Country music: Easy to play?

R. L. Jones · Post by **R. L. Jones** » 8 Feb 2003 8:40 pm

Country Music.... Sorry ,,, I didn`t know there was any other kind.

Just Country;;

R. L.

Reggie Duncan · Post by **Reggie Duncan** » 8 Feb 2003 9:56 pm

I listen to and play gospel music. There is a whole more of what you guys call "country" in gospel music, these days. It would be easier for me to play today's country, than today's gospel. But, I'm not looking for easy!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 9 Feb 2003 2:43 am

Eric, I would be curious to learn which Electric Guitars and amps you are using. For me ,one of the first driving points which turned me toward a Country boy on the 6 string was the tone and overall style of the Telecaster players. Hearing the clean bright round wound tone of a Telecaster was always a very strong influence for me . OF course those bending phrases were also a hook, still are.

When I made my move from the Rock/Blues bands to straight ahead Country back in the late 60's early 70's, it was very awkward to make the transition. It was very hard to play simple open phrases and feel it and like it. I felt I needed to add more notes..or something...But this simple open style is mandatory for a Country picker. I was fortunate to be able to work with some very experienced players who pretty much dragged me along for the ride and not to far down the road I was actually playing with them and not on top or over them, but it took time. But I did have a burning desire to become one of those Tele' dudes so I stuck it out, and by the way , at that same time I put down the flat pick . There was no way I was gonna get out of the Blues R+R mode with a flat pick in my right hand ..so ..no picks for me. I never picked them up again. I pretty much had to learn how to play all over again but at least this time I knew how to tune the guitar before the gigs !..well almost...I'm still workin' on that...

Don't give up..stay the course..think simple,play simple and from there you add on to your technique. You can slowly put back in the stuff that you were playing before, but in a little bit different setting.

Listen to Merle "thats the way love goes"
( the album cut that he plays on ) it's a classic for us Country Tele' boys. Exceptional tone and simplicity. 1/2 dozen notes never sounded any better. This one song is a Country music lesson all by itself which I still listen to and play regularly.

Now some 30 years later I'm playing Country but add many Blues and Fusion phrases and somehow on the Telecaster with that bright clean sound everyone seems to think I'm a pure Country boy...ok.....

I was talking to an old friend about this same subject the other night and we both came to the same conclusion that we may have finally become actual musicians, and it only took 35 years ! You play the song, if it's Johnny B Goode, you rock out...if it's Tennessee Waltz, you don't. IF you're backing a singer, you do what you can to make them sound good.

The band I am in currently I have a pretty different challenge, I play Bass ( which I also love) behind a Telecaster player and forum member Joe Smith, a very talented and gifted Pedal Steel player. I pretty much have to put away my Tele' and Steel' hat and put on the Bass hat which is a total support role. Totally opposite of what I have been doing the past many years. I do my best to play the songs and along with the drummer give the tunes a quality rhythm section.

These guys are tuff,they want me to play Country , Rock + Roll and Blues!! So of course I had to ask, " All at the same time" ?

you can do it...just do it...

tp[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 09 February 2003 at 02:47 AM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 9 Feb 2003 7:44 pm

Bobby, you continue to amaze me.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 9 Feb 2003 8:42 pm

A quick word here about distortion.

Some effects like chorusing, affect the way you sound, but don't really change the way you play. With distortion, the notes are artificially sustained beyond their normal decay time. Playing with it requires a different touch.

There are (unfortunately) a lot of kids who ONLY know how to play with distortion. Take it away and they don't know what to do.

I think that distortion can be a very effective tool, even in country music, (at least in new country) when it's used by somebody who knows how and when to use it, (and more importantly when not to) but it can also sound like crap if it's used inappropriately.

Johan Jansen · Post by **Johan Jansen** » 10 Feb 2003 12:47 am

There is no "easy to play" music, nowhere in the world, from any period in history. As long as you don't catch the emotion behind no matter what style, difficulty, origin, it all sounds like crap!
Music is an expression of emotion, if you don't understand that, you don't understand music at all.
JJ

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Click on the pic!

Eric Myers · Post by **Eric Myers** » 10 Feb 2003 6:45 am

To further qualify my remarks on my difficulties with playing country, its not really a tone thing - heck I do most stuff nowadays on an acoustic - but its the approach country lead playing seems to use - the rythm playing I can fathom, its pretty close to blues! Anyway country lead to me seems based around double stops and string bends where they really dont exist in a rock/blues solo - also it seems country leads are predominately in major scales whereas I have always used minor based pentatonic scales and licks. Also there does not seem to be a lot of vibrato in country leads, and there is a lot of use of chord comping within the solo - all this is a lot different than Ive played for years and I wait for the day when it comes "natural" =) - sure music is about feeling but there are rules of style and structure =) Hopefully when I pick up my new pedal steel the tuning and such will have me sounding downhome in no time!

Eric

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 10 Feb 2003 9:01 am

Johan, I have new respect for you because you undestand the essence of being a musician. There is NO form of music that is easy to play. Gene Jones you also understand this. Music is a state of mind using your instrument as a vehicle for emotion. That is why I love the pedal steel so much. Because I could never be a great singer but I can be a great steel player with enough effort.
The most rewarding and prevalent compliment that I get is when someone comes out of the audience and tells me that they come to see my band to come hear me play my steel guitar because they can feel it when I play. This is not bragging, its exactly why I took up playing country music on a steel guitar and what I try to do when I play in front of people. When I play I want every last shred of emotion going into that solo, whether its a barn burner or a ballad.
I try to hang out with true country people and musicians as much as I can. Country is a feeling and a state of mind. Its no different than when I hear Pavorroti sing or here an African villager playing his hand made flute. Same with Miles Davis on his trumpet. Its universal and its not in the notes. It is an expression of the soul! Which is why CMT sucks. Bravo to you all.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 10 Feb 2003 9:20 am

Again, sincerity is the key. Once you learn to fake that, you can succeed.

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 10 Feb 2003 9:23 am

Any argument about whether any type of music in and of itself is "easy" to play is really kind of pointless, isn't it? The term "easy" is relative. What might be "easy" to play for one person might not be so "easy" for another person. Therefore, since "easy" is a relative term, you have to use it comparatively.

I think we can all agree that, all else being equal, some types of music are far more "easy" to play than others. That is, for an average pedal steel guitar player, it would be far easier to play a single-note version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on a piano than it would be to play an orchestral part of some classical tune on, say, an oboe -- wouldn't it?

The point is, as many have stated above, some forms of music require a bit more technical skill to play than others do, and hence, those forms that do require a bit more technical proficiency are therefore not as "easy" to play in an acceptable manner. Of course there will be exceptions to the rule, as there always are, because somebody's always going to argue that to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with real feeling is not easy -- know what I mean, Vern?

If you're going to argue that, then why don't we just say that to play any type of music with enough feeling to satisfy every critic in the world is just going to be impossible. So, let's take the "feeling" out of it and just consider actual ability to play the music.

As we all know, a majority of rock guitar solos are played out of a pentatonic blues scale which is a sort of abreviated version of a minor scale (I think) that can be played throughout the cord changes of most songs. You don't have to really worry about what note you hit when, because most any note of the pentatonic scale will sound OK against most, if not all of the cords (I know, I know, someone want's to argue that there are exceptions to the rule -- there always is).

But, in most country lead solos, the notes are played out of the actual cords themselves (I'm not a musical whiz, so my terminology is really basic). In other words, you can't just play any note out of a given scale throughout the cord changes in most country solos -- you have to know what cord you're playing against, and thus play one of a corresponding group of notes according to that cord (I know, I know, someone's always going to argue that there are exceptions to the rule).

So, IN GENERAL, playing a rock solo is easier than playing a country solo because of the above reasons. I know, I know, someone's always going to argue that there are exceptions to the rule

[This message was edited by Tom Olson on 10 February 2003 at 09:26 AM.]

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 10 Feb 2003 9:26 am

Thank you Kevin.....you said it very well. Whatever the venue, a musician must be genuine and honest in his music, or it will eventually be recognized as an incincere attempt to profit from the current trend. www.genejones.com

Eric Myers · Post by **Eric Myers** » 10 Feb 2003 12:01 pm

I've always been kind of leery of the "play with feeling" crowd because, in my experience, people use that as an excuse to excuse a lack of technique or knowledge of their instrument and idiom. I believe you have to have an intimate knowledge of your instrument in order to allow you to "play with feeling". I mean, what good is it to feel something if you cant make it come out of your instrument? My 2 centavos.

My favorite guitarists who was able to wring every ounce of feeling out of his guitar only BECAUSE he had the chops to back it up was Stevie Ray Vaughan. Even BB King, who many allude to when saying things like "simple is better" has monster chops that he knows how to hold back to put his point across

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 10 Feb 2003 1:21 pm

Just try playing "Chopsticks" on pedal steel sometime. Not easy!

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
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Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 10 Feb 2003 4:06 pm

And, it's even harder to play Chopsticks on the PSG with "feeling"

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 10 Feb 2003 5:48 pm

Just try playing "Chopsticks" on pedal steel sometime. Not easy!

Actually, I learned it on my first 6 string lap steel, then it was one of the first songs I learned on pedal steel. It's a real good way to learn harmony scales.

Nowadays I even do it for fun on gigs with a piano patch on my MIDI rig!

R. L. Jones · Post by **R. L. Jones** » 10 Feb 2003 10:24 pm

Well I dont know the answer, All I`ve ever tried to play was Country, Country Gospel,
not very good at this what they call country today. Dont really like it . Oh well I do play a little Hawiian sometimes.

R. L.

Johan Jansen · Post by **Johan Jansen** » 11 Feb 2003 6:17 am

Music is a language, a poem with simple words can have a meaning that is not that simple. It's not the words, it's the message.

Quesney Gibbs · Post by **Quesney Gibbs** » 12 Feb 2003 3:38 am

The other night we auditioned an excellent guitar player but sadly, he had no clue about country music. Needless to say he did not get the job.

He thought that overuse of his chorus effect made him a country player.

In his own genure he was great but for us he was terrible.

Eric Myers · Post by **Eric Myers** » 12 Feb 2003 6:39 am

So he was "feeling" it but others weren't hmmmmmm ....... music is a mystery
Eric

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 12 Feb 2003 11:28 pm

I'm not a country musician, but what appears to be most challenging about today's country music are the vocal harmonies. As for today's rock music, I haven't heard many groups who can harmonize well. So in that respect, country would not be easy.

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 13 Feb 2003 9:22 am

Even some "country" artists can't do it very well

Uwe Haegg · Post by **Uwe Haegg** » 13 Feb 2003 4:21 pm

I just realized something.
I play steel in a "Country" band and none of us do it for a living.
We do it just because we share the love for good ol` Country Music, even though we live in a small country overseas.
We play covers and when you come to think of it we have really put ourselves on an impossible task.
What people expect to hear when you`re out on the band stand is what they`re used to hear on CD.
So what we`re up against is our lead guitarist trying to sound like Brent Mason,
me trying to copy Paul Franklin or Jay Dee Maness and the rest trying to copy others of Nashville`s finest - which, of course, is an impossible task.
Country Music easy to play???
NOT!