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There is no way that U2's little guitarist bloke can outperform the likes of Joe Satriani, John Petrucci & Paul Gilbert!

Amps that go to 11 are old news. Nigel confirmed it himself that he now has amps that go to infinity. On The Satch Tapes. Or was he saying that Satriani had those amps? I forget. Whatever the case may be, somebody has amps that go to infinity dammit. Top that you evil volume level compressors!

When just anybody can pick up a guitar and make something reasonably listenable, it means there is a whole lot of really shit, musically uninteresting crap produced

I beg to disagree. It means that you get a lively culture where people can express themselves quickly, and by this virtue the music has often more to do with life today. Yes, there is much crap, but there is also much crap if you listen to the lay classical orchestra staffed by the local music school.

But there is also stuff like, dunno, let's take Nirvana as an example. Certainly not very difficult music, but with an immediate power, it spoke from and to the hearts of ordinary youths and captured a moment.

While in classical (and nowadays unfortunately even jazz, I'm looking at you, Wynton), you often end up with lifeless robots reproducing music from hundreds of years ago. The music is beautiful and important, and the guys are incredible, but the music and the guys are so far removed from me, that it doesn't really tell me all that much.

And worse, if there is no body of really great music to apply the robotics to, you get even worse things

What a complete load of shit. You assert that there's no music being produced now that's worth buying? Bullshit.

Top 40 is crap and always has been crap. Nothing about that has changed in the last several decades.

Dig a little deeper and you'll find plenty of incredible, CURRENT music out there. And I'm not even talking about indie labels. Quite frankly, I hate those fucking indie snobs. You know, the people who always pop up on stories like this to loudly proclaim that they only buy music from indie labels. Well, whoop-de-fucking-doodah! Have a cookie. Those snobs annoy me almost as much as idiots like you.

No, there's a huge amount of awe-inpiring music released on RIAA-affiliated labels. You just have to know where to look. Don't look at the crap that the big 5 are pushing in your face on eMpTy-V or at the front of the store. Find the real musicians, the ones who have genuine talent and really care about what they're doing. Guess what? The vast majority who have a record contract are on RIAA labels. There's a few hundred labels in the RIAA if I recall correctly, so don't judge them based on the product and actions of the big 5.

Like guitar music? Check out Steve Vai's Favored Nations label. Awesome stuff. Hell, check out Joe Satriani's new release, just out yesterday. I bought and it's great. Crap my ass. If that's not your cup of tea, try any of the thousands of albums that have come out in the last few years. You're not looking hard enough!

I own an iPod, but prefer to use WAV files on it when possible. It doesn't make a huge difference on the cheap headphones I use with it on the go, but it if very noticible when connected to my car, or home stereo.

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. Now I KNOW you're full of shit, Mr. self-proclaimed golden ears. Or maybe you're just a fucking retard who doesn't know a damn thing about encoders and bitrates.

Cheers!

C'mon, let's fan it!
Soar, to the tune of
Satriani: Crystal Planet.
Foam poses no threat,
Can it?
Burma Shave

Joe Satriani have always said that he doesn't like wireless sound. If a monster of the sound says something like that is enough to me.

Name it after Joe Satriani, whose new album Is There Love In Space? came out yesterday. The album title is very relevant -- that's essentially what you're looking for in the grand scheme of things, isn't it? After all, there had to be love in space in order for life on Mars to reproduce. :)

Name it after Joe Satriani, whose new album Is There Love In Space? came out yesterday. The album title is very relevant -- that's essentially what you're looking for in the grand scheme of things, isn't it? After all, there had to be love in space in order for life on Mars to reproduce. :)

Let me preface this by saying that musical taste is totally subjective, so I'm not necessarily trying to flame you or anything.

Now, why in the Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick can't I purchase the music I enjoy the same way you are able to purchase whatever it is you're into?

Because the music you like is manufactured, packaged, and marketed as a product solely to make money. Again, nothing wrong with you buying it if you like it. They maximize their profits by finding the ideal ratio of hits (the songs you really shake to) to sludge (everything else). Put enough hits on a CD and people will buy it, regardless of the sludge. Since it (presumably) costs more to manufacture a hit, you want just the minimum number of hits that'll get that CD flying off the shelves for maximum profit.

On the other hand, some of us like music produced by true artists. These are people who love their craft and would do it for free. They just happened to be good enough and lucky enough to get a deal that made them some money for it along the way. Hey, it beats having a day job and taking time away from their art!

These artists create music from within. Creativity and talent is something you're born with, not something you can manufacture. Some people have it, most don't. So when a truly great artist creates an album, he/she will toil effortlessly to make sure that every single note is the best it could possibly be. For the artists I really love, this means virtually no sludge.

I'm a big fan of Joe Satriani. I have everything he's done, and I buy every new release the day it comes out because I know it'll be amazing. I can honestly think of exactly one song I don't like, out of 170 or so. Every album is a sonic experience, carefully crafted from start to finish. Often, the songs that don't grab me after the first 10 listens end up being the ones I love the most after 30 listens.

For me, music isn't just about tapping my foot or swaying to the rhythm. That's great, but truly outstanding music touches me on a spiritual level that's so much deeper than just moving to the beat. I get goosebumps when I really listen to an amazing song. The best songs are complex but simple at the same time - they sound good on the first listen, but you're still hearing new things after the 50th.

I think most people aren't into music at that level. Nothing wrong with that. To them, music is just like you say - something to make you shake your booty. That's totally cool. For these people, the simpler the song, the better. Complex music requires more active listening to get into, and probably a little knowledge of music theory to fully appreciate. Most people don't want to get into it at that level because music is just background for their lives. So they listen to the hits and shake around, and find junk on the remainder of those manufactured albums. They don't buy the stuff that we music lovers buy, because it's not as catchy initially and they're not interested in music enough to put forth the brainpower to really enjoy it. Nothing wrong with that.

And then there's the whole matter of taste. Within every group - from the most passive non-caring music listener to the most passionate lover of music, everyone has different tastes. Many music lovers would probably puke if they heard the stuff I love. And probably same for me with theirs. Same is probably true of the 'hits' people. Some are into country, others into pop, rock, rap, etc, etc. Whoopdee-do, it's all relative, and nobody's necessarily wrong. Except for the stuff that's absolute blatant crap. Like this. I can't believe that guy actually got published. Ha!

Stop, or I'll say 'stop' again...
I don't mind paying to keep Joe Satriani in guitars...and I guess these lawyers deserve to eat, too.
How can I pay Satch to keep jamming, feed the lawyers, and drop a MOAB on the RIAA? One good FLAB (Four Letter Acronym Bit) deserves another, right?

Joe Satriani

Hmmm...ever heard of "BT"???

BT's Site

BT uses Reason, FruityLoops and DSP software from Spectral Noise in his productions, as well as ProTools for mixing and Hardware Synths as well.

Joe Satriani (Joe's site is Satriani.com used nothing but MIDI hardware and software to provide backing tracks for his "Engines of Creation" CD - totally amazing work, including "The Power Cosmic, Part II", "Borg Sex", and "Attack".

I am, among other things, a professional musician/guitarist as well, and am working on a solo project with only the hardware and software sitting in my home office.

So much for "It's just not good enough yet". If you think "digital" sounds thin, run your final output stage through a warm-sounding Tube Preamp (Rotel made a very sweet-sounding one back in the early 60's - if you can find them), and you'll re-capture the supposed "warmth" that's missing from digital.