An honest look at my own guitar playing and tastes

[Lerb21]

Oh and one more thing guys... I've come to terms with the speed thing.

I'm just not the kinda guy who likes to show off that much. If I should someday get to that point, I don't think I'm gotta spend all my time wanking crazy guitar riffs.

I've always considered my self a Mike Campbell kinda guy in the sense, that it's better to have few notes say a lot than a lot of notes say little.

Take for example Marty Stuart. You can just tell that Marty is a monster guitar player. But does he show off and play sixteenth triplet crazy runs? No. He plays as much as he needs to. Marty has balance.

[Spidercaster]

Originally Posted by Lerb21

I going to keep playing what makes me happy, ....

Sounds like you got it sorted out already.

Good luck on Sunday!!!!

[surfoverb]

learn jazz

[Whiskey_Joe]

I was pretty much playing blues stuff for years. I finally got bored with it, so I joined a rock band that played 70's-90's classic rock and some alternative stuff. I didn't really like all the music they wanted to play at first, but the more of it i learned, the more it grew on me. Therefore, my advice would be to join a band that doesn't play exactly what you want to. It'll help expand your versatillity, and many riffs can be combined with others for some pretty interesting stuff. It worked for me. I hope this advice helps.

[Spidercaster]

Originally Posted by Lerb21

I'm going to shoot that TV video this Sunday, ................
...

Good luck today!!!! Let us know how it went.

[psychotelepathic]

Originally Posted by BB

Your satement above says it best. Not every guitar player can be Brent Mason. We all bring something different to the table playing wise, style wise and tone wise, (thank goodness!) so take pride in the fact you enjoy what you play and play what you enjoy. You are 17 bro....plenty of time to hone those chops!

+1000...In fact, if you try to force yourself into a certain mold, you risk losing your unique musical contribution. Remember the 80's? Randy Rhoads and EVH hit the scene, and within 2 years every neighborhood had a kid that could play a thousand notes per second. It killed the genre.

I would also recommend you focus on playing for the song. Also hone your skills at composing and arranging. In the long run, these skills are in far greater demand than being able to play Hot Wired note for note, not that it's a bad thing....

[klasaine]

Originally Posted by Lerb21

Oh and one more thing guys... I've come to terms with the speed thing.

I'm just not the kinda guy who likes to show off that much. If I should someday get to that point, I don't think I'm gotta spend all my time wanking crazy guitar riffs.

I've always considered my self a Mike Campbell kinda guy in the sense, that it's better to have few notes say a lot than a lot of notes say little.

Take for example Marty Stuart. You can just tell that Marty is a monster guitar player. But does he show off and play sixteenth triplet crazy runs? No. He plays as much as he needs to. Marty has balance.

It actually makes me nervous that you've 'come to terms with it' less than 10 days after asking the question/making the statement

[jazztele]

i'm with ken here--shut no doors. a complacent guitarist is often eventually a bored guitarist.

as for not caring about speed, my teacher used to tell me "you should be technically proficient enough on you instrument to play anything you can hear in your head." which means if you start hearing some speed licks, don't stifle yourself--get in the shed. you'll be happier.

it never fails, every few months i'll hear something from a student or on the radio or in my head, and i'll need to really PRACTICE to get it down. that's fine with me...the day i stop learning is the day i should hang it up and start golfing, or something.

[tele salivas]

believe me, speed just comes around whether you care to get fast or not, the more chord shapes you know, the more agile you get, and if you are working with hybrid picking style(we know you are!) you are going to sound fast sometimes. whether you are playing fast or not...the point is just to get to where you can play what's in your head and heart and translate that to other people.....lately I've been working on a lot of George Jones stuff from the Musicor years(1965-71), and I was making the guitar parts way more complicated than they really were cause I was listening to the piano and bass and steel and voices and the three other guitars on there, and just mucking it up. some simple 4 chords with chord fragments got me a lot farther along, but learning all those crazy lines and chords gave me some more language to work with...if you are sincere in your work and work hard and with joy, nothing is wasted...

[Detman101]

Enjoy learning the Guitar...
Become a better version of you...
Don't get married or tied down to people...

And keep playing!!

=]
Dm

[Spidercaster]

What happened with the TV Show????

[Lerb21]

Originally Posted by Spidercaster

What happened with the TV Show????

Nothing as of yet. In short, I wasn't satisfied with our performance, so I'm reshooting it in an environment where we can hear ourselves.

You can view the "I'm a Happy Camper" in Bad Dog for more details.