Subject: Are We Getting Back To Our Musical Roots?
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, I've been "unofficially" tracking a trend I've noticed in music over the past thirty-some years. I'm curious whether you've noticed this as well, or if you've even given it any thought.When we look at the history of Rock music since its introduction in the 1950s, there have been noticeable shifts in the musical styles each generation listens to. Prior to the 1940s there wasn't a whole lot of music that was accessible to the general population. If you wanted music, you went to a dance or a club that had live music, or you bought the sheet music and found someone with a piano and you played it yourself. Radio stations at the time aired mini dramas and comedy shows, and there were variety shows where you could hear new music coming out, but kids would listen to the same music as their parents. As radio became more widespread, crooners and big bands got their music heard through regular programs, but the idea of radio as we know it today didn't come into effect until the 50s after television made its debut. As more people were sitting in front TVs rather than their radios, radio stations needed to come up with a new way to keep people listening. That's when we started to see stations dedicated to music only, and in many cases, the music they were broadcasting was by young people, for young people. At this point in time kids started having access to music they wouldn't have been exposed to in their own homes. People tended to stay in their own communities and there wasn't access to other styles of music . But with radio, stations could broadcast to entire cities, allowing people to hear the musical styles of neighboring towns that might be culturally different. For example, kids in the suburbs were able to dial in radio stations that served the urban market, offering a different style of music than anything these suburban kids would have known. Back in those days people of different backgrounds didn't mix, and parents of suburban kids had no interest in letting their children start. That just made the kids want to do it more. This type of behavior was highlighted in the movie and musical "Hairspray." So there was this tension building up, and kids began listening to music as a way to explore their individuality. That continues to be a strong trend even today. New music tends to target younger audiences, and adults have the music they grew up with and prefer. That is until more recently - I'd say in the last 10 years. Music is becoming more of a melting pot. Kids are listening to (or at least tolerating) the music their parents grew up with. As a parent, I'm enjoying a lot of the music my kids love. What I seem to be seeing is more people returning to the roots of rock music rather than there being the types of generational shifts that used to occur. For example, I have young private students that don't have any real interest in learning how to play modern rock - they're more interested in Folk or Blues techniques. I would expect this from my older students, but not so much from the younger ones. I know I've mentioned Noisetrade.com before, but it's a website that allows artists to offer their music free to the public. In exchange for your email address, you can download music from both known and unknown artists. I mention Noisetrade again because a lot of of the free offerings are roots-type music like Americana, Folk and Country. There's a good mix of musical styles available (including Rock, EDM and Pop), but there seems to be a lot of artists focused on these early styles of music. Maybe it's a return to simpler sounds and less production that is appealing to people - kind of like the Hippie movement of the 1960s. I think those of us that came up through the 1970s and 1980s have not only held on to our taste in music, but we've kept it around in the vinyl, tape and CD formats much more so than our parent did. I remember my parents having albums they collected in the 1960s, but they never played them. All the vinyl 45 RPM singles they had ended up in our hands to be played on the little record player we had. Perhaps music has become more important to people. It's certainly a lot easier to access for everyone; we can hear just about anything ever recorded on Internet services like Rdio and Pandora . We can mix and match all styles in a radio-like mode, or we can focus on one artist and listen toe everything they've ever recorded. Kids are growing up listening to all the classic rock like Led Zeppelin and The Eagles, so those influences are naturally molding the types of modern music they like. But they're also going deeper and listening to the old Blues and R&B artists that much of the classic rock is based on. And as some of these kids decide music is their future, all these classic influences will help them come up with new styles and sounds. It's a good time to be a musician. Not only do we have access to all these great artists that came before, but we can just as easily switch over to a modern style of music. Talk about having unlimited inspiration! What are you listening to? Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. Feel free to forward this issue to any friends you think would enjoy its contents. They will thank you. So will I.
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