General Music Chat

I'm probably the only guy I know that actually hates Dream Theater.

I with you there. Uber cheese production, lyrics, vocals, bass, bass sound, guitar parts, guitar sound, super cheesy keyboard violin. I find nothing redeeming about them.
Here's a perfect example.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9q4E0Pz7tT4

Metal album of the year...I had forgotten about that. Loved the album though, always have been a Tull fan. I read a while back that Martin Barre used a 10 watt Marshall practice amp to record that album. He tried using them onstage, but 3 wired together didn't do the trick so he went back to a full size amp.

I guess I've been a progrssive rock fan for a long time too, just never tried to categorize it. Tull, early Genesis, a lot of the later Genesis with Collins on vocals was great too, especially Trick of the Tail, his first one on vocals. Also was into ELO, Pink Floyd, (Gilmour is probably my overall favorite guitar player, and the one who got me hooked on TONE) Uriah Heep, King Crimson, City Boy, Captain Beyond, Chicago, Yes, Styx, The Who (the original progessive rock band as far as I'm concerned, listen to Who's Next and Tommy before you scream...) basically anything innovative and outside the box, so to speak.

Actuaslly I guess you wouold have to call the Beatles the original progressive rock band, without them most of those other bands probably wouldn't exist, and they were always trying to push the limits back, doing things nobody had tried, things nobody has figured out since, very diverse... Ian Anderson (Tull) is probably the only songwriter I consider Paul McCartney's equal. Actually I consider Anderson a composer, at least from Thick As A Brick on...before then he was a songwriter, a good one, but still just a songwriter. If you like Tull at all and have never heard Roots to Branches, definitely check that one out, one of their best in years. I saw them for the 2nd time a couple of months after it was released, phenomenal show even though Anderson was confined to a wheelchair after a fall onstage in Lima Peru that damaged his left knee. The Dot Com show a couple of years later was good, but the music from that album that they played didn't impress me nearly as much as Roots to Branches did.

Damn Yankees...good band, never got to see them live but liked both albums. Tommy Shaw has a voice that won't wait, I'm sure he left his tonsils splattered all over the studio walls when they did "Rock City"...inceredible singer and songwriter...Only thing I've seen or heard of Dream Theather was a live Pink Floyd tribute video my neice got, I wasn't all that impressed, thought it was just another band...

Anyone ever hear of Marillion?

Ive never seen Dream Theatre but I have some of their cds and listen to them all the time. I am jealous of their abilitys on their instruments. I love some of Petruccis guitar tones. In fact I just picked up a Mesa Mark IV cause I read it is the backbone of his lead tone and I havent been happy with mine. Now if I can only figure out the controls.

I was told over the weekend that prog rock was when you go away from the normal rock time sig of 4x4. A guy contacted me off Craigs list and I was going to try and play with them, he sent me a bunch of weird songs to learn all instrumental. At first it looked like a musical challenge, but the more I thought about it, why would I want to take up what little time I have for playing music to play something that only hard core musicians would want to hear. They wont pay me and then they are the most critical audience. I cut my teeth in metal bars where everyone was a guitarist and after a hot set some one says you went flat in the middle of the Crazy Train solo. So why would I want to go thru that again. I decided to pass on the prog, but I sure wouldve like to heard what they sounded like.

Im with Crip bring on the chicks with big boobies anyday. If Im playing in a club thats what I want to see front and center.

I find it odd that on a musician site that some of the guitarist on here dont like Dream Theatre, not that it matters, just not what I would have expected.

There was a progressive band in my area that wanted me to join. But they wanted me to write lyrics. And boy, I find it extremely hard to write lyrics for a progressive song. Cause nothing repeats...And it just goes from one thing to another...So I told them, "no way".

Prog is my favorite genre, but I like other stuff as well.

I didn't see them mentioned in this thread, but for the prog-rock fans in here I'd recommend Enchant. http://www.theoasis.cc/

Great band. Really love Ott's lead style (very reminiscent of Neal Schon). Great lyrics. Probably my favorite lyrics next to Rush.

I'm too attached to 4/4 to get into Prog.

Ah, Paul,,,you should try the waltz, or 5/4! It's challenging to play in new time signatures, & I love it when it works. My own "Morons" was in 3/4, & I have some other waltzy stuff, too, & have been working on a 5/4 piece that's driving me mad. Most often, in 5/4, there is a double emphasis on 4 & 5...try writing something with the emphasis at 3, or 2. Sounds alien.

Look at Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" or Pink Floyd's "Money" for 7/4. Lots of ppl completely miss the fact that Gabriel's tune is in 7/4, he does it so smoothly. Floyd slipped almost seamlessly into 4/4 at the end of "Money," which I thought was a pretty cool thing to do.

Paul Desmond's "Take Five" is a classic in 5/4.

All great stuff. Don't fear the different beats, man. Embrace them!

Still, there's much in prog that is 4/4. No reason not to check it out or try to write it.

I've written in 6/4. I've been involved with several non 4/4 time sigs. I just really realy prefer 4/4.

Dream Theater's "Metropolis" - over 100 time signature changes during the song.

Dream Theater's "Metropolis" - over 100 time signature changes during the song.

over 100 reasons not to listen!