Archive for March 9th, 2010
When you listen to a song what do you hear? When you listen to a song you like, what is it that you like about it?
I have asked musicians and people who do not play any musical instruments at all these very questions, the answers I got were pretty consistently the same. When someone tells me they like a song I ask them in return, What do you like about it? If it is a song that I like also I will ask if they like lets say the bass guitar line, or the sound of the electric guitar solo, or even the acoustic guitar playing on the song?
Most of the time someone that does not play guitar will not even take notice of the instruments on the song, they recognize the singing, or the singer but are oblivious to the music behind them. When someone that does play and is proficient at it they hear that great bass guitar riff that makes the song great, or the guitar solo whether played acoustically or on an electric guitar. Someone familiar with music can also tell you what pedals are used to make the electric guitar sound the way it does.