Aug. 1st, 2003

gusl: (Default)
I am usually a very good speller. But as I started using IM a lot, I started getting sloppier: actually, it's like my hands are typing independent of me. So we can see at least three parallel modules in my brain: one spitting out ideas, one spitting out words and one spelling them. When I am too focused on the ideas, the spelling process becomes automated (done unconsciously) in order to keep up, so the spelling suffers.
An interesting consequence is that now that I'm learning Dutch, I'll sometimes type Dutch words and patterns with similar sounds, such as "de" for "the" or "oo" instead of "o".

But my name is probably my strongest unconscious automatic interference: when I type any word starting with "gus", I will almost automatically type "Gustavo".
gusl: (Default)
I'm looking for some rock guitar solos and licks to add to my MP3 collection. A lot of rock doesn't seem to have any reasonable melody: the prevailing aesthetic seems to be a rather static rhythm and timbre, i.e. "feel", however I have heard some very cool rock licks in my lifetime, so you if can name some, please let me know.

My prevailing musical aesthetic is a rather "intellectual" one: complex melodies, improvised solos that impressionistically paint the theme, cool-sounding chord changes, rather than "feel", "atmosphere", "trance" or "emotion".
For this reason, I like much jazz, bluegrass, Bach, Chopin and Mozart, frevo, chorinho, Irish music, and most of the harmonically-complex MPB (samba, bossa nova, etc).

I also enjoy simpler folk music with a strong melody, such as Old-Time Country, Forró, Israeli music and Chinese music.

I dislike Emo, most singer-songwriters, heavy metal, dance music, hip-hop and other music that relies solely on emotion. I'm inviting fans to argue with me here.

However, I *am* into the music-as-poetry aesthetic (which explains why I like some rap), but that's something else altogether, since I'm talking mostly about instrumental tunes. A lot of what I like about Chico Buarque is his intelligent word play and his dramatic lyrics.

Admittedly, I like a country blues with a strong beat. The emotion can be an essential part of a good tune, even for me. So I guess this is one example of where rhythm/emotion is an important aspect of my music appreciation.

So, back to my rock melody collection project, "Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover" has the only good, non-oldies rock melody I've downloaded so far. What's your favorite?

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