Korg Forums

[ellll]

Actually, a lot can be determined by the popularity of a genre or style, or period of music, and in the USA it is very much a new wave of freedom in creativity. You like a sound, its music...to you.

Lets not go there, except to say, as an older person holding two degrees..I tend to look at music on the accidental by expermentation, as a bit too simplified.. Music has nuance, power and wonder to be discovered only after years of study. One not having even been exposed, much less spending time in study can never really find these nuances. Opera is a prime example...

This is especially true of so called "ethnic" music, which is almost impossible for the lay person to enjoy and appreciate in a few hearings...
THUS:..

I then remind you of the precusors of the guitar...AND the piano.. If you wished to include all guitar-like instruments..then it would be "plucked" and "necked" instruments hands down...They are the oldest, other than percussion, and the simple, single note flute-like whistle...purc/whistle/plucked string..these are the ROOTS...

As to "keyboard" the first were organ-like and had three, four or more "flutes" that could be opened with a valve, to sound...add a supply of "wind" and you have the organ in theory...

So actually there are almost as many of the "keyboard" instrument worldwide...(But thats not just piano...) so it is necessary to just say as is the case here...piano as the preferred,or Guitar as the perferred, by the people who answer a survey like this... The guitar, surely, as it is, as said earlier..PORTABLE..!

And as usual, I got too involved...John

[ellll]

So..For me a better topic..(That has been hit before, many times many places, and can be determined from many sites on the web), is "What is YOUR instrument, and What OTHER instruments do you play reasonably well"...Such a question brings into play the REASONS..(like portability) for interest and success..

Sorry for the ramble..but..music is seldom simple...John...(ellll)

[Ultimate Dj]

[RiotNrrd]

Good music is never simple.

You know, I have to disagree. Complexity does not insure quality, and simplicity does not automatically mean schlock.

I've heard some "experimental" or "avante-garde" music which could be looked at as either
1) Incredibly complex, or
2) A big sonic bucket of chaos.

Whereas some (in my opinion) very good music is also quite simple. Some of The Beatles songs, for example, are not terribly complex, and yet are still worth listening to again and again, even now, nearly 50 years after they were written.

It is analogous to written works. Not every story needs to be "great literature" to still be worth reading. Sure, sometimes reading The Iliad is where you're at, but sometimes there's value in reading a science fiction short story. It all depends on what you want to get out of it. Both have their place, and I hesitate to declare that one is "better" than the other.

[ellll]

While I agree in full with Riot about the issues of good music, it sometimes means "successful" and "accepted" as well, and that part I haven't much use for. In truth the great have always been hard workers at their craft...just using the public acceptance figures doesn't make music, or acting, however...

Still I stand in a sense, by my statement,...BUT in meaning, we must add that accidents simply don't make good music; they stand apart from the very meaning of humanity. Example..I agree fully on the Beetles, or any other "good" group..but it was not simple in reality; in fact, those people had a handle on creation that is not easily matched.. The creative impulse, when put to the score, will be right. So it is with almost all successful artists...

The reason I mention it at all, relates to the times I have seen people attempt to, ..do whatever it was they wanted musically, and give up...So many believe if they pick up that guitar, for example, and give it a bit of less than serious time, they will succeed..and they fail...but you see, some fail who draw blood in countless attempts and effort!!

In addition, a "computer" like approach can lead to success...Some modern groups, in particular in "Country" are people almost off the street, who are "molded" into success by a VEERY wealthy producer..("hooks", Phrases, Themes..all selected by an almost machine-like method, and set up for the one(s) performing, and the public raves...).."Commercial" artistry, "fixed" to attract the uninformed...How far can it go???

Enough..I could go on..and represent myself.. successful as a director, but NEVER to rise above just adequate in composition...and in performance on piano. Maybe I did not study hard enough? How could "..I.." have done more..and so you see, it likely comes out as the INDIVIDUAL that counts, and we do not really compare well, person to person, of those around us..the complexity is too great...

Regards!! ellll (John)

[Ultimate Dj]