Philosophical question

I'm glad to say that I can easily switch it off and listen to the music in the way the writer intended me to hear it. It would be a sad day if I ever lost that ability.

i feel the exact same way. you have no idea

before i learned how to play guitar, and more specifically, how to solo, all those wonderful noises and solos made remained magical in my mind. i had no idea how hendrix made all that sound, or how gilmour made his strat scream and cry. it was all unknown to me.

after learning how to solo, and actually replaying some of my favorite solos, it all seems "deconstructed" to me. the magic is no longer there because i now know that you need to bend here, hammer, here, etck

also, i find myself unable to imagine solos as a whole anymore. after learning the pentatonic scale, all solos sound exactly the same to me,except that they are played on a different part of the neck. i can no longer imagine myself playing something, then playing higher notes to increase the tension of the music.

:?

Yep. Happens to me all the time. And in live shows, lots of times I'm closely watching the player(s) to see how it's done rather than just grooving on the scene.

nah. i find i feel it more. i get where songs come from more.

I think that I do now look at players (or listen) and try to break down what they're doing, so perhaps I'm not enjoying it for the "unknown magic" that it was, but on the other hand I am appreciating the skill required to play it which perhaps the average listener might not?

I still defo enjoy the music though. :D

Hi Jenny :D

I know exactly what your sayin'.

And it is a bit of a drag, as well as something each of us must grapple with.

You're probably still a bit of a beginer....
I can tell you that all this knowledge of deconstruction will come in handy when it's time for you to
record your own music.
When you start to do that, all the pieces will go back together again :D

It also comes in handy in a band setting.

Of course, to truly be great, you must learn all that you can - Then forget it all :wink:

Ken

I'm glad to say that I can easily switch it off and listen to the music in the way the writer intended me to hear it. It would be a sad day if I ever lost that ability.

It's the same for me. I let art of most any kind just kind of happen. Then, based on the amount I know about the form, I can talk about its formal aspects.

for me its not so I sill feel the magic when I hear a song that I know.

... I find I'm listening now for chords, and changes, and strumming patterns, and rhythms, and I'm worried that I can't just sit back and let it flow over me, without analysis, and just well, be in it like I used to. Any thoughts? Can you listen to it anymore without picking it into component parts? do you switch off the analytical part of your mind when listening to new music, or are you always the 'mechanic' (for want of a better word?)

Great question. I think the answer lies within it. You said, you find yourself listening for the structure within the song. So, if I were to ask you "WHY are you listening?", at that very moment you were listening to a song. You would say "...because I am TRYING to hear the chord changes and patterns, etc." Like the others have said, I do it all the time. But there are times were I need to just to let the music flow over me as well. I've heard Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb 1 billion times. I know how to play it. I still love it though. I could never make my guitar sound like Gilmour, so I REALLY appreciate the way he plays.

I've had it change the way I listen to music, but by no means is it less powerful. A lot of the "magic" is gone, but I still enjoy it. I can give a listen to the Stones' Angie right now and love it from the old perspective, I can love it from the 'i know what they're doing' perspective and enjoy the technicality of it all and I can listen too that song and imagine myself playing with 'em.

And then I watch the neck shredding going on on youtube doing that Canon Rock song everyone's doing and no, I can't do it. Perhaps by next week, if I tried really hard, I could do it, but for now I sit back and enjoy these kids making music.

And, no. I don't remember breaking poems down. Rough school. We broke down the poets, stole their lumch money and then went after their families. Kust kldding. :)

I always thought "breaking poems down" was absurd. Learned to do it well enough to get As in English, but never thought it a worthwhile or valid pursuit.
:P

Maybe I haven't play enough to feel that way...

I have to say that I appreciate more and more to hear the guitar and know how those sounds are produce... But I'm still learning, so when I can figure out the chords of a song by myself, I'm proud of me :wink:

But I also noticed that I'm starting to notice the strumming pattern / harmonic / hammer on / pull-off, of each songs I listen... :roll:

But it's nice cause when I play air guitar, I look like a pro...

:lol:

Remember when you were at school, and you read a wonderful poem which seemed all magical
No, I can't say I ever remember poetry seeming magical when I was in school...

Oh, wait.. That's not the question. :oops:

I have just started to be able to listen to a song on the radio and figure out where in a 12 bar progression the song is, and understand what's going to happen next. The first time I was able to do that, I thought it was pretty darn cool.
It's still something I have to intentionally "turn on".
I hope someday I'll get my ear/brain trained to the point that I have to worry about conciously turning it off

I feel quite the opposite actually. I notice things in music much more. I've said this before, but I'm a huge Billy Joel fan, and after I started playing guitar, I went back and listned to his music and was amazed at how much awesome guitar I found in them, that I hadn't noticed before I started playing.

In the same vein, I appreciate what guitarists do much more than the average listener I think. For example, in this live version I have of Santana doing Black Magic Woman, he holds this one squealing feedbacky note, ear piercingly high pitched, for maybe 10 seconds, and I can sit back and appreciate the...ballsyness of that, holding that note.