Hya gang.
I've oft been accused of being in my own world on stage. I concentrate on what I'm playing and seem impassive... to some it looks like I'm not having fun lol. So now I've upped the anti and been a bit more animated on stage and it's fun.
Last night, in the privacy of my own home, alone... I took another step.
Everyone knows about guitar-face, and I could never see myself having the confidence in my own playing to get wild and crazy in the facial department lol. I know it's not a put-on but I've never been that free to express myself like that - I let my playing do it.
Anyhoo, so I tried it. I put on some Peter Green and played along, and just let my face react and tried to really 'feel' what I was playing. I ALWAYS improvise so I'm a bit hit and miss, but I thought it actually made QUITE a discernable difference to my mojo that night......it seems to be a whole chicken and egg thing going on there perhaps. Cause and effect and cause.
What do you think?
Well... you know I think its the fact that you jumpped out of your shell, and opened up!! So it wasnt realy the faces... it was just letting go, and lighting up a little, and relaxing. Ill have to try that... its a being to tence is a big probelm with me!!
Paul B
Peter Green???
Ya mean the blues player that founded...and left...Fleetwood Mac because ..."this band ain't goin' nowhere"???
I'd try another guitar-face, matey! :shock:
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
LOL
I wasn't 'making' faces (I don't think) as much as not caring what I look like (I think). And not COPYING Peter Greens face lol, jamming with his CD's. I really really really don't want to go as far as some guys do (Gary Moore - I'm remembering you!), because I think that's over the top no matter HOW well you play!
:P
Well, if ya sung...you'd might like to try Joe Cocker! :lol:
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
lol Well I do sing.....but I can only handle so much!! lol
I animate my feeling with body moves to the rhythm. I have no idea what my face is doing. my eyes are either closed or plastered to the fret board making sure my fingers are going where they're supposed to.
Mick Taylor, awesome musician, played guitar for the Rolling Stones, stone cold solider on stage. played the best licks for the Stones in those years, but hardly ever moved at all.
when one is on stage one is an entertainer. how you define that is open. if the crowd leaves or throws things you are doing something wrong.
I agree dogbite, but in reality it's the show & the energy, not the musicianship, that most punters in bars are there for. And since they're the ones that pay my cheque......
The other side of it was wether guitarface actually changed or in some psychosematic (?) way improved my playing....experiments are continuing.
"Guitar face..." I love that. My old man tried to cure me of "piano face" when I was just starting piano lessons, pointing to some classical performer on TV who was emoting over Chopin or Brahms. Wasted energy, he said. And I've been the "stone cold soldier" ever since.
But then I discovered years later that I'm primarily a bassist, & we bassists are all pretty cool cats at heart. (Bill Wyman made Mick Taylor look like Rudolf Nureyev, or Marcel Marceau.)
In my last band I actually TRIED to jump around a bit -- but I'd lose my place on the fretboard, or (worse) lose my balance. Definitely it's something that takes practice.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
George Harrison played in The Traveling Willberries off in a corner with his back to the crowd. I saw one of my heroes, Jeff Beck, in Salt Lake City, also back to crowd, playing with Rod Stewart. Beck freaked out...and quit...after some fat chick's panties landed across his guitar.
"Loss of face" is an American Indian terminology for "counting coup". In their "pre white guy" wars...all's ya had to do is beat the crap out of your opponent and put your palm over his face to win. Nope...you didn't need to kill him, either. That was enough.
So maybe "guitar face" is something quite ingrained in our species??? It would be a great PhD thesis, I think...
Me? I'm like Dogbite...I'm really watching what my fingers are doing to the fretboard. Besides, at 60, what's to look at??? :?
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
Yeah, I'd be a little offended if I was watching a band and one of them had their back to the audience... no matter how well they were playing. I guess the difference is that in my band's experience we're imparting a positive musical energy that gets 'em up and dancing. You have to look like you're enjoying it and they will....kinda fake it 'til THEY make it lol. Not over the top, but like I said I'm a firm beleiver that they're there for the energy. ALOT of that comes from good playing, but the emotion (and sometimes later at night showmanship) is definitley important.
But the point I'm trying to make is that when I tried 'guitarface' I thought the 'release' of relaxing and having 'guitarface' actually IMPROVED my playing....looking for others if they've experienced the same or am I holding it too tight?
great thread. keep it up.
on thing I notice about myself, especially when I am alone and practicing...I hum out loud.
it's unconscious and not very loud. once at rehearsal the mike picked it up and the bandmates looked at me with the funny look.
Keith Jared (sp?) is someone that gets into his piano phrasing and actually groans out loud during performance.
it was distracting. some thought, ' oh, he's sooo into it'' and adored it. not me.
any hummers out there.?
Keith Jared (sp?) is someone that gets into his piano phrasing and actually groans out loud during performance.
it was distracting. some thought, ' oh, he's sooo into it'' and adored it. not me.
Glenn Gould hums audibly on several of his piano recordings, but it has never bothered me. (At least if he hums in tune.)
:::repressed memories kick in::: At conservatory we were told not even to tap a foot while playing. Apparently was seen as unprofessional. Squinty faces & humming were right out. Conducting students couldn't even THINK of jumping around like Leonard Bernstein. People would LAUGH at you for doing that! It was creepy and unnatural! :::end repressed memories:::
...but I'm feeling MUCH better now... :oops:
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
Ultimately, it's what you end up sounding like...not what you look like. The biggest "guitar faces"...and arguably the worst musicians...were Kiss.
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
Was just thinking the same thing. I think it's best to just go with the flow and just do what comes naturally or subconciously. Overly contrived contortions are like guiatrs made to look worn out....lame.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
