Have you Ever thought about this?

[Athousandson]

Has Learning to play an instrument let it be any kind of Guitar, Keyboard, and/or Drums shaped the way you look and/or respect music?

[=LeviathaN=]

yes.

[Athousandson]

yes.

how so?

[EvilChuck]

I dont play any instruments, but I dont think it affects my appreciation of music at all. I dont think its about whether you can play yourself, but rather what you are listening to music for. Some people just listen to it as background music, or want something they can just have a dance to, whereas personally I prefer music that you need, and ideally have, some time where you can properly digest what you are hearing

[Athousandson]

I dont play any instruments, but I dont think it affects my appreciation of music at all. I dont think its about whether you can play yourself, but rather what you are listening to music for. Some people just listen to it as background music, or want something they can just have a dance to, whereas personally I prefer music that you need, and ideally have, some time where you can properly digest what you are hearing

That is a very intresting way to look at it,. For me while learning to play guitar and other instruments I have grown a deep respect for music that is difficult to play but evan if I have respect it dosent mean I like it or it sounds good but its just another little kick i get out of music when I listen to it and i can identify what styles, progressions and scales they are yousing but other than that I can relate to how you think music fits situations moods settings list goes on.

[Mjolnir]

Even before I learned to play guitar, I could tell when a riff must have been difficult to play. But being now capable of visualizing what I'm hearing, I definitely appreciate the music more.

[TheYellowSign]

Yeah, learning to play guitar hasn't really affected my musical tastes at all.

Maybe the process of composing has given me some more respect for particularly original or complex compositions, but I'd have probably liked them anyway.

[RottingHead]

yes, it has effected me very much.

I am constantly analyzing what the guitarist is doing and what cymbals the drummer uses and such.

[Lord Hammet]

It's definitely influenced the way I look at music. Before I learned to play an instrument, I used to look at tracks as a whole instead of listening to individual instruments. Now I pay much more attention to exactly what the guitarist and other musicians are doing (Oftentimes I try to pick out the bass, although it's usually fairly difficult).

At the very least, it makes me appreciate music that much more, and adds to the respect I have for the bands I listen to and admire.

[Mjolnir]

My wife only hears the drums. She doesn't want to hear the drums. I almost never hear the drums if they're executed properly, that is, when they fluently accent the rest of the music. I CAN single out and hear the drums, as with any instrument, now that I play guitar, I suppose. She says she'd like a lot of my black metal collection if the drums weren't so overwhelming, I tell her that if she'd stop listening JUST TO THE DRUMS then she'd recognize that they are apart of the atmosphere. It is very disheartening.

[TheYellowSign]

My wife only hears the drums. She doesn't want to hear the drums. I almost never hear the drums if they're executed properly, that is, when they fluently accent the rest of the music. I CAN single out and hear the drums, as with any instrument, now that I play guitar, I suppose. She says she'd like a lot of my black metal collection if the drums weren't so overwhelming, I tell her that if she'd stop listening JUST TO THE DRUMS then she'd recognize that they are apart of the atmosphere. It is very disheartening.

Stop playing her stupid USBM bands then, lol.

No but srsly, most good bm actually has really subdued, simple drumming - Burzum for instance.

Maybe try playing her soemthing with sublime, artful drumming, like Negura Bunget's latest, rather than "blasting". That way, at least if s he only listens to the drums, she can listen to something good.

[=LeviathaN=]

well for a start, i came to realize that only musicians can make music.

[Mahakaoli]

So true.

Ever since I can recall, I was only listening to the harmony of songs. I used to completely ignore bass and drums before I joined in a band. It was later that I started acknowledging the rythm patterns. I don't think I ever appreciated so much death metal until then.

[BESIEGER]

When you actually know how to play the instruments your favourite bands play, you realize just how talented or untalented said bands are. Playing instruments helps you appreciate bands more, but it can also make you realize how unexciting certain bands are.

[Bitter Dawn]

When you actually know how to play the instruments your favourite bands play, you realize just how talented or untalented said bands are. Playing instruments helps you appreciate bands more, but it can also make you realize how unexciting certain bands are.

I very much agree man but, some times even really simplistic stuff when arranged with the right sort of mind still sounds awsome.

[W8ulostme]

I'm sure people can appreciate music just as much or even more than I do without playing an instrument, but it has definitely helped me. Until I started playing I never realized how difficult it really is to sit down and compose music that you yourself are happy with. Being your own worst critic is definitely something that continuously plays out for me so when I write something that I think is good I feel really good about myself.
On top of which I've developed a much larger appreciation for the bands I listen to. Now instead of listening to a song as a whole I'm able to analyze the smallest details and appreciate even minute details that I wouldn't have noticed before.

[HavokX]

Playing the drum help me appreciate my top bands even more because blasting and comming up with a nice beat that sound awsome is hard and doing it all for Three to five min stright gets me tired as hell. Then again I've only been playing for one year.

[ShadyLurker]

A lot of times I find myself listening to the drummer more than anything else and visualizing what he's playing. Which I kind of hate, since it distracts me from the rest of the music.

Playing drums probably affected my musical tastes as well. I suppose I was drawn to metal because of it's technical drumming. When I first started playing drums I was into hardcore punk bands. So the drumming patterns were pretty limited in that genre. I might have moved on from that genre regardless though.

[TheYellowSign]

Listen to more Black Metal and you won't have that problem.

[nikkivixen]

Sure has. I was never a guitar god or anything, but I do know the difference between someone who really knows what they are doing and not. It bugs the hell out of me when I hear a popular song on the radio which consists of three or four notes, and people act like its great.

[Electro Tomato]

You /can/ make good songs out of very few notes though. Technicality =/= quality

[nikkivixen]

You /can/ make good songs out of very few notes though. Technicality =/= quality

Sure you can. But such songs are not a way to measure someone's talent with their instruments. Theres people out there who think the guitar and drums by Coldplay is great. No its not! Its barely even there at all!

[Athousandson]

The fastest trem picker in the world can play more notes than you can in your entire life in 10hours and he plays the open string and it sounds like a swarm of bees not really music, so your one of those guys who stop liking music for its musical properties and just see it as an athletic feet.

[Belle 0f Hell]

most defiantly! i started playing guitar when i was 9 or 10 and i couldnt pick it up at all. i started playing the bass in my middle schools jazz band when i was in 6th grade & it clicked.

i have given a lot more credit and made me appreciate technical riffs and solos hell of a lot more once i realized how difficult playing the guitar can be...

i have never attempted to pick up the drums but i would love to give it a shot. a badass chick drummer is rare

[ShadyLurker]

Listen to more Black Metal and you won't have that problem.

Why don't BM bands exploit the power of percussion instruments in their songs? You're always talking about atmosphere in BM songs and such, I would think that it's kind of a missed opportunity for them to just use the drums to keep time.
In classical music, they often use cymbals for the rising crescendos to make them feel powerful and have some weight to them. There's other types of percussion instruments they use for "atmosphere" too, like chimes and bells. (I realized this might not suit BM)
Why is this?

[Athousandson]

I dont know, I guess the ting noise is not very well... Evil

[TheYellowSign]

Why don't BM bands exploit the power of percussion instruments in their songs? You're always talking about atmosphere in BM songs and such, I would think that it's kind of a missed opportunity for them to just use the drums to keep time.
In classical music, they often use cymbals for the rising crescendos to make them feel powerful and have some weight to them. There's other types of percussion instruments they use for "atmosphere" too, like chimes and bells. (I realized this might not suit BM)
Why is this?

Mostly because it's unneccessary, tbh. The onlyc omparison I could make would be because it would be like adding drums to a Simon and Garfunkel track, or something, or to a Lustmord track. Guitars in BM are the main means of expression, and other instrumentation generally only detracts from the impact of the guitar.

Then again, BM is a vast spectrum. Mayhem have always made use of awesome drumming to devestating effect, and Shining even more so: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2vNvMljRg

So really, the minimal percussion thing only applies to raw and atmospheric bm.

[ShadyLurker]

Mostly because it's unneccessary, tbh. The onlyc omparison I could make would be because it would be like adding drums to a Simon and Garfunkel track, or something, or to a Lustmord track. Guitars in BM are the main means of expression, and other instrumentation generally only detracts from the impact of the guitar.

Then again, BM is a vast spectrum. Mayhem have always made use of awesome drumming to devestating effect, and Shining even more so: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2vNvMljRg

So really, the minimal percussion thing only applies to raw and atmospheric bm.

See I like that 100x more that way. It increases the power of the guitar parts as well when they sync up like that. More so than when the drums just play a steady beat in the background the whole song.

[TheYellowSign]

Yeah, but if that drumming were incorporated into a Burzum/Paysage D'Hiver/Ildjarn track, it would sound retarded.

Someone needs to kidnap you, tie you down, and force you to listen to Forest Poetry on repeat for a week. Then you'd understand.

[antichristofwar]

I dont play instruments that well but even tinkering with them the way I do it amazes me what others can do with them.
hearing something that confuses me as to how the fuck they managed to get that particular sound impresses me more than technicality, technicality tends to alienate me completley but some simple musical fuckery like sonic youth can leave me with my jaw on the ground!

[Athousandson]

Thats not healthy music isint saposed to dismember you.

[antichristofwar]

its not supposed to but if it does then damn it must be gooood!

[hsama]

I've played music for longer than I've listened to music. But interestingly enough, sometimes I can compose better on a computer than on a guitar. I guess it's like creating the sound first, and then learning how to play it afterwards.

[nikkivixen]

I dont know, I guess the ting noise is not very well... Evil

lol. Im sorry but most BM is lacking the evil sound, or at least what I think sounds evil. BM sounds more chaotic to me. The opening to Slayer's Hell Awaits, the main riff in Satyricon's "the Pentagram Burns", now thats my idea of evil sounding music.

[Athousandson]

I was joking,.

[nikkivixen]

I know. I just wanted to say that.

[Mahakaoli]

I've played music for longer than I've listened to music. But interestingly enough, sometimes I can compose better on a computer than on a guitar. I guess it's like creating the sound first, and then learning how to play it afterwards.

I have a bunch of scribbled sheet music of my own that I'm hoping to be able to play right now.

Sometimes a certain chord pops up in my head but I have to examine to find out what those elements are (ie. G6/B6/C#7/E7/F#7/A7) trying carefully not to lose the memory of it. Once the memory is messed up, it's gone. I had skipped so many classes because of that.

[Electro Tomato]

I'm learning alot of my dark ambient on guitar, in a droney metal setting.

I think I just gave away the next Wapiti release. Fuck.

[=LeviathaN=]

I've played music for longer than I've listened to music. But interestingly enough, sometimes I can compose better on a computer than on a guitar. I guess it's like creating the sound first, and then learning how to play it afterwards.

Umhmm. its becasue at this stage you can write music from a purely conceptual perspective. You not burdened by technical/Physical skill. For me its a bit of both really.

[BulimicSadoSlut]

Playing guitar for the past few years has definitely opened my eyes to a lot of different stuff out there. I mean, I probably would not embrace the past so openly if I just remained closed off from playing it. Everything has been done if you think about it, but at the same time it should never stop there. Music naturally progresses in the same vein as everything else in this world; it evolves. I love metal, but a lot of other genres are welcome in my book. Metal came from rock, rock came from the blues, and blues came from the drum circles that slaves would have. If I didn't play the guitar, I would never be able to appreciate that.