fatjack wrote:how is the emotion you say harper has obtained?
I'm not clear on what youre asking here.
what makes his songs so emotional? i've never heard any of his stuff and i just want to get an idea of your mindset
The way he uses his voice is incredible...I've seen him live a few times, and thats when its really best. If you watch him onstage, he sort of loses himself to his songs. Ben digs way down and sort of taps the original feelings that compelled him to write in the first place. You can hear it. His lyrics are a lot better, too (I know that you dont particularly care about lyrics, but I do.)
I guess when I listen to Mayer's songs, it seems like he just throws some half assed words with little to no feeling over a riff that would be much better if he would have just left it instrumental. Dont ge me wrong, I like a lot of Mayer's stuff, in terms of his guitar work. I just think its obvious that hes trying to be deep without actually being deep when he opens his mouth. Its a big turn off for me.
- Michael
"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash."
Just to reiterate, I think my feelings are originally summed up best by my first post...I feel like Ben is an artist, and Mayer is a damn good musician.
- Michael
"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash."
well, to me emotional is something that makes a feeling deep down come out and you just start loving it. for instance, the last time through the chorus in Two Step makes me feel thankfull for everything(This is also de to that VH1 thing on dave matthews and that chick from columbine). Also, Somedevil makes me wanna cry because(I believe its about his Dad) whenever I here that song, I think of Dave Matthews's death and I think that would be the song to play. There are many songs that do this to me, I guess thats cause I love music sooo much. Thats my crazy spin on things anyway.
fatjack wrote:what makes it seem like he is losing himself, or digging down as you say?
I guess you have to listen to his stuff, and then go see him live. I dont know that I can really do it justice with a keyboard. I know you and I have different things we enjoy about music, so I'm ok with you thinking I'm full of shit.
- Michael
"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash."
fatjack wrote:what makes it seem like he is losing himself, or digging down as you say?
I guess you have to listen to his stuff, and then go see him live. I dont know that I can really do it justice with a keyboard. I know you and I have different things we enjoy about music, so I'm ok with you thinking I'm full of shit.
i dont think you are full of shit, im just trying to make a point to you
quattro mentioned vocal inflections, blue notes, etc. all of which can be explained by theory.
if you know your theory well, it can help you put more emotion into a song, you just have to know how. it does take a certain level of creativity and artistic skill do do this. you can always explain anything music with theory to some extent. you cant have one without the other, they go hand and hand
QuattroDore wrote:
That may be true, but reread dustin's last post. It doesn't even compare. None of Mayer's songs can give you goosebumps just by listening to him sing. Just watch the bonus material on Pleasure and Pain of him playing "I Shall Not Walk Alone" with the Blind Boys of Alabama for example.
Now THAT is emotion.
i never said that he gave me goosebumps, more like painful convulsions...
and his voice sounds like he's smoked since the womb
fatjack wrote:what makes it seem like he is losing himself, or digging down as you say?
I guess you have to listen to his stuff, and then go see him live. I dont know that I can really do it justice with a keyboard. I know you and I have different things we enjoy about music, so I'm ok with you thinking I'm full of shit.
i dont think you are full of shit, im just trying to make a point to you
quattro mentioned vocal inflections, blue notes, etc. all of which can be explained by theory.
if you know your theory well, it can help you put more emotion into a song, you just have to know how. it does take a certain level of creativity and artistic skill do do this. you can always explain anything music with theory to some extent. you cant have one without the other, they go hand and hand
But that would be comparing someone like Yngwie Malmsteen with someone like, say B.B. King. I would venture to guess that Yngwie knows plenty more theory than B.B., and is no doubt more technically advanced. But who produces the better music? King, no doubt in my opinion. Yngwie can't bend like BB, and thats where quite a bit of emotion and expression lies in music, particularly blues.
Bending is a simple theoretical explanation, but some can just do it better than others. Now extrapolate the above into vocal inflections. Some just do it better.
Note that I am not saying that Ben Harper can bend a string better than John Mayer; he can't. Mayer does that well. I'm strictly talking vocals here.
Coffee should be dark as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.
-Old Turkish Proverb
