10 things you gotta do to play like...YOU

[trushack]

One of the features I really like in GP is the "10 things you gotta do...." Even if I don't examine the riffs included with the article, I think it gives some great insight into how the pros approach to playing guitar, their gear, their influences, etc etc etc.

 

So GP forumites, if GP did a similar feature on you what would it look like? Are you glued to a wah wah pedal? Does bossanova influence your approach to rhythm? Have you played the same Telecaster for every gig over the last 23 years or do you have a giant stable of planks?

 

If you can't come up with 10 (or don't feel like typing that much) than give us 8, 5, 3, whatever. If you really want to go whole hog, throw in a signature lick or two. I'll chime in with mine at some point (I haven't even really thought about what my "10 things" profile would look like).

[picker]

These, maybe not in this order

 

10. Become interested in the guitar. This is usually involves hearing someone play who mesmerizes you.

 

9. FInd a guitar you can afford.

 

8. Spend a few months looking at it wondering what to do with it, sometimes picking it up and pretending to play.

 

7. Find some one to show you a few chords and how to hold a pick.

 

6. Develop calluses on your fretting hand fingertips.

 

5. Learn more chords and scales. A teacher can speed this up considerably...

 

4. Learn some songs

 

3. Become intimately acquainted with your guitar, amp and effects.

 

2. Find a band.

 

1. Kill all thoughts of "intangibles" and any other mind-numbing pseudo-spiritual nonsense, and play the freakin' guitar.

 

 

[The Geoff]

One. Just one.

 

 

 

1. Kill all thoughts of "intangibles" and any other mind-numbing pseudo-spiritual nonsense, and play the freakin' guitar.

 

 

 

G.

[Lokair]

Assuming you already play guitar, and you would want to play like me(what a laugh).

 

10. Play rythems from alot of different styles. (latin is the newest flavor)

9. Get a comfortable with whole neck and even the body of your guitar and be able to move with the guitar and play it(i move alot when I play, i try to cover lot of stage)live only.

8. Over drive is a must, nothing fancy just get it going and use its tonal benefits(squeels, pinches, chuga chuga, and finger and or pick slides).

7. Pick in both directions, and do not use rules, just do it till you are comfortable playing stuff the way you want it to sound ,, for me thats up and down picking mixed.

6. Wah pedal, ala Michael Schenker set it for solos, move it till you get the sound you are going for then leave it.

5. Bridge pick up(preferably a medium hot humbucker), I only use the neck pick up for some softer solo's.

4. Blues scale + natural 4th of the blues note.

3. Harmonic minor, melodic minor, remember for the classical feel use them only in the aecending order. I use them in both directions ,but when i want more of a classical feel i go up one way and down the other.

2. be able to play in dropped d tuning, I play in standard e most of the time, but for the most part i can play everything in dropped d that I can in standard, good practice.

1. have emotion in everything you play.

 

I think that sums up what i do best for now.

 

 

Lok

 

[Billster]

1. Learn your modes. Interchange the relative modes freely with the given key of the piece.

2. Write something memorable. All the chops don't mean much if there isn't a tune to walk away humming in your head long after the guitar is put away.

3. Don't be afraid to evolve.

4. Tighten up your sense of time. You can play almost any note over any chord if the timing is right.

5. Use a variety of tones. Don't marry yourself to one sound that you always play.

6. Learn what the other instruments are doing, and interact. Don't float over the top, be a part of the whole sound.

7. Be a musician, not just a player.

8. Simplify, but don't fear the complex.

9. When working with complex ideas, reference item #2 - make sure there is something to remember when the music has ended.

10. Don't fear taking a chance, don't fear "mistakes".

[p90jr]

as a "zen guitarist" type who finds a way to apply everything to everything, consider this new book by one of my fave authors/social commentators:

 

Malcolm Gladwell's secrets of success

 

Bill Gates and the Beatles owe their genius to nurture not nature, argues the acclaimed "Tipping Point" author. It's a nice theory.

 

http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/11/17/gladwell/

 

I know part of what he discovered in researching this book is that the amount of time required doing something before someone is really "great" at it is 10,000 hours. The Beatles logged them in Germany, then the Cavern Club in Liverpool, then over the course of their first records, which are pleasant and accomplished, but they hit the true "greatness" point as musicians and writers around the time of Revolver and Rubber Soul, and that's when they began to soar past "normal" musicians.

 

In reading autobiographies or biographies of my fave guitarists, like Andy Summers or Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine of Television or Elliot Easton or The Edge or the guys in Radiohead or Nels Cline, it always strikes me how LONG of a journey it was before they made their mark and how much time was spent "getting it together in plain view (gigs)." That goes completely contrary to the "instant genius" meme that runs through rock and roll and "post punk" rock and roll in particular (not to take anything away from that segment of music, which is my preference).

 

I'd say that if you want to play like you, the secret is to play, play often, play everything, play things you don't even like and try to see if you can make them interesting to yourself, learn music theory, learn other instruments, take an art class, read philosophy, go for long walks, engage in stimulating conversations on a variety of topics, and play some more... for 10,000 hours.

 

(an excerpt from the book that discusses the Beatles):

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/15/malcolm-gladwell-outliers-extract

[Mudcat]

1. Play a guitar equipped with a Bigsby (or similar type) vibrato.

 

2. Use a delay pedal.

 

3. Visualize the fretboard as various chunks of chords.

 

4. If you can't hum it, don't play it.

 

5. Do not get more exotic than playing the harmonic minor scale.

 

6. Get really comfortable with playing in the first and open positions on the low E, A & D strings.

 

7. Learn how to do that famous pedal-steel bend lick using the G, B & high E string.

 

8. Listen to the Ventures, a lot.

 

9. If you play "bad" note, play it a few more times like you mean it and call it jazz.

 

10. Wear glasses if you need 'em.

[stamplicker]

 

9. If you play "bad" note, play it a few more times like you mean it and call it jazz.

 

That one always cracks me up...

 

Now if it's to play like me, play badly all the time with as many effects you can turn on at once!!!! =)

[Guitarzan]

1. don't be afraid to try new things , you may learn something.

2. listen to everything even jingles and kids music, lots of insight to melody.

3. play it like you mean it, it is music not an excercise.

4. simple can be good

5. try a guitar that has some tonal variety

6. tighten up your rhythm , it isn't all about lead playing

7. tune your guitar

8. don't practice licks, practice music

9. listen to music

10. be you

[Griffinator]

So GP forumites, if GP did a similar feature on you what would it look like?

 

1) Be lazy

2) Wish you could play better

3) Get frustrated in practice because you stink

4) Dream at night of music you can't play

5) Listen to music you can't play

6) Avoid practicing because of 4 and 5

7) Fake it well enough to fool other musicians

8) See, I suck so bad, my list ran out at 7.

[musicalhair]

Griff has posted mine already, thanks buddy!

 

But, when I'm doing what I gotta do and I'm firing on all three cylanders because in a world of masaratis I'm the Le Car in the northeast (salt damage from the roads and snow) that wasn't garage kept. Was the Le Car made back when 8-tracks were still in cars? If not then I probably would have put an 8 track in it to make it more obsolete.

 

But here is my list as I lost my train of thought-- wood block toy train, no NY-Wash express here.

 

1. Have a sense of humor. If a funny idea pops into your head while playing and it is inspired by what is going on musically or at least in the room, then play it.

 

2. Listen to everything even music you hate for ideas. Find the similarities between seemingly unrelated musics and really explore it. That means all cultures and all styles and all instruments. Go to recitals at the nearest music school and listen even it is Schoenberg Webern and Berg and musical torture. If you try you'll find something in it you can use so long as you don't go postal.

 

3. Find as your "influences" the people you know, your peers and the bands in your local music scene. Your local culture is as valid as Frampton Comes Alive and Zep IV, so dig in and add your own spin to help build it.

 

4. Comp. So much can be added, so much good can come from just good comping. Everyone thinks they have something to say, we're as responsible to help them say it as we are to say what we think we have to say.

 

5. Rests in music are part of the music, even extended ones. Texture is one of the elements or components of music. Arrangers/composers do not have every instrument blasting away the whole time. We should add ourselves as needed and in a way that best builds the whole piece and the whole experience for the audience.

 

6. Jam. Often. With as many people as possible in as many situations as possible. There is only good that come from it, share learn, give, set up the guy that can't stop soloing. Find ways to make the one bass line that kid knows sound different and interesting. Make every little thing as good as it can be and just love it all.

 

7. Find 3 or 4 ways to approach any given thing. In original music, find four different parts that work for any given thing you're asked to play. When one doensn't work or seems flawed, find another. You might not use them all, and probably shouldn't, but it gets the mind going and creates options and spurs new ideas.

 

8. Add. Notes that aren't there, fill out the groove. Doubling parts, everyone hitting the same part of a groove is cool when it is cool but it is not the only option available. Add, if it don't work then take away. A singer songwriter might play an open C major chord. There is nothing wrong with trying anything else other than an open C major chord. Add the ninth and/or the seventh. Leave out the root in your chord. Find something-- in the groove or harmonically or melodically-- that adds or compliments it. C major plus G major makes an intersting sound that doesn't always make the singer songwriter kick you out of the room. C major 7 plus F major 7 make for an even more intersting sound. It is worth risking getting kicked out of the room just to hear it on occassion. I'm not even kidding about those chord combinations, they work ... sometimes.

 

9. Melody. Melodies have "arcs", they play on tension and release, the resolve, each note choice give a different feeling of resolution from dissonant to fully resolved, manipulate that range to give meaning to you ideas.

 

10. Just play it and justify it later. If you have an idea, hit it, if it fails, you can hit it again and find a way to justify it and make sense out of it. There are 12 notes available, use them if you want. Even the craziest thing can make sense in many situations. So if you feel it, play it. You probably have the resources to make it makes sense even if it makes no sense. I have a freind who has a stand routine that starts with this line "I don't trust people that eat sunflower seeds." By the end of it, you're laughing and you realize he isn't nuts. That kind of putting an idea out there and making it make sense works in music too.

 

11. Be pretensious and verbose-- go to 11. People tune you out because they love you. Me that is. Not you. I can't speak for you, only me, and I do, at length, often, with no rhyme or reason.

[Mudcat]

...11. Be pretensious and verbose-- go to 11. People tune you out because they love you. Me that is. Not you. I can't speak for you, only me, and I do, at length, often, with no rhyme or reason.

 

I'm sorry. What were you just saying?

[RobRose]

great thread: I have only a couple:

 

1. Listen, listen, listen!: Music is a listening skill more than a playing skill, just like drawing is a seeing skill. Learn to process the music you hear to produce your part in it in a highly complimentary or counterpunctual manner. Don't just wank over everything regardless of mood or style.

 

2. Listen to other non-guitar music and apply it to guitar. How would a flute player play that line? A trumpet player? A Violinist?

 

3. Find a range of tones you are happy with , that you can call your own. If you're playing in a tribute or top 40 band, then certainly the goal is to deliver the tones that are known in each song. But if you are not -- who do YOU sound like?

[miroslav]

This thread is getting such a large gamut of responses...I'm not really sure what the question is or how many people are actually answering the question. :grin:

 

But in a nutshell...if I understand the question correctly...for me to play like me...there is really only one thing I need to do...

...just play.

 

If anything...I usually have to do "10 things" to try and play like other people.

I think most of that comes from years of NOT trying to mimic other players...though I am sure subconsciously we all pick up on things we hear that appeal to us.

And I also believe it is when you spend all your time just trying to play like other people...you will never be able to play like you. You will never find your style/sound.

Sure...you might learn a lot of great licks and tricks, and be able to play them very well and very impressively...but that's not really playing like "you"is it?

 

Was that the question?

 

[Gifthorse]

One. Just one.

 

 

 

1. Kill all thoughts of "intangibles" and any other mind-numbing pseudo-spiritual nonsense, and play the freakin' guitar.

 

 

 

G.

 

Picker always summing it up perfectly!

[super combinator]

9. If you play "bad" note, play it a few more times like you mean it and call it jazz.

 

 

Mudcat,

 

Ha ha that makes me quite the jazz guitarist, Pat Metheny watch out!!!!

 

Ok maybe he is safe for while yet

 

grant

[Fumblyfingers]

1. Practice licks,scales and arpeggio's

2. Practice meter and different time signatures..use a metronome or click track

3. Practice reading and writing music

4. Practice everything on a nylon guitar occasionally.

5. Practice writing songs

6. Practice picking...alternating up/down strokes,speedpicking,hybrid,fingerpicking

7. Practice chords and voicings, lot's of them

8. Practice using different amp tones and effects and play acoustic also

9. Practice songs, learn ton's of tunes, different styles

10. Practice singing...... if all you do is play guitar you're just another guitar player. If you sing well also, you stand a better chance.

 

When you are done...practice again, a lot. Practice on the pooper, while eating a Swanson's TV dinner, practice while sleeping,while taking your weekly shower...good time to use the acoustic, practice while watching TV and while someone is trying to have a conversation with you. Forget work,forget having a steady SO unless she ( or he ) is supporting you,forget having a life, forget stupid stuff like paying bills,rent, utilities, dental and medical insurance, maintaining the car....what car....drummers have vans, have them pick you up...forget everything...just practice.

 

Somewhere out of all of this, YOU will emerge.

 

 

[Guitarzan]

when you practice on the pooper, more than you will emerge

[Gruupi]

There is quite a bit of good advice in this thread already, I'll add:

Develop enough technique to play whatever comes into your head, but never play anything just because you have the technique. Listen to all styles of music on all instruments, your "YOU" can be the whole sum of all your experiences.

[Billster]

I admit that I'm not well known to the general population, but I do feel I have my style of playing. A lot of this thread is general advice, not anything specific to styles.

 

Like I said in my first post, my style is built around playing multiple relative modes to the key of the tune. If I'm doing that "minor licks over major progression" stuff, I'll be sure to include some Dorian in addition to straight minor. Etc.

 

My style is also built around the compositions, which are designed to use relatively simple melodic and harmonic ideas combined in ways that sound as the whole being more than the sum of the parts.

 

[Billster]

when you practice on the pooper, more than you will emerge

 

I try not to practice on the pooper, I don't want to be influenced and have my playing sound like crap.

[Fumblyfingers]

You never know, you might write a nice movement

 

 

[Fumblyfingers]

At the very least a good outro.....

[Fumblyfingers]

You might even come up with some good runs ......okay I gotta go.

[Griffinator]

Take it to the bank, if there are bad puns to be delivered, Fumbly will carpe the diem!

[picker]

Looks like Fumbly pushed out enough "carpe" for one diem...

[Eric Iverson]

I'm STILL trying to come up with a list.. mostly I just do it without thinking about it!

 

I think Chet Atkins said it best, "everyone has their own sound, but not everyone has their own style."

 

We all want to make a unique contribution, but I still think there is plenty of room for people who just want to play well, even if they don't break new ground.

 

Otherwise, how could we enjoy a Beethoven symphony (to give one example) done live?

[Bluesape]

when you practice on the pooper, more than you will emerge

 

 

The acoustics are awesome, but the ventilation usually sucks! And a duet is all but out of the question!

[jeeps]

This thread made me laugh so hard I almost had a movement of my own -at the pc ! Frigging Hillarious !! Keep it funny guys ,this made my day!

 

Billster your top 10 list made the most sense to me as a less evolved player.

 

As far as the duet goes I think(rumor) there are some countries where the term cheek to cheek is a reality. But it would be more than a duet.

 

Like the sinks in the Collisium restrooms during a Rolling Stones concert ,but facing the other way. At 'Steel wheels" tour in Oaksterdam (Oakland CA) Seeing the lines for the porcelin tower -people started yelling "sink action". It was quick and funny till the security guards busted into the restroom-20 Big guys .Lots of dudes aiming in the sink were detained...

 

[Fumblyfingers]

Billster your top 10 list made the most sense to me as a less evolved player.

 

Fine ...give it to the Billster....I see how it is around here.......