What did you listen to "then" that influences what you play "now"?

[EllaMom]

Originally Posted by srick

And this is just goofy - I was doing a search on the Bach tune and this pops up on Google Groups:

[email protected]>, [email protected] (Tom WCP) writes:
- show quoted text -

Rather late 16th century German. (Or possibly early 17th)

Neither Bach nor Simon gave credit to the composer.

Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) originally wrote the love ditty
"Mein G'muet ist mir verwirret". ("My mind confuses me")
(Or at least he was the first known to steal the tune.) :-)

Then it was transformed into a sacred hymn with the title
"Herzlich thut mich verlangen" and later "O Haupt.."
With these lyrics it seeped into many sacred works, Bach's
St. Matthew the most known one.

It was Bach's common practice to use well known sacred hymns for
his chorales in passions and cantatas. This is just quoting, not
borrowing or stealing.

Gotta love the internet.

Recycling at its best!

And, thanks for the reminder about....BIG BAND music. I used to listen to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, etc., all the time as a teenager once I got to the point of being able to buy/listen to my own records. Imagine the mix on a record player that allowed me to stack records: Black Sabbath, Glenn Miller, Bette Midler, Ella Fitzgerald, Yes, Supertramp, Dean Martin!!! It would have been so much more interesting if "shuffle" had been an option back then.

[Grinning Boy]

EllaMom I saw your thread here the other day and have given it some thought.

Like a lot of people, it was the Beatles!! No doubt they started my music passions. Then the rest of the British invasion.

Of course like you I also had the influence of my parents and older sisters...Frank Sinatra, broadwa shows, standards etc.

Then it was on to Clapton, Hendrix, Steely Dan, Simon & Garfunkel, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Allman Bros, CSN&Y etc.

Then as I discovered fingerstyle guitar, a whole new sphere of influence hit me. Our own Larry Pattis who posts here a lot had a big effect on me. He showed me a lot about acoustic guitar and also helped me get a charitable concert series up and running. His travel mate El McMeen had a HUGE influence on me. I first saw him in Acoustic Guitar maybe 20 years ago? I have all of his books. Ed Gerhard is one of my all time absolute favorites. Her makes MUSIC with the instrument. I have all his books too. And Phil Keaggy! In more recent years I've taken online courses with Martin Taylor and also Conti. Those took me more down the jazz road.

[Cozmo]

Originally Posted by Grinning Boy

Like a lot of people, it was the Beatles!! No doubt they started my music passions. Then the rest of the British invasion.

That's how it was for me! I discovered my dad's Beatles albums when I was 12. I remember being in 6th grade and laying on the floor in my folks' den and listening to "Something New" while gazing at the album cover with the picture of them playing the Ed Sullivan Show and imagining that I was ANY of them. I loved how each of their guitars looked different and unique.

That same year we did an art project in school around the idea of "variation," where we'd fold a piece of paper in sections so that we ended up with 8 frames, and we had to draw something in each frame. I picked guitars (and was later delighted to hear in the Beatles Anthology that George was the same way..."I used be at the back of the classroom drawing guitars. Big cello cutaway guitars with f-holes, and little solid ones with pointy cutaways and round cutaways. I was totally into guitars.").

My dad had always had this old Framus bass in the basement in an old chipboard case, and it had a broken E tuner. So he and I fixed it up, and he taught me "the box," and the bass part for "I Saw Her Standing There" (or "I'm Talking About You," depending on your preferences). I took it from there, and spent countless hours in front of the record player playing that bass along with the Beatles (and the Byrds and the Beach Boys). I didn't have an amp at first, so I would rest my chin on the upper bout, which allowed me to hear/feel the vibrations in my head. And that became my musical education. So when we'd be in music class and our teacher...who was a card-carrying member of the blue hair society...would try to teach us how to play the wood block, I was like, "I'm beyond this. I need more."

The funny thing is, all my classmates were into hair rock. Motley Crue, Poison, G'n'R, Slayer...all that rubbish. I hated it passionately, and still do. But they made fun of ME for being "trapped in the 60s" and listening to the Everly Brothers and the Beatles instead of Megadeth.

Anyway, to tie it all together, about 5 years ago I joined a Beatles tribute band, first as John, and then as Ringo when our drummer moved on (we auditioned other drummers, but nobody knew how to play a shuffle and sing at the same time, so I did it myself and we found a new John Lennon). And I had the realization that I was living my 12-year-old dream of being one of those Beatles in the picture on the cover of "Something New." It was a beautiful feeling.

I still have the Framus, by the way. It's a Framus Strato Star with 1 pickup and a baseball bat neck. Super fun.

[Grinning Boy]

Originally Posted by Cozmo

That's how it was for me! I discovered my dad's Beatles albums when I was 12. I remember being in 6th grade and laying on the floor in my folks' den and listening to "Something New" while gazing at the album cover with the picture of them playing the Ed Sullivan Show and imagining that I was ANY of them. I loved how each of their guitars looked different and unique.

That same year we did an art project in school around the idea of "variation," where we'd fold a piece of paper in sections so that we ended up with 8 frames, and we had to draw something in each frame. I picked guitars (and was later delighted to hear in the Beatles Anthology that George was the same way..."I used be at the back of the classroom drawing guitars. Big cello cutaway guitars with f-holes, and little solid ones with pointy cutaways and round cutaways. I was totally into guitars.").

My dad had always had this old Framus bass in the basement in an old chipboard case, and it had a broken E tuner. So he and I fixed it up, and he taught me "the box," and the bass part for "I Saw Her Standing There" (or "I'm Talking About You," depending on your preferences). I took it from there, and spent countless hours in front of the record player playing that bass along with the Beatles (and the Byrds and the Beach Boys). I didn't have an amp at first, so I would rest my chin on the upper bout, which allowed me to hear/feel the vibrations in my head. And that became my musical education. So when we'd be in music class and our teacher...who was a card-carrying member of the blue hair society...would try to teach us how to play the wood block, I was like, "I'm beyond this. I need more."

The funny thing is, all my classmates were into hair rock. Motley Crue, Poison, G'n'R, Slayer...all that rubbish. I hated it passionately, and still do. But they made fun of ME for being "trapped in the 60s" and listening to the Everly Brothers and the Beatles instead of Megadeth.

Anyway, to tie it all together, about 5 years ago I joined a Beatles tribute band, first as John, and then as Ringo when our drummer moved on (we auditioned other drummers, but nobody knew how to play a shuffle and sing at the same time, so I did it myself and we found a new John Lennon). And I had the realization that I was living my 12-year-old dream of being one of those Beatles in the picture on the cover of "Something New." It was a beautiful feeling.

I still have the Framus, by the way. It's a Framus Strato Star with 1 pickup and a baseball bat neck. Super fun.

Cozmo, you and I are cut from the same cloth!!! The Beatles had very much the same effect on me. When I got "Meet the Beatles" as a VERY young person, I wore out the first two tracks ...Hold Your Hand and Standin' There.

An acquaintance insulted the Beatles one time and said they were just "plagiarists"! I said what? Sure they were influenced like everyone else, but they revolutionized music. They will be remembered as the Bachs and Mozarts of our years here on this planet. People will still be listening to them in 200 years!

Here some of my favorite things about the Beatles:

1. My continuous all time favorite song since it came out in 1968..."Hey Jude". I never tire of it no matter how many hundreds (thousands?) of time I've heard it

2. Favorite all time pop vocal performance by a singer...same as #1.

3. Favorite all time guitar solo (and this is a tough one as there are so many)...The album version of Let it Be by George (not the single but the album produced by Phil Spector). I understand Paul didn't care for the Spector influence on the album, but it was one time Paul was wrong. Phil heard something in that guitar track. Absolutely exquisite electric guitar tone and you can't have better musical phrasing than that. I can also listen to that all day and never tire of it.

I am very jealous you are in a Beatles band. We play as many as I can push on the band I'm in but there can never be too many!

[EllaMom]

Originally Posted by Cozmo

That's how it was for me! I discovered my dad's Beatles albums when I was 12. I remember being in 6th grade and laying on the floor in my folks' den and listening to "Something New" while gazing at the album cover with the picture of them playing the Ed Sullivan Show and imagining that I was ANY of them. I loved how each of their guitars looked different and unique.

That same year we did an art project in school around the idea of "variation," where we'd fold a piece of paper in sections so that we ended up with 8 frames, and we had to draw something in each frame. I picked guitars (and was later delighted to hear in the Beatles Anthology that George was the same way..."I used be at the back of the classroom drawing guitars. Big cello cutaway guitars with f-holes, and little solid ones with pointy cutaways and round cutaways. I was totally into guitars.").

My dad had always had this old Framus bass in the basement in an old chipboard case, and it had a broken E tuner. So he and I fixed it up, and he taught me "the box," and the bass part for "I Saw Her Standing There" (or "I'm Talking About You," depending on your preferences). I took it from there, and spent countless hours in front of the record player playing that bass along with the Beatles (and the Byrds and the Beach Boys). I didn't have an amp at first, so I would rest my chin on the upper bout, which allowed me to hear/feel the vibrations in my head. And that became my musical education. So when we'd be in music class and our teacher...who was a card-carrying member of the blue hair society...would try to teach us how to play the wood block, I was like, "I'm beyond this. I need more."

The funny thing is, all my classmates were into hair rock. Motley Crue, Poison, G'n'R, Slayer...all that rubbish. I hated it passionately, and still do. But they made fun of ME for being "trapped in the 60s" and listening to the Everly Brothers and the Beatles instead of Megadeth.

Anyway, to tie it all together, about 5 years ago I joined a Beatles tribute band, first as John, and then as Ringo when our drummer moved on (we auditioned other drummers, but nobody knew how to play a shuffle and sing at the same time, so I did it myself and we found a new John Lennon). And I had the realization that I was living my 12-year-old dream of being one of those Beatles in the picture on the cover of "Something New." It was a beautiful feeling.

I still have the Framus, by the way. It's a Framus Strato Star with 1 pickup and a baseball bat neck. Super fun.

That is a GREAT story, Cozmo. Thanks for sharing.

[TBman]

Actually nothing that I used to listen to way back when influences what I play now.

Currently I'm influenced by Tommy Emmanuel, at times, but usually Toby Walker, Woody Mann, Eric Clapton and many other blues players.

[jp2558]

"For me it's a bit like JonPR - many influences that continue to come along."

Same here. Growing up in the 60's meant a lot of input. Everything from AM radio, then later FM radio, Lawrence Welk, HeeHaw, Ed Sullivan, the Johnny Cash show and even Saturday moring Loonie Tunes cartoons all managed to attract my ears. I don't know how I got so lucky as to be paying attention to all this, but I'm very thankful! I even remember begging my mom to let me stay up to watch johnny Carson one night because BB King was going to be on, and I only knew his name because the Beatles mentioned it in the song before Let It Be on the Let It Be album. I think it was called Dig It?

But now that i think about it, The Beatles alone pretty much covered every style (to some degree), from all of the influences i listed. Pop, rock, psychedelic country, jazz, folk, motown, show tunes, avant garde, indian, orchestral and probably a few Imore can't recall at the moment. And then there was Hendrix, and that was like the aliens had landed. I havent been the same since 🍄

[EllaMom]

Originally Posted by jp2558

"For me it's a bit like JonPR - many influences that continue to come along."

Same here. Growing up in the 60's meant a lot of input. Everything from AM radio, then later FM radio, Lawrence Welk, HeeHaw, Ed Sullivan, the Johnny Cash show and even Saturday moring Loonie Tunes cartoons all managed to attract my ears. I don't know how I got so lucky as to be paying attention to all this, but I'm very thankful! I even remember begging my mom to let me stay up to watch johnny Carson one night because BB King was going to be on, and I only knew his name because the Beatles mentioned it in the song before Let It Be on the Let It Be album. I think it was called Dig It?

But now that i think about it, The Beatles alone pretty much covered every style (to some degree), from all of the influences i listed. Pop, rock, psychedelic country, jazz, folk, motown, show tunes, avant garde, indian, orchestral and probably a few Imore can't recall at the moment. And then there was Hendrix, and that was like the aliens had landed. I havent been the same since 🍄

"...and that was like the aliens had landed..." -- yes, and aren't we lucky?!

HeeHaw...totally forgot that one. Porter Wagoner, how could we forget?! Roy Clark, Buck Owens...!!!

[jseth]

Well, at this point in my life (nearly 66 years, but I've felt this way since I was in my late 20's...), I would have to say EVERYTHING...

I remember when a friend had me listen to Charles Ives' music, when I was in my 20's; I was fascinated by all the seemingly disparate elements in his compositions... several melodies at once, in different keys, in different time signatures, some intricate and some just old Folk music melodies...

Reading on Charles' upbringing, and how his Dad played in a band and would take yong Charles to the park to hear the music... but, as Charles was an infant and prone to outbursts and various "noise-making", he would seat him far away from the gazebo where his Dad was playing... so little Charles would hear his Dad's group, but he'd also hear the marching band going by, as well as other groups in the park who were playing their music... and that gave him the foundation for many of his compositional ideas... Three Places In New England is one of my favorites!

Along with this information, I was also doing a lot of "inner" exploration at the time; you know, meditation, different enlightenment techniques and disciplines... as well as advances in science, particularly regarding the intricacies of the human organism and brain function...

I came to the conclusion that I HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED BY EVERY SOUND I HAVE EVER HEARD!!! Not just music, but couples arguing, car crashes, thunder, the wind blowing, the sound of the ocean and a rushing river... all of it...

I would postulate that each of us have been influenced by it all...

Musically, I heard a lot of jazz/pop stuff from the 30's and forward, Ella, Frank, Sarah; some classical (my Dad wanted us kids to have "broader musical horizons"... then the folk music craze of the 50's and 60's, surf music, rock and roll, the British Invasion, classic country and western, classic blues (both acoustic and electric), jazz of all types, and all the singer-songwriters...

The deeper one delves into the 'secrets" of this life, this universe, we are led to the realization that, truly, Everything IS Everything...

[EllaMom]

Originally Posted by jseth

Well, at this point in my life (nearly 66 years, but I've felt this way since I was in my late 20's...), I would have to say EVERYTHING...

I remember when a friend had me listen to Charles Ives' music, when I was in my 20's; I was fascinated by all the seemingly disparate elements in his compositions... several melodies at once, in different keys, in different time signatures, some intricate and some just old Folk music melodies...

Reading on Charles' upbringing, and how his Dad played in a band and would take yong Charles to the park to hear the music... but, as Charles was an infant and prone to outbursts and various "noise-making", he would seat him far away from the gazebo where his Dad was playing... so little Charles would hear his Dad's group, but he'd also hear the marching band going by, as well as other groups in the park who were playing their music... and that gave him the foundation for many of his compositional ideas... Three Places In New England is one of my favorites!

Along with this information, I was also doing a lot of "inner" exploration at the time; you know, meditation, different enlightenment techniques and disciplines... as well as advances in science, particularly regarding the intricacies of the human organism and brain function...

I came to the conclusion that I HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED BY EVERY SOUND I HAVE EVER HEARD!!! Not just music, but couples arguing, car crashes, thunder, the wind blowing, the sound of the ocean and a rushing river... all of it...

I would postulate that each of us have been influenced by it all...

Musically, I heard a lot of jazz/pop stuff from the 30's and forward, Ella, Frank, Sarah; some classical (my Dad wanted us kids to have "broader musical horizons"... then the folk music craze of the 50's and 60's, surf music, rock and roll, the British Invasion, classic country and western, classic blues (both acoustic and electric), jazz of all types, and all the singer-songwriters...

The deeper one delves into the 'secrets" of this life, this universe, we are led to the realization that, truly, Everything IS Everything...

You know, I think you're right! Because sometimes influences are what you are learning toward, but also what you lean away from. Examples for me would include opera, rap, R&B, or music that is brassy (Louis Armstrong is the exception), marches, heavy metal that is screechy to my ears (Black Sabbath....what are you doing in my record collection?!).

I lean away from full symphonies, and in toward quartets, away from synthesizers and toward unplugged.

It's as important to know what you don't like as it is to know what you do like. And better yet, to know what qualities of each that draw/distract you.

[51 Relic]

Where on earth do you start

Back then

Hank and the Shadows
Ralph Mc Tell
James Taylor

Lately

Jerry Donahue ( The Hellicasters)
Passenger
TE
Martin Simpson
Gordon Giltrap

[dkstott]

Oh man, Where DO you start?

While riding in the car as a kid; my father ALWAYS had either country music playing or a NY Yankee's baseball game on the radio.

I wanted to play some type of music, so my parents scrapped together $50 for a Montgomery Wards acoustic guitar. I got it in 1965 for Christmas.

That was about the time that I broke away from my father's musical influence and enjoyed just about all of the 60's "pop" music. Later, I migrated to James Taylor, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, etc.

About 10 years ago, I made a decision to play only fingerstyle guitar.

My tastes these days go from Beatles, James Taylor, so called Jazz Standards to semi-classical / romantic songs. Essentially, whatever peaks my interest.

FWIW.. A few years ago, my wife and I visited Nashville. After one of my daily visits to Gruhn's guitar store, we went across the street to Ernest Tubb's record store. While standing there, I instantly knew the words to every single song being played over the store's music system. Thanks Dad

[EllaMom]

Originally Posted by dkstott

Oh man, Where DO you start?

While riding in the car as a kid; my father ALWAYS had either country music playing or a NY Yankee's baseball game on the radio.

I wanted to play some type of music, so my parents scrapped together $50 for a Montgomery Wards acoustic guitar. I got it in 1965 for Christmas.

That was about the time that I broke away from my father's musical influence and enjoyed just about all of the 60's "pop" music. Later, I migrated to James Taylor, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, etc.

About 10 years ago, I made a decision to play only fingerstyle guitar.

My tastes these days go from Beatles, James Taylor, so called Jazz Standards to semi-classical / romantic songs. Essentially, whatever peaks my interest.

FWIW.. A few years ago, my wife and I visited Nashville. After one of my daily visits to Gruhn's guitar store, we went across the street to Ernest Tubb's record store. While standing there, I instantly knew the words to every single song being played over the store's music system. Thanks Dad

My mom was big into country western as well, the old-style CW, not the newer stuff. I developed a fondness for it as well. Interestingly, though, I have no desire to play it. As an adult, I have grown very fond of listening to Americana style music. But, again, no desire to play it. It's funny how what I like to listen to and what I want to play are not always the same at all.

[Kerbie]

Carol, this has been one of the most interesting threads I've read in a long time. I think my musical influences go back as far as I can remember and I've really enjoyed reading the experiences of others. Thanks for coming up with the idea!

[JohnDWilliams]

Duane Allman - blues using the major scale.