Random Thoughts on Playing Guitar...

yeah, but I think certain skills are necessary to show your emotions.

This is gonna sound shallow. But, honestly, I love sounding good more than I love the act of playing. Scales ect are immensly important to me. IMO you cant really express your emotions on a guitar w/o a good knowledge of the technical stuff (and the ability to implement it properly).

voodoo, i totally agree 100 %

I do understand what Lava Man is saying though. I don't want to be an expert. I want to play.

That said I'm willing to practice every bit necessary to play like I want to.

I agree. I'll sit an play Bracchius Plateau from Rush for like 4 hours straight. As simple as it gets, but just love hearing the noize. In some respects I prefer that to actually practicing and improving my skills.

I also like turning on my effects processor and playing the A-D-G-F-C-E-A over and over in some weird sound like "Cosmic Ray". My wife doesn't.

I don't want to be an expert. I want to play.

Ah, Grasshopper, beauty is in the eye of the beholder; so a true expert would never call himself one.

When others seek your opinion, then you may say you believe that you're doing ok.

Best,

A :-)

An old boss of mine told me what the definition of an "expert" is.

An "ex" is a has-been and a "spert" is a little drip.

Corny but funny

Maybe that's why he's your old boss

Maybe that's why he's your old boss

You mean "ex-boss"? :D :lol:

This is gonna sound shallow. But, honestly, I love sounding good more than I love the act of playing. Scales ect are immensly important to me. IMO you cant really express your emotions on a guitar w/o a good knowledge of the technical stuff (and the ability to implement it properly).

Marty Friedman would totally disagree, he knows no scales or anything (excecpt a few he came up himself). He has an Incredibley unique sound as a result...Never seen anyone play with more emotion.
lol that said, I dont find that that emotion comes out in his actual music from the listeners point of view...So really im inclined to agree that technical knowledge helps greatly in conveying emotion, but not in actually feeling it as the player. As Friedman demonstrates sometimes...
So I guess its a two way thing. You have to feel it as the player, but also make sure it comes out for the listeners

The whole "emotion" thing is something I don't get.

What "emotion" someone play with and what someone else hears will ALWAYS be two different things. Always. But musical ideas are, in my mind, seperate from what emotion I happen to have when I play. I can be happy and play a song that conveys a sad idea. It's the idea that's important not my emotional state.

Or would folks who think emotion is important find musical value in a toddler trowing a screaming fit while banging on a 1933 Gibson L-7 with a hammer? Me, I'd rather some happy guy play a song conveying a sad idea. The toddler's anger would make me sad, but not for musical reasons :)

The important thing as a player is to have a well-trained enough ear and the technical proficiency to be able to convey your musical ideas from your imagination to your instrument.

One of the ways you get that is by spending the drudgery time perfecting the technical stuff.

I think of it like an athlete. Very few basketball players will say they enjoy shooting countless free-throws hour after hour day after day as part of their daily practice. Every basketball player dreams of setting up at the top of the key with 1 second left on teh clock and the game on the line and letting go the perfect shot to seal the game.

The latter doesn't come without the former.

All that technical stuff is not only helpfull, it's necessary if you have ideas you want to communicate. The player who has spent the most time doing those things correclty and purposefully will be the player who has the easiest time conveying his thoughts.

Of cours, having thoughts and ideas worth conveying is the other part of that.

I agree with everyone here. The technical stuff (whatever that means) are tools to help you convey emotion. I personally like finding a technique, seeing what other people have done with, and seeing what else I can do with it. Right now, I'm looking at open passes on strings. Not the hardest thing to do, but something I find interesting.

Often times, a musicians will write songs about emotions they aren't actually feeling, as KP said. Not always though, the first song I ever posted.....that was written from emotions that I was feeling at the time.

Tone is important too. Often when I post a song people will say "I'm hearing distortion with this." So tone does help to convey emotion. And not just tone on the guitar either.

Scales I'm not sure on myself. I have yet to play a scale, on the guitar anyway. I do practice them on the piano.

It's funny, contrary to what mostly everyone else has said so far, I don't play music to try to convey emotions or anything, I play music because I love to play music. That being said I'm always looking to get better.

I dunno, whenever I hear someone talk about how they need to "express themselves" on guitar, it always seems too artsy for me. I play music that I enjoy playing, and after many, many years of playing I practice stuff that I know that I need to practice.

An old guitar teacher of mine tried to teach me how to improvise by teaching me scales, notes in the scales, etc. It didn't work and I just didn't get it. However, what I HAVE discovered is that I can improvise if I do it by ear. And wow! I amaze myself sometimes. I say, technical stuff is great for some and not for others. Play what you feel. If it works, go with it! If technical stuff works, then go with that. It's all up to the individual guitarist.