A little place to just chat about Music.

[McCulloch]

A little place to just chat about Music. What are you listening to? What music stirs your soul? Do you perform?

[ChristianGuy]

I am a musician, I guess you would say. I play the guitar (electric mainly), the saxophone, and the piano. I am in a Christian metal band (I know, right?), but I secretly really love classical music and jazz. Music is like a language to me. It’s a connection from one soul to another. I love it. I can't get enough of it. One of my favorite musicians is Yngwie Malmsteen. I try to impersonate his neo-shred style on the guitar, but its really important to develop your own style as a musician. That's what makes it so unique.

[msmcneal]

I played electric guitar for a few years after I graduated high school. I had bought my first heavy metal album, Metallica's "Black album" and was hooked. Nowadays, I still like metal, hard rock, modern rock, etc, but my tastes are a bit more eclectic. I like blues, classic rock, classical, and on occasion, I can take a little bit of jazz, or country, or rap. But those last three, only in small doses. I prefer somthing hard hitting, heavy, with lots of drums and distorted electric guitars. Something with a strong beat and good rhythm. Some of my favorite bands/artists, currently, are Metallica (nothing after the "Black album", and especially after Jason Newstead left), Linkin Park, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, RHCP, Incubus, that new single by Motley Crue, and things along that line. As far as blues goes, I love Stevie Ray Vaughn and Kenny Wayne Shepherd (and to h*** with his detractors). I like alot of the "guitar gods", like Eric Clapton (probably my all-time favorite), Jimmi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Tom 'what's-his-name' from Boston, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc. I used to like Eddie Van Halen, but he's too much of a jerk, so I don't really care about him anymore. Anyone who's ever played guitar for Ozzie is awsome. As far as classical goes, I love Motzart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky (and I know I spelled it wrong). So, yeah, I have some weird musical tastes.

[msmcneal]

I just noticed ChristianGuy's post. I don't know how much you know about musical theory (but it looks like you probably know quite a bit), but the best way to pick up Malmsteen's style is to play classical music on the electric guitar. That's a tradmark of all those 80's shred guitarists and their technical ability, was that they were trained in classical music, and transposed that over to their guitar playing. Slash from GnR, Jake Lee, Zach Wylde, and all those, that's what they did.

[ChristianGuy]

yep, thats one reason that I really enjoy him, along with all the other Neo-Classical guys from the 80's. They are a combination of two of my favorite things to listen to. Hard guitar + classical training = crazy awesome. The classical runs sound amazing once you get the hang of doing it on a guitar. I'm not quite Yngwie yet, but I'm getting there after a whole lot of practice.

[justifyothers]

AMAZING!!!!

I used to listen to Yngwie Malmsteen 20 years ago!!! Is he still around, or is it old stuff you listen to now? I always loved his style - like nobody else.

[JoeyKnothead]

Though my guitar playing sounds closer a bucket in a washing machine, here's my guitar favorites:

10- Dick Dale, shredder supreme, his playing drove the development of the amps of his era.

9- Jim "The Reverend Horton Heat" Heath, practically invented Psychobilly.

8- Angus Young, "Angus, why do you only play three chords?" "Those are the ones that work!"

7- Eddie Shaver, RIP, he was the best guitar player Billy Joe Shaver ever had. He was a country rock shredder equal to any.

6- Waylon Jennings, RIP, founding member of the "outlaw" sound, and a terrific songwriter to boot.

5- Rick Miller, Southern Culture on the Skids, great psycho-rocka-surfa-hillbilly sound.

4- Jimi Hendrix, RIP, laid the groundwork for so many to follow.

3- Jimmy Page, master of many styles, a genius, technician, and rock god.

2- Stevie Ray Vaughn, RIP, blues virtuoso, I can't imagine another guy playing those blues in my lifetime.

1- David Gilmour, techincal genius and a major factor in my favorite band, Pink Floyd.

[McCulloch]

I play a little piano for my own amusement. Debussy, Satie, Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

[msmcneal]

I used to listen to Yngwie Malmsteen 20 years ago!!! Is he still around, or is it old stuff you listen to now?

To the best of my knowledge, he hasn't put anything out in quite some time. When the 80's went to the 90's, and the scene in rock changed from that shred guitar sound to the more grungy stuff, he sort of died with it.

[cnorman18]

I have discovered the world's greatest radio station right here in Dallas. If you're over 50, anyway.

Platinum 96.7, KPMZ. It's an "oldies" station, but with a difference; they play the usual suspects - Beatles, Elvis, Eagles, Elton John, Carpenters, Tommy James - but also Sinatra, Perry Como, Nat "King" Cole, Dionne Warwick, Tijuana Brass, Mancini, et.al.

Commercials twice an hour, and the same song doesn't play twice in the same day. Three times a week is about average.

You can listen online here.

I also like classical - Jesus may or may not have been God, but Mozart definitely had his private number - and smooth jazz.

Country, enh. Some of the new stuff is OK. Rap isn't music; music requires melody.

I also listen to a contemporary rock station, so I'm not entirely decrepit. Some of these young whippersnappers definitely have some chops, though I confess I don't pay much attention to the names.

My alltime favorite singer/composer is Paul Simon. He's never cut a single track that I didn't like, and I can't even say that about the Beatles.

I haven't picked up a guitar in 30 years, and I don't want to talk about it. My students used to ask me if I ever played an instrument, and I'd say, "Well, I used to carry a guitar around...."