What is the definition of good taste?

Question

Some people can decorate a room or dress in a way that has an undefinable quality that tends to be called 'good taste'. What is the essence of good taste? Is it cross-cultural? Some 'looks' are just fashions, but some others seem to transcend eras, and become classics. Can good taste be learnt, or is it a trait of personality? What's your definition?

Answer 1

Wow; you asked a tough question. Tough, because it probably will have at least 10 different answers, all conflicting in some way...

Let me answer it from a musical standpoint. I'm a lifelong musician, skilled in several instruments and I enjoy a wide range of genres, plus I've performed them as well.

What is good taste in music?

Bear in mind that my career begins between Elvis and the Beatles. I was well-exposed to Big Band music, then schooled in the basics before the Beatles landed on American soil.

I went on to enjoy and profit from a wide range of rock and pop, and "graduated" into more complex forms of jazz and blues.

For me, "good taste" is how much emotion one can put into the music, and how well that emotion is communicated to the listener. It's NOT a matter of how fast you can play or how many notes you can play (or sing) or how loud or nasty you can sound.

Anyone can turn up a volume knob or work an effects unit.

"Good taste" is a matter of constructing an interesting, unique chord sequence, an interesting melody line, and perhaps witty lyrics, which just means intelligent poetry.

Musicians I adore are people like Chet Atkins, David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Larry Carlton (Fourplay), David Sanborn, Carlos Santana, and Eric Clapton. Most of these musicians don't jump around on the stage like the Chili Pepper's "Flea." They just stand...and deliver the goods.

I like a great stage show as much as anyone, but I adore a musician or performer that can send shivers up my spine, or make me feel awe at what his fingers are doing.

Can taste be taught? To an extent, yes.

You can present artists who you think exhibit "taste" and explain WHY you feel that way.

That said, there is "no accounting for taste," as the saying goes.

But...the great performers endure, and the flash-in-the-pan performers will fade into obscurity, as always.

Greatness endures the test of time.

Answer 2

Good question!
Good taste is the perception of quality by the narrator.
The essence of good taste is quality in harmony with its environment.
Yes good taste can be learned, and yes some seemed blessed with an innate sense of quality.

Answer 3

You mentioned the word in your explanation. Classy. To me, good taste is about something being pleasing to the eye, harmonious, and classy. Yes, some do have a natural flair for the aesthetics. I certainly feel you can develop it through the study of art, colors, designs...& through your analytical observation of what seems to be working.

Answer 4

Good taste, to me means not offending anyone, doing, dressing, decorating, behavior that is pleasing to me, that I am comfortable with. Nothing outrageous. Class, actions and behavior can be acquired.