Is able to play music a form of magic

As much as I enjoy my vintage and contemporary instruments and love to show them off at gigs; invariably I reach for an old plywood, Korean, Kay, with a pickup stuck in the sound hole. Ultimately it boils down to the undefinable soul, alma, heart of the song. The analogy I like to make is a good painter can use a $100 sable brush or his fingers and still the work will have the same powerful impact on the viewer. It's the same with music.

Amps....now that's another story!

Don't get me started on amps! My main go to amplification is almost as old as I am. It's a '75 Sunn Colliseum and sounds better than every high end modern amp or head I've used and I've had some pretty nice rigs over the years. My current set up isn't very pretty to look at but mic'd up and running into the 2" tape machine it is a golden god.

Depends on your definition of "magic". To me, most modern practitioners of magic define it as appealing to, or influencing the Universe through rote or ritual to bring about a desired outcome. In essence, making music or any other art can certainly achieve this, so sure...why wouldn't that be "magic"? Semantics really. If it is magical to you...then of course, it is magic. Who are we to tell you differently?

a reply to: musicismagic

I am a musician and have played Guitar for nearly thirty years.

While I have practiced a lot and have to a certain extent "trained in" to myself particular patterns and scales, I have recently noticed that when I "get into the music" I am sometimes surprised by what I am playing. It is like the lead lines I'm playing are happening automatically, without any conscious input. I suppose it's a bit like driving a car. After a while, things become automatic and you do them without thought.

To a certain extent, it takes a while for me to get into the mental state where it happens (and sometimes a bad mood or feeling unwell prevents me from getting there) but generally I can get "in the zone" pretty quickly and consistently now.

While I don't think that is magic, what I do feel is magic is the way I can take the mood of a musical piece (which may be different from my feelings at the time) and express both the mood of the piece and my current emotions. So you can take something like a lullaby and play it with an angry and energetic feel, polar opposites, and yet both are somehow encoded in the music and people tell me that they really like the way I put such contrasting feelings into a piece (which I actually don't seem to have much control over anyway).

Anyway, my 2 cents.

a reply to: peter vlar

Well you brought it up....

The sound I get from my old modded Fender tweed with a Mesa Boggie slave, defines what this thread is all about.

majic

For small rooms I use a Roland Jazz chorus directly into the board.

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: peter vlar

Well you brought it up....

The sound I get from my old modded Fender tweed with a Mesa Boggie slave, defines what this thread is all about.

majic

For small rooms I use a Roland Jazz chorus directly into the board.

I love the Jazz Chorus 160 (four speakers) but in New Zealand, can't seem to find one & my current amp really needs an upgrade.

I've got my Fender Telecaster from way back when, it itself is magic it seems like, but I call it the Fender magic.

Be able to play music is not magic, but sometimes magic happens when a bunch of musicians sync together well. I've played music with a friend and sometimes when we sing together there seems to be a third voice present, but there's no third singer.
One can also certainly hypnotise with music.

originally posted by: cuckooold
Be able to okay music is not magic, but sometimes magic happens when a bunch of musicians sync together well. I've played music with a friend and sometimes when we sing together there seems to be a third voice present, but there's no third singer.
One can also certainly hypnotise with music.

Cool. That is what maybe I mean, we just give it the word magic, hard to explain or maybe impossible to explain what it really is.