'Guitar World' Highlights Interesting Social Post By Marty Friedman

A great read from Guitar World! The piece is a breakdown of Marty Friedman's recent Facebook post about the decline in guitar solos in streaming music. I shared a sort of similar piece recently about the lack of guitar solos in modern songs, period - but Friedman's take is different. He looked at how people interact with streaming music. That is, how they either listen to an entire song or skip past the guitar solo.

Apparently more and more folks are skipping guitar solos, which is nuts to me. One, I prefer music that is driven by guitar solos like classic rock or metal. Second, who is taking the time to actively skip through solos but not the entire song? That seems like a lot of work. Are these people the nuts who mess with their phones while driving, preferring to look at their screens instead of the cars merging near them? The other day, I noticed a woman full-on reading her phone with both hands - while driving - and I made sure to get away from her quick. I assume she was using her legs to steer, but I digress.

The article linked below is definitely worth a read. It was the first piece of journalism I read this morning and it helped me kick my day off right. Then I felt like listening to Megadeth, so win-win.

Marty Friedman on why streaming listeners are skipping guitar solos: “Solos often have an obligatory existence – they must be there for a deeper reason” https://t.co/CVokfWANqq pic.twitter.com/2R4U4zD2Ob

— Guitar World (@GuitarWorld) May 10, 2022

Comments

[Jeff]

Thats a great topic. I still have all my old cassettes from back in the day before CD's (My wife wants me to throw them away, LOL) and among them are mix tapes of just guitar solos! I would take a dual cassette deck and cut portions of solos from the songs just to listen to them instead of the whole song.

[Him]

I hear you, Jeff. Solos can be the most amazing part of the song (and I posted something to this effect recently re: Allyson's previous post).

I think this has to do with shorter attention spans instigated by multi-social-media and fever-click responses to almost everything these days. Again, this is me, the old codger. But there is some science behind that argument (I mean, real science, not just Twitter or TikTok).

Thing is, Marty starts to sound a bit too artsy when he reaches for the "deeper existence" argument. Deep existence? Martin, do you mean: it works well within, or in addition to, the song itself? Sure. Fine. I get it. But don't go noodling philosophically when your point is well taken if it was better put.

After all, you put all that input into Megadeth's Risk (which I like). And now you do you doing what you do mainly in Japan. All good. And I will give you credit for noting (in the op-ed) that a song is collection of interests, all joining in to create the final piece. But I also think you engage in some backdoor slamming on solos that don't fit with what you want. So what? Some solos are great, to me. Some aren't, to you. So stop being so philosophical when your point boils down to: I understand the artistry that is required to write a good solo. And you do . . .and you don't. You are a gifted musician. But you are one of many. I am a non-musician who is a fan. But one of many. Your opinion is appreciated. I just get a little bit of a sense that you think you are a bit better than some (musicians) and are entitled to tell some people (fans) that what you think makes more sense (for those who interview).

And, you know what? It does. But it doesn't. So welcome to the paradox, Marty. Glad you explained modern listeners to us . . . after all, if we are all listening, we are all still listeners. But modern? Or you? Oh . . . no . . . I don't think so.

Oh, and again, I like Risk. Thankfully, neither Marty or me will be waiting in a bread (or ramen) line anytime soon!!!