How are great guitar players measured? How do I measure my own playing? How do you measure great guitar playing?

In my early years I measured quality by quantity. I equated greatness with how many notes one could crowd together. Alvin Lee and John McLaughlin were my guitar heroes. EVH came on my radar. At Guitar Center's King of the Blues contest I watched younger axe wielders rip out 32nd and 64th note assaults and be promoted to the finals. The two really excellent Delta Blues kings were quickly eliminated. Is speed king?

As I get older, and don't need to show off, I wonder how I could win the King of the Blues contest? Could B.B. King win? Eric Clapton can rip it up, but lately I am seeing his slow hand, soulful side. Same with Jeff Beck. Eric Johnson, the Texas Tone King, espouses note selection. I'm really interested in how to bowl over a crowd with 1/4 notes, and maybe an 1/8 note or two. Any thoughts?

_________________
'57 Custom Shop Strat by Art Esparza, Super Champ XD, Bandmaster VM, 212 VM cab.

Winning a contest and being considered a great player are different scenarios that will never have the same answer. I was at the King of the Blues finals this year. "Boogie" had the best stage presence and that's why he won. I didn't think he was the best guitarist on the stage that night. And, no, he didn't play the most notes, but he layed it out in a way that was enjoyable to listen to and watch.
You'll find that even when the greats play in a subdued manner, they have phrasing that makes the part stand out and is difficult to duplicate.

_________________
'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

What a wonderful and marvelous question!! Thank you.

I think the answer depends on your age a little but even more than that I think it depends on your level of maturity as a musician. When tone, taste, emotive expressiveness and right hand technique start to become more important to you than how many frets you can span across and/or your ability to play 64th note scales at 120bpm I think that's the point at which you become mature enough as a musician to begin answering that question for yourself. That said, I don't know that there is a universal answer that can apply to all players everywhere.

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

if you are playing jazz, its not great until you use every note on the board

_________________

I guess it's when it becomes unmelodic, Al Di Meola could set a fretboard on fire but every note was quality and thats what counts, quality of melodic expression, although set to 10 and a darn good thrashing just for the hell of it takes some beating

You're playing too many notes when the song becomes mechanical.

You're playing too many notes if your initials are YJM.

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

When you decide it just doesn't go with the corresponding rhythm, or you're talking too much in your phrases. One note could be enough. 20 could be too few. The great thing about playing the guitar and making music is creating your own ideas and speaking just enough to get your idea out. It's really up to what you want to relay in your music and your type of music. Keep in mind that you can go overboard while you can also come up short. Listen to what you play and tweak it if needed when you play it back. If it feels right to you, go with it. Most guitarists have their own speach patterns. Some talk slow, some talk fast. It's up to you as to what speed you talk, how much you talk, and what accent you use. Don't let someone else tell you how you're supposed to sound. Your speach patterns will be influenced by who you listen to and what you decide sounds good. All guitarists are unique.

+1

notes serve a purpose and that is to carry the melody.... whether it's one note or many.

I once played with a guitarist who told me...if you ask do I play too many notes, then you do. And too be honest, the less amount of notes I played, the better my string bends and my finger vibrato were. I had much better control of what I was doing. That advice has worked for me.

FWIW

T2

_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
What time is it? It's Fender Time.

When I run out of fingers and toes?

I think as soon as is it just sounds like too much. I feel like you know when its too much.

In my younger days I devoted way too much time to playing fast,sure I was able to play slow bluesy passages but rather than spend time honing my style I played very fast and although it got me noticed I still wasn't content with my playing.Lately- now that my hands have been afflicted with the same neuro-muscular disorder that shut down Leona Boyd's career-I have had to just about reinvent my whole style and approach of playing. I can no longer whip out the fast riffs needed for Machine Gun and really have to take my time with songs like Spanish Castle Magic.

My hands start to pain and then become fatigued often before I can get through one song so you can see why I would have to change my whole approach to playing.I wonder how much of this disorder is due to me practicing faster and faster riffs when I should have been concentrating on my style.Speed ain't worth diddly-reach out and touch your audience with a few soulful and well aimed slow notes.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Your playing has to be melodic and tasteful,with a beginning,middle and end....when it feels rushed,there's too many notes,when it's strung out,there's not enough.
You are never finished learning how to solo,or how to play rhthym,or play fills....when playing fills behind a vocalist,you need to play what best compliments the vocals,not walk on them or be out in left field somewhere.
It takes a lot of devotion to your instrument and practice.

I was going to post the same thing. I asked my guitar instructor the same thing. He figured out that in his 20's less is more. He had a very successful career with that realiaization. Hi is my blues sensi now!

My take away, fewer well place notes....... awesome!

Oh I am in my 50's. Shredding is never in my future... Lol

Too Many Notes!.wmv
http://youtu.be/Q_UsmvtyxEI

_________________
you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

When it sounds like out of control, repugnant diddling, done purely for the sake of being able to. I call it, "Fingerboard Diarrhea".

_________________
You dig?