Hello everyone, very broad topic here, but hopefully attention grabbing I hope.I was curios to know what exactly we like about music.Actually, I need to get some suggestions as I am bored with my current music library.Ok, I listen to alot of dream theater among many other things.But, is it the lyrics,music itself or general attitude we like.For me, it's always been about the melody. Lyrics have been secondary to me.Alot of songs gel and others as if the artist is just babbling to a beat.I write songs(hopefully professionally soon) and I always run into a wall with thinking this. Any thoughts?Please tell.

For me a song is not a song without lyrics. It's nothing but a tune that can be played in any key or tempo on most any instrument. In order for it to become a song it needs a story to give it life. That's the point at which it becomes heart felt and wonderful. When the music both instrumentally and lyrically come together and jell, You've got a good one on your hands. From that point it needs nurturing to give it soul. Just my thoughts.
----Danny,

ok, fair enough and thanks for that.But is it true an instrumental can be more open ending as aposed to a song with lyrics.Ie take on its own life so to speak.When i write a melody alot of times i think it doesnt need lyrics and when i do write them i feel i f'd up my point.All the while i suppose as someone who is unknown you must think about an audience and what will grab them.So my next question is this then.Please list some artists that make great lyrics and counterpoint artists weaker in songwriting stronger in melody (for me rush comes to mind).

I agree that there is a place for both. Each in its own place. I was just listening to some Fidel music, waltzes mostly. Not a lyric in the bunch and I could listen to them all night. And they do seem to take on a life of there own sometimes. My favorite waltz of all time is The Beautiful "Tennessee Waltz" about as full of beautiful lyrics as you can get.
----Danny,

I guess all the surf instrumentals from the late '50s and early '60s are just......what?

Chopped liver?

Music is a set of sympathetic tones set to a synchopated tempo. Lyrics may enhance the pleasantry but they're not necessary. Ever sing your kid to sleep with "Brahm's Lullaby"? The lyrics were were added many decades subsequent to the composer's death. How about the instrumental theme to "Bonanza"? You know it by heart -- likely you can hum the melody in your sleep or half in the bag after a night of carousing at a pub. Is that not a "song"?

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

is it this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0DhnU9h0MU&feature=fvst i listened to a few and i like this one.

A song can't be a song without lyrics. You sing a song. An instrumental piece of music is just that, an instrumental piece of music.

Freddy, I know where you're at. I've been bored with music for at least the last five years. I can pull one of the old faves out and enjoy it every now and then. But find it far too easy to overdo it. Something has to be a bit special to grab my attention these days.

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No no and no

What I enjoy listening to the most is the music by the original Allman Brothers Band and it's the instrumental work that inspires me the most,to hear what six great musicians could do playing in a live setting and creating music on the spot is amazing.
Since what I love doing the most is jamming,I'm always trying to improve on what I do,so it's a learning process also.

Because we can't listen to pics?

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

well the worlds first and only genuine song, that everything today is compared to is...............

the B-52's "Rock Lobster"

and if you make your instrument literally sing like Frampton...............

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You beat me to it Mike. It's hard to watch TV and drive. For me anyway.

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Am. Std. Jazz / Maple / Olympic White
D'Addario ETB92 Nylon Tapewound Strings
Hartke LH500 head / Acoustic B410 cab

If you're really interested in what music means to human beings, there are two good books on the subject of music and brain science:

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (who is not just the world's best known neurologist but also an accomplished musician himself);

This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel Levitin.

You'll come away with a better understanding of how people hear and enjoy music, and probably of the entire human condition itself.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

I don't know, niki: a piece like "A Remark You Made" by Weather Report (on Heavy Weather) comes very close to being a wordless song.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

Ok I'll check that out now.
My point is that there is a difference between something with words that you can sing and an instrumental piece where one of the muso's shouts something every now and again. Like Dick Dale's Miserlou as a rough example. One isn't better than the other and both feature a human voice. But you'd have a hard time scoring those barks, or writing them as a lyric sheet. It's more voice used for effect.

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No no and no

In which group would you put "Tequila"?

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