Music related rant

[John54]

so how far will all this go?
i understand that progression is cool and is good but its starting to get rediculous.
you know how when you listen to an amazing song you say, "how can it get better than that?" and then you listen to another song an holy buckets it was better. and then there is another on and so on. when does it stop? also when did playing a 9 string guitar become the standard? i mean dudes got by just fine on 6 strings back in the day. and those songs stand the test of time. its starting to become too much. what do you all think?

[Trypios]

I think 6-strings are still the best and the most versatile. Among the heaviest pieces I've heard are tuned to Drop-D only. You don't need to go ridiculously low like standard-A or whatever. My list of the world's best guitarists is mostly made out of 6-stringers: Guthrie Govan, Alex Hutchings, Steffen Schackinger, Alan Holdsworth, Larry Carlton, David Gilmour etc

[MaxOfMetal]

Originally Posted by John54

so how far will all this go?

Until the bubble bursts. Look at Hair Metal or Grunge, fads that lasted as much as two decades then just abruptly ended.

Though, the music scene has changed a lot, especially distribution, so it may never end. The market is evolving so things are even harder to predict.

As long as someone wants to play it, and someone else wants to pay for it a musical genera will never really die.

i understand that progression is cool and is good but its starting to get rediculous.

Why is it ridiculous? It's nothing that hasn't happened before. Music evolves.

you know how when you listen to an amazing song you say, "how can it get better than that?" and then you listen to another song an holy buckets it was better. and then there is another on and so on. when does it stop?

That's not a bad thing. Though, perhaps less of it is to due with the music itself, and more to do with the listener's tastes, which like the artists they listen to, changes over time.

If you're lucky, it never stops and you'll always find new interesting music that inspires you.

As you get older you'll start finding less music that really speaks to you, and then you'll really appreciate this progression.

also when did playing a 9 string guitar become the standard?

I wouldn't say that's the standard. Heck, even 7-strings take up less than 1% of the music made out there. I think you've been brainwashed by the internet a little bit into thinking the niche is far bigger than it really is.

i mean dudes got by just fine on 6 strings back in the day. and those songs stand the test of time.

And before 6-strings were popular the 4-string Mandola, and 5-string Banjo were more popular, and people wrote songs that transcended generations as well. Then before that 4-string fiddles of all sorts were in demand.

There is no correlation between number of strings and quality of music being produced. In fact, if done right, the listener shouldn't be able to tell how many strings an instrument has, they should just here the wonderful music.

It is worth mentioning that many Jazz guitarists from the 30's and 40's, as well as Classical guitarists further back have used 7-string guitars. There are Jazz tunes and Classical pieces that are still played today, considered standards, that utilize extended range, either stringed or scaled. No music has stood the test of time better than Classical.

its starting to become too much.

How so?

what do you all think?

I think you need to explain some of the questions you're asking a little more.

[Varcolac]

I must have missed the point where nine-string guitars became the standard, even on this forum.

How far will all what go? How far will music go? It's come a million miles from the earliest prehistoric bone flutes to modern instruments, and I have no doubt that it'll go even further. There is no end point to creativity. There is no end point to human development. We build on what came before us, simple as that.

So what if you find songs better than other songs? The first song doesn't stop being good. The second one's just better. Enter Sandman isn't a bad song just because Raining Blood is better.

I agree with Max. Think about your question further.

[Demiurge]

Originally Posted by John54

you know how when you listen to an amazing song you say, "how can it get better than that?" and then you listen to another song an holy buckets it was better. and then there is another on and so on. when does it stop?

Daily, I rend my garments, gnash my teeth, and scream hopelessly in the face of a cruel god as he feasts on my tears over there being a variety of good music to.

Perhaps I'm being facetious above, but I really don't see how any of the things you've mentioned are bad things. Music is music and instruments are tools, there's really no downside to the multiplication of the tools available to make music, the expanding array of sounds to choose from, and the greater possibilities that come from it.

Not go into Grampa Mode entirely, but growing-up in a sleepy town, before the internet and left with with FM radio, MTV, magazines, and the oft-ill-fated "guess the album cover looks cool, I'll buy it" exploration at the nearby big-box music store- not to mention instrument stores with 31 flavors of Strat- even with an awareness of interesting stuff going on elsewhere, music kind of felt "confined." So much has changed in such short time, with exposure to so many different musical ideas, etc mouseclicks away. The possibilities now are daunting and sometimes challenging, but believe me- it's much better than the alternative.

[Necris]

You are looking at music through a very narrow point of view. I don't see why when questioning the need for experimentation in music "Because we can" isn't a perfectly acceptable reason, without that experimentation and subsequent progress none of the music you enjoy would exist today.

[The Uncreator]

You shouldn't care. Listen to what you want, end of story. Nothing else matters in any way shape or form.

[BlackMastodon]

I have never heard a band that uses 9 string guitars actually.

[ilyti]

I am confuse.

[vampiregenocide]

Early guitars as we know them generally had more than 6 strings. 7, 8 and more strings were very common. Over time, they took strings off and 6 became the norm, though 7 strings were still common in Russia and Italy, used in both folk and classical music.

Times change, how we view instruments and use them changes. This is nothing new. It is best to just go with the flow and use what suits you. Hell, in 10 years time we may all be using 5 string guitars and one string basses because some Swedish metal band came along doing it and everyone followed suit. These things happen. Ultimately it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing if you're doing what makes you happy.

[EtherealEntity]

I will never understand how more available notes could ever be a bad thing, until it becomes uncomfortable to play of course.

EDIT: I think a piano has around 4 more octaves than a 10 string guitar (talking open strings) Nobody ever complained about that.

[niffnoff]

Is this even music related?
If a guy wants to make a band with 20 strings (extreme exaggeration) let him do it... the end of the day if he is making music that other people wanna listen to good for him. I remember not too long ago someone made a band based on Microtones. Now I don't really much go into that but someone else on here might.
I think Max pretty much hit the nail on the head when he says that you're being far too vague.

[Necris]

Originally Posted by EtherealEntity

EDIT: I think a piano has around 4 more octaves than a 10 string guitar (talking open strings) Nobody ever complained about that.

A Piano also has roughly 216 strings (more or less depending on the piano in question).

[Electric Wizard]

I think that this is one of the best troll threads we've had in a while, well played OP.

[Jeggs]

ninestring.org doesn't have the same schwung..

[Fiction]

I think I've seen a max of 10 nine+ string guitars NGDs on this forum, I highly doubt that's a standard, to the 10 6/7 string NGDs each day.

[nickgray]

Originally Posted by John54

so how far will all this go?
i understand that progression is cool and is good but its starting to get rediculous.

Well, classical music has been at it for about a century. There's really nothing "progressive" in metal and rock, this kind of experimentation has already been done a long time ago. It's just that tons of people are biased towards popular (meaning non-classical) music and don't even realize their bias.

Besides, what's wrong with complexity and experimentation? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's bad, it just means you don't like it.

dudes got by just fine on 6 strings back in the day

We got by just fine hunting and gathering. And yet here we are.

Seems to me you're just not open-minded enough. Not that there's anything wrong with liking sort of "ordinary" stuff, but if you want to complain about certain tendencies in music at least do your homework or something.

[ZEBOV]

This is the dumbest thread on SSO. This wasn't locked soon enough.

[KingAenarion]

Look at Classical/Western Art Music.

Composers progressively used bigger orchestras to get a wider range of tone colours.

Strauss got up to 100+ by the time of the Alpine Symphony... including a separate horn section outside the hall for a different sound.

Mahler had huge orchestras as well.


Then Schoenberg threw out harmony as we knew it altogether...

Stravinsky caused a riot with a ballet...



All before we had Jazz... which brought on a completely different and new set of progressions... then rock, then hip-hop etc etc bullshit whatever.


The nature of culture and art is that it evolves with society and science and history.

[Rev2010]

Originally Posted by John54

you know how when you listen to an amazing song you say, "how can it get better than that?" and then you listen to another song an holy buckets it was better. and then there is another on and so on.

Man, I wish I had that problem. I on the other hand like so little of the music out there today that it's becoming a problem for me... I don't have enough good stuff to listen to. I've posted asking for suggestions once in the past and didn't really care for anything posted. Even some of the bands I consider myself a fan of I typically only really like 2-3 songs on an album at most, like Soulfly. Some bands I used to love and be a diehard fan of I can barely listen to anymore. Korn for example is one. Always been a huge fan but now can't stand that nearly every song has the same ....ing structure (ie. calmer effects based verses then burst into the chorus with heavy guitars). Just gets annoying having the same structure over and over again.

I also can't stand bands in which the singer always screams at the top of his lungs every single part even if the music doesn't seem to support it or there doesn't seem to be a reason - however I do love it with Gojira and Fear Factory.

Meh, I dunno... it makes me sad because I go through stations like Pandora and Jango and just don't find anything I like. And before someone takes this the wrong way, I'm not saying the bands out there today aren't good, not at all. Just that I don't jive with nearly 98% of them and it saddens me. Or, I'll find a band I like but find I only really like 5% of their material.


Rev.