Why do so many equate high notes being played fast with being good?
Asked by
12Oaks (
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March 12th, 2011
It’s impressive, for sure, and sometimes musically appropriate. But sometimes, something slow and lower is in order. Look at this song” and listen to the solo at the 1:25 mark. It’s slow, nice, musically appropriate, works well with the song, and just takes a great song and makes it almost perfection. Could you imagine if that keyboard player decided for something fast and higher pitched? I’m not knocking fast and high, not in the least, but just don’t assume fast and high as being good and slow and medium being bad. Any other songs where slow was the way to go is appreciated.
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28 Answers
I’ve thought about this once in a while. I think it’s just because of how strained some guitarists look when they do it, partially because of the positioning. Makes it seem more difficult. Plus, everyone starts off learning to play the main riff of Smoke on the Water, which is the opposite of that.
@incendiary_dan That Smoke On the Water thing is so true. I remember some years ago there was this commercial, for Coke I think, and it was about saving the music in high schools. They showed al these kids learning their instruments, from guitar to clarinets to tubas to whatever. They were all playing Smoke On the Water. The first band I was in, guess which was our first song? LOL We never got past that opening segment. Never got out of the basement, neither.
It is because fast and good sounding music is immediately recognized as more difficult music. This assumption is not necessarily true. Getting a slow peice of music to sound good can sometimes be more difficult than getting a fast peice to sound good. However, most of the non-musical public has no experiance with that, so they just assume that it is easy because it sounds “simple.” People are more likely to be impressed by a fast peice of music than a slow peice, even if they both sound equally good.
I was going to quote Dimebag Derrell which I seem to do often, lol, but I can’t find a link. He wrote an article in guitar world for a year or so. So there’s probably a lot of quotes & words of advise that I either can’t find or weren’t recorded. From what I remember it went a little something like this…
“Solo’n ain’t about how fast you can play. You gotta feel it.” That’s probably not exactly the quote, but it’s something along those lines. Also, if you know anything about Dimebag’s work you know exactly what he’s talking about, since he often did both insanely fast shredding and also very slow melodic riffs that not only complimented the song, but very hard to imagine it with out that lengthy 3 or 4 notes.
One guitarist I have huge respect for is my younger brother. In his band he’s basically all over the place, as the song necessitates. Plenty of thrashing, though. :P
This is one of my favorite songs by Left Bank. The violins seem to be crying in this song.
The flute was played in the lower key range in order to keep your attention to the song. And, it worked. It kept your emotions in check and asking for more. Excellent arrangements.
Too bad Left Bank did not record other songs that were as good as Go Away Renee.
Pretty Ballerina is a good song, if you don’t mind a tune about jerking off.
Musical gymnastics almost never get air play.
@queenie Yep. You might be able to see a resemblance, though he looks a bit more Filipino than I do.
Also, I’m directly responsible for the strangely named song “Sharks Eat Cancer”.
It was a strange, depressing conversation we were having about the ecological apocalypse and cancer treatment. I forget if we were drinking. More than likely what we were drinking was copious amounts of coffee, which can make us sillier than beer. I brought up the point that dioxins can be found in the breastmilk of every mother in the world, which reminded him of some research he assisted in on sharks and their resistance to the carcinogenic compound. Something in sharks might destroy certain types of cancer and neurtalize some carcinogens. So, sharks eat cancer.
@incendiary_dan wow, ,,, we should have more sharks here then lol.
and I know what you mean by the coffee..same here.
A lot of people are immature young.
I don’t listen to songs. Mostly I listen to jazz and other instrumental and/or improvisational forms. Yeah, when I was a kid, the technical pyrotechnics blew me away. It was so exciting and full of energy. As an adult, things have changed. I have learned to enjoy the quality of a single clear note held for a long time.
I play sweet and mellow most of the time. I like slow. I like having the chance to appreciate a note and to hear to subtle ways it blends with other parts of the music. Do I do this because I do not have the technical proficiency to go hard and fast? Or is it because I can play with subtlety and because I know how to listen to my fellow musicians?
I can go pretty hard and fast, but not as hard and fast as my lips and fingers want to go. But it doesn’t matter because I can make things stick, even if I can only play two notes.
I have often been compared to Miles Davis. I think that’s mostly because of my Harmon mute. But also I think it has to do with my ear and the way I listen. Finally, it’s because I enjoy the beauty of simplicity and purity.
“I can go pretty hard and fast, but not as hard and fast as my lips and fingers want to go”
@wundayatta, you stole that line from a Lesbian porno didn’t you? :P
Well a lot of times high notes are hard to play, especially fast, but low notes can be hard to play too. It’s also hard to hold notes for longer, so people that think playing high notes fast makes people good don’t know what they’re talking about.
@Axemusica Why do you think the trumpet player gets all the girls? ;-)
I prefer guitar players myself, @wundayatta. Other than that, I’ve always preferred the “lower” instruments to the higher…oboe and bassoon over clarinet or flute, French horn over trumpet…just a preference I guess, or the fact that I sing alto, lol!
Ok. All the girls except @yankeetooter (whose name has suddenly taken on a whole new meaning for me).
Now when I exercise my right of hyperbole, do I always have to add “except @yankeetooter?”
All the guy trumpet players in my school band are either idiots or really piss me off, so I don’t really like them all that much @wundayatta, I don’t really like anyone in the band that much though. Except kind of one of the saxophone players. So exclude me along with @yankeetooter.
Oh man. Rats abandoning the ship in droves!
Well, if if makes you feel any better, @wundayatta, I like piano players too…:)
@yankeetooter Then you would like my piano playing son. Although he’s only 11. And the competition for him is already fierce. Then again, he has always been partial to older women. Especially his first baby sitter, who he fell in love with at the age of six months, I think.
@wundayatta Talk about robbing the cradle…I think I’ll go for someone more my age, lol! And if they sing too, whew!
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