when does a guitar player considered as a good one?

GREAT THREAD!....... great replies 8)

If you have a basic mastery of songs and the mindset that you are playing for the enjoyment of those listening, not yourself, that's when you are good. Unless of course you are the only one listening.

SNIP

David paid me an extreme compliment one day saying something along the lines of he hadn't met a lead singer that was a band member first and lead singer second.

Good points, and a great compliment to receive. 8)

There is an inevitable connection between singers and 'the spotlight'. I was thinking about band roles recently along these lines:

How many bass players can you name? (I didn't get much past the fingers of one hand). How many rhythm only guitarists can you name? (definitely a lot more but I don't think I'd need to take both socks off to count them...).

How many singers? I didn't even start on that one, as I'd still be counting now. They're the ones with their faces on the front of the album, their voices prominent in the sound mix, and always planted firmly in the centre of that spotlight. Anybody who can enjoy all that and still be a team player with a manageable ego about it all is doing well.. :)

Forget the 'two front teeth' - all I want for Christmas is a VOICE dammit! :roll: Somebody else can have the spotlight (lead guitarists are usually keen enough to volunteer...) but I would love to be able to do a half-way decent job of singing.

(What? Don't tell me that all I need to do is put in a few thousand hours of practice.... not AGAIN...... :roll: )

Cheers,

Chris

Don't ever give up on your singing , Chris . Practice WILL make you better at it . A classmate of mine had a severe case of "tone deafness" when he joined the choir in seventh grade . By the time he graduated high school he was voted to the "All-county" Choir . The voice is also an "instrument."

Don't ever give up on your singing , Chris . Practice WILL make you better at it . A classmate of mine had a severe case of "tone deafness" when he joined the choir in seventh grade . By the time he graduated high school he was voted to the "All-county" Choir . The voice is also an "instrument."

Thanks for the encouragement Diceman. :D I'll stick with it.

(I just sang that reply for practice - but, I've no idea what key I was in, or what the notes were, so I need to abandon the "open the mouth and hope" method and get more systematic about it... :oops: ). Where's that chromatic tuner gone.... I'll see if I can work out how to hit a C on demand... :wink:

Cheers,

Chris

One thing that you can do to get better at singing is sing scales (do , re , mi ...) . It will help to strengthen your sense of change of pitch . The intervals that your voice changes will become more precise with more repetition . Start by playing it on the guitar and then sing it immediately afterward . Do it forward and backward .

When can you call yourself a good guitar player? I'll let you know if I ever get there!

Hard to say, isn't it? When you can play any song in any key? When you can improvise over any backing track having heard it once? When you can rip lightning-fast licks up and down the fretboard without getting bored?

I don't know, and I sometimes suspect I never will, but being the obstinate cuss I am, I'll keep trying......one day someone'll tell me I'm a good guitar player, so till then I'll just keep practising and playing and practising and playing..... and when it happens, I'll try and become a better guitarist.....so till then I'll just keep practising and playing and practising and playing.....

:D :D :D

Vic

Chris, though it's simple, this will help your voice a lot- record yourself singing while you sing along with one of your favorite songs. Then play your voice back. Listen for your mistakes, or simply...what doesn't sound like the album. It helped me a lot, all I did was simply make little tweaks to my voice and obviously it's still inconsistent(I might sound average one time...bad the next)...but I was bad consistently, not I'm inconsistent. Improvement nonetheless. ;)

Thanks for the singing tips guys. :)

Apologies for drifting away from the thread topic, but I'll do some work on the scales, and also try recording too. I must do more recording all round actually - it's very good to have some old recordings to compare with as you progress.

Maybe that's another way to define when you're an accomplished guitar player? When you can listen to a recording of yourself and smile instead of wincing??

Cheers,

Chris

Maybe that's another way to define when you're an accomplished guitar player? When you can listen to a recording of yourself and smile instead of wincing??
Oh yeah, that's another one I can identify with. When I get to that point I'll really feel I've done something good. :)

Margaret

Nick, I liked your comment "Compared to Wes, David, Greg I suck though."

It's all about perspective. I've seen you play and heard you play some great stuff on GN lessons and put some great reading out there. So, in your opinion, you're not up to "their level." Still, I look up to you as well as the ones you do. Sometimes I wonder if we ever think we play well or are "good."

I know a great guitar player here in Chicago. Knowne hime for maybe 3 years or so and have jammed with him here and there over that period. He is very, very good. And he sings, too (well I may add). I remember having a conversation with him and he (after almost 30 years of playing) still thinks he's just okay. That made me realize that we all have our own opinion on how good we are. It's relative.

I've heard David play as well as Greg. Do they make me want to give it up? Yea. Wes, I have not personally seen him play but (from the many reports on GN he rocks out). Do I, mister newbie of only 5 years think I could grace the stage of these guys? Sure, but a a crap leve.. I could play with 'em but only as a VERY basic backgroud of which they'd provide the real sound as great guitar players / singer do. But, oddly enough, accomplished musicians will often let the newbies play with them and encourage the participation.

To repeat, it's all relative. I'm coming to realize that none of us are pleased with our ability because there is always someone better. Take it the newbie playing for a few months thinks a person playing for a year is God. That "God" thinks that his friend who has been playing for 5 years is the man. On and on. We all have our threshold for what we think is good.

Okay, not my opinion. You are good when you feel you can add (not be as equal, just add) to a group of people playing. That means being on time, sounding decent, and being courtious to others for their part. Then again, I'm just a newbie so my thoughts / comments are just that.

i certainly hope i can get to that point.

Here's my $0.02 on the matter.

Personally, I suck at guitar, and I am fine with that. However I don't think that I will ever consider myself "good". Partially due to my self-deprecating nature, but more due to the fact that I know myself well enough that if ever say wow Hero, you're good. That is when I will drop the guitar.

I can say that I suck less than I used to when I started (Jan '06) and I see measurable progress (clean open chord changes, some clean single barre chords, some improvement in barre chord changes). For me the enjoyment comes from the struggle of playing a song, the 657 times i screwed up Green Day's Good Riddance in retrospect were ultimately more enjoyable than the 7 times i got it right, because i was working towards something. That end goal is what keeps me hungry to play more and I hope I never lose that.

If that is too touch feely an answer, here are my goals for Jan '08 (some have already been met) and I think that if I can complete these goals I will be somewhat proficient (but no where near good).

1. Cleanly finger and change between open CAGED cords and their associated open minors and sevenths

2. Cleanly finger and switch between E and A shaped barre chords including associated minor and sevenths

3. Be comfortable with the Major/Minor Penatatonic (sp?) scale.

When he/she doesn't have to ask.

I think the most important aspect to being a good guitar player is:

PLAYING IN TIME

I don't care if you know every chord and scale that exists, if you cannot keep good time you will sound terrible. But if you can keep good time you are gonna sound pretty good even if you hit a few bad notes. Bad notes can actually be great notes at times.

So learn to change chords on time, learn to play lead guitar in time. It doesn't have to be complex, simple guitar can sound great. But it has to be in time.

Based on your definition Wes, you made my day!

I think the most important aspect to being a good guitar player is:

PLAYING IN TIME

I don't care if you know every chord and scale that exists, if you cannot keep good time you will sound terrible. But if you can keep good time you are gonna sound pretty good even if you hit a few bad notes. Bad notes can actually be great notes at times.

So learn to change chords on time, learn to play lead guitar in time. It doesn't have to be complex, simple guitar can sound great. But it has to be in time.

hi wes

as always I subscrive your words. I said the same thing in a less explicit way when I said that the first step to be good is when you can play tour favourite songs alongisde the cd (of course meaning that you should be in time with the cd :D )

cheers

Matteo