I truly believe it is the styles much more than the instrument that makes us decide to like one arranger over another...

If the styles are great, who cares about much else...?

Thing is, just as all of us have different tastes in music, we all got different tastes in styles. Some of us like them full and busy, with little room for anything but a melody, some of us like them simpler, to allow us to comp and melody, some of us like them so all we have to do is sing over the top...

Some of us like hiphop, some like swing, some like bossa, others like country. All of them tend to be better at one style than another. Add this to how well each one suits the style of play we prefer, and it's no wonder none of us can agree about anything!

If all were equally great in the style department, there'd be a lot less hand-wringing..! Trouble is, often a manufacturers style philosophy isn't tied to the sounds that express it best, or one arranger's bossa's are great, but the styles are too busy, and so on and so forth...

There will never be one perfect arranger, because there are so many different, almost mutually exclusive needs. Until the day comes when you can tell your arranger 'Hey! Guitarist! Play a little less busy... And drummer! lay into it a bit more on the chorus... and change to a Gretsch kit for this one', we are all at the mercy of the manufacturers...

We talk so little about music, what we play, how we play, why we play, what we like, that it's no wonder we never agree about anything. Until you know what a plyer likes, musically, until you know how well he can play, it's next to impossible to figure out what he needs.

All we end up doing is telling them what works for us (but seldom WHY), and assuming it SHOULD work for them... Guess again!