Speed Sucks - Is Less More?

Bernie said:
I am still impressed by those who can play very fast, but I found that good music has more lasting value, doesn't require speed, but may as well use it. It takes to slow down to put emotion and expressivity in a note, a piece or a song however...One doesn't run for long, but can walk for hours, if fit...
Seems like I haven't heard a new genuinely good song in years too...
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There’s loads of great new music out there. It just isn’t commercially spoon fed to the masses anymore. I regularly listen to a great public radio station out of Baltimore (WTMD (Total Music Discovery. You can stream them online)) that probably plays 40-50% new music, and has been turning me on to lots of new artists that have me excited about music again. It’s been decades since I was excited about a new album release. I really missed that. So glad to have that back in my life! 😁
 
How does WTMD avoid being owned by the big two radio corporations? I thought the days of independent radio stations was over.
 
JohnW63 said:
How does WTMD avoid being owned by the big two radio corporations? I thought the days of independent radio stations was over.
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I would guess by not putting yourself up for sale.
 
GAD said:
Gary Moore was a crazy shredder in the ‘80s. He gave it up for the blues where he incorporated those skills where appropriate. One of my favorite players.
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Yea, my introduction to him was during his metal days. My older brother blasting End of the World while he was working on his car in the garage in maybe ‘82. I was like that dude can shred! Who is that? Talk about speed. Got all his albums and been enjoying his playing since. I liked the blues genre he went into, and that is when I finally got to see him live. Although it was a blues show, no end of the world or Murder in the Skies, it was still Gary :). Here is end of the world:

 
Midnight Toker said:
There’s loads of great new music out there. It just isn’t commercially spoon fed to the masses anymore. I regularly listen to a great public radio station out of Baltimore (WTMD (Total Music Discovery. You can stream them online)) that probably plays 40-50% new music, and has been turning me on to lots of new artists that have me excited about music again. It’s been decades since I was excited about a new album release. I really missed that. So glad to have that back in my life! 😁
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Listening to WTMD Baltimore right now : very groovy ! (y) :) And thanks, happy year's end evening !!
 
Cougar said:
Whoa! I'll say! Crazy! Actually, I just like upbeat with a solid rhythm.
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A very slinky Canadian shuffle for you--solid rhythm a plenty, eh? I am not entirely sure that the bass line is done on a bass guitar, keyboard synth?



I am surprised that the song writers, Christopher Ward and David Tyson, have not sold the song rights for advertising purposes (if they still own the rights). There is a major Canadian rye whiskey brand, Black Velvet, which I am sure would love to run an ad campaign with the tune. Years ago they were in the budget rye category, mildly poisonous to my tastes. They have probably move up market since to compete with all the boutique distilleries.

You can see how the song would fit in with some of their historical advertising themes.

Screenshot from 2026-01-04 06-24-36.webp
 
Key of Ebm. Lots of fun to do in the original key on a concert pitch guitar. But we did it anyway.
 
If more is less, less is not always, or necessarily, more I'd say...
If you have great songs, a simple short lead work may be good enough. But if your songs are bland and pretty average, what's going to make you shine if not a virtuoso lead part ? Feel and good taste ? Speed would help though it seems...
 
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Canard said:
A very slinky Canadian shuffle for you--solid rhythm a plenty, eh? I am not entirely sure that the bass line is done on a bass guitar, keyboard synth?
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The Google AI response is believable.

"The bass on Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" was played by producer David Tyson, who also co-wrote the song, using a sampled fretless bass sound, not a live bass guitar."

The recording is in E flat, not the easier (at least for four string basses) E (natural).
 
GAD said:
Or, you know, tuned down a half-step.
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Sure, but that isn't always the first choice. In a situation where I was playing with others or with an audience my preference would be not to tune down or even swap an instrument.

But in the voice over voice from a cartoon...

This looks like a job for...

The Pilot with a Drop D tuner.
 
fronobulax said:
The Google AI response is believable.

"The bass on Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" was played by producer David Tyson, who also co-wrote the song, using a sampled fretless bass sound, not a live bass guitar."

The recording is in E flat, not the easier (at least for four string basses) E (natural).
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I have always been slightly disturbed by the performance of the bass line in this recording. The line itself is cool.

Yes... it sounds like a fretless electric bass, but the attack, duration of notes, and intonation are all too repeatedly consistent for a human being playing a fretless. Your explanation makes a lot of sense.
 
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