Do guitarists listen to music on the radio differently?

JAYJO

thegummy said:

JAYJO said:

I try not to be too critical but i find myself picking out songs within songs and question the songwriters originality.
"Oh yeah thats just a rip off of such and such".Maybe im just picking up chord progressions which is something i would never have been able to do before i picked up a guitar.
Melodies I treat the same. I find if i process a tune long enough in my head i can usually link it to something else...idk..What i do know is its difficult for me to write a tune without hearing something relative to it., if that makes sense again idk. so i i would say i listen to music differently to how i used to listen to music but dont know if its really any different to anyone else.  

Chord progressions aren't rip offs, they're not unique to specific songs.

I know..

guitars4you

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Chord progressions aren't rip offs, they're not unique to specific songs.

That depends on the chord progression...

I think it would need to be a pretty long and complex progression to be only ever used by one song.

Like more so than a normal sounding song.

Girl From Ipanema and Dream a little Dream both spring to mind - both only need 4-8 bars to be deemed unique  and recognizable to the song 

even just the chords themselves, perhaps played on a pipe organ or acoustic guitar to a different rhythm?

I'm genuinely asking, I'm only loosely familiar with the songs. I'd find it very interesting if that was the case.

I take your point about so many songs have the same chord sequence - There are song books with 100 songs to play that all use the same 3 or 4 chords - Yes many follow a V1  11  V  1  format or similar etc, let alone an 8 or 12 bar blues format - But certain songs do have a unique sequence 

There is a format called harmonising the major scale so in C, you'd use chords based around C, D minor, E minor, F, G, A minor etc as all the notes in the chord are from the C major scale, so quite easy to solo around the chord sequence and melody with a C major scale - But something like Dream a Little Dream totally kicks all that in to touch - C-B7-G#-G / C-B7-A-A7 / F-Fm / A-F#m-Bm-E

thegummy

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Chord progressions aren't rip offs, they're not unique to specific songs.

That depends on the chord progression...

I think it would need to be a pretty long and complex progression to be only ever used by one song.

Like more so than a normal sounding song.

Girl From Ipanema and Dream a little Dream both spring to mind - both only need 4-8 bars to be deemed unique  and recognizable to the song 

even just the chords themselves, perhaps played on a pipe organ or acoustic guitar to a different rhythm?

I'm genuinely asking, I'm only loosely familiar with the songs. I'd find it very interesting if that was the case.

I take your point about so many songs have the same chord sequence - There are song books with 100 songs to play that all use the same 3 or 4 chords - Yes many follow a V1  11  V  1  format or similar etc, let alone an 8 or 12 bar blues format - But certain songs do have a unique sequence 

There is a format called harmonising the major scale so in C, you'd use chords based around C, D minor, E minor, F, G, A minor etc as all the notes in the chord are from the C major scale, so quite easy to solo around the chord sequence and melody with a C major scale - But something like Dream a Little Dream totally kicks all that in to touch - C-B7-G#-G / C-B7-A-A7 / F-Fm / A-F#m-Bm-E

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Chord progressions aren't rip offs, they're not unique to specific songs.

That depends on the chord progression...

I think it would need to be a pretty long and complex progression to be only ever used by one song.

Like more so than a normal sounding song.

Girl From Ipanema and Dream a little Dream both spring to mind - both only need 4-8 bars to be deemed unique  and recognizable to the song 

even just the chords themselves, perhaps played on a pipe organ or acoustic guitar to a different rhythm?

I'm genuinely asking, I'm only loosely familiar with the songs. I'd find it very interesting if that was the case.

I take your point about so many songs have the same chord sequence - There are song books with 100 songs to play that all use the same 3 or 4 chords - Yes many follow a V1  11  V  1  format or similar etc, let alone an 8 or 12 bar blues format - But certain songs do have a unique sequence 

There is a format called harmonising the major scale so in C, you'd use chords based around C, D minor, E minor, F, G, A minor etc as all the notes in the chord are from the C major scale, so quite easy to solo around the chord sequence and melody with a C major scale - But something like Dream a Little Dream totally kicks all that in to touch - C-B7-G#-G / C-B7-A-A7 / F-Fm / A-F#m-Bm-E

I'll have to check that out when I get home tonight, I'm the kind of geek who finds stuff like that fascinating

SlopeSoarer

Since I've started playing I often find myself thinking yep I'll have a go at that riff if it is a song that I like. So yes I must be listening to the radio in a different way to what I used to: )

tunapuppy

I think musicians tend to listen to a song very analytically, to take in its parts and how they all fit together to make the finished article. Non musical peeps listen to the song as a whole and enjoy the end result. I suppose it's like the way a chef might taste a meal and pick up on all the herbs, spices and cooking techniques, while your average diner would just enjoy the taste! 

Phil_aka_Pip

I notice the guitar(s) first, then the bass, then the keys and drums. Vocals come last (unless it's James Taylor when they come second to the guitars) but mostly vocals are wasted space between the rest of the music.

downbytheriver

Nope. I listen to the song. I listen to the music. I especially listen to the musicality. Analysing and focusing on individual elements would entirely miss the point as far as I’m concerned. 

I’d like to think that as a musician I care about music at least as much as the next person and I don’t restrict my enjoyment to individual aspects. 

This may be why I prefer simpler but well crafted music, and why I hate with an evangelical passion anything that is better described as gymnastics rather than musical performance. 

I’ll get my coat. 

snakemanStoo

I tend to swap between listening to the song as a whole, just appreciating it as a piece of music.

Other times I'm listening to the parts interlocking with each other.

It depends whether I'm relaxing or actively learning.

Arjailer

A friend and I realised years ago that we listened to music very differently. I couldn't understand why he was so into stuff that I just found boring - stuff like Bruce Springsteen and The Waterboys. Eventually we realised that he was listening to the lyrics, while I was listening to the music (with the vocals just being another melodic "instrument").

He was enjoying the stories in the lyrics, while I was being bored by the simple melodies repeated over and over.

But I dunno if being a musician makes me listen to things that way, or if the way I listen made me a musician   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

skullfunkerry

downbytheriver said:

Nope. I listen to the song. I listen to the music. I especially listen to the musicality. Analysing and focusing on individual elements would entirely miss the point as far as I’m concerned. 

I’d like to think that as a musician I care about music at least as much as the next person and I don’t restrict my enjoyment to individual aspects. 

This may be why I prefer simpler but well crafted music, and why I hate with an evangelical passion anything that is better described as gymnastics rather than musical performance. 

I’ll get my coat. 

Very much this. My brother *loves* Dream Theater, and I can't stand them... apart from the fact that there's just not much in there that interests me, making one 20 minute song out of 17 unrelated riffs, keys, tempos and time signatures just seems to me like a wasted chance to make 10 or 11 good 5 minute songs!

NelsonP

Philly_Q said:

I don't know, because I've never listened to music as anyone other than me.

You need to get out more!

On topic, I never really listen to the lyrics. All of that effort is wasted on me.

Philly_Q

NelsonP said:

Philly_Q said:

I don't know, because I've never listened to music as anyone other than me.

You need to get out more!

What, as other people?

SlopeSoarer

Thinking about the OP's question, what I'm realising is that playing the guitar has given me a wider appreciation and knowledge of guitar based music.

I've always loved guitar based music but now I listen to stuff which I wouldn't have done and I think that has a lot to do with hearing things on the radio and thinking, I'll have a go at that and of course trying to learn 100 guitar riffs that every guitarist should know!

Aren't guitars great!? I'm shit but I enjoy trying: )

NelsonP

Philly_Q said:

NelsonP said:

Philly_Q said:

I don't know, because I've never listened to music as anyone other than me.

You need to get out more!

What, as other people?

Yes, precisely ;-)

SlopeSoarer

NelsonP said:

Philly_Q said:

NelsonP said:

Philly_Q said:

I don't know, because I've never listened to music as anyone other than me.

You need to get out more!

What, as other people?

Yes, precisely ;-)

Quite an ironic reply really: )

Th4fonz

Im the same I always listen to the musicality of the song rather than the vocalist.

TeleMaster

I like mixing and recording mine and my friends music, so I listen to the mixes a lot. The radio is horribly compressed, but there’s lots of good production going on in all music genres. 

Yeaterday my friend showed me her friends pub covers band. The guitarists bends and timing were completely off and I winced at some of the bends as it just sounded so off to me. She thought they were fantastic in any case. 

So yea. We definitely do listen differently.

57Deluxe

most definitely and we watch live gigs completely one sided

merciful-evans

scrumhalf said:

Tbere was a Pete Townshend interviee donkeys years ago where he said that he was listening again to all the albums he listened to before he took up the guitar and they all sounded different.

Well he wasnt half deaf back then..