Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Blues in the chord of SRV


I've been listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan for most of the week. I have found that ever since I started taking guitar lessons, I appreciate those who play the guitar even more. Watching or listening to SRV or Clapton or Satriani or any of the other guitar greats is just ridiculous. They make it look so easy. I never realized how difficult it was to actually hit those notes.

Plus, I figured out something else. It is one thing to learn to play the chords on the guitar, it is completely different to learn to play the guitar. I mean, sure, you can learn to play a song that is written and make it sound a little like they do, but to know what the guitar is going to do when you play it a certain way? That is talent. These musicians are incredible. The music they write is unreal. They were just born with it. I was not born with it. I just hope I don't disgrace the guitar (however...I am an excellent air guitar player).

Anyway, I'm listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan this week and every time I do that I remember the day that Stevie Ray was killed. My friends Christian Brooks and Colin Batchelor held a candlelight vigil in their apartment in Sherrod (at ACU). They kept the lights down and shoepolished "We'll Miss You SRV!" on their sliding glass door. We listened to Stevie Ray for like 8 hours straight in the candlelight. It was quite a day. He was the greatest.

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Since we are on a music discussion (Well, at least I am)...

One of our favorite topics of conversation when our group of friends gets together is music. We come up with things like first concert, best and worst concert, favorite album, the "desert island game", etc... But my favorite questions that have been asked are:

"What band do you like that you shouldn't like or are embarassed about?"
"What band do you dislike that everyone says you should like?"

I love these questions. They are very revealing and lead to comments like: "You listen to Eminem? And Iron Maiden? Wow...I don't think I know you anymore." or "How can you not like U2? Are you insane?"

So I pose this question to you:

"What band do you like that you shouldn't like or are embarassed about?"

Me? I can't really narrow it down to one band. How sad is that? I am embarrassed of an entire genre of music. I am sad to say that I love 80's Hair Metal. Give me Whitesnake, Cinderella, Ratt, Great White, Warrant, Winger...all that horrible 80's Hair Spray music. I love it...and I know no one else does.

Sure I listen to good bands like the Grateful Dead, Jimmy Buffett, SRV, James Taylor, the Stones etc... But every once in a while, I gotta have Cheese Metal by Motley Crue or the Scorpions. I'm not proud of it, but I can't help it.

Alright, it's your turn. All you Britney Spears fans, I know you are out there. You too, Air Supply Fan (Lav). Let us have it. Who are you a closet fan of? It can be very liberating and yet a little embarrassing to get this off your chest.

It's easy. Now you know that sometimes I listen to bands that wore spandex and lipstick. Boy, would my kids be embarrassed. But, I can't help it...I'm old.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to listen to some more SRV.

Followed by some Poison...

3 Comments:

At 11:48 AM, Blogger Michael said...

Asking about embarassing musical taste assumes my ability to be embarassed. You know me better than that.

I'm a fan of music... most all music, with very few exceptions. I just can't stand pop music... no edge, no grit, no bite, no greasy aftertaste... just saccharin, homogenized marketing trash.

I've listened to Tool, Seether, Linda Ronstadt and David Allan Coe... all this morning before 11. Maybe I should be embarassed.

 
At 10:37 PM, Blogger Michael said...

I am embarrassed to say that in a younger time I was a closet fan of Butthole Surfers and of course my favorite song of their was "Pepper". I also was a fan of Whitesnake, Def Leopard, Cinderella, Poison, and Ray Stevens. How embarrassing is that!

-Mercer

 
At 2:47 PM, Blogger Deana Nall said...

I was sitting in the bathtub in my dorm room in Sikes when I heard that SRV died. Funny how you never forget things like that...

 

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