I'll read this whole thread this afternoon. Right now I have something to ask tho...?
I play the guitar and some violin. Rather pretty good at guitar and proud of the work
I have done mastering this instrument (only acoustic).
Does a techno dial knob turner have the right to claim he can play "music".
Does it qualify as "music".
Surely anybody can do it - and the people defending their "musical" ability has no idea
what it takes to actually learn a musical instrument.
Or am I just completely biased towards all sounds electronic?
Completely biased without a doubt.
I have been playing guitar for over a decade now, I'm not enormously good since I failed to practice effectively but I have a vague clue as to the work involved.
I am very interested in electronic music and I can tell you there is a lot more to electronic music than just techno, which, yes I agree, is pretty lame.
Think about this: You learn a guitar, it's relatively simple - Teach your muscles to make the correct shapes + some basic music theory and that's it, you can now play guitar.
Electronic music as a general sort of idea encompasses thousands upon thousands of vastly different platforms. First, you need to learn a lot of different hardware, whether you are using analogue equipment to generate your sounds or a software synthesizer of some sort you still need to be pretty clued up with computers at a minimum.
The variety of incarnations that software and hardware can present in, demands a thorough and in-depth technical knowledge so that you can carry your expertise across platforms.
Unlike a guitar, which only generates essentially only one sound, when it comes to electronic music you need to have a knowledge of how sound is generated at a fundamental (pun intended) level since you are responsible for crafting timbres that have not ever existed before.
Music theory wise you also need a good knowledge of rhythm (Drum beats are HARD to program), melody, harmony and song structure.
Not to mention as well that 'electronic music' and conventional instruments are inexorably intertwined in modern music - If you put the radio on and listen to just about any song and much of what you hear is probably just one person sitting behind a computer who can craft the most incredibly realistic sounds that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.
As a guitarist and a 'knob twiddler' I can assure you that of the two, knob twiddling is perhaps easier to do badly but infinitely more difficult to master.
For a good introduction to some good stuff I recommend a band called 'Boards of Canada' and for slightly more conventional stuff 'Imogen Heap'.
Cheers!
