Basics - Genres - Rock 1

Blogger's Notes

Been taking a short break (2 days) from blogging to re-think my ideas on what to write about. I have no idea what everyone needs/wants from this blog. Any ideas? Perhaps I should put up a poll.

And now that I got an HD Cam, I'm hoping to possibly start vlogging. So that no one has to read so much... I can talk like Leonard Bernstein to the camera and talk about each genre and rhythm in music. Haha

But that would take a while before I start too. Please those who are reading this feel free to suggest to me new ideas! =)

What is rock?

I'm personally a big fan the good ol' days of rock. I'm pretty sure there was a lot of tainting, but at least the music was still much about its ideals. Nowadays rock-stardom is all about being flashy and "who's more gimmicky". That's the evolution of the genre for the last 20 years at least - thus emo-pop-rock came to be.

I'll be going back into the past to look at key individuals who made rock what it is. I'll show you how all-encompassing rock used to be and how it's really all about a subversive edge with some gimmicks but it's all about making a point. What's more is the fact that those who went into it really listened very very vastly and had their own opinions.

I shall be covering blues rock mainly for this part of the series, which was the basis behind rock in many sense till today.

Jimi Hendrix



No rock musician can ever truly say that he/she is a rocker until he/she has heard Jimi Hendrix; at least one, if not extensive.

Yes he realised he was out of tune unlike most other trying-to-be-rock musicians. A guitar god, and one of the greatest pushers for rock of all time. What is rock about?

It's very heavy on the 1 and 3 and loves distortion on guitar and sometimes bass. It's an attitude of its own. Notice how Jimi is like "who cares what song you guys want to hear? I'm gonna do something I like!" Btw, please utilise the skills shared in previous parts to analyse the rhythm. Because I'm not covering rhythm but the attitude and sound of the genre therefore I wouldn't go in-depth into this until I go through the rock rhythm.

That is the subversive, "I love to do it my way, so what if I'm famous" attitude. They did exactly what they want from the start of the song (massive "wanking" session by most people's terms nowadays), but it was filled with the energy of individualism. At the same time it was not each person going off on his own, but instead a group of musicians coming together to create a collective sound.

Bassist and drummer are great example of people who fill the sound nicely in rock. The drummer does a lot of fills and a lot of sound, giving a strong beat at the same time. The bassist also does similar things on his P Bass (like that tone with a pick) and keeps the sustain going to bring elevate the atmosphere.

Notice that this early rock style is vastly different from a lot of the later trying-to-simplify-too-much rock of the later days which doesn't make any sense. That is much like the oversimplification of R&B and other genres.

Stevie Ray Vaughan



Slow blues rock. Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of the few guys you'd always feel it's such a waste that he died young - even though he didn't OD. He died from a plane crash which was meant for Eric Clapton. Till today I'm still wondering what would have happened if it was Clapton on the plane... Either way the world would have a tragic loss...

Anyway he was the "guitar hero" in many sense. High gauge strings, tone running through one fender and one marshall to bring out different frequencies and different distortions... He's quite picky about tone and his sound. He's one of those guys that people would love to slam as being picky and overplaying and "not about the music". But he was all about the music.

Every note has its reason, every phrase has its direction. He plays way longer than any rock guitarist, and has more interesting lines than anyone else. He works with big phrases in music, even when he sings. His voice is husky and powerful, with tons of grit and soul within.

Notice his band barely need to do anything. If I was his bassist I'd probably be kicking back and just keeping the groove going while listening to him soulfully sing and play. Notice how they keep the groove - I'll cover this next time when I'm doing rhythm of blues rock.

He had the element of blues - storytelling, as well as the individualism of rock, which made him still a monument in rock and blues equally for such a long time.

Eric Clapton



Hearing this song every day because my brother is trying to play it on guitar (not as high level of course). But it's really a beautiful song which Eric Clapton wrote because of the death of his son.

Anyone who doesn't know Eric Clapton and claims to be a musician should be shot. Haha. I didn't appreciate him till the last 3 years when I realised how to enjoy every music in every genre with the same attitude. It's really guitar heavy and it's more of a ballad than purely a rock song or a typical one at that. But this shows you the other end of the spectrum from the same series of legends - Jimi, SRV and Clapton - they have multiple sounds though all of them are rock.

Will dwelve into this for the next part. For now, please enjoy the music. =)