Thread: Is there such a thing as "soul"? (Music)

I had a conversation with a guy on YouTube the other day who seemed to think that there was no such thing as "soul" when it came to playing the guitar. He said it was a fad created by journalists who wanted something to separate, in their minds, the good players from the maestros.

I tend to disagree. I've listened to several "guitar players" on YouTube and there's this current trend where everyone assumes playing notes really fast and loud constitutes good playing. I'm old-school. The likes of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Petrucci, Eddie van Halen -- they all could play fast, but they also played with passion; with meaning; with "soul".

So, what do you think? Does it exist, or is it just a fad created by journalists? [Don't know where he got that from].

Only if you have soul can you have soul music, that poor fellow must have lost his soul.

Listen to Joe Satriani, Sam.

Have done, Baron. He's one of my favourite guitarists. Forgot to mention him above.

James Brown, Al Green, Wilson Pickett would be Soul music - the more commercialized version. Just like Soul food, ever heard of that?

Edit: I suppose I could also add Etta James, Aretha Franklin, so as not to leave out the ladies. But I'm guessing soul music has it's roots in Gospel.

Watch this for classic soul music ...

YouTube - Carlos Santana - Samba Pa Ti

Yes. But I think anyone in their element has a potential for that kind of soul.

Originally Posted by Blood

James Brown, Al Green, Wilson Pickett would be Soul music - the more commercialized version. Just like Soul food, ever heard of that?

Edit: I suppose I could also add Etta James, Aretha Franklin, so as not to leave out the ladies. But I'm guessing soul music has it's roots in Gospel.

Watch this for classic soul music ...

The OP was talking about musicians playing their instruments with feeling. Despite that, you still made some pretty good choices. Sad that you missed Otis Redding though.

Let's use Terminator as an analogy.

The Terminator is a machine built only to kill. It is almost unstoppable because it is fundamentally a hunk of titanium sheathed in a thin layer of soft, mushy skin. Equipped with all the requisite knowledge to at least pass as a human being (if only temporarily), the Terminator excels at the one mission for which it was designed.

But it has a weakness. Humans do not have the benefit of a near indestructible skeleton, nor to they come pre-equipped with a databank of information that enables them to hotwire a car or aim with a disturbing degree of accuracy at the kneecaps of several dozen police officers from 50+ yards away. What humans have that the Terminator does not is an ability to improvise. Humans can compensate for their shortcomings by cobbling a bunch of other crap together, like, say, ammonia and metal pipes, in order to mitigate their own weaknesses. Humans also have an ability to love, which gives them the unquantifiable advantages of being able to rise to unforeseen and seemingly one sided challenges. And they can make it work in spades.

You can be the most efficient killing machine ever devised (I am tempted to throw in an "ax" as guitar metaphor here. I won't.), but for all those advantages, you will still lack an essential set of characteristics to carry you beyond "Most-efficient" and "Most-technologically-savvy" to "Most-terrifying" or "Best-able-to-rise-to-unforeseen-challenges-and-opportunities".

Compare Hannibal Lector to the Terminator. Or Angus Young to Buckethead.

I got soul. But I'm not a soldier. I think we mythologize musicians, applying them vague adjectives like soul, feeling, intensity, take your pick. The less defined the adjective, the better; you just gotta feel it, man. How does one measure something like soul? By how funny the guitarist's face looks when he solos? The journalist comment probably comes from the fact that these kinds of adjectives are often called critic's adjectives, because there's not much meaning behind them but they make it sound like the writer knows things. "The latest Scorcese flick was simply incandescent."

Originally Posted by Baron

The OP was talking about musicians playing their instruments with feeling.

Did you watch the video?

Isn't soul just guitar-slang for sensibility?

I never thought of Eddie Van Halen as a soulful guitarist. Or John Petrucci, or Joe Satriani for that matter. Maybe because they sound too far removed from the blues to my ear.

Do you get Bill Bailet your side of the pond Caelum? An excellent musician and very funny, try I got ham, but I'm not a hamster.
YouTube - Bill Bailey "I got Ham, but I'm not a Hamster" Latitude Fest

lol, haven't heard of him, but I love a good parody. I rather agree with him—his comments on one youtube video—that that song is lyrically bankrupt. Actually I can't name a single Killers song I don't find lyrically bankrupt.

Weird Al has the best parodies, White N Nerdy was so awesome. Though it made me sad cause it described me in every way . Al has great original songs too, like Hardware Store.

There is no such thing as music. Just a bunch of people singing and playing guitar and stuff like that.

There is also no such thing as rap, rock, or pop.
Oddly, there is disco, but it's not very good.