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| Anybody Can Play The Blues, Right? |
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saxsymbol writes There's an interesting phenomenon in the commercial music scene today! Otherwise sensible musicians, the sort who would never, say, just decide to go after that chamber music gig, because they know they're not qualified for it, can't seem to find the same restraint when it comes to our beloved blues! Now, don't get me wrong, blues hounds like me firmly believe that the blues is, in fact, a pretty universal musical language.( English is also a pretty universal language, with a significant portion of the world using it as a first -or second- language. I'm not sure that means that everybody can be a poet, either!)I can recall the days when rock and roll was just noise, when jazz was a dangerous musical look into the soul of anarchy. It seemed, at one point, that "any moron with a guitar" could play rock and roll. I've since learned that there are, indeed, some morons with guitars playing rock and roll... but also some incredible artists. Perhaps the reason for the pervasiveness of the myth that all rock, or pop, or (your genre here...) music is played by no-talent bums, is the willingness of no-talent bums to play the music in the first place.
Before you send that virus to wreck my computer so that I can't babble again, do a quick reality check. Compare the number of new releases in popular music with the number of outstanding musical performances released in a similar period. (I'll wait here!) Perhaps a little quality control is in order?
The sad truth is, the only people truly convinced that "anybody can play" this style or that, are folks for whom that expression was created.
So...
How is this a blues-related thing?
Blues has been enjoying a resurgence of popularity recently. Suddenly, clubs that would never have offered a blues act a spot at all, are offering up long term engagements. Of course, the same greedy giggers who were just closing their browsers as they read my earlier opinions, may well have been doing so in order to have time to line up for those blues gigs. If they're really blues musicians, then I say more power to 'em! Sadly, they may be part of a new, subversive sect of musicians who think that any fool can play the blues. I actually recall a survey answer here at Michigan Bands, relating to when musicians had decided to be musicians, which implied that the blues was where washed up musicians went to languish. The blues, just like any other artistic genre, deserves to be represented with dignity. If we, as musicians, don't step back and realize that, we are condemned to a life of "guilt-by-association" mediocrity.
While I begin my crusade for musical integrity, I'm also quietly stockpiling supplies for the upcoming end of civilization. You'll know it's here when Madonna's first blues cd hits the shelves. I'm also hoping, as I plan for a relatively minor operation, that my doctor doesn't believe that any guy with a scalpel can be a surgeon.
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