Have you ever been in a band, whether that is a high school band, or rock band, etc.

Basically I am trying to get a gauge on how musically educated people here are because I have almost no musical education except I played the flute for a couple months, and took a mandatory 4 week class on music in high school. The reason I am asking is I always feel like I have no way in expressing in words why I like a band, or how to describe how an album sounds. I always end up saying "It sounds kind of blues-pop-rocky." or "It's catchy guitar pop." which means nothing.

Why do you feel the need to better express it in words?

Because his sign language is abysmal.

I was in a fake band for a while. Until we thought "hey, why don't we try to become a real band?" It fell apart shortly thereafter.

That and our fake drummer wanted to be a fake guitarist. "Creative difficulties."



That said, I'm in the same camp as you TJ. I don't ever know what to say as to how a band sounds or why I like them. I'd have thought, reading enough reviews and magazines as I do, I'd know the lingo by now but I'm still at a loss for words any time. I end up just naming other bands that sound similiar.

I played Tuba from 5th grade to my Sophomore year of high school
I played Baritone from 6th grade to my Senior year of high school
I played Valve Trombone in High School
I attempted to form a few bands in college, but they were always failures.
Basically vocals are my skill. I was picked to be in a Children's choir in 6th grade and began singing in honor choirs during Junior High. I was also an all-state Choir member during High School and sang for the University Choir at USD.

Well, when I tell someone they should check out such and such a disc because I love it, I have a lot of trouble telling them exactly why they should listen to it. Most of my friends know me as the music/ band guru who knows a lot of cutting edge stuff, but then I know and listen to so much that people say "wtf is this?" as much as "Oh I like this disc."

How do I explain to someone what Built To Spill sounds like without dropping a bunch of band names that they haven't heard of? (I'm also not too good at the RIYL, but it is my best option.)

Even with some musical talent, I find it impossible to describe bands without using a bunch of lame genre titles that most people don't know. RIYL can be worthless to due to the person not knowing any of the bands on the list.

Start from what they know and like, and make them a mix based on that.

Why talk when the music can talk for you?

I play music, but have no real knowledge of theory and that stuff.
yeah, here come the smart comments.

But really, if you like something... isn't that enough? You're not a professional rock critic who needs to make obscure refrences to show how much you know. And you're not a professor of music who has to explain complex theories of harmony and polyrhythm to the unwashed masses.

You're a music fan.
You listen to a lot of music and have fairly discriminating tastes.
But really... you love music. Period.
That's all you need.

I don't think being in a band, having played in a band, knowing how to play an instrument, knowing how to write a song has much, if anything to do with matters of taste, better analytical skills, reasoning, etc. If anything, it results in more sophomoric nonsense, rather than less...

But, if you're already inclined towards self-reflection, contemplating why you like one thing or dislike another and so on, actually committing yourself to learning what it is you like/dislike can only have positive consequences for your understanding.

Not if you want to explain it to someone else in a way that makes them want to hear it. And I don't think that being a musician generally makes you better at doing that. The best music writers don't tell you how a musician makes the music, but describes what it does to the listener.

Played drums in a band in high school covering shit like Journey, Styx, Survivor, Foreigner, Billy Joel, Doobies, etc.

High school... '89- '93. Sold kit in college. We sucked. I sucked.

I've never played music and I think that makes me a better listener with better taste.

If it bothers you, read a bunch of reviews of an album you like and would recommend and steal descriptions and statements that you think are well-thought out and agree with.

I have very little music background and can't describe music in a technical way at all, but that's not really the point if your audience of friends is less literate musically than you are. I've found that at least my own understanding of why I like a particular album has increased expotentially as the styles and genres I listen to has become more diverse. Subtle stylistic commonalities between jazz, soul, rock and world music albums reveal themselves to me and make it more transparent what attracts me to an album. A dinosaur jr album and a built to spill album have a lot more in common making it a lot harder to get too specific about the specific shared traits that drive your interest. So maybe branch out a bit. I think challenging your own listening can help you define what you like and don't like and why.

Flute and piccolo. Grade school and high school.

because the people on the message board might want to know

What he said.

Me and music:

• Grade 4 - started writing dumb little songs
• Grade 5 - piano + recorder lessons
• Grade 7 - started singing lessons, choir and learning flute
• Grade 9 - started first band (some original songs and lots of 80s goth covers)
• Played flute for 5 years
• Grade 10 - tried to convince evil music teachers at school to let me learn bass. - forced to continue with flute.
• Grade 11 - Asked for an acoustic guitar for x-mas - played for a bit but really just played bass lines on it.
• "Grade 13" - joined first real band (all original songs)
• Electroacoustic music + sound classes
• Bought a keyboard & stated playing
• Sang, wrote songs and played keyboards in my band for 10 years
• Last Fall - bought a bass

Still don't really feel like I "get" theory. Although I do understand more than I realize. I can read music for flute but don't really care much about that. Right now I'm working on writing whole songs: drums, bass, keys, vocals, etc.

in a band in college and did some of my own stuff post-college. However, I don't know how to read music, nor do I know anything about theory, etc. I can read tablature for guitar and play some stuff by ear, although the latter is rather difficult for me at times.

I hum a lot

I know music in the sense that I can play some guitar but can't read music worth a darn and have poor rhythm.

I was in a band for about four years, but my answer would be "I know nuthin'". I sang. Never cared to learn "music" or an instrument. I was too busy trying to sound exactly like Layne Staley and/or Robert Plant and/or Eddie Vedder.

studied percussion pretty seriously for about ten years. played in all kinds of school bands and youth symphonies. also, several shitty punk rock bands that played one show and disbanded.

I've been in a few

as a freshman in high school in some crazy chick band...only guy in there and shitty sylvia plath I hate men poetry

as a freshman in college in the band glacier, post rock was really big at the time and I was on the floor with my pedals a lot, I don't think I had one full chord to play during our entire set, mostly noise and single note lines...I did hear a recording of our song "why is the blue sky" not too long ago and remembered that it was a pretty fun tune to play

shitty alt rock band called a nice dot two years later

I'd love to have a band right now.

I played guitar in Bobbing for Turds.

I should see if there's a copy of our one hit out there.

God, I've been in hunnerts of bands: Top 40, country, altpop, originals, jazz fusion-y stuff, you name it.

Was in school bands forfrickingever playing trombone, then in high school, I went to a friend's house who had a drumset & never looked back. I've been playing drums for, shit, over 30 years now.

Bring on the the drummer jokes!