The Music Court

So I am sitting–bored out of my mind– in my Animal Physiology class right now. However, my mind was wandering, and I began to think back to last night’s superbowl. Unfortunately, I also thought back to last night’s halftime performance by The Who. How disappointing.

The vocals were shaky, the music was shaky, and so became my respect for this group. The performance was lackluster, clearly banking on the reputation that the band had developed over the years. The medley they played most definitely covered some of their great songs, but the delivery fell unfortunately short. The songs were played and sung with the vigor of a stale waffle.

So, please make sure you give it your all when you perform. Don’t lose the musicality because of past success. Everyone has room to improve…

except Eric Clapton, of course.

Hello everyone,

Once again, I just found myself skimming through some videos, and I witnessed something else that, for lack of better words, struck a chord with me.

Guitars are expensive nowadays. So, one should therefore never disrespect his or her guitar. A guitarist, as talented as he may be, cannot hope to make music without his partner. So as entertaining as it may be to watch, Things to Never Do #3 will henceforth state that thou shall not disrespect your guitar, no matter how much fun it may be. Check out some of these vids.

This guy is just a dumba$$.

But this guy: is awesome.

Stay tuned for a countdown of the top 25 guitarists of all time!



This just turns me off even more

Once again, I was bored and searching through videos. This time, however, I have come up with an item that does not amuse me, but rather disheartens my hope for young musicians. It seems that a growing trend is developing that has young musicians equating guitar playing speed with skill and good playing. The sad thing is: there are so many people who can do that. With a lot of time on your hands and a basic knowledge of the pentatonic scales, you can most definitely teach yourself how to play with great speed on the guitar.

I am a guitar player myself and was shocked as I was offered a job teaching guitar to a young kid after he and his mother were listening to me. I was doing nothing impressive. I was testing out the action of the fretboard, just playing some of the aforementioned pentatonic scales. I also played the very beginning to classical gas. However, these people paid no heed to the older gentleman near me, who was playing beautiful blues on a guitar that he also could not afford. The trend leaves young musicians disregarding musicality and feeling, hoping to learn quick, easy ways to seem impressive to their friends or nearby girls. By the way, I am not insinuating that I am a great guitar player by any means. Check this video out:

Why this kid thinks he’s awesome is beyond me.

As far as this guy is concerned, I am left speechless. It is true that he can play extremely fast. So what? Can you listen to that for more than 5 seconds without

begging your fingers to type another URL into your browser? I didn’t last that 5 seconds.

So please, to all the young musicians out there: Please learn from the greats who have put all their emotion into their music. I am not saying that speed and technical proficiency don’t have their place, for they most certainly do. But please learn balance and where the line is that divides tasteful speed with showing off. Please Check out the following video of Joe Bonamassa. He employs exactly what I am talking about: a balance between speed and feeling, and utilizing speed in a way to express an idea. I wish you all good playing and a good 2010.

And with that, good luck on Saturday Jets.

Once again, I was looking at videos. So I would like to share some advice as this year comes to an end and a new one begins. For something to never do…do not challenge Eric Clapton to a guitar duel, even if you are Buddy Guy…it’s just not a good idea.