Do you think our pets enjoy the music we play and listen to?

[Oopssorryy]

If it's not distorted my dog loves it. She'll spend the whole time either laying at my feet, or smelling the amp, trying to figure out were the sound is coming from. If it's distorted she'll run for cover. Needless to say, she hates it when I play some Sabbath.

[SG Jones]

we have 2 cats, they run for cover when the tubes warm up...so no! my pets do not enjoy it :)

 

 

My cat takes his leave as soon as I pick up the end of a cable off the floor. He's mostly OK with acoustics, but he doesn't like my D-18 much. Pretty much the same as the rest of my family I guess.

[MrNylon]

I had a Dobie that liked The Beatles, Sgt. Peppers, "Good Morning". All the animal sounds in it.

[flyingarmadillo]

The dog is not happy about anything with heavy bass in it, but she's fine with most classical stuff. The cats were pretty much neutral - however, the one that was sleeping in the Vox when I fired it up now clears out whenever the electrics come out.

[Windmills Optional]

Our previous dogs would kind of ignore my playing, but I'd describe our current guy's response as curious. And he's not as much interested in electric stuff as when I play acoustic, and then he wants to get very close, push his head up against the guitar and that sort of thing. It's really weird. I don't know if he's hearing harmonics I don't hear or what.

 

Of course, our previous guys would be very interested when I'd play the Paul Winter Consort record with Wolf Eyes. I'd heard that the wolf howls were recorded at Wolf Park just outside of Lafayette, IN. Haven't played that for Smoke yet, but I guess I'll have to try to find it and see how he likes it.

[duane v]

My lab howls at a particular ice-cream man truck... the one that plays "pop goes the weasel." friggin hilarious

[Lungimsam]

Yes, they do...........Watch the dog singing in the Pink Floyd film Live at Pompeii...........She even sings pretty much on key...

I've always wondered why dogs howl at music or other sounds. Like, is it cuz they like it, or it upsets them, or is it an uncontrollable response like a reaction to certain tones.

[James Allen]

my dog does not like the Blues. That's what I mostly play, and she stays away.

[ironlung40]

My dog is a shih-poo, he loves music. Whenever I put in a CD he comes out of his hiding place and is playful for a bit, then he'll lay near the speakers (if they're not too loud) and seems to enjoy the tunes. He likes some more than others, he seems to like the Meat Puppets a lot and strangely got really hyper when I played some Bee Gee's.

 

Whenever I play my guitar---acoustic---he comes over and wags his tail and sniffs all over the guitar.

[Windwalker9000]

My dogs and my our bird really get into the acoustic seen they are my biggest fans!!!

[Harpo]

My son's Dog is nuts (mostly in a good way) but then again my son listens to Psycho-Billy and Punk mostly at high volumes.

[overtherainbo]

Hello, Fellow Babies,

I was all set to talk guitars, and then I saw there was a buncha articles about pets scattered through the forum... so now I wana say a little something about another favorite subject - dogs. It's always pleasant to discover shared interests among friends. People who think they know me will be be surprised to find I'm nutty about something that doesn't have strings, knobs, and a whammy bar.

 

I have been lucky to have had many dogs since my childhood, my brother and I were long on play and short on petting, after-all we were just puppies ourselves. We were too young to appreciate just the pleasure of a dog's quite companionship. The only break in the constant play for our Fox Terrier, Primrose, was when my brother developed an interest in first aid; that little terrier would patiently endure hours while David wrapped her in bandages as he experimentally tried to figure the best way to transition around joints. Once he wrapped her so thoroughly that she only had openings for her eyes and nose. When I was a kid, that was the closest I came to glimpsing that "quite companionship" thing; I didn't discover that till I grew up.

 

For you who have never had a terrier. They don't do patience -- they're like dogs on steroids. They do everything fast and intense; it's like about the time they reach 5 weeks old, somebody turns on the electricity and they never quit.

 

From the time of Primrose to now I've had many dogs, and over many years of observation I've concluded that I just don't know how to pick "the crowd pleasers" when playing for my dogs. If I play something like rock n roll, metal, or blues they act all upset and go off to different rooms. Okay, I like it with a distortion and volume - lots of both - and if those little ingrates get up and leave, i just might turn the volume up - so there. Walk out on me...grrrrr r. I mean they never think twice before they harsh my mello! Man! I'm talkin' about the group of dogs in my family, and I would have to say that every one of them has very different tastes in music than mine; which I consider disloyal, and sometimes I wanna rare back all dramatic, point at the guitar, and in my most Zeus-like voice," If you think you can do better, let's hear it!" Look, I know the little twerps can play, after all they've been watching and picking up my techniques for years; and it's the only logical reason I have for why (1) my guitars and amps are always warm when I come home. And logic is a beautiful thing: I know why (2) they wont play for me. They know (3) that the minute they play, I'll be out getting "bookings" for them. See? Logic.

But seriously my little pets have been great company. When I sit on, or in front of the couch, practicing, pickin' n grinin', whatever, they're always snuggled at my side or laying on the couch behind me. The key word here is "unplugged". They like quite stuff of any flavor, but the rolling thunder metal and blues chases them away. I mean, my little Foxy has a tough time with rain storms, she doesn't cope well with it right in the house with her.

So I guess i'll just try to overlook their attitude towards my rock, and I'll play a little more Broadway, which I know they like "cause at the same time I find warm amps and guitars, my fake books are always open to "the Music Man" so I guess that's what they've been learning.

[overtherainbo]

H

[overtherainbo]

Hello. Fellow Babies,

It occurred to me that while we're talkin' about pets.. well? What about the other half, our significant others? I'm gonna get all philosophy-like on you here, like," Why is there air"? Why do men and women seem split on music? Is it culture, is it mental, or is one of those philosophical questions for which man has no answer? Like I mean it's sorta like," if a Bishop and a bear in the woods... have flapjacks for breakfast, and a tree something something... uhm, if the bear falls... something something... will the Bishop have enough flapjacks... and will anybody hear it?" See? Philosophical. Besides this thread needs a little controversy...

 

"My interest in guitar started the instant I heard rock n roll and guitars. I just had to know what it was and how did they do it?!? It was coming out of the radio ---- at me. I felt it more than heard it. Like seeing dust motes drift and dance in a shaft of sunlight, I was drifting and dancing. I didn't know the steps, didn't know where it came from or where it was going, but I just had to make that sound. It might be a guy thing, because I respond to the sound the guitar produces from the twangy open E string to freaky shredding: and my response is emotional, not cerebral".

 

Just wanted to talk about this a little more 'cause sometimes I wonder, do men and women really hear the same thing?

 

I mean rock n roll shredding guitars convey to me the same kind of excitement that I feel when listening to my motorcycle.

Okay so I'm also totally freaky about motorcycles; and I can't help it--it's emotional. I've been hooked since I saw my first motorcycle. When I was six. Shiny beyond belief or understanding. I was climbing in a small tree with my brother. We watched in wonder as the machine and it's rider thundered to stop across the street. He dismounted and disappeared through the front door of the house. I don't remember climbing down from the tree, I don't remember walking over... Shiny, midnight blue, the gas tank and handlebars rose over my head, glittering chrome, the intoxicating smell of gas, fascinating, mysterious shapes, I could feel the heat on my face, I had to reach out and touch it... Okay I seriously burned my finger tip. But, hey, love hurts.

 

Look, I'm really not up for some challenge from the ladies demanding that I 'splain myself. Some things just are --

--------------an illustration.

 

So I'm workin' for this big ad agency, and a bunch of us carpool to a lunch meeting with a client: we're a mixed bag from sales and art production: Sales = clean-cut and suits / Production = hair and jeans --- I'm representing the male side of the hair and jeans. We're riding a company van stopped at an intersection; the van's big enough that there are several different conversations, and but for the fact that I'm surrounded with a bunch of attractive women, I'm wishing I was somewhere else. ... then a guy on a old black '69 650 Triumph chopper glides to a stop in the right lane next to my window. My heart drops, and all my attention is centered on the bike.

 

The rider never glanced our way; he was in his motorcycle zone with his machine. The bike is immaculate. Classic. Stripped of all it's usual logos and graphics, just glass-smooth black paint, lots of chrome twinkling with dazzling high-lights, high rise bars, and... and an engine idle that I feel below my belly button. I'm trying not to drool as my nose is pressed to the glass wishing I had the afternoon off to ride my own chopper through the country. I'm hanging on every move and sound. My experienced ear tells me the engine isn't quite warmed up because I could hear the revs drop to stalling speed; and of course the rider could hear it as well, so when the speed fell off he would give it a little gas. Don't talk, I'm in heaven just listening...

 

My motorcycle zen was shattered when one of women arched a manicured brow, and peevishly asked the van populous at large, "Why does he keep doing that?" In a flash I knew that she really meant, "why is foolish male/monkey trying to get female attention with his control of the big noise? Does it imagine we women will jump out of the van and crowd around his motorcycle?"

I was about to explain what the rider was doing, but I gulped and kept quiet. My memory flashed as I felt a sense of embarrassment-- I could remember so many times sitting on my chopper at a stop, revving the engine, and smiling at nearby girls. It had never occurred to me that the girls might have had been thinking along the same lines as the women in the van! Instantly I just knew an explanation of the engine slowing to a stall would never convince her.

 

Early on in one of Jane Goodall's television specials, they included a report of a chimp she and her husband had named David Greybeard. David Greybeard was an a adult, but of low status in his tribe; as with people changing status is difficult, and for a mature chimps the options to pretty much limited to attacking and besting the higher status males. The major difficulty is that for most of chimp history, males have achieved their status by being more aggressive and usually stronger than their peers. This is a serious consideration for for an older, smaller male. In the course of playing, David Greybeard began rolling, tumbling, and finally tossing some empty gas cans stacked in Jane's camp; the racket was fun, and as he tossed and banged the cans with more vigor, he found that it increased the volume. Now we're having fun. He found that banging the cans together produced the loudest sounds. One day as his family was on the ground gathering food, he raced back-n-fourth through the clearing banging those cans. To the surprise of Jane Goodall and crew, the chimps all leapt of his way, even the higher status males. Thereafter, David Greybeard quickly exploited this discovery, and whenever he wanted the choicest of food or females the opposition melted away before him as long as he clashed the gas cans together. Jane observed that he eventually rose to the permanent status of alpha male.

 

From this I figure we can all understand that the deep resonance from the open bottom strings, or lots of volume on power chords is a guaranteed plus factor for men and boys. For us guys it's all about the screeching, shredding, and booming on the guitar. Oh yeah, and the stance. You just can't be rock n roll without a motorcycle jacket, a brooding look, a threatening posture but the sound is the start, the essence. If you need to look, get a gander at YouTube > Link Wray > Rumble 1978. If you can't understand "attitude" after that you're probably dead. I think this is why most of us guys have to at least explore rock n roll guitars. And why we drool over Harleys and Vulcans. All that may be true, but motorcycle engines still can drop to a speed below which the engine sputters to a halt, so that's why ya have ta give'r a little gas... Okay, guys like the roary sound of the engine... ookaaaay? But that just proves my point, big, loud, and obnoxious some of the major reasons guys like motorcycles. And electric guitars. That might explain why women are drawn to music featuring softer acoustic guitars and voices.

 

Like I said, It's a guy thing.

 

 

Reminds me, somebody once conjectured that if a bunch of monkeys were confined in a room with a bunch of typewriters they might eventually reproduce the works of Shakespeare. Frankly, I think that would be one long wait. The monkeys should be locked in with electric guitars.....

[overtherainbo]

H

[overtherainbo]

H