I have a friend that wrote a song that peaked around #20 on the country charts in the mid 90’s. As sole writer, he has seen around $10,000 in total income from the song. Now, if you talk to people in the song business (record label or publishing), they wouldn’t consider that a hit. But, it was a top 20 song.

All of the songs I mention above were genuine hit songs. If you analyze the melodies and chord structures, they are simple but effective ideas. They are songs you can hum or whistle and they stick in your mind.

So, you have this simple idea, a melody-the great temptation for a player with some chops is to take that melody and then show some of those spectacular licks. The guys that played on these records chose not to. Herbie Hancock, Chuck Mangione-those guys have no problems playing a bunch of stuff over changes. But, they didn’t. Listen to the guitar solo on Honky Tonk (Billy Butler I believe), it is a virtuoso performance from a technical standpoint, in my opinion. It’s technically difficult to play what he does there but, to the listener; well, it sounds comfortable. It sounds like something that the average Joe could play.

A guy like Satriani, who is a great player, has never come close to the type of mainstream appeal that Duane Eddy did. I’m real sure that Duane Eddy had a bunch of licks up his sleeve that he didn’t put on records. But, Duane Eddy wasn’t making records for other guitar players, he was making records that a hairdresser could hum along with.

Another factor here is that you listen to these records where an instrumentalist is playing a simple melody. The tonal characteristics of the particular instrument tends to really shine. Duane Eddy’s guitar sounds so rich, Bill Dogget’s organ sounds huge (ahh,..Booker T; another one) you can really get inside each note as a listener. The listener identifies the tone more as a personality. This factor tends to decrease as more notes are played.

Going backwards a little, how many be-bop records were hits? I’m not well versed in music from the 19th century and before but, I would guess there are correlations.

I have seen, in my years as a musician, a trend that leans toward not just virtuoso level playing but also, a desire for players to show this hand. Here’s an example; listen to the guitar fills on any up-tempo country hit and compare those to the stuff Roy Nichols or Don Rich did. These guys are playing some pretty technical stuff but, it’s kind of sandwiched in there between the vocals and produced to where it doesn’t obstruct. So, these guys are playing that way; it’s how they roll. But, it’s the kind of stuff a Steve Cropper or Duane Eddy wouldn’t do on a record-they just wouldn’t.

You know, when Satriani’s first record came out, there was a little industry buzz going on. I remember reading press that called it the “return of instrumental rock” or some such thing. I think that what developed was another “niche” market. The industry isn’t going to necessarily ignore a niche but, they aren’t going to embrace it and promote it with the full force.
So, for a song to come out of that niche and prove worthy it has to be a fluke. Chances are, if it’s a fluke, it’s a record with a simple melody and not a bunch of notes being played on a solo. And, that type of song would go against the niche, the core audience for that artist.

When I saw that there had been five top 20’s in the nineties, I was kind of wracking my brain. As I think about it, I’m guessing at least one of those is a Kenny G song.

So, as a young instrumentalist you could, show your chops, get some chicks, wear cool clothes, develop a niche and possibly a career or, play it simple and follow, maybe a Kenny G business plan. In the present climate, if you showed up and said; “I’m the next Kenny G”, they’re not going to get too exited.

Probably way more than you wanted Doc J, but in a nutshell-I think players are playing from a different mindset and, I don’t blame them.

I love Joe Satriani’s music very much but I realize you can not play such instrumental music unless you are a master of your instrument and I guess that this is also a reason.

By the way, Amin is how we say it in Romanian.

I think part of the problem is that there hasn’t been an exciting and accessible instrumental genre since surf music. And people still latch on to that music when they get to hear it (Misirlou in Pulp Fiction).

I think it’s still possible to have enough charisma to be marketable without singing. Unfortunately, the record companies seem to only want to market young girls. There have been countless classical acts sold solely on the basis they female and good looking. The fact they’re mediocre musicians might explain why they don’t sell so well.