cantor wrote:
When I play, I don't restrict myself at all, but I learned over time that I have a Black/White character, eheh. I was obsessed and still am with the Blues (it is definitely what led me to play). Those old blues tracks with open tunings, with a bottleneck always close at hand. Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, but also the Texas Blues of Johnny Winter, and Stevie Ray Vaughan who made me pick up the guitar (there, I've already started at full speed, you probably noticed! lol). Then there would also be English Blues, like Clapton (a great guitarist), but I much prefer African and subsequently Afro-American Blues (in short, the roots, from work songs onwards). And also Blues/Jazz like Robben Ford or Irish and Scottish music, and folk music like John Renbourn. Then, do you throw Pink Floyd away? Not at all! And Deep Purple? And Dire Straits? Joe Satriani too. I also had my metal period when I was younger, but it never spilled over musically, only in listening, because I have always liked the cleanliness of sound and generally prefer analog to digital (even if I later opened up to digital as well, and for some things it is very useful).
I learned to appreciate the classical approach over time, but it happened naturally; no constraint or obligation to read music, just interest and passion that pushed me to do it. And now that I find myself starting everything from scratch, searching for a Master (sob, I haven't found one yet, I would really like someone who has a classical method), correcting posture problems, reacquiring mastery of the instrument and also that natural approach you have when approaching it—in theory, I should be feeling a bit down... instead, I am more excited than ever and studying like crazy :-)
I don't have a good classical background, not at all, partly because I am the only one interested in these things in my whole family (with the result of being the only crazy one, eheh), and I had a rock/metal teacher who was very dependent on tablature and songs (whose musical tastes are different from mine, but he left me with a lot). I also love Beethoven; he is the one I feel closest to musically, he is my favorite. Then I like Chopin, Liszt (the Romantic movement is my ideal world, ehehh), then Wagner, Bach (or at least those are the ones that touch my soul when I hear them), and obviously I like many others too.
Ehehehehe sorry if I went on for so long, but it was stronger than me! I believe a psychologist is needed for those who deny themselves the possibility of knowing such a beautiful world to do common work—those types of people who set music aside because "they don't have time," according to them: you always find the time to do something you like. And that's why they need a psychologist.
In the end, there is no artist (even the best in this world) who can say they are completely master of their art, in my opinion. We grasp, we catch a moment, and what leads us to discover this now and that later is curiosity. If Music were limited only to executive ability, I wouldn't be playing :-)
Best regards!
Filippo, you have written an excellent page! What else can be added? I have always loved the blues, too, very much: John Lee Hooker (with his splendid Epiphone), B.B. King and all the other fathers of this fabulous musical genre that in the following decades produced other great musicians: names like the ones you mentioned. Of course, even Joe Satriani, wow, is terrifying with his guitar. Pink Floyd, but also King Crimson, which I still love listening to. Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew. And also metal, not everyone obviously, but for example Metallica is not bad, though I like Led Zeppelin more, with their energetic, explosive, yet clean sound, and also Deep Purple, right? Music, all of it, rock, blues, classical etc., is a blessing for all of us human beings; in fact, it is a wonder, just like colors, smells, landscapes, the starry sky: everything is wonderful, obviously that which harms no one, and music has never harmed anyone (they say that even in Heaven, in the presence of God, there is music) and the infinite variety of musical genres satisfies everyone. Yes, everyone, except for a very few people who cannot even stand it as background music: I knew a friend, several years ago, heaven forbid turning on the radio in her presence, not even at a very low volume, because she would have "seizures," but she was unwell, she was actually seeing a psychoanalyst. Also an ex-colleague of mine (I always had a radio at work), when he heard music (fortunately we weren't always on the same shift), he would start getting nervous, just like a psychopath: he wasn't in treatment, but I believe he would have needed it. But yes, Filippo, because it is exactly as you say: it is those who do not love music who need a psychologist. Music is life, it is like the air we breathe, like the blood that flows in our veins, like the water that quenches our thirst, like the sunlight...
