Different types of music help in soothing one’s disturbed soul, in the growth of concentration and also enliven us to live life to the fullest. There are varied genres of music as people have different tastes. For e.g., classical music, rock, jazz, metal, rap, folk etc. But the objective remains the same. The aim of all music is to touch the core of the heart and thus music can be called an expression of our heart’s saying. To understand and know about different genres of music, let us have a look at the following genres.

Different Music Genres

Classical Music: Classical music is a complex form of music as it requires high musical skills, like learning the ragas and ability to coordinate with other musicians. One has to maintain the complex relationship between its emotional flows. If you wish to learn this music, then you have to go through proper training.

Rock Music: This music genre originated in the rock and roll era of 1950s. The vocals are accompanied by guitar, drum and bass. (Read information on musical instruments.) Certain rock groups also use piano, synthesizer, saxophone, flute, mandolin and sitar for a deeper effect. This type of music has several sub genres, such as hard rock, progressive rock and metal rock. All these types of rock music are popular till date.

Metal Music: Metal music emerged after the Second World War. Here the melody of the song is heavily influenced by the structure of the songs. While in rock music, songwriting is based within a form; in metal music, the central melody decides the structure of the song. It is also known as ‘information music’.

Hip-hop Music: Hip-hop music always includes the use of instruments such as guitar, violin, fiddle, piano, bass and drums. In these types of music, the bass is the main instrument. This can be used in different intensities to emote feelings of anger, pride and others. This type of music is the result of hip-hop culture and is known as hip-hop music. This music shows a heavy influence of Jamaican music. The roots of the music are found in African American and West African music. It was first played by a group of traveling singers and poets of West Africa.

Wedding Ceremony Music: Wedding music is used in the ceremonies like wedding. These can be classical and modern, according the tastes of people. Some people prefer country melodies, while others opt for classical music as wedding music. Such music varies from every culture.

Trance Music: This type of music is usually played in club houses and discotheques. It originated in the 20th century. This music is characterized by fast tempo and repetitious beats of the percussion. It has a hypnotic effect on the souls of listeners.

Jazz: This type of music is featured by strong and complex rhythms. The main musical instruments used for jazz music are cornet, trumpet or violin, that help carry the melody. This is a rhythmic music and has a forward momentum called “swing”. However, in this music genre, the skilled performer interprets a tune in his own way. To know more about the musicians of this genre read on jazz musicians.

Folk Music: Folk music is a kind of traditional music that is handed down from generations in every culture. This type of music reflects the emotions of common laity. Popular music and tribal music are the two sub genres of folk music. This folk music shows the social upheaval that lies among various classes of people. This also portrays their struggle for survival and their culture.

Techno Music: Techno music is also known as fusion music. This became popular towards the middle part of of the 1980s. This is a form of electronic dance music and based on African American music styles like funk, electro and electric jazz. It features fast beats and this form was initiated by Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May.

Opera Music: Opera music first emerged in Italy in the 1600s. This genre has a remarkable combination of theatrical art and musical invention and is specifically played in the theaters. This has greater appeal for its delightful orchestral accompaniment. The preludes and interludes of this music set the tone for the action on-stage.

Beside these, there are Blues, new age music, Celtic music, religious music, Chamber music that have a soul touching effects.

Think back to the time when your interest in playing guitar was born. Remember the time when you got your first guitar and actually started playing it. For most of us, even when we were totally beginners, clueless about how to play anything, it somehow didn’t matter because we were just so excited about beginning our musical/guitar journey. I can remember the exact day I bought my first guitar (January 31, 1986). I was extremely excited about owning a guitar and banging around on it making all kinds of terrible noises at first.

That feeling most of us felt at the beginning of our guitar days is what I call “Fire” or “Inner Fire”. It is something like the first weeks and months of a new romantic relationship – very new and exciting and the desire to maintain that passion feeling is strong. But over time (weeks, months or years), that passion to play music weakens. Of course you still have at least some interest in playing and becoming a better musician, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this.

What I hope to do here is help you to get back your fire (or if you still have it, I want to help you to never lose it). The most important thing you must do is recognize what the factors were that caused you to feel less motivated and excited about playing music. Over time, some players begin to feel inadequate in their ability to reach their goals. A more common factor for some is not really having clearly defined goals or a good strategy to reach them. Its important to remember long term goals are LONG term. As long as you work to move forward, you are progressing. If progress is slow, understand this is normal. Of course there are things you can do to dramatically speed this process up such as practice more, practice more efficiently and work with a really good teacher that can show you how to do improve faster.) Other people become too focused on getting better and lose sight of why they started playing (to play and/or create music they love!). Keep reminding yourself of why you wanted to be a musician in the first place. Besides simply thinking about your early playing experiences, go back to your roots and listen to the same CDs (or cassettes or LPs (if you are old enough to have any of those). Listening to my earliest influences always reminds me of my early music days and I just can’t help to feel that eager beginner feeling again.

I’ve mentioned some of these next few points before in a previous article, but it’s worth mentioning again here.

Find out what truly inspires you to want to play music, write music, jam with your friends, etc. Whatever it is for you, go there and marinate in that inspiration. Get your mind in that place and focus on it. Many classical composers (and other serious artists) go to artist colonies for weeks or months at a time. For them being in a beautiful environment with serious artists of all kinds is extremely inspiring and a great place to write music, practice, reflect among other things. Personally, I like to travel to Europe in the summer and do most of my serious composing there. There is a house I stay in overlooking a valley with large trees and beautiful sunsets. It is very inspiring and I always do my best creating there. Your inspiration may be musical (listening to some great players, bands or songs. It may be going to concerts. It may be a set of things that are totally nonmusical (like a special location or being around special people, etc.). You must find whatever it is and go there, you might be surprised at how fast you feel that burning desire to really play more, write more, to be more.

NEVER EVER compare yourself to other musicians! If you sit around and think about how much better of a player you are compared to your friends, this will probably only lead you to contentment and will steal away your drive and fire to improve. If you think about how much your friend (or any other musician) is better musically compared to you, this often leads to feelings of dissolution about your progress and your goals, which also can lead to a lack of motivation and fire.

When you began playing guitar, how good would you have to be in order to be happy with your playing? And where are you now? When I was starting out, I thought if I could play Iron Maiden or Metallica songs, I would be happy for rest of my musical life! Of course the time came when I could play all those songs, but I didn’t feel as happy as I thought I would when I first made my goal. That is because, before I even reached that goal, I had already set new goals. These new goals were good for my progress, but I made the mistake of never really appreciating and enjoying the success of reaching my earlier goals. I robbed myself of the pleasure of feeling happy about my hard work paying off. Of course by now I have learned that lesson and do thoroughly enjoy each new goal that is reached. It is my hope you will learn that lesson now and not after several more years of playing guitar.

If you look on the Internet or go into your nearby audio store you’re likely to find music labeled “Healing Music.” The section may include music for relaxation, meditation, stress reduction, pain relief or tapping into one’s soul. There may be a variety of instruments or sounds from a forest or the ocean.

So what makes this music “healing music?”

Music has a way of stirring our innermost feelings and all of our senses, of tapping into parts of ourselves unlike anything else. Music is a universal language that has the ability to speak to us deeply and uniquely.

If you’ve paid much attention to how you respond to a variety of music, you may have noticed that some music seems to energize you, some music can move you to tears or spark a special memory of a time, place, food, or perhaps a certain person. Some music seems to make you relax, feel less stressed, and feel happier. And some music fills us with deep spiritual attunement.

The following are some examples of what I mean.

1. Tapping into our innermost feelings:

Think about some of the movies you’ve seen. “Jaws” wouldn’t be the same without its daunting, low, repetitive sounds that makes you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the shark to attack from somewhere. Then there’s “Titanic” and its gorgeous love theme that permeates throughout the movie and throughout ourselves with its bitter sweetness, generating the beauty of love and the tragedy of the massive ship’s sinking and loss of so many lives.

One aspect of “healing” music is to stir our feelings, to help us deal with grief, sadness, anger or other feelings. By allowing ourselves to FEEL those feelings, the intensity will eventually lessen and even dissipate, resulting in being healing for us. When we avoid our feelings (consciously or subconsciously) they nonetheless tend to build up inside. They don’t just go away. Music can be a tool to help us deal with feelings within us, whether we’re aware of them or not. This is one of the wonderful ways music can be incredibly healing.

1. Music for an energy boost:

I recall the late 1970′s when I did housework to the Doobie Brothers’ latest album, “Minute by Minute.” It would help keep me energized and cheerful while I did the laundry, dusted and straightened (not my favorite things in the world to do). Remembering that, I recently bought the CD and I find that it still works to energize me. Handel’s Messiah is also a very energizing piece, or the last movement to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the famous Ode to Joy.

In The Mozart Effect, Don Campbell talks about using music in a variety of ways throughout the day, in the morning to help energize us, throughout the day to help us focus or concentrate better, music to help our intelligence, and in the evening to help us relax.

1. Music for relaxation:

Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep, so I listen to relaxing music, which can be a tremendous help. Lately I’ve been listening to some wonderful Native American flute music by Scott Cunningham to help me go to sleep as well as recently during some very busy days to help me not feel so stressed out. I’ve also drifted off to sleep listening to a guided meditation by Ron Mann, Ph.D., Sleep.

What exactly is “relaxing” music? Whether we are aware of it or not, music that’s relaxing tends to slow down our heart rates to about one beat per second. If we’re feeling stressful, angry, anxious, or irritable, our heart rates tend to increase. Music can actually help our heart rates slow down to a more relaxing pace, changing our physiology. This phenomenon is what can help me fall asleep more easily. It’s what is found with many meditation tapes or other music specifically designed for stress reduction or relaxation.

1. Music for spiritual attunement:

Chanting has existed for centuries. For example, there are wonderful recordings of Gregorian chants, chants from India, chants sung by Catholic or Buddhist monks and other religious or secular groups. They tend to be repetitive with the goal of deepening our spiritual lives, whatever they may be, or at the very least, to help bring peaceful feelings into our beings.

There is a large variety of music that taps into our souls. For example, I am almost finished recording music that I’ve written for a new CD (or audio tape), Journey Within. It has been a truly inspirational journey, one that has been incredibly healing. It was all written from my soul, and those qualities are heard throughout every piece.

1. Choosing Music

How do we know what music to choose to be healing for us? What about the variety of musical tastes that we each have? I have some suggestions on my Bibliography page to help get you started. There are also several books listed there, such as Hal Lingerman’s, The Healing Energies of Music, which lists music categorically, a tremendously helpful resource.

If you don’t already, I encourage you to pay attention to your responses to a variety of music – physically, mentally, spiritually. To refer to when you need it, jot down the music that helps you in different ways, such as some of the examples I’ve mentioned above. That can be a valuable tool to use when you need it.