Give genres you don’t think you’ll like a shot

I’ve recently started listening to the Black Keys. Originally I didn’t think that I’d enjoy their music very much. I’ve heard, and played, a lot of different rock music and ended up having a bit of a grudge against certain types of rock music. Sometimes it was the singer, or the guitar tone, or the scales, or the speed, or whatever random thing that made me right away not give the music a genuine shot. Sometimes it was because of the person that told me to listen to that band … and sadly (and embarrassingly) had nothing to do with the music at all.

But I tried listening to the Black Keys.

And I didn’t just listen to an album once. I listened to two albums, multiple times. I really made sure I gave their music a shot. Because I know that often people enjoy music that is familiar to them, I wanted to give it a real shot.

Honestly I was wrong before. I actually enjoy their music quite a bit.

But it took a few tries. Right away I didn’t want to listen to their music. I only analyzed pieces of it. And once I was done analyzing pieces of it, it became a little less interesting. Almost as if I wanted to make it uninteresting to myself so that I could decide not to listen to it.

But after giving it a real shot; I’m a fan. Their music isn’t groundbreaking no. I’m not hearing chords I’ve never heard before. But I’m hearing guitar riffs that I haven’t heard before.

I’m hearing ideas similar to Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, but played in a more modern style. I’m really enjoying it. I like the straightforwardness of the grooves and the guitar riffs. I like the way they use pentatonic scales and how many different guitar riffs they’ve managed to make with just that one scale.

So my recommendation for today is to find a piece of music in a genre you don’t think you like and really give it a chance. Listen to it multiple times and try to get into it.

ISJ