mayer plays love

John Mayer, an inspiration that makes me want to start picking up some guitar, claims that he has written over 30 self help books.
Watch the video from 1:40 on. Here's the entire concert on USTREAM.
I highly recommend everyone to watch him rock out his guitar. It left me in awe.





"Just deal with the love in front of you... Go on the assumption that you're awesome is what I'm trying to say. And if you're listening out there on USTREAM, and you think I've offended you, then come on up to me face to face and I'll give you a high five and a hug. Cause I've got an analog heart, this shit don't have usb, it's just me. I can't hook up to 3G. I just gotta.... let it be. You know what I'm saying?"
JM points out this song, Gravity, is about fighting against this "newly invented matter" which is this fake negative feeling people seem to create over the internet. People use the freedom of internet to create their alter-egos--whether they be supermodel wannabes or emo kids who are suicidal. No one knows what is true anymore, and in order to connect in a deeper level, people simply have to rid their electronic gadgets because our hearts "don't have usb" and "can't hook up to 3G".
I think the same goes with music specifically.

JM prefers playing in front of people. And at the end he plays "love" for the crowd at Red Rocks and over USTREAM. After the end of his "love" guitar solo, JM acknowledges internet for being "a great place to go for love and a terrible place to go for hate." (Not shown in the YouTube video).

Most of JM's lyrics surround with "broken hearts", which can be overwhelming at times if not listened carefully. One of his popular songs, Waiting On The World To Change, is a sarcasm of how we seem to wait on the world to change instead of taking charge to make a change. And this catchy song was getting a lot of attention because of its underlying message that promotes hope speaks to the hearts of many people in this day and age.

I believe writing music about love and change is what this world needs, and JM not only does it but also performs live with much more freedom than we hear him play in the studio recordings because he wants to connect more hearts and shares love with his music.

jw

music, brain, heart

"Many people who love music profess to know nothing about it."

Daniel J. Levitin, This Is Your Brain On Music

I have taken multiple music classes at UCSD, most of them are "appreciation" courses such as Western Music and Jazz Music. What surprised me was that all these courses have no pre-requisites; as long as the students like music, they can sign up for the course.

We are experts in what we like, whether it be food, drink, or music. A fervent Hip Hop fan can immediately tell the difference between Kanye West's tunes from Jay-Z's; a Classical music lover can distinguish the styles of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. However, they do not necessary KNOW music--in some ways, their knowledge of "music" is only at a superficial level. These music fanatics know the songs they like, yet they cannot tell the notes and the chords being played bar by bar.

What fascinates me about music is not just the technical side, but how it can pierce through our hearts within seconds, and a song, whether with lyrics or not, can comfort the right people at the right moment. Music transcends its notes, chords, and instruments to another level that bring love, joy, hope, sadness, anger, or even peace. It is almost supernatural. Music brings people together, and we do not have to know all the chords played in the Star Spangled Banner in order to sing out our inner patriots. As the time goes on, the means with which we listen to (or obtain) music will change, but the human longing for music to fill their hearts will stay the same.

jw

hello rules

Welcome to Music Brainiac.

These are the rules of the posts I will be posting on this blog:


1) The post must analyze how a specific type of music connects with people.
2) It must include multiple links and at least one video related to music.
3) It must be appealing to the general public who enjoy listening to music but do not necessarily have any musical knowledge. The language used in post must be easily understood by both musicians and non-musicians; if any musical terms are used, it must be explained.
4) There must be one full post every week.
5) My view on the subject matter must also be expressed in the post.


jw