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Is a DJ a musician

Is a DJ (as described in my opening post) a musician?

  • Yes a DJ is a musician

    Votes: 101 25.3%

  • Nope a DJ is not a musician but something else (post what he is)

    Votes: 250 62.5%

  • Carrots are good musicians. Carrots make good fretboard wood too!

    Votes: 49 12.3%
  • Total voters
    400
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#241
nightwulf said:
I'm a musician...not a very good one, but still....I used to be a DJ...I can teach someone how to DJ in five minutes...they can become proficient in an hour or two...they can become good in a month...after that, there's not much left to learn....can you say that about ANY musical instrument?
Click to expand...

Excellent.

I want to schedule a 5 minute lesson with you so you can teach me how to be doing this next month. I'll hang up my bass and start some sort of hip-hop-fusion band.

Invalid Link Removed

What's 1/12 of your hourly lesson rate? I should have plenty left over for a bus ticket.
 
#242
nightwulf said:
I'm a musician...not a very good one, but still....I used to be a DJ...I can teach someone how to DJ in five minutes...they can become proficient in an hour or two...they can become good in a month...after that, there's not much left to learn....can you say that about ANY musical instrument?
Click to expand...

That says nothing about being a DJ, but says a lot about your conception of a good DJ.
 
#245
nightwulf said:
I'm a musician...not a very good one, but still....I used to be a DJ...I can teach someone how to DJ in five minutes...they can become proficient in an hour or two...they can become good in a month...after that, there's not much left to learn....can you say that about ANY musical instrument?
Click to expand...

One of my best friends learned how to DJ in 10 minutes. After that, he lost all respect for DJs.

I went to a club last year in Bangkok to see some DJ from Japan that was supposed to be a big deal. I know he got paid a lot of money to be flown in for this gig. I watched him play with his laptop for about 10 minutes, take a sip from his drink, and pump his fist in the air. He repeated this move several times. Sometimes, he would raise his drink in the air after hitting a key on his laptop. I thought the whole thing was incredibly lame, but others were crowded around him like he was doing something interesting.
 
#249
Shakin-Slim said:
Musical instrument: an object or device for producing musical sounds. That's pretty broad. Therefore, turntables, laptop, MPC, Midi controller - all instruments.
Click to expand...

Guitar: a stringed musical instrument
Piano: a large keyboard musical instrument
Saxophone: a musical instrument that has a...

Turntable: the part of a record player that turns the record.
Laptop: a computer that is portable and suitable for use while traveling.
 
#250
Nev375 said:
Why is scratching a record rhythmically any less of an instrument than a snare drum?

They are both simple and you can use a plethora of techniques to get a wide variety of sounds out of them?
Click to expand...

There's a difference between spending a year of your life perfecting a one-handed buzz roll on a snare drum and clicking on different options in Ableton Live.

There are plenty of great DJs out there, but I can't think of a one that I would equate with the virtuosity of an Itzak Perlman, or a Stanley Clarke. What does a virtuoso DJ sound like? What DJ has been a part of changing an entire culture, or inspired thousands of DJs to follow, successfully, in their footsteps?
 
#251
Turock said:
Guitar: a stringed musical instrument
Piano: a large keyboard musical instrument
Saxophone: a musical instrument that has a...

Turntable: the part of a record player that turns the record.
Laptop: a computer that is portable and suitable for use while traveling.
Click to expand...

So you've made it clear that you don't know how to use the bottom two to make music. That's fine. Other people can.
 
#252
At a music audition at a college, I asked a prospective student what instrument he played? Technica 1200's was his reply.

I think the problem is people are trying to divorce the musician from the musical instrument. So if they play samples, or manipulate sounds, that's perfectly valid and respectable. In my head, they're maybe a music technologist? Or a performer? They can't be a musician, because that requires the use of something people accept as a valid music instrument. Clearly a sampler isn't an instrument. Mind you, I'm sure people would argue that a keyboard may well use sampling technology - but maybe the instrument relates to the mechanism that produces sound. A keyboard with black and white notes, isn't the same as a keyboard with QWERTY characters?

SO the guy who joins the band to play in the noises, sounds and various beats is a performing technologist with no argument - but he's not to me, a musician. Sure he makes music, but so does somebody pressing play on an iPod.
 
#254
Turock said:
Just quoting the dictionary... as it was quoted to me.
My neighbor plays the radio... he's such a great musician, I've actually seen him do it with no hands.
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He's not making music. Anyone who thinks a good DJ isn't a musician because they take samples from songs and work with them better invent some new notes and chords, because they sure as hell didn't create those. Hell, lots of folks make careers out of rehashing tired old blues licks and call themselves musicians while dissing others. Nothing as sad as musicians who are closed-minded to other musicians.
 
#255
Bryan R. Tyler said:
He's not making music. Anyone who thinks a good DJ isn't a musician because they take samples from songs and work with them better invent some new notes and chords, because they sure as hell didn't create those. Hell, lots of folks make careers out of rehashing tired old blues licks and call themselves musicians while dissing others. Nothing as sad as musicians who are closed-minded to other musicians.
Click to expand...
That would depend on whether or not one considers them as musicians. Obviously this poll does not agree with you.
Being a musician isn't about "invent some new notes and chords", it's about playing a musical instrument.
 
#256
There was a time when electric basses, electric guitars, electric anything was not considered a "valid" musical instrument.

People had very narrow views about what was and was not considered music. Rock and Roll was just noisy garbage at the time to those that didn't know how to listen to it with an open mind.

Most people are just too mentally lazy to question their existing learned point of view. Anything new and original is by its very nature an uncomfortable thing to process. Words have to be re-defined or invented to even talk about it.

I think future history will prove out that the rhythmic record scratcher form of DJ/turntablist (not simply the guy that plays songs at a bar) IS a musician. And to be a musician can also include the artistic active manipulation of sound rather than simply creating notes by pushing a button/key or plucking a string on an instrument.
 
#257
This my take, because its EASIER to spin or scratch (whatever they call it) a turntable or push some buttons than it is to LEARN HOW TO PLAY the cello, for instance. Its an extension of the instant gratification attitude. PUSH YOUR HANDS UP, WHOOP WHOOP ! yeah, no thanks.
 
#258
Well I think I'd say yes. Look at Dj Tiesto or at Armin Van Buuren. Two of the biggest DJ's in the world with each their own unique music. I wonder why people say they are not musicians? They make most of their music with the help of an keyboard.. And a keyboard player is a musician!
 
#259
I think part of the problem here is that a lot of the people voting "not a musician" have never taken the time to listen to or watch a good DJ in action. It's like all those people who say bass is wayyyy easier than guitar because its fewer strings and just single notes way slower than guitar. They've never even heard of people like Stuart Hamm or Victor Wooten. They have no idea that a bass can even be played solo or provide the focal point of music.
 
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