Is one genre of music really harder to play than another?

larryace said:
Seems like kids of today have more facility at a younger age than kids of mine/your generation Anononon. That's just my impressions. Facility does not automatically mean musicality, but geez, some of these teens today can seriously rip it up on both counts.

The bar just keeps going higher. And people keep clearing it.
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It's interesting... Kids today have everything you'd ever need to learn right at their fingertips because of the internet, subscription music services, amazon, etc., but they also have more distractions (with so many entertainment options), (arguably) less quality popular music being produced, fewer opportunities to gig playing live music, more peers choosing video games over music, and generally a society that is finding less time for the arts...

All in all (I'm only 34), but I have to say that in many ways I'd take the opportunities I had -- playing paid jazz trio gigs every weekend -- in my late teens over what options kids have in my town musically today.

The bars and coffee shops here rarely feature live music anymore...

Even their school band sucks, because half the kids can barely get through a song without reaching for their cell phone to get the latest incoming text!
 
WhoIsTony? said:
this is all completely subjective and only relative to ones familiar surroundings

if someone was raised from a small child around and playing only rhythms such as guaguanco, mozambique, cascara, bembe, guarapachangueo, etc etc... then rock music may feel very foreign to them

if someone grew up saturated with jazz then metal would feel like another planet and vice versa

"harder" is what makes this all subjective

usually the unfamiliar is difficult .... once it becomes familiar it is no longer difficult
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^ This

and

Hollywood Jim said:
The music you don't like and don't listen to, is difficult to play.

The music you love to listen to all the time, is easy to play.
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^ this.
 
Re: Is one genre of music really harder to play than another

WhoIsTony? said:
this is all completely subjective and only relative to ones familiar surroundings

if someone was raised from a small child around and playing only rhythms such as guaguanco, mozambique, cascara, bembe, guarapachangueo, etc etc... then rock music may feel very foreign to them

if someone grew up saturated with jazz then metal would feel like another planet and vice versa

"harder" is what makes this all subjective

usually the unfamiliar is difficult .... once it becomes familiar it is no longer difficult

I tell my students all the time .... all we are doing is untying knots ... the knots being the unfamiliar.....once we untie these knots and lay the string or cable straight these movements will no longer be difficult.
after the movements are in place then the "feel" factor enters.

it is sort of like an NFL wide receiver (American football) who gets traded to another team with a completely different offensive system with a lot of sight adjustments and unfamiliar route combinations .
his playbook will look extremely "difficult" to him until he learns it.
after a season ... the next season he will be out there reacting instead of thinking because he has internalized the play book

drumming is no different

internalize the playbook of the style you wish to play

the human mind and body is an amazing machine able to be programmed to do almost anything if prioritized
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Complexity is not subjective; some genres, songs and musics really are harder than others, either rhythmically, melodically or both. East Indian percussion is the most difficult on the planet, taking a great deal of study and practice to produce simple musics. I've taught people to play a basic, passable rock beat in a half-hour.

If someone was raised in a culture where harder things were the norm, then they learned harder stuff first. The easier stuff is still out there, even if it's new to them.
 
If you wish to achieve a high level of expertise in various genres

Yes, some genres may be more difficult to play than others
 
MrInsanePolack said:
Trying to play something incredibly simple for the entirety of the song can prove to be just as difficult, if not more so, than trying to shove 100 notes into a 10 note bag.
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I totally agree, for me it is the Stones and the Eagles. I love their music and so do most audiences, but trying to stay interested in playing a song like Take it Easy or Lying Eyes drives me nuts. I am true to the nature of the songs, but I have to flavor it up a bit. Same thing with the Stones.

I do not try and play Death Metal or whatever they call it today. I play single kick, it would not be possible if I wanted to, but I honestly do not like this music. I grew up in a Rock n Roll World (Zep,CCR,AC/DC, Aerosmith, Bob Seger, Deep Purple, GnR, Queensryche, Maiden, etc.) so this, along with some Pop songs (Love Carley Simon and Elton John) are my roots. I have tried Jazz and can't do it, I respect it. Drummers playing double kick at 65,000bpm, I do not respect or care about.

At the moment, I am really into Scott Rockenfeld and his work on the earlier Queensryche albums.

Rambling, sorry!
 
T.L. said:
It's interesting... Kids today have everything you'd ever need to learn right at their fingertips because of the internet, subscription music services, amazon, etc., but they also have more distractions (with so many entertainment options), (arguably) less quality popular music being produced, fewer opportunities to gig playing live music, more peers choosing video games over music, and generally a society that is finding less time for the arts...
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Thats true, there are many distractions such as videogames and the internet and although I enjoy playing videogames, learning and playing a musical instrument is a different kind of fun, the kind that makes you feel challenged and accomplished
 
Re: Is one genre of music really harder to play than another

Deathmetalconga said:
Complexity is not subjective; some genres, songs and musics really are harder than others, either rhythmically, melodically or both. East Indian percussion is the most difficult on the planet, taking a great deal of study and practice to produce simple musics. I've taught people to play a basic, passable rock beat in a half-hour.

If someone was raised in a culture where harder things were the norm, then they learned harder stuff first. The easier stuff is still out there, even if it's new to them.
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sorry bro

totally disagree

east indian percussion is difficult to you because it is not your native language

difficult = unfamiliar

there is nothing physically difficult about it..... it is simply being unfamiliar with the rhythms

and complex does not always equal difficult it just equals more involved

and simple rock music almost should not even be involved in this conversation ..... thats why Ludwig couldn't keep drum kits on the shelf in the mid 1960s..... like Remo Belli said....."now there was a beat anyone could play"

but even those simple beats are difficult to people who are used to unrelated rhythms ..... I have an adult student from Cuba who tears up Cuban rhythms but he wants to play pop music and just cannot get the feel

someone from east india would probably find Tony Williams solo in Saturday and Sunday something from outer space..... it sure as hell isn't any easier or less complex than something native to them
 
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Militant said:
The tabla. It has got the be the hardest drum play.
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tell that to someone from India who plays it and has been around it their entire life..... then hand them a pair of Vic Firths and a snare drum and ask them to read and play a few solos from an advanced Wilcoxon book.

it's all relative my friend

it seems hard to you because it is unfamiliar.... it really is as simple as that
 
Re: Is one genre of music really harder to play than another

WhoIsTony? said:
sorry bro

totally disagree

east indian percussion is difficult to you because it is not your native language

difficult = unfamiliar

there is nothing physically difficult about it..... it is simply being unfamiliar with the rhythms

and complex does not always equal difficult it just equals more involved

and simple rock music almost should not even be involved in this conversation ..... thats why Ludwig couldn't keep drum kits on the shelf in the mid 1960s..... like Remo Belli said....."now there was a beat anyone could play"

but even those simple beats are difficult to people who are used to unrelated rhythms ..... I have an adult student from Cuba who tears up Cuban rhythms but he wants to play pop music and just cannot get the feel

someone from east india would probably find Tony Williams solo in Saturday and Sunday something from outer space..... it sure as hell isn't any easier or less complex than something native to them
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Difficult=difficult. People have developed clear benchmarks for that over centuries. If something is difficult but in your culture, then it's all around you and you have more opportunities to learn a difficult thing. The thing itself isn't any easier; you just have more opportunities to learn it. If someone can learn alternating odd time signatures on the tablas with their hands, it won't be that hard for them to pick up a four-four rock beat between their hands and feet.

Tabla drumming, Tony Williams solos=difficult. Basic rock drumming=comparatively easy. Go back to the original poster - he really was asking about these kinds of things so that's what I'm responding to.
 
Re: Is one genre of music really harder to play than another

Deathmetalconga said:
Difficult=difficult. People have developed clear benchmarks for that over centuries. If something is difficult but in your culture, then it's all around you and you have more opportunities to learn a difficult thing. The thing itself isn't any easier; you just have more opportunities to learn it. If someone can learn alternating odd time signatures on the tablas with their hands, it won't be that hard for them to pick up a four-four rock beat between their hands and feet.

Tabla drumming, Tony Williams solos=difficult. Basic rock drumming=comparatively easy. Go back to the original poster - he really was asking about these kinds of things so that's what I'm responding to.
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we disagree

something easy to YOU or difficult for YOU doesn't mean it's difficult or easy for everyone.

I have a 9 year old student who can slay naturally afro cuban rhythms but cannot play Back in Black at all ..... and his father an adult student of mine is very similar

it's all relative my friend .... these common drum beats and rhythms to us are foreign to them

and you responded to me not the original poster

be well
 
WhoIsTony? said:
tell that to someone from India who plays it and has been around it their entire life..... then hand them a pair of Vic Firths and a snare drum and ask them to read and play a few solos from an advanced Wilcoxon book.

it's all relative my friend

it seems hard to you because it is unfamiliar.... it really is as simple as that
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Tabla isn't something you just pick up. Do to India's historical and still functioning caste system, you literally have to be born into it. The closest analogy in the west would be Suzuki violin. On youtube there are videos of babies playing tabla, and young masters at the age of eight, they just keep getting better. Doesn't mean it's your cup of tea(I for one don't like Suzuki violin, I think it sounds juvenile), just that you wouldn't even begin to be able to skip to my Lou on a set of tablas.
 
Brodown said:
Hi guys, I played live for the first time the other night with my band, and it has really motivated my drumming a lot, it feels all these years I've been practicing has actually been for something, also my attitude towards drumming has changed a lot since I started years ago. I used to watch Cobus a lot and loved how he added a lot more fills to a song than the original but now I care more about the overall bands sound and performance than my drumming by itself.

Anyway I wanted to make a discussion about drumming in music genres, I used to think it was straight forward, in that, classic rock and punk rock, hip hop is easy, jazz, metalcore, death metal, progressive rock is hard. But because the drums are such a diverse instrument I guess its completely subjective. Some pop punk is easy admittedly, but when you start playing songs that are 220 bpm and are trying to add smooth fills things can be much harder. Metalcore can have much more complex double bass but is usually a lower bpm so if you scew up whilst playing it can be much easier to recover.

I'd imagine its the same with jazz, even though the rhythms are much more complex when playing live its surely not so noticeable if you make a mistake? Hip hop in theory should be easy, playing a pocket beat but making it groove and adding appropriate chops may be harder than any straight up death metal song or punk rock song

so really is any music genre that much harder than another? or does it really depend on the drummer
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Probably already said, but it depends on the drummer. If you can't do it, then it's difficult. As soon as you learn how, then it's not difficult.
 
I played in the jazz band in middle school, but that doesn't mean jazz is easy, right?

I think that, generally, metal and jazz are considered difficult since players pride themselves on musicianship. Metal and jazz are less about being catchy than showing off the skills they've been developing for years and years of their lives. World music to me is the most difficult because I have zero knowledge or experience with it.

Difficulty varies within genres, too. I find Herbie Hancock's Headhunters to be easier to play than Thrust. I could play along to Lars Ulrich within my first year of drums, but even now I can barely play Thomas Haake's stuff.
 
It just depends on what is familiar and comfortable to you. For me latin and jazz, just cant do it
 
I've seen Tejanu Drummers that completely groove a loping asymetric time beat that fall apart outside of a 3 feel.

I've seen immaculate jazz drummers sounding like polka robots when approaching a eighth note 'rock' feel.

I've seen orchestra pit master percussionists unable to swing.

I've seen amazing tabla players unable to keep straight time for more than a few measures in a L/R hand alternating pattern.

What does 'hard' mean? I think it can be genre defined IN RELATION TO a specific drummer....with the idea that some drummers trancend genre.
 
coolhand1969 said:
I totally agree, for me it is the Stones and the Eagles. I love their music and so do most audiences, but trying to stay interested in playing a song like Take it Easy or Lying Eyes drives me nuts.
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If you learned to sing it may add interest for you. You may even be thankful for the easy parts :)

In my 3 piece bands, I trigger backing tracks to keep me from going insane on this type of music.


And.....what come to my mind as something difficult would be playing paradiddles with your hands (RLRR..) while playing opposite (LRLL..) with your feet.
 
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