Music Banter - View Single Post

GuitarBizarre · 03-11-2009, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

Well, based on what I hear from people around me, read, etc, I don't think it's so much that virtuosity isn't thought of as a valid music theory in critical circles, it's that the rather small minority of mainstream audiences who actually care and pay attention to other people in a band besides the vocalist don't really know a virtuoso when they hear one. I mean, why else will people say things like "Man, Fall Out Boy has the best guitarist I've ever listened to, etc" unless they simply don't know it when they hear it, or, hell, never have heard someone play who is a master at their instrument?

On the other had, its not as if there wasn't a time when instrumental virtuosity and interplay wasn't the norm for the vast majority of listeners. How else can you explain prog. rock's massive popularity with a fairly diverse radio-listening audience back in the early-mid 70's? Yet, because virtuosity isn't something that today's majority of music consumers look for, the issue of when/where it becomes too much doesn't make for much of a discussion in today's world unless you are a musician yourself or someone who seeks out that kind of debate.

I was more referring to the kind of people who troll youtube comments posting 'omg no feeling' on videos that are obviously just technical demonstrations, and then throw out a bunch of blues players as if the slow blues bend is the upper limit of acceptable technique. Them, and the kind of people on musicbanter itself who create endless angst over any music that errs on the side of technical proficiency by insisting it has no soul.

----------------
Now playing on Winamp: Ayumi Hamasaki - Never Ever [Eurobeat Mix]
via FoxyTunes