Music You Perform vs. Music You Like

[Steerforth]

Is there a difference between the music that you perform versus the music to which you prefer to listen for enjoyment?

I like the music I perform all right, and sometimes listen to the genres I cover around the house, but not always.

The music I really enjoy listening to, nobody else wants to hear, except maybe other musicians. Somebody mentioned in another thread that they could not make money with the music they actually like.

I can pick up the guitar and lay into some country classic or rock anthem and everyone is happy.

But you let me sit down at the piano and start playing "In Walked Bud" and suddenly everyone has something to do and someplace else to be. And it's not my piano playing, LOL! They just don't seem to care much about jazz or Thelonius Monk or something. Same thing with a sax and Coltrane's Giant Steps or something like that. My wife has a phobia about me possessing a tenor sax.

She once jokingly said to me as I played the piano, "Honey, please, get back inside the box and stay there!"

But jazz is what I find interesting. I get tired of three chord progressions and soloing over a I-IV-V arrangement.

Anybody else find themselves in a similar predicament?

Rick

[kelnet]

I can't play most of the stuff that I like to listen to. The stuff I play is limited to blues, bluesy rock, and r&b. Whereas, I listen to all kinds of genres and artists that just don't fit the 4-piece band mode or are just too complex for me to play. Obviously, I can't play Vivaldi or Bill Evans or Benny Goodman in a blues band, but there's plenty of rock that I also can't play. I love Rush, but I sure can't play their stuff.

[Muttcaster]

Flip side of what you're saying is that there's a lot of music I listen to that I have no desire to play. Many times, I've heard something, thought "Wow, that's cool!", learned it, and then the magic is gone. So, there's lots and lots of music I like to just listen to. I like to listen to good singers, "Celtic", hard rock, electric blues, George Winston, classic country... really almost anything with a groove. I don't really play any of this. Oddly enough, I mostly play flatpicking guitar and I rarely listen to that genre!

[Seasicksailor]

I started off just playing the acoustic and singing... that's because I ran into a guitar, I did not have a band, and it was the cheap setup. I think that affected the music I liked listening to. Before you know it, I was listening to Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Leonard Cohen (the early stuff), etc etc. Before that however, I was a major Beatles fan. I still love them but I do not listen to them that much. So:
1. I think the setup you have influences what you like.
2. I love early Genesis, Jethro Tull and music like that, but not as much BECAUSE they are difficult songs to 'transfer' to a single guitar. It is possible, but some songs' essence is heavily based on the intricate arrangements.
3. When I started a band, I started listening more to music that corresponded to our line-up. Again, not strictly, we never copied things.

What I am trying to get at is that possibly your gear/setup may influence your tastes more than the other way around.

[String Tree]

There are not enough hours in a day to play ALL the songs I like.

I don't hate the stuff I play - mostly.
Sometimes, you have to play 'what they want to hear'. I try not to let it bug me. Next week they will want something else.

[getbent]

I love an old jerry jeff song called "couldn't do nuthin' right"

I've played it 5 or 6 times in public to absolute crickets... one time I actually scolded them for not loving it as much as I do... they laughed.

I saw Jerry Jeff probably 10 times in concert and he never played it... I yelled it out several times one time and he kind of laughed and said 'you too?'

I have decided to be happy that I'm in a small minority of John Stewart (the folk rocker) fans and that I love the first and only Silver album... I no longer try to convince anyone of their greatness...

I have friends who refer to most jazz as 'eee eee ahhh ahhh' music.

I have learned to be happy that I love it and let the rest go...

[earoach]

My Moms favorite Jerry Jeff song.

[tele-bastard]

I like just about everything... right now Beach House, Silversun Pickups and waiting for the new Bloc Party... listening to old Pink Floyd... Meddle and A Souserfull of Secrets, new Rush and Joe Walsh... only play my stuff which is heavy rawk.. although slowly crossing over to a mellow experimental alternative sound... more jazz and classical orientated instead of the usual bluesy rock.

[Chris Browne]

I perform electric blues stuff, and listen to mostly acoustic folky stuff. Performed Mustang Sally 200 times, but it sure isn't on my ipod! Still, making an audience happy is what it's about for me.

[dada]

Thank you for this thread. I keep telling my band mates that we should play the music we listen to. I'm so over thinking about what people will dance to. I love Mark Knopfler, the Band, Dylan, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill. Yes some of it you can dance to but that isn't my focus any more. I'm at the age where I just want to play something I think is good music. Not that I don't like to see a young lady shake her rear end.

[Seasicksailor]

Originally Posted by dada

Thank you for this thread. I keep telling my band mates that we should play the music we listen to. I'm so over thinking about what people will dance to. I love Mark Knopfler, the Band, Dylan, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill. Yes some of it you can dance to but that isn't my focus any more. I'm at the age where I just want to play something I think is good music. Not that I don't like to see a young lady shake her rear end.

Good point there. However, the experience can vary with the audience. Some audiences are just very open-minded and are positive to the idea of listening something or dancing to something that is not familiar. Some just are not.

I have played open-mic nights and with bands in the UK, Germany and Greece. From the very small sample of my experience, the best audiences are German. They like the familiar... like everyone does, but they are patient and attentive to the unfamiliar.

[Telarkaster]

I can't stand listening to the blues. I'd rather play it instead. I have enough problems, I don't want to hear about other people's issues...

[twangjeff]

I've had way too much Sweet Home Alabama, Mustang Sally, etc.

[jazztele]

I play, gig, and listen to primarily jazz.

But i also love reggae and hip hop, and i rarely play those styles, outside of reworking the lyrics of Maytals tunes for my seven month old son (he literally screams with joy when he hears reggae or ska...it's awesome. )

[Abu Twangy]

Years ago I made a living playing music, but not necessarily the music I liked at the time. Playing for a living leads to compromises if you are truly serious about feeding your family. There were a few songs I despised playing but did them anyway. Doing it paid the bills.

Now as a hobbyist I still play some gigs for money as well as quite a few freebies. And I still don't play the stuff I like to listen to.

But I still enjoy playing.

[bargoedboy]

Back in early 90`s I was playing in a band, doing approx 100 gigs a year (which is quite a few for the west country at that time) , but I was playing all sorts to get the gigs. Mainly what we call soca songs (same old crap again).
But Band was starting to get tired of it, and a guy walks into the guitar shop I was working in and said "know any band that needs a singer?".
And when we talked, we both realised we liked same stuff, some country and blues etc, so I auditioned him in my band that night, liked what I heard, told my band I was quitting and gave them a date for last gig. Then me and new guy formed a new band, doing songs we liked only.
Our tastes have changed over the years but the one rule is we have to like any song we play.
To be honest you should only do what you like in Music, sport or art, otherwise you will never do it as well as you could.

[1955]

Silly or not, I like the way NLP or NAC can be used to change a song you hate into a song you like or even love. You can possibly learn to like anything if you create enough positive associations to it in your mind.

Using techniques like double-disassociation, swish patterns, and re-framing seem to enable you to change the reality of your past and present by changing your neuro-associations.

How you feel and how you behave may come down to internal representations and focus.

I think our negative anchors stack up on the songs we don't like, and it can be useful to clean the slate where unreasonable, undesirable, or unnecessary associations are holding us back in an un-resourceful state.

The more experienced I get in life, the more things and songs I have learned to enjoy. But I must admit that I hold out to the bitter end on songs I despise, to my own detriment. That's easier said than done for me. This thread reminded me to do work on some songs I need to learn.

I am still very perplexed by certain songs that are incredibly popular and it is an enigma to me why people like some songs so much. It may come down to how music is used to anchor experiences by people, and maybe we have stacked enormously positive associations on top of some songs because they were playing at intense points of our lives.

[A.B.Negative]

I play music for pleasure, not financial gain. Which is lucky because I make very little from it.

I'd rather work in an office than play music I don't like. Which is lucky because that's what I do.

[tele salivas]

When I was single, I only played the music I wrote, which explains a lot for the lack of success. But I liked it and was able to travel the country playing it for a few years, make a few records with other people's money. Picking up a wife and kid along the way, I decided to become a writer rather than play covers or songs; or worse, gigs I didn't like, to support us all. I've been picking up the pedal steel, so maybe I will get some part-time work along the hard country vein, which is what I like now.
For hard country steel please remit @ .....

[basher]

I'm the only one in my band who likes metal. Our bass player is the only one who likes the Grateful Dead and jam bands; our drummer is the only one who likes the Decemberists; the other guitarist is the only one who's into Tom Waits. Our style is a Venn diagram.