TE...I don't get it

[ukejon]

Originally Posted by CyberFerret

OP - most of the criticisms I have seen of Tommy have been by people who have only watched him on tiny little Youtube videos or on TV. Context matters.

I have hardly heard from anyone who has been to a live Tommy Emmanuel show who didn't LOVE it.

Tommy is first and foremost, an entertainer. If you go to his shows, you will notice they are not a stodgy, sit down in absolute quiet and watch someone on stage go through the motions. TE will take you on a journey through music and storytelling.

Perhaps the 'frenetic' aspect is that you are seeing only 2 minutes towards the end of a 2 hour show. You haven't been 'lead' there, nor are you immersed in the experience with everyone else around you.

Tip: Go and see his live show next time he is in your town. Then come back and tell us if you 'get' him or not.

Great observation but I've not yet seem him live and I still "get it" from what can be found on the CDs and recordings of live shows. YouTube is a gift from the gods!

[Bunny64]

Originally Posted by ukejon

The World-Wide-Interweb is free....look around a bit. As fitness1 points out, there are lots of TE videos that challenge your basic presumption about his frenetic approach to playing:



















and even the flashier stuff can be stunningly tasty..



Many more as well. In the end Tommy may not be your cup o' tea at all. But he certainly is not a mono-dimensional player. He just gets a lot of attention for his moments of flashy playing, which certainly is a big part of who he is as a performer. I too don't really care for the 4 minutes of drumming on his guitar in Mombassa, but it is impressive and momentary....

Wow thanks for all those fabulous clips. Also for me your view is pretty conclusive on the matter. Amazing how from a difference of opinion within the forum I can still enjoy a musical experience and come away with at least one new song to learn.

[steelvibe]

As mentioned, I've seen Tommy once and part of me still doesn't get it.

I "get" what the OP is saying though, albeit I still am more of a fan overall than the OP. I have bought many of Tommy's recordings and actually went to a show of his. I admire and love his music but my ears became fatigued after 1.5 hours of watching him play live.

I don't believe in making negative or ill thought comments so I will leave my fellow TE fans with this: One thing I like about Tommy over all the other players I enjoy is that he relies much less on gimmick and actually can play some mean fingerstyle- leaving excessive guitar beating to others (which also becomes fatiguing to my ears). Guess my ears still don't know what they will like when they grow up!

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by email4eric

Watched TE on PBS tonight and I don't get it. Not a troll thread, no flaming here. Honest impressions.

I found his playing, style, and repertoire to be technically WAY proficient and very flashy but so frenetic that I wanted to scream. It's like more, louder, faster, and flashier is better. An exception to this franeticism was "Moon River", however it was so thickly and forcefully played that, again, it felt crammed down my throat. Some of the sound processing was atrocious.

I didn't get any soul, mojo, or feeling out of the performance. It seemed formulaic and just another performance in probably a thousand.

I'm an acoustic guitar newbie. As such, I don't presume to be comprehensive with regard to reviewing acoustic guitar musicians nor do I suggest that I even know what I'm talking about.

But...I found this vein of acoustic guitar music to be grating, uninspiring, and inductive of anxiety. And I was so impressed as such that I felt compelled to post.

Is there something I'm missing? Do I have such an uneducated ear, or is this simply a case of "not everyone likes this sort of music and I'm one of them?"

I know that art serves an infinite realm of tastes and aesthetics. But what I'd like to know is where my impression of this artist and style lies in that spectrum.

What say you? Am I a clueless loner in my thoughts or does this music strike a resounding Meh in you as well?

I think there's a difficulty for the solo acoustic guitar player - how do you make a living doing it? Within a band, solo electric guitarists like Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck can dazzle and delight, but what is the seemingly overly studious fingerstylist with a wooden box supposed to do? How many people line up in the snow to see a master fingerstylist play a two-hour rendition of his 'original' material. It's a tough sell, to say the least. TE's solution has been to be a showman with the instrument, and it's worked. Whether it does or does not have 'soul' is in the ear of the beholder.

[Drubbing]

I get that he doesn't get it. TE is clearly an absolute master of what he does. I just can't get into his music. The part of me that is a guitar player can't watch him for watching sake either, or get inspiration from. He's already 200 years ahead of where I'll ever get to.

[ocmcook]

no matter what your feeling towards him are he is probably the best guitar player around and this is confirmed by his endorsements from the best players around.

[Larry Pattis]

Let's please not bandy about the word "best".

Here's why; I prefer pumpkin pie. It is the best.

[devellis]

I don't think it's a matter of "not getting" what he's trying to do. It's a matter of not caring for what he's trying to do. I understand the frustration of really liking a performer and encountering others who don't. The first impulse is to dismiss the other person as some kind of moron who is simply incapable of understanding the music, the proficiency, the artistry of the performance.

Simple truth is, liking someone doesn't mean that others have to like him. It's a trap we all fall into at some time or other. There's even something called "Balance Theory" that explains the tensions that arise when two people we like don't like each other and the motivation we have to restore social balance when that happens. It's the same when one of the "others" isn't a friend but a performer, or an ideology, or a food. We tend to believe that people should share our views about things that we feel passionately.

So, I understand why huge fans of Tommy Emmanuel or anybody else are inclined to dismiss people who don't share their passion as "not getting it," or being otherwise incomplete in their aesthetic sensibilities. It's a trap we all fall into at some time or other. But that doesn't mean it's true.

[Goodallboy]

Originally Posted by Drubbing

I get that he doesn't get it. TE is clearly an absolute master of what he does. I just can't get into his music. The part of me that is a guitar player can't watch him for watching sake either, or get inspiration from. He's already 200 years ahead of where I'll ever get to.

Valid observation.

The OP is new to acoustic and doesn't reveal if he is new to guitar or not and this is critical to understanding him not "getting" TE.

Unless one has advanced to an intermediate level of proficiency they can't begin to understand what is going on with Tommy's more intricate passages, such as playing two songs at once. Hearing something happen is not the same as having some level of skill, and as Drubbing notes, knowing you could never achieve that no matter how long you might play guitar.

[fitness1]

There isn't one single artist that I enjoy listening to their whole body of work.....in fact many of my "favorites" probably only get to 50%.

You have to just "get" a small percentage of their music to allow you to enjoy it.

If you go in thinking "I don't get it" - you wont. It's that simple.


Some of TE's stuff IS downright annoying to me, but there's enough that I find "otherworldly" that I can say I'm a big fan.....not just of the music, but the man. He clearly loves his fans, what he does with his days, and the world around him.

[TaoMaas]

Originally Posted by Goodallboy

Unless one has advanced to an intermediate level of proficiency they can't begin to understand what is going on...

That line cracked me up because I said something similar to a friend recently about something totally unrelated to guitar. It had to do with learning to fly a quadcopter for video. I had emailed him a few basic questions the week earlier and the next time I saw him, he said, "Do you have any more questions?" I said, "You know how you have to be at a certain level before you can even begin to ask intelligent questions? Yeah...I'm still trying to get to that point."

[zabdart]

Originally Posted by email4eric

Watched TE on PBS tonight and I don't get it. Not a troll thread, no flaming here. Honest impressions.

I found his playing, style, and repertoire to be technically WAY proficient and very flashy but so frenetic that I wanted to scream. It's like more, louder, faster, and flashier is better. An exception to this franeticism was "Moon River", however it was so thickly and forcefully played that, again, it felt crammed down my throat. Some of the sound processing was atrocious.

I didn't get any soul, mojo, or feeling out of the performance. It seemed formulaic and just another performance in probably a thousand.

I'm an acoustic guitar newbie. As such, I don't presume to be comprehensive with regard to reviewing acoustic guitar musicians nor do I suggest that I even know what I'm talking about.

But...I found this vein of acoustic guitar music to be grating, uninspiring, and inductive of anxiety. And I was so impressed as such that I felt compelled to post.

Is there something I'm missing? Do I have such an uneducated ear, or is this simply a case of "not everyone likes this sort of music and I'm one of them?"

I know that art serves an infinite realm of tastes and aesthetics. But what I'd like to know is where my impression of this artist and style lies in that spectrum.

What say you? Am I a clueless loner in my thoughts or does this music strike a resounding Meh in you as well?

I've had the same impression myself. This is a personal taste, "whatever floats your boat" issue, so it's very subjective. So he can do a lot of things I can't do... he also does a lot of things he doesn't need to do. You can be effective without all that flash... you can even be great without it. Just look at Leo Kottke, for example.

[random works]

TE seems to able to play any style at a very high level. Many players relate to one style or a couple of styles, but with Tommy that won't work. Although I am sure he can play any of the original standards note for note, he does add his extra touch. If he were an athlete, he would be world class in track, boxing, swimming, weight lifting, and so on...not many on the planet like this.

[fngrpck]

Originally Posted by ewalling

I think there's a difficulty for the solo acoustic guitar player - how do you make a living doing it? Within a band, solo electric guitarists like Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck can dazzle and delight, but what is the seemingly overly studious fingerstylist with a wooden box supposed to do? How many people line up in the snow to see a master fingerstylist play a two-hour rendition of his 'original' material. It's a tough sell, to say the least. TE's solution has been to be a showman with the instrument, and it's worked. Whether it does or does not have 'soul' is in the ear of the beholder.

I agree. The guy has found a way to make a living at it which in today's world is no small feat. TE has always maintained that his job is to entertain and he does it quite well. Whether you like his performances or not you have to recognize the drive and talent that got him where he is today. And IMO I'll bandy that he is without a doubt one of the best finger-stylists performing today.

[ukejon]

Originally Posted by zabdart

I've had the same impression myself. This is a personal taste, "whatever floats your boat" issue, so it's very subjective. So he can do a lot of things I can't do... he also does a lot of things he doesn't need to do. You can be effective without all that flash... you can even be great without it. Just look at Leo Kottke, for example.

But this is basically akin to saying "Hey Tommy, stop being Tommy."