subtleties or sensitivity in what I hear. Probably because you don't listen much. There are subtleties in electronic music pieces that go several levels beyond jazz even -- in timbre, rhythm, harmony etc. Compared to something like 70s rock, there's no contest even. You wont find those in EDM charts though.

Send me names, I'd gladly feed my ears with beyond jazz subtleties. I'm all for the musical experience, as long as it's well done. But to the point, the thread is about mainstream guitar playing going away. So I was talking about mainstream electro. Surely there are deeply satisfying electronic music out there if you dig.

Made a selection with an eclectic variety of modern electronic sounds, enjoy!

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnXVIsMimHY (a gem of prog trance)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyORieDhpkg (dark electronic jazz)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rk1K5Mmnbg (black metal + breakbeat + classical)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2GDEKCIVTE (amazing psy chill album)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQKsuZ5a3_U

To illustrate how Electronic Music enables you to achieve a wide range of possibilities I've chosen these 2 songs from the same band:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI96JLR0rXM

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4YvkZeLrjs

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#178

Post by kaoD »

agumonkey wrote: post #174
vidarh wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many people in the electronic genre could play Bach ? More than you might think. Some, like Isao Tomita, built their careers on electronic versions of classical music, including Bach in Tomita's case (though I don't care much for his adaptations). Others, but many others, like Jean-Michel Jarre has an education in classical music, and took a long time to "break free" from classical formats in his composition.

Tomita's style is so weird. I didn't know about him until your comment. He seems into pure rendering of classical style in other instruments. But I miss something, it's too precise or constricted.

> it's too precise or constricted

What do you expect from Western classical music? ;)

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#179

Post by agumonkey »

kaoD wrote: post #178
agumonkey wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tomita's style is so weird. I didn't know about him until your comment. He seems into pure rendering of classical style in other instruments. But I miss something, it's too precise or constricted.

> it's too precise or constricted What do you expect from Western classical music? ;)

Ah come on, don't tell me chopin prelude 28 is constricted :)

Maybe Chopin was the last of the western classical music (I'm not that knowledgeable on this)

Re: The slow death of the electric guitar

#180

Post by shadow_banned »

johan_larson wrote: post #94
fh973 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold on, I am a not very young dad and the music of my youth was with two turntables and a mic. The 90s golden age of hip hop :) There was also electronic music like techno, drum and bass, ... Guitar music is I'd say evergreen, but hasn't been the hottest thing for much longer.

OK, so it's the music of dad's dad's generation. I was double-extra right. :)

Now kiss
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