The Sound Square

Santana – Black Magic Woman

Johnny — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:03:51 +0000

Another classic song.The keyboard intro gets you in the atmosphere of the song and then the guitar takes the lead,with a nice intro riff,followed by two solos.Then we have the twist,where the rhythm is much faster and the whole mood changes.The first time I heard it,I was really surprised!Enjoy!

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama

Johnny — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:48:34 +0000

Most of you know this classic,killer-song!One of the most famous blues song,”Sweet Home Alabama”,by Lynyrd Skynyrd features a very “sweet” melody,with a bluesy rhythm and a nice and fast guitar solo,accompanied by the piano!

Pearl Jam – Betterman

Johnny — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:06:48 +0000

The Pearl Jam are an awesome band.They played and produced(now they do tours) mainly rock music.Their album “Ten” featured great songs of the grunge genre.Eddie Vedder’s vocals are very good and the lead guitarist,Mike McCready,keeps you excited(sometimes he gets crazy on stage!).

Betterman,is nice,smooth,a bit quiet at first and then suddenly the volume raises and the main melody “shows up”.I truly love the intro and the outro of the song for some reason!

Something that I find weird is that in some songs(like Betterman),they are three guitarists(Eddie Vedder plays too)!

This is a live version of Betterman,at the Pink-Pop Festival in Holland,2000.

Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze

Johnny — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:52:59 +0000

Jimi Hendrix,as you most know,was the best guitar player.Unfortunately,he died from drugs.It is a very big loss for the rock “world”.

This song is marked as one of his greatest hits.The sound of the clean electric guitar with the bass create a “heavy” melody and the drums keep the rhythm,all forming a great blues song!

Ten Years After – I’m Going Home

Johnny — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:15:02 +0000

It has great solos by Alvin Lee and great rhythm created by the drums and the bass.The guitar and Alvin Lee’s vocals keep you excited,with all their twists,that you don’t expect(for example,you hear only the bass and the drums for a bit,and then,suddenly you hear a guitar solo,just perfect!).

This is the video from Woodstock ‘69 and the sound quality is not that good.I would suggest finding the sound-only version of the song(the Woodstock version though).

Eric Clapton – Cocaine

Johnny — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:20:30 +0000

If you know Eric Clapton,you know Cocaine!The basic melody formed by just 2 chords(an E5 and a D5) on the guitar (Eric Clapton’s Fender Stratocaster!),with a slightly distorted sound,combined with the rhythm and the little solos in between and the big one at the end,create a perfect blues song!

Enjoy!

What this blog is all about?

Johnny — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:14:42 +0000

Well,I can say that I have listened to many different kinds or sounds of music,the so-called “genres” of music.What I realized is that music is not about quantity,it is about quality,and that’s what you seek.However,each one of us favors a different kind of music,either because it is connected with our civilization,our culture,either because it just sounds good to our ears.

I understood that mainstream music (usually the commercial one),meaning music generally produced in order to sell more,appeals to the most people,and sounds good to our ears,to most of us,at least,but it lacks quality.(In general,commercial music is in the pop/rock and hip-hop genre.)

Now,what is quality?Quality in music,is not the same for all people.Each one of us,gives a different meaning to quality.Are the good vocals,solos,lyrics or melodies,for example,the quality factors?The factor or factors could be all of them,one or two of them,or none of them.You decide!That’s how we define music as “bad” or “good”,being always a personal opinion.

To conclude,in this blog,I will make suggestions about music that I like,music that I characterise as “good”,music that has quality for me,and have some general music “news”.Don’t expect to get suggestions about every genre,but I will try cover as many genres as I can(You can request for coverage though!).

Cheers!