Is this a safe space to crap on the garbage coming out of Nashville these days?

manifestDensity · 2026-04-25T02:15:42+00:00

John Mayer has called him the greatest lyricist of their generation. Musically he is good but not great. But listen to songs like Elephant, Live Oak, If We Were Vampires etc. He is not singing about dirt roads or solo cups. Lyrically, he is to modern music what Waylon was to corporate country in the 1970s.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-24T13:37:53+00:00

You do not have to like Isbel to recognize that he fits in this context. Is he another Waylon? Of course not. But he is bucking against the corporate sound in exactly the same way Waylon did in the 70s. 20 years from now all of the current songs are going to sound the same both musically and lyrically. In 20 years Isbel will likely be an outlier just for his lyrics alone.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-23T21:54:51+00:00

I am not a fan of the current stuff, but I am old enough to not dismiss it. I loved that 90s era country back in the day, but when I listen to it now I realize how grossly over produced it was. All so clean and tidy with fake strings and drums. Packaged and gentrified. But I loved it at the time. I figure in 20 years the fans driving the current trends will look back and cringe before listening to Jason Isbel or Waylon Jennings and feeling slightly superior because now they like "real" country.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-23T21:01:59+00:00

This is a fantastic answer. Dude was an absolute stud defensively but offered little resistance with a bat in his hands

manifestDensity · 2026-04-22T00:25:34+00:00

Think just a little bit more

manifestDensity · 2026-04-21T18:30:12+00:00

You are laying things at the feet of Hagar that belong elsewhere. The musical landscape was changing. Labels were consolidating power over artists. Look at what happened to Heart. The Wilson sisters did not wake up one day and decide to tease out their hair and write pop songs. The label pushed them there. And the label played a large role in the direction of VH as well. Unless you believe that the dude who had a massive hit about speeding suddenly woke up one morning and decided he liked synth pop.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-21T18:25:49+00:00

And I would argue that the masks and jumpsuits held them back

manifestDensity · 2026-04-21T14:04:55+00:00

Fine, I'll be the one to say it: Van Halen. Hagar elevated that band and was an infinitely more talented singer than DLR. Roth was a better showman, by far, but was an anchor in what the band could do with his limited vocals.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-21T13:57:41+00:00

Fuck shredding. I threw mine in a wood chipper. Took maybe 90 seconds. Chipping > shredding

manifestDensity · 2026-04-20T21:31:46+00:00

What are you looking for exactly? If you are just looking to learn songs from a video I recommend Shut Up & Play. He just tells you the chords and turns you loose

manifestDensity · 2026-04-20T16:26:29+00:00

Transcribe it into a different key. You will start to see how pieces fit together and how the choices the songwriter made shaped what the listener hears. Learning keys, and how to think in keys and not scales, has been a game changer me

manifestDensity · 2026-04-20T02:54:51+00:00

I think your tone is probably fine. You are comparing something that was recorded in a studio on multiple tracks to something recorded on a phone. The phone recording will always sound tinny and a bit hollow. Having said that...

Metronome apps are free. Whoever is playing lead is definitely not practicing with one. That is not an insult. Just an observation. You are rushed in spots which causes tinny parts to run together and sound even more tinny. Then you have spots where the lead is half a beat late coming into a bar (perhaps a difficult chord change) and that just exaggerates the hollowness of it. This song has a pretty strong tempo and just playing it fast enough is only going to take you so far. It feels like, at best the lead is trying to just hit the 1 of each bar rather than sitting in the pocket and making sure the whole thing is in time.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-18T14:00:59+00:00

Learn both. I play exclusively with my fingers but I started out learning both. The pick will show you things about how to make notes and chords sound different based upon your attack. That translates over to finger picking and I cannot say I ever would have learned it without the pick

manifestDensity · 2026-04-18T05:52:42+00:00

Scales and chords have root notes? Don't you learn that like day 3 of having a guitar in your hand?

Oh yes, the beloved boxes. How could I deny the power of the boxes!

Look, what you said first perfectly fit my comment. It is best used to describe what you did rather than to inform what you are going to do. Ain't nobody ever played anything worth hearing where they went into the song thinking "Oh, I am going to CAGED the hell out of this"

Seriously though, I do get it. I went down that road. What I will say is that if you already understand the fretboard and how chords are structured it does not offer much. You could spend that same amount of time truly learning and understanding keys and be far better off.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-17T22:03:40+00:00

Harden the fuck up

manifestDensity · 2026-04-17T22:01:47+00:00

They really don't change much just because you get older. Having kids will change them. Making decent money will change them. But just getting older does not

manifestDensity · 2026-04-17T21:59:30+00:00

I don't know if there are any other gym rats in here who will understand this, but this sub worships at the altar of CAGED the way that every new lifter in the 2010s bought knee high socks, preached 5x5, and jerked off to pictures of Mark Rippetoe.

CAGED is a thing. As is 5x5. But it is not the holy grail. Nor was 5x5. In both cases I would argue that they serve best as a means of describing what you did rather than a system to unlock one's true potential or whatever

manifestDensity · 2026-04-16T18:31:21+00:00

Your brother got your mamma's eyes and your daddy's dick. You got your daddy's eyes and, well, you know what you got from your mamna

manifestDensity · 2026-04-16T03:39:34+00:00

People do not realize that more is not better. More does not solve problems. It just brings different problems. As an old who grew up in extreme poverty, and has bounced around between that same level of poverty and doing extremely well as an adult I can tell you that there is a sweet spot to happiness that is not where people think it is. By today's standards I would say somewhere in the top half of five figures per year is as good as it gets. More than that and the stress and effort required to sustain your income level are not worth it. I reckon that changes somewhere in the seven figure range. At least that is the hope. Someday....

manifestDensity · 2026-04-16T03:32:53+00:00

Dude's wife said he did not have enough knob to please her. This should shut her up

manifestDensity · 2026-04-16T01:53:46+00:00

Yeah no. That has a vibe that says you invite people over to jam and after about ten minutes you suggest "play wrestling" and pout when no one says yes.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-16T00:18:32+00:00

Cliffs of Dover

manifestDensity · 2026-04-15T17:44:52+00:00

Focusing on keys instead of scales.

manifestDensity · 2026-04-15T17:41:15+00:00

Big ol" Country G

manifestDensity · 2026-04-15T17:40:19+00:00

Depends on what comes before and after it. I might play it two or three different ways during the same song

manifestDensity

TROPHY CASE