famous beagle
Well-known member
Hey Herm,
Nice sound you got there on that tune.
I thought I'd pipe in here and stand up for Nirvana a little bit.
I missed them the first time they came through. I was about 18 when they arrived, and I had just enrolled in UNT as a music school student. So I was in my jazz/classical music snobbery period. I'm a guitar player too, so I was listening to guitar music as well, like Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, and Stevie Ray, etc.
Anyway, I HATED Nirvana when they first arrived.
Fast forward over ten years. Now I write and edit books for Hal Leonard. They comissioned me to write a Nirvana Signature Licks book (where you show the music for the main riffs and solos of the song and provide descriptive, explanatory text).
After writing that book, I definitely have a newfound respect for Kurt's writing. I'm still not what I would call a big fan (although I do like some songs quite a bit), but I respect it.
If you're not into the cryptic lyrics then, yeah ... you're probably not gonna like it. I don't hate all his lyrics; I think he had some really cool lines. But his music --- his melodies and chords --- a lot of it was really great stuff. It's definitely not "root-note" melodies or simplistic stuff.
From a theory standpoint, he made constant use of modal mixture in a similar fashion to the beatles at times, and his mastery of the pop song form is undeniable.
Anyway, just some thoughts. Sorry for the continued thread hi-jack.
Nice sound you got there on that tune.
I thought I'd pipe in here and stand up for Nirvana a little bit.
I missed them the first time they came through. I was about 18 when they arrived, and I had just enrolled in UNT as a music school student. So I was in my jazz/classical music snobbery period. I'm a guitar player too, so I was listening to guitar music as well, like Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, and Stevie Ray, etc.
Anyway, I HATED Nirvana when they first arrived.
Fast forward over ten years. Now I write and edit books for Hal Leonard. They comissioned me to write a Nirvana Signature Licks book (where you show the music for the main riffs and solos of the song and provide descriptive, explanatory text).
After writing that book, I definitely have a newfound respect for Kurt's writing. I'm still not what I would call a big fan (although I do like some songs quite a bit), but I respect it.
If you're not into the cryptic lyrics then, yeah ... you're probably not gonna like it. I don't hate all his lyrics; I think he had some really cool lines. But his music --- his melodies and chords --- a lot of it was really great stuff. It's definitely not "root-note" melodies or simplistic stuff.
From a theory standpoint, he made constant use of modal mixture in a similar fashion to the beatles at times, and his mastery of the pop song form is undeniable.
Anyway, just some thoughts. Sorry for the continued thread hi-jack.