Learn Spanish (Latin America): Simplemente me gusta la música.

To form an adverb, you add -mente to the feminine form of an adjective. However, the adjective simple ends in -e, which means it is gender-neutral (the same for masculine and feminine). Therefore, you just attach -mente directly to the base word to get simplemente.

How would I apply this lesson's rule if I wanted to say 'I simply and completely like music'?

When combining two -mente adverbs, you drop the -mente from the first one and leave it in its feminine adjective form. Since simple is already the feminine form, you would say: Simple y completamente me gusta la música.

The translation is 'I simply like the music.' Can this also just mean 'I simply like music' in a general sense?

Exactly! In Spanish, you must use definite articles (el, la, los, las) when talking about abstract concepts or nouns in a general sense, especially when they act as the subject of the sentence. Because la música is the grammatical subject of gusta, it needs the la whether you mean a specific playlist or all music.

Why does simplemente come before me gusta here?