Is Prog really Prog?

 

The only way we can manage a group this large and diverse is to maintain a broad definition of Prog.  This is a good one ^.  The last time I commenented within this type of thread I noted I once saw a quote from Keith Emerson here who said pretty much the same thing.  I have never accepted that the word 'progressive' in this sense indicates doing something that has never been done before, for such a thing is a virtual impossibility - all new creations involve synthesizing elements of old creations.

 When someone says 'if I see another post about this topic I will......" shouldn't  he consider the people that have just joined the site and not assume everyone has been here for years..   so sorry if it has been asked before....

 

Within what you would generally define as prog are music formulas. Most of them derive from Classical, Jazz, and Folk music. They became prog formulas after they were reversed. For example learning a long extensive note passage from Bach's Brandenburg concerto's and changing it up a bit ...to either be reversed or broken down into smaller groups of notes ...and then added into phrasing to be played by Steve Howe as he backed up the voice of Jon Anderson.  This is how a lot of great signature passages or riffs were written for epic prog pieces. Many of the ones that members of progarchives have heard for decades  were out-right taken from Classical music. They were incorporated to back a vocalist/songwriter...and again like Jon Anderson ..to produce something different for the times.

 

Mahavishnu Orchestra's style of writing and of course John McLaughlin influenced prog. Years went by and I heard McLaughlin's chord structures repeated endlessly in prog. When you're a musician the music becomes "dead like" because while you're being told that this new progressive piece you are learning is prog and very unique....the only visual you have is that you're playing John McLaughlin's chord progressions once again.  I really appreciate artists who use reflections of the innovators before them and not so much the entire formula.

Frippism is right. The best post of the thread, IMO.

This post right here: best post in the thread.