We are all mechanics. Fact.

Gassage · December 2015

One of thedrawbacks of being reasonably musically proficient is that we all (and I'm very guilty of this) tend to not listen to the songs in an holistic way.

We hear the bass, and we critique. We hear the drums and we opine. We hear the guitarist, and we offer our view.

But rarely do we step out of micro analysis and see the bigger picture- the song itself.

It's rather like taking your new Porsche GTi Turbo thingumuny to your mate who is a mechanic. He won't see the car, its beauty, its performance but you'll get a litany of comments like "Ooooh, they're notorius for scored bores and for overheating. You always get a dripping oil seal...etc etc"

I know I am very guilty of this and I must get away from this view and listen to the song.

Does anyone else fall into this trap? I think we all do from time to ime

scrumhalf · December 2015

I only tend to do that if either the song itself isn't much cop and I need to find a way to entertain myself before it finishes or if I'm specifically listening for something. The thing I love about classic period Stones is that it all sounds like "a band". Take Jumping Jack Flash, there's this amorphous mass of the perfrmance, not a collection of identifiable instruments.

On the other hand, the difference between hearing the same track before I started playing and after I started playing can be quite marked, I hear things I didn't hear before.

digitalscream · December 2015

I'm most like this with songs by my own band. I hear the praise and all the great comments, but all I hear are the mistakes, slight fluffs and the bits I've changed because I didn't like them.

On the other hand, I absolutely love it when I'm listening to other people's songs in detail for the 15th time and I suddenly hear something I'd never noticed before.

spark240 · December 2015

Yep...it's like a curse that never lets you actually hear a song like most people, people say to me, oh I love this track, and I spout off like, no way there far too much reverb on the vocals....or the drums are too up front......desperate.

John_P · December 2015

Good point and very true - I find it worse when I've learned a song and gigged it, very hard not to visualise the playing instead of just enjoying it.

randomhandclaps · December 2015

Most offensive thread title ever - not all mechanics are fat, just a lot of them.

mudslide73 · December 2015

My dad is a mechanic so I know about this from both sides. He told me that every Ferrari he's worked on had gobby welding and would overheat in traffic... no appreciation for the art or heritage. His favourite cars are decided upon for their reliability and ease of repair.

Sometimes a track can catch me unawares.. usually this happens when listening to something for the first time in ages. I've had this experience lately with All things must pass and Prince's Around the world in a day - I think it's an appreciation of songwriting rather than musicianship.

I agree with the Stones comment above - I know how to play it all (my band does 6/7 tracks of theirs) but it's been in my life since before I could play.

ICBM · December 2015

You might find this surprising given how micro-analytical I can be about gear, but…

Not much - I tend to listen to the whole sound and the song, not the individual instruments unless they're doing something very distinctive (not just a solo). This is then a disadvantage if I ever have to learn something - I find it quite difficult to work out what's going on even in songs I love and I'm very familiar with, and I'll often have to sit down and listen in a different way from how I have done before.

I've also never learned anything note-perfectly, ever - so the concept of ruining something for myself by having learned it doesn't really apply much either. Listening to the original is still just listening to the song.

richh · December 2015

Very true, and one reason I prefer not to know all the mechanics of film making - I'd prefer to be transported to a realm where it is a bit of escapist magic. I imagine that if I knew all about camera postions and technical tricks, I'd find it hard to suspend disbelief. A bit like a kid finding out that Santa Claus is not real...

jellyroll · December 2015

richh said:

A bit like a kid finding out that Santa Claus is not real...

huh? waddya mean?.......

mike_l · December 2015

Depends, if I'm listening in the car, I listen to the song, if I'm listening for the sole purpose of learning the song then I pay attention to the detail.

ourmaninthenorth · December 2015

I'm having to learn to not over think things...it's not as easy as it sounds.

I often envy a couple of my pals who frankly are as dumb as soup, daft as bloody brushes...but their lives are immensely simpler than mine, and they are infinitely more happy than I can claim to be. I need to shrug more....

chillidoggy · December 2015

Yes, absolutely. I do try to listen to the music rather than analyse but I have to force myself to do it, and I'm worse if and when I do see a live band. The rest of the musos I've played with are precisely the same, and it's a bloody curse TBH.

Sassafras · December 2015

I'll listen to the song as a whole and then if there's a stand out bass or drum line I'll pick them out the next time I listen because they add to the song's impact.

snakemanStoo · December 2015

I tend to listen to music without analysing it in depth, just having stuff going in the background helps keep me mentally on an even keel, but when I'm asked about stuff I can swap to thinking about all the stuff I'm hearing and listen to the mix, effects etc.

HAL9000 · December 2015

spark240;910938" said:
Yep...it's like a curse that never lets you actually hear a song like most people, people say to me, oh I love this track, and I spout off like, no way there far too much reverb on the vocals....or the drums are too up front......desperate.

^ This. Unfortunately.

rsvmark · December 2015

Good observation @gassage

Sometimes a good song is just a good song. End of. I use the 'hair test'..... Sometimes a song or a performance just makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you get goose bumps..... You cannot help it. It just is. Further analysis is pointless

hywelg · December 2015

My wife very often says 'thats a depressing song' or some such to which my usual reply is, 'i wasn't listening to the words' .

hugbot · December 2015

I had this conversation the other day with a music student friend of mine.

We were at a club and he was complaining about all the music being 'simple' and I was like. Yeah, but, people are dancing to it aren't they.

I think musicians fall into that trap a lot, if something works it works. Writing a 'basic' pop song that gets people in the gut and the dancing feet is harder than it appears on the surface.

The kind of 'music that guitarists like' is usually utter wank really.

cj73 · December 2015

Yes, I'm even worse at concerts….spoils it for me sometimes

ESBlonde · December 2015

Not only songs but as a former sound and lighting producer, I tend to spend the first 25 minutes of every performance figuring the rig/production. Panto, play, concert or whatever before I start enjoying the actual performance.

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