Special Guitar Players

Nez,

well yes I play a few Weezer songs, might even try the new one out, but I never said I play them in time.

Hey if you "think" your a guitar player then you are one.

Kinda like the post about art and what the definition is, kind of undefinable. I saw someone posted that art had to have some sort of frame for it to be considered art but I would disagree, art is whatever you call it.

So if these guys/gals want to make noise and call it guitar playing, hey, more power to them...of course you might think they are a bunch of tools, but who cares.

There is an actual genre called Noise or something like that. My daughter turned me on to it. Not really my cup of tea but it's basically a bunch "musicians" that do exactly what you describe... and they play shows, so go figure.

Nez,

Check out the MySpace page for a band called Acid Temple Mothers and tell me if that's the kind of stuff you are talking about.

http://www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple

The song Phantom Fireball

Check it out they are a Japanese band and they are considered a noise band of sorts. I'm sure some people will say it sounds like 8 year olds playing.

It's pretty different.

I know what you mean Netz...

I think that's more personality than anything else. These people have to exist to keep balance in the musical ying/yang.

Type A: These people may receive compliment on their playing and reply..."Thanks, but I'm really not that good. I just play for the enjoyment. There are many others that are much better than I."

Type B: These people may receive compliment on their playing and reply..."yeah, I just started playing a month ago ...Listen to the sustain when I turn these here knobs up on this effect thing all the way.."

Then there's people like Frank Zappa: These people may receive compliment on their playing and reply.." My guitar wants to kill your momma." :lol:

I guess they do. There were a couple there that are close to musical chaos.

I'm curious how did you run across these special players? Did you jam with them or try to? Friends? Meet them at a guitar store?

First, I've played with Chris quite a few times and he is a lot better player than he gives himself credit for. I met him for the first time about 3 years ago and his skills have increased dramatically. He does love to play super loud, but so do I. :evil:

There are lots of so-called players who use tons of distortion and effects to cover up a lack of real skill. Turn off the pedals and you will hear just how poorly they play. And if you cannot keep time you are not a musician. I can't think of anything more important than keeping good time. Who cares if you can shred a million notes if it is off beat?

I think this is more common to young players, they are by nature more aggressive, it's the hormones you know, but older players can be like this too.

I wouldn't worry about it. You can't really concern yourself with other people's skill. You will always meet people that can play better or worse than yourself. The important thing is to be skilled at what you do in your own style.

Yes, I would say you can find them at any age.

I've sometimes play with a guitarist who is extremely talented. He is 1000x better than I. However, when we jam, he is usually playing MUCH louder than I to the point where I can't even hear my own guitar. He also tends to drift into songs that he knows I could never play or could never keep up with him even if I tried. Rush "2112" for instance.

So I guess there's Type C for ya. This guy can play, no doubt. He knows it. He knows you know it. He won't let you forget it.

So I guess there's Type C for ya. This guy can play, no doubt. He knows it. He knows you know it. He won't let you forget it.

This may sound way off subject, but years ago I read an article where a writer who was also a dominoes champion interviewed a very famous gambler. The gambler claimed he could beat anybody at their own game, so the writer challanged the gambler to 5 games of dominoes at $100 per game.

This gambler completely played with the writer's mind, he asked questions like "how many dots are on a set of dominoes?", he would ask the writer if the move he was about to make was good or bad. And incredibly, the gambler beat this writer who was a very skilled dominoes player all 5 games.

At the end the writer was amazed he allowed this gambler who never played dominoes to beat him and asked him how he did it. And his reply was:

ALWAYS MAKE THE OTHER PLAYER PLAY YOUR GAME, NOT HIS.

And this is exactly what your guitar playing friend is doing, forcing you to play his game. He plays songs he knows well and can play confidently, and he also knows you do not know these songs. He is going to beat you everytime.

So next time, do not fall into his trap. Play songs you know and play well and do not let him suck you into his game. You will win. :D

Yep, I think that's a good general approach to things. And you're correct. As soon as I said, "Let's improvise" or "Here's tune that I wrote", he quickly disregarded it and looked to the drummer to start a new song.

If "winning" really meant anything to me in the context of playing guitar, I certainly would push back more. Or play the game if you will. But ultimately, I just wanted to have some fun. The ironic thing was that the drummer said to me.."Hey you're pretty good" and the other guitarist got steamed about it. I hadda laugh.

I once had a bass player audition for a band I was in. He wanted me to play basslines on my guitar so he could solo on his bass all the time. :roll:

I once had a bass player audition for a band I was in. He wanted me to play basslines on my guitar so he could solo on his bass all the time. :roll:

Totally funny :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I once had a bass player audition for a band I was in. He wanted me to play basslines on my guitar so he could solo on his bass all the time. :roll:

The guy was a bass player but he wasn't a musician . I played with a bassist who studied at a local music school and could play some amazing things . He thought the root note was something to avoid , a jazz thing , I guess . The only problem was we were playing 80's era rock . One day he said to me that he'd actually enjoyed holding the root note on a particular song (fairly common in Judas Priest , Kiss , and 80's rock ) . I figure that was the day he had made the transition from bass player to musician .

playing music is all about listening. It's an aural artform, and there aint too many painters who can do good pictures with their eyes closed. Some people are into music as a way to show off and get attention, this doesn't mean they are necessarily bad players, just that nobody will want to play with them.

I play music because of the moment. Those of you who have experienced the moment will know what i mean. When you're playing with some guys, total improv, and all of a sudden you realise that you haven't had one single thought for the past 15 minutes, you've just been swept away in the jam and been listening and playing without a word of thought. It's all sound, it's all spontaneous, and no amount of "trying" will ever recreate it, because its completely organic and comes from the soul. I spend a huge amount of my time trying to create these moments, with different people, in different styles, and the more you practice, the more often it occurs. And that, for me, is what music is all about. plus chicks dig musos ;)

Guitar playing seems to be one of those few arts that reward mediocrity. I'm not talking about the guitarists in the original post either. If you can't keep time, you are way below mediocrity. You can't be too bad because your music will sound like I'm sticking forks in my ear drums. You can't be too good either because your playing becomes robotic or you are just trying to show off. I don't really agree with the latter but that's for another thread.

Most people don't like the bad players but they don't like the really good ones either. I'm at a point where I can keep time and people don't claim they are too busy to listen to my recordings and I figure why get any better? If all I'm going to do is get told my playing is robotic and I'm showing off then why perfect the art? People seem to gravitate towards the average players anyway and any player on either extreme of the skill line gets shunned more than a guy who hasn't showered in weeks.

The point is, I see complaining about how bad certain players are, probably because they are just starting out, then they take the time to ditch those old habits and get really good ala Ywgwie and Vai and still aren't good. Just seems to me that people don't know what they want.