An Open Letter to Guitar Tricks

Leave the politics aside and get on with learning the instrument I say.

A ridiculous place to bring up this political rubbish.

Don't like the website you're on, move forward.

No way, Tinpan. Those are two old.... white... guys....

Man.....I'm new here....so he it goes.... may get banned the first day... haven't read all the post but hti is basically a response to the OP

When it comes to music, I don't care what color the skin is or what the sex is, all I care about is if I like it....does it move me? does it take me away from the stress of everyday life? does it make me remember a time? feeling? etc?

I listen to bands like Halestorm, Pretty Reckless, Parliament, Living Color, Pat Benatar, Lita Ford, White Zombie, Rage Against the Machine, Hendrix, Skillet....just to point to few not because of who is in the band but the fact I dig the tunes they put out. I feel music transends hate, racism, fear, all the negative but instead is a conduit to peace, untiy and fellowship.

Honesty.....Living Color blew my mind as a teen in '88. I remember hearing the song then seeing the video.....opened my eyes to the fact the music is blind to color, sex or anything anyone can jam!!! Now the difference is if you like the goove or not....for example, I'm not a fan of rap, appreciate it but never a fan.....there is something about a distorted guitar that always gets me. Now before anyone rushes to judgement, I'm not a fan of country either, and I'm from Kentucky....there are certain sounds I like and some I don't.....that's just music.

Peace everyone

I would like to know why Some people's posts have been disappearing off this thread?

A question for management, If you remove only the opposing posts, why not remove the whole thread???/

Come on

Originally Posted by: W3

No way, Tinpan. Those are two old.... white... guys....

Your answering to a post that's been removed.

Tradgic

oh? I was censured for pointing out that someone likes JD and and Billy. Apologies...I meant no offence whatsoever. Please let me know what i did wrong GT and I'll behave myself. There was no bad language or rants...was just pointing out that the original post that started all this was not a troll as someone suggested and they seemed to be a really huge fan of what they were complaining is too much of. I was trying to defend GT as an awesome site without a hidden political agenda...that's all.

Originally Posted by: FSTech

Man.....I'm new here....so he it goes.... may get banned the first day... haven't read all the post but hti is basically a response to the OP

When it comes to music, I don't care what color the skin is or what the sex is, all I care about is if I like it....does it move me? does it take me away from the stress of everyday life? does it make me remember a time? feeling? etc?

I listen to bands like Halestorm, Pretty Reckless, Parliament, Living Color, Pat Benatar, Lita Ford, White Zombie, Rage Against the Machine, Hendrix, Skillet....just to point to few not because of who is in the band but the fact I dig the tunes they put out. I feel music transends hate, racism, fear, all the negative but instead is a conduit to peace, untiy and fellowship.

Honesty.....Living Color blew my mind as a teen in '88. I remember hearing the song then seeing the video.....opened my eyes to the fact the music is blind to color, sex or anything anyone can jam!!! Now the difference is if you like the goove or not....for example, I'm not a fan of rap, appreciate it but never a fan.....there is something about a distorted guitar that always gets me. Now before anyone rushes to judgement, I'm not a fan of country either, and I'm from Kentucky....there are certain sounds I like and some I don't.....that's just music.

Peace everyone

Although I am somewhat loathe to do anything that promotes the continuation of this thread, I'll just say, sure, I think most people would agree with those comments. We all like songs based on the music and not because of the race or gender of the musician (hopefully). It's for just that reason that GT should strive to offer song lessons that well represent the music we like without any systematic bias (towards or away from any particular demographic group). And they may do that. But I think the OP felt they were falling short. Of the most recent songs added to the GT song list, the last 25 were from men. Of the various female bands you mentioned that you like (Halestorm, The Pretty Reckless, Pat Benetar, Lita Ford, Skillet), I believe that only Pat Benatar has any representation (with 3 songs)...and I don't believe that she wrote or played guitar on those songs (so questionable relevence). Again, I'm really not arguing that GT is guilty of any sort of bias in the song lessons we get offered (a more scientific audit would be required to answer that question)...I'm just trying to clarify what I see as the actual issue, and get rid of any red herrings. Moreover, I seriously doubt that GT has any issue at all with striving for a good balance of guitar-centric songs that appeals broadly to their membership.

PS - I'm looking forward to listening to a few cuts from some of those bands you mentioned

Originally Posted by: Tinpan

oh? I was censured for pointing out that someone likes JD and and Billy. Apologies...I meant no offence whatsoever. Please let me know what i did wrong GT and I'll behave myself. There was no bad language or rants...was just pointing out that the original post that started all this was not a troll as someone suggested and they seemed to be a really huge fan of what they were complaining is too much of. I was trying to defend GT as an awesome site without a hidden political agenda...that's all.

It must have been a typo but I believe your post said the OP looks like John Denver and Billy Joel, not that the OP likes JD and Billy. Anyway, [u]I agree with you[/u], the OP is hardly a troll but a long-standing member, a valued member IMO, of the GT community. With regard to central issue of the thread...I doubt there's much new to add. Peace Out Tricksters!!

They had Hendrix but lost the rights to publish his music on this site. I doubt it's much use to you, as you need some skill to play music that advanced.

You've gotta aspire to something so may as well be what you love.

Originally Posted by: faith83

An Open Letter to Guitar Tricks

I enjoy Guitar Tricks and find it has a lot of value. But it's hard not to notice that GT overwhelmingly features songs by white men in your song selection.

[br]I'm posting this to request that Guitar Tricks make a commitment to equal representation and diversity by including equal numbers of songs by women and by people of color in your catalog. Given that new songs being added keep being 100% male and almost 100% white, I don't see any effort being made at all to rectify this problem.

[br]Please don't answer that GT is just responding to "what people want" and that if I have a particular song I want included, I should request it (which is the answer I got when I emailed about this). That's the excuse that's always used to sidestep taking action on issues of social justice and equality. It's not my responsibility to diversify your song catalog, it's yours.

People request what they're aware of, and if songs by women and people of color aren't visible on the platform, it further marginalizes and makes people less likely to think of those songs, and thus marginalizes artists who aren't white males.

[br]The world of guitar and music in general is so much bigger and more interesting than just white men and I hope that GT does a better job of reflecting the beautiful diversity that is truly representative of music.

I've said my piece. I hope it makes a difference.

Oh. I never noticed this before. I agree with your idea that there should be equally as many songs made by women and by people of color in GuitarTricks.

Request them in the requests section then.

Michael Z. Couldn't disagree more. Equally as many songs with women and people of color? That's how your baseline the performance of music? I've got an idea. The trophy goes to the songs that showcase guitar technique that the guitar playing, subscription paying members choose. Keep Woke politics out of GT, because that's exactly what it sounds like.

Yeah w3 exactly this is for guitar enthusiasts not politics. Close your eyes, open your ears and go with what sounds Good! Request it because it sounds good to you or you are in the wrong place and not really about guitars.

Can we please stop it with woke color conscious nonsense I'm sure guitar tricks is not purposely concentrating on white male music, people need to stop worrying about the color of someone's skin, start judging things on the Content of character and that includes music, music is color blind , it's expression of the writer's soul and it's art. I enjoy BB King as much as EVH...

Thanks for sharing!

When I seen this post I said oh no Wokeism, music is varied, there is no race or gender, this constant attack on white man is sickening and disgusting , we are not the anti-christ, I will not support any company that caters and supports this radical divise wokeism in the UK people are turning against wokeism also in Canada, we are tired of it, we must say no to wokeism it's killing us it's dividing us, I will terminate my subscription thank you,

haha. Don't terminate mate..I'm sure the GT admin are smarter than to buy into that kind of rubbish and are largely (and rightly) ignoring such wokey blogs in favour of making music...just music.

How dare you call yourself bluesman. hehe.

Don't start on that one lol seriously lol lol wokeism just pisses me off

Bluesman maybe I should identify as a guitar lolol

Lol

Me too. Stevie Ray or Hendrix. The question is who's better, not who's blacker. Don't answer that!!