A lot of my friends are musicians, and I do support them in my way, but no matter how talented they are, I don't really get as excited about their music as I do by the music of others. It's nothing against them, and it's nothing to do completely with the fact that I know them exactly.
For me, it's because they always play songs they're working on, and ask for advice, opinion, etc. Musicians I don't know aren't doing this to me, and I can just appreciate their music for what it is without them asking if the chord changes were smooth enough, if I thought they should change the key of the song, etc.
I'm willing to help them out, and it doesn't bother me, but when a song gets broken down so that it's in separate pieces and I have to deal with things such as the production or technical aspects of the song, it loses its charm a little bit. I do admire technical skill, and will observe interesting changes / time signatures on songs, but that's on my own time and not as a request.
Honestly, if Trey Anastasio from Phish came up to me and asked me about his choice of strum pattern in a song, it would lose its novelty to me, and I'd never be able to listen to the song the same way again.
|