Guitarist/Artist

[Sg-ocaster]

Ok this has been on my mind awhile now. So my wife went in to get tattoo work(I have none) and her tattoo girl that does the work is a pretty talented artist she has several of her drawing on the wall. So in conversation it came up that Im a musician and play in bands etc...etc.. Later on I say "your drawings are really good, I wish I had artistic abilities" and she say "Arent you a guitar player thats literally an art" kinda offended'ish.
I dont know, a classical pianist yes, a classical violinist yes. But rock guitar? Really aint that getting snobish? Painting an artistic portrait using a wall of Marshalls, a BC Rich Warlock and Leather pants(no I dont have any)....I dont see it. LOL I mean I work at my playing everyday for going on 29yrs and criticize my playing to no end, but an artist? Its not like Im composing syphonies, its rock and roll.
What are your thoughts on rock guitar vs art?

 

[PelliX]

Music is a form of art. Rock is a form of music. Seems like a no-brainer...

 

[bhatta]

I am inclined to agree with @Sg-ocaster !
Most places are institutes of Music & Arts. The music and art are kept separate.

Now, music, they say & I believe, came from the Gods.
And arts are man-made. For God, the entire universe is their art...

Whether rock et al came from god's I leave up to imagination

Geez, I guess that's too deep even for me

 

[PelliX]

Now, music, they say, I believe came from the Gods.

This ventures into religious territory...

And arts are man-made. For God, the entire universe is their art...

I suppose that makes sense. Art is a creation by a person or group of people which conveys an emotion, tells a story or otherwise provides an 'intellectual or emotional stimulus', to me. Visual art is a 'reproduction of our vision', of course not an accurate photograph, but rather 'skewed' in the way the artist perceived it or was able to express it. Music originates, I think, from the human heartbeat. That's why we like rhythm.

Now I wouldn't say that Rick Astley is on par with Beethoven's finest; but the qualifier of good art is merely how many people like and how much.

 

[tubes]

This ventures into religious territory...



I suppose that makes sense. Art is a creation by a person or group of people which conveys an emotion, tells a story or otherwise provides an 'intellectual or emotional stimulus', to me. Visual art is a 'reproduction of our vision', of course not an accurate photograph, but rather 'skewed' in the way the artist perceived it or was able to express it. Music originates, I think, from the human heartbeat. That's why we like rhythm.

Now I wouldn't say that Rick Astley is on par with Beethoven's finest; but the qualifier of good art is merely how many people like and how much.

We use these terms loosely. You have identified the heart of something with those terms you used: '...creation... conveys an emotion, tells a story..."
An activity that's creative and expressive is artistic, in the loose sense.
People use terms such as 'fine art', 'folk art', 'craft' in order to be more specific.
(And, sometimes, to denigrate the thing they don't like very much.)

In the 70s music journalists would sometimes call a musician 'tradesmanlike'. It meant that he was competent but not 'creative'.

Louis Armstrong said something like 'all music is played by folk'.
I imagine somebody must have asked him whether jazz is art or (mere) folk music.

 

[TonalEuphoria]

Music is a form of art. Rock is a form of music. Seems like a no-brainer...

I'm 110% with this. Music is absolutely art. You're either trying to sculpt a sonic portrait, expressing thought and emotion through music to take someone away from their day to day. Or you're doing it wrong.

 

[fitz]

I would never insult musicians by claiming to be one.
But I've seen plenty of so-called "art" that's far worse than my guitar playing.
If you do something because you have a passion for it, and you put a little bit of your creativity into what you're doing, you're an artist.

 

[10kDA]

Some artists work with paint, others carve, others build and create with sound. It's art, even if it's rawk, just like watercolors and oils are discrete methods of painting. If you're given some kind of motivation to make music real, it's your job to act on that creative impulse. If it comes out in a form that makes sense to you, as the player, then that's how you perform the task.

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

To me, playing cover songs is paint by numbers. Writing good songs is paint on a blank canvas.

In between, you have creative lead solos. Maybe not Da Vinci or Van Gogh, but art worthy of display.

I strive for the leads, I don't have the artistic ability to create good songs.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Music is a form of art. Rock is a form of music. Seems like a no-brainer...

Tell that to the record companies.

 

[Purgasound]

Musicians that create are artists.

Writing and composing, arranging and performing. Those are all art forms.
Maybe rockers don't want to acknowledge putting on a show is a performing art. Maybe that's why no one wants to see those bands.

Even the lighting guy is an artist.

I take the term pretty serious. We have to be good at marketing our art in order to make enough money to create the art we want without hindrance. When we make art exclusively for monetary gain we become sell outs.

 

[playloud]

Do you write/perform original music? If so, I agree - no-brainer.

"Artist" is a bit of a pretentious label, but it tends to go without saying. It's like how the most likely people to tell you they are "creative" are advertisers.

Tell that to the record companies.

Also tell the art dealers while you're at it.

 

[TonalEuphoria]

Tell that to the record companies.

How can you convince career criminals that crime is bad? There's nothing worth anyone's time to tell them. Just try not to give them the opportunity to steal from you.

 

[10kDA]

Within the orbit of the question, where does that place orchestra musicians? Are they artists or not? Are they the equivalent of the dots, lines and squiggles laid down by the composer's pen? The same as the brushes and colors chosen by a painter? Tell them they're not artists and see what they say.

 

[PelliX]

Are they artists or not? Are they the equivalent of the dots, lines and squiggles laid down by the composer's pen?

Aye.

To me, playing cover songs is paint by numbers. Writing good songs is paint on a blank canvas.

Sure, but - to play the devil's advocate - if I were to suddenly have a great idea for a song in my head, and I sit down and play it. I'm just 'covering' what entered my head as best I can on the instrument of choice.

 

[mark123]

Maybe in a Jackson Pollock sort of way …

 

[Derek S]

"Artist" sounds too fancy for me, I like to think of myself more as a short order chef, serving up cheap salads, appetizers and side dishes.

 

[10kDA]

Maybe in a Jackson Pollock sort of way …

I consider Pollock to have been an important artist, maybe not "great" but certainly entertaining. For somebody like myself, with borderline Asperger's-like focus, and maybe for people with full blown Asperger's, Pollock's work displays all the patterns and rhythm that came about inadvertently, even when the attempt was to show randomness. I can look at his stuff for hours, at least in person in museums. It doesn't reproduce well at the scale of book illustration. Some people say it looks like a drop cloth, and I see the patterns on drop cloths too. BTW Pollock could paint and draw at levels of realism that were very impressive. The importance of his abstract work was that he didn't care if people thought he "wasn't supposed to" do what he was doing. That's what Rock was like too, for a long time, until Punk came along and tried to define and rank musicians based on a dumbed down standard and fashion/coolness scores.

 

[Crikey]

We use these terms loosely. You have identified the heart of something with those terms you used: '...creation... conveys an emotion, tells a story..."
An activity that's creative and expressive is artistic, in the loose sense.
People use terms such as 'fine art', 'folk art', 'craft' in order to be more specific.
(And, sometimes, to denigrate the thing they don't like very much.)

In the 70s music journalists would sometimes call a musician 'tradesmanlike'. It meant that he was competent but not 'creative'.

Louis Armstrong said something like 'all music is played by folk'.
I imagine somebody must have asked him whether jazz is art or (mere) folk music.

Yes musicians can be considered artists. Writing original compositions would be a sonic painter with volume.

 

[tubes]

Aye.



Sure, but - to play the devil's advocate - if I were to suddenly have a great idea for a song in my head, and I sit down and play it. I'm just 'covering' what entered my head as best I can on the instrument of choice.

Now you're thinking like a philosopher.
By this reckoning you are an artist only when you first composed the song. After that it's just repetition.
I suppose this is one of the ways in which something like music or drama, which is performed repeatedly, is different from something like a painting or a sculpture, which is made once.