Basics - Genres - Rock 4

Blogger's Notes

It's quite interesting that there's a growing awareness in RJC Jazz Club of issues. And the fact that J1s are being left alone is kind of unnerving for them I believe.

Anyway I have to say that the Singaporean music scene is horribly hilarious. From mainstream to the supposed-niche we're still dealing with people going for things purely because it confers a status... When are we going to move to a better society?

To talk about rock in a modern day context... Everyone knows a lot of modern rock guitarists, so I don't need to over-introduce. But nowadays in the truly rock scene there are mainly guitar heroes, not so much of bands anymore interestingly enough. At least from what I've been seeing. Not that guitar heroes are bad at all... Great musicians will still produce great music regardless whether they're the leaders of the band or not. Haha.

Derek Trucks



I have to thank Tzung Siang for this introduction. I love this guy to be very honest. Derek Trucks has the old school sound while still being modern and crossing many genre borders with his music.

Slide guitar was something I thought to be quite obsolete until I hear this guy play with it. He's amazing! Great intonation, slides and versatility for a slide guitarist. His tone and phrasing are bluesy but forward and modern at the same time.

His band is often rather big with big bombastic sounds... But no instrument is out of place. I would say that his arrangements and choice of musicians are impeccable and by far one of the best rock musicians of nowadays within my knowledge.

Eric Johnson



Tone-freak extraordinaire. Everything about his rig is so precise that even a wrong battery in a pedal can give a wrong sound. Can completely understand the feeling...

He released too little music because of the over-obsession over his tone (he said it himself) and now quite regrets it. However, I think his amazing tone is one of the reason why he's still so respected and stunning because no one ever really could go down to such details in the tone.

Great example of a person who actually has great sound and ideas but gets bogged down by the too-highly-tuned sense of tonality. But seriously... He has more than half the battle won in my opinion... Hehe

Great musician nonetheless.

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai



Here I'm going to be talking about a couple of very very popular guitarists who I've never liked....

But I'm going to talk about them in the same thread nonetheless....

To be honest I don't like either. Neither match with me in terms of musical ideals or sound. All the guys before hand are that much better in my opinion.

Joe Satriani writes pretty nice lines; and has pretty good ideas in my opinion. However the music is very... Stale. No matter what great riffs (honestly he does have a few) and how much he jumps around, the music is overly stiff. A lot of flashy stuff which don't make musical sense.



Ultimate showcase. Talk about Lady Gaga being flashy... At least Vai actually has substance actually...

For me, the effects are okay... But depending on it and the whammy stick way too much gets to me. And to have that fan blowing his face the whole way through? I actually heard his older stuff, he sounds like a typical sessionist even in his own solo works. Why do I say that? I don't get a hint of genuine expression from him. I know this would be blasphemy that I'm burning two biggest guitarists out there right now but Satch and Vai are both musically dead compared to all their predecessors and many current guitarists in my opinion, including Eric Johnson.

Conclusion

I'm talking mainly about mainstream rock music from the beginnings till now. Mainly blues rock and rock instrumentals or classic rock which was the main bulk. There are many great fusion players and other classifications of rock that I will be covering when I start going into sub-genres.

Artistically speaking, I prefer a lot of the older stuff; other than for people like Derek Trucks and Eric Johnson and Paul Gilbert (but because most of his solo works and more famous works are in metal); and feel that mainstream rock sound is just quite diluted with a very sessionist sound which I'm very much against.

As again this is a very opinion based stand for this portion.

Basics - Genres - Rock 3

Blogger's Notes

Hey guys, yes it's been ages. School + playing + arranging + exercising is very tiring stuff... Haha

Plus trying to start a music vlog is rather difficult. The usage of YouTube videos and all is gonna be slightly tougher than I thought. So I shall try to work out something before I continue down that path fully. I thought I might as well finish this series on Rock.

Guns and Roses



I'm pretty sure everyone knows them. With Slash coming down and everything. Great licks, druggy attitude, lots of push pull effects (yes especially in this track actually).

A unique vocalist, strong lead guitar, steady bassist and rhythm guitar, and a hard hitting drummer spells a great rock band. They have good songwriting but the variations are not as vast as Led Zep or Queen. I have a feeling that they listen to less varieties during their time, which gives them a much stronger rock feel and attitude, but comes with the drawback of sounding a bit stale across their albums...

But nonetheless a classic band you should never miss out if you ever want to know what rock is about. =)

Now... Guns and Roses is left with only Axl Rose with a completely new set up. I personally liked Chinese Democracy for its audacity and new sound it put to the band... But I understand the frustrations - they went back to using "dynamic sounding" music. Basically to say it does not something which perpetuates the loudness wars. If you wanna read more about Loudness Wars, go Google it. =)

Rush



Probably one of my favourite bands from the rock genre. Firstly they stuck together for like the longest time, secondly they kept moving and evolving their overall band sound. There's to be a lot of respect given there.

They obviously listen quite widely and change their sound with the time. They have a super nice long history on Wikipedia: Rush. And I still think that their music has always been that filled with the freedom and energy of rock with the adaptability of any great musician. =) So yup.

Mr Big



Now this band is probably my favourite out of all the rock bands. Why? Great vocalist with a bluesy feel to his great husky voice (which interesting lasted for so long!), an insanely technical bassist who has great appreciation for rock and knows how to overplay just right for rock (stunning stuff), a great energetic drummer drives the band like a b**ch and of course, who could ever forget, that great legend of a guitarist who gives the modern edge and kick in the music.

Mr Big is also one of those diverse bands which looked for different sounds. Sadly they never lasted long with one another and went off to each do their own projects or support others in theirs. Of course then they were smart enough to cash in on that recently and had a reunion. One of the smartest financial and commercial move for the music. But revival of their great tracks is also a great thing in my opinion.

A band with a bassist and guitarist who overplay by most definitions coming together to create insanely cohesive and powerful music without sounding like they're playing too much, because they can play as a band. Thus I have to give them respect. Though usually such projects don't last for long... That's why Rush is such a gem.

That concludes Rock 3 =)