Boring Blues

by Reza Ganjavi

There's a Blues Festival here... top acts from around the world. I thought Blues was an American thing. There was a band playing from Austria smile emoticon a good female bass player ... saw 3 bands... could handle a few minutes of each... the music is sooo boring. The same 3 chords over and over and sometimes they don't even change keys. And the lyrics are pretty much the same too... of course it's nice to see good musicians and I like a little bit of Blues and play some myself but Blues is not for me.

I absolutely don't understand the obsession about Blues -- a whole week of blues band after blues band. I can't handle 15 minutes of it and they listen all day for a whole week the same chords for 12 bars and repeat...

Larry, along those lines Angelo Gilardino says don't call it classical guitar -- it's just guitar! Did you see the interview I did with him recently?

COMMENTS ARE PASTED BACKWARDS

- Being a child inside is music in itself!

- Larry, one of the issues some of the "young" stars -- well Ana is not so young anymore and I'm not talking about her -- is that many don't have the "culture"... life experiences shapes your playing... travel etc., etc... like Chopin said about drinking from fountain of culture...

- "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach become critics.” I don't have a lot of respect for professional critics. There are a lot of funny things written about them. Playing the chords on the beat is an essence of the piece -- ok Segovia doesn't do the strums on the beat -- but it's well established that those should be on the beat. So her playing them on the beat is not a big deal. I think playing things too fast is part of the disease of competition... many piece are ruined by playing too past and this is one of them, IMO smile emoticon.

- I like most Bach but not all Bach -- some of the stuff is just too "mental". But many of his works are straight out of cosmic vaults smile emoticon.

May 30 at 7:49pm • Like

- Reza Ganjavi I love hearing one good Blues song Maryam. Can handle two too. Three would be about the limit. Forth starts pulling my hair. Same harmony, same 3 chords, are like walls that get closer and closer (LOL).

- "Never tire of classical like the Bach I play every day, my daily meditation." -- isn't that something Larry... Same here...

- Nice to see you here dear Beat. Folks, Dr. Beat Hohmann is one of the world's best audio experts. For example, top microphone makers rely on his expert opinion. And so do I smile emoticon ... he mastered both my CD's and did a fantastic job. I'm eternally grateful for his help.

- LOL that's funny Fred, reminds me of Peter Townsend who said in a concert I attended that he has no idea what those sus4 aug etc., chords are but he doesn't need to and loves the money his fans bring (paraphrasing). Larry Deack answered for me (thanks Larry) regarding straight Blues vs. its derivations...

- Jay, I love Led Zeppelin (well, many of their songs not all -- like Kashmir is one of the best rock songs ever which is almost classical music)... yes roots of Rock are partly in Blues but as you said there's much expansion from the Boring Blues smile emoticon --- ya Highway to Hell is a terrible song so as most other AC/DC stuff which to me is just noise especially given the ugly tone of the lead singers... but who would expect music of hell to be sung with a beautiful voice smile emoticon.

- Reza Ganjavi Thanks Tom -- indeed -- there is good and bad music in every genre and period’s music including Blues -- and it's the most boring genre.

- Larry that's a funny joke! Would I mind being BB King's bass player? It'd probably be boring as hell! Well the King is dead now, bless his soul!

- Fred I do not like AC/DC -- has nothing to do with their Blues roots -- it's the color of their voices which are ugly, and the hellish style. I'm not into hell music (LOL).

- Shane good point and I dig slide guitar and harmonica but I can't relate to the emotion either -- I don't sing about sorrow, I eradicate it.

May 29 at 9:54am • Edited • Like

- Shane, the bands in this festival are some of the top names in the world -- the problem, IMO, is harmonic and structural limits of the genre... of course great artists are step out of it and stretch it but most don't. I have the same issue with Persian classical music which is harmonically weak and often the instrument plays the line of the singer! (but it's rhythmically strong and some combos of Tar & Tonbak for example are awesome).