A quick question.

Why are, fellow guitarists, much, much more concerned about the effects and the tone of their guitar(s) than about the music they play???
Sure, the sound of your instrument is very important and it matters a lot, but what happens when you get too much into it, and get into telling other musicians what sounds they should use?? When do you draw the line, and say "Ok, let's just play a little bit!"

Yes, I am a guitar player, but my "main" instrument is piano/keyboards.
I've had a recording session, recorded my composition, and my (excellent) guitar player is incredibly more interested in effects and tones than about the tune(s). Even though he plays them great, and he wrote the main melodies.
I know how egoistic musicians can be (myself included), and even though I'm a guitar player as well, I don't get involved into his playing (rig, equipment) at all. But, yet somehow, he wants me not to use a Grand piano sound because he likes Honky Tonk piano better. Now, the fact that the original demo of the tune we were recording I recorded using a Honky Tonk piano sound may have something to do with it. Also, he thinks that the drums should sound different. The sound of drums.

Why would you want to tell other musicians what instruments or sounds they should use??

Yes, we are professional musicians!!! That's why I'm interested in a final answer! To get to the very bottom and source of it!
Most of the guitarists I've played with are obsessed with pedals, processors, and similar BS! Why?? It can't make anyone play better, that's for sure.

Goran

_________________
"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com

Some people like to take participating to a new level if they are inputting into something and it comes out good it soothes thiere ego's , myself am never happeir than when i'm plugged staight into a jcm 800 half stack with a strat , bugger the effects

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Piano basically has one sound. One piano may sound better than the other but it's not like it's in a completely different category or anything. It's still a piano. One guitar sounds significantly different from another guitar. I've known keys players who were obsessed with their synth modules and constantly searching for just exactly the right tweak of the parameters and a bunch of other stuff I don't pretend to understand. If you're not also a synth player then perhaps you don't comprehend. I don't own a Harley Davidson but they have a saying when people ask why they ride Harleys. If you have to ask the question you wouldn't understand the answer. I totally get that.

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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.

Well effects can make you play better and make you play differently. Getting a new pedal and being inspired by the tone of it can lead you into all different kinds of areas. Look at the Edge from U2; some of his stuff is the most beautiful haunting sounding guitar you'll ever hear yet he is in no way a great player technically.

The reason guitar players are like this is because you can modify a guitars signal so easily and make so many interesting sounds. Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd is another one who makes the guitar speak through electronics.

Of course if you play in a band there has to be a balance, it's not right you telling everyone else how they should sound all the time!

Plus you get bored with a straight guitar signal all the time with no variation.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

Hi BMW-KTM!

Sorry, but I think you have completely misunderstood the point here.
I am a synth player as well, so I understand how important tweaking and playing with sounds can be. The point is, did it go too far if you start telling others what kind of sound(s) they should use, and not limit yourself to your own preferences. Everybody's different, of course, and have and bring different influences, that's what it's all about in playing music with other people, but where's the limit to the obsession? That's what I'm curious about.

You're right, piano is a piano, but there are a lot of pianos out there with different sounds, or "versions" of piano sounds, if you like (upright, baby grand, grand pianos, electric...), and they are all basically still pianos. But, shouldn't you let the piano/keyboard player decide what piano sound to play? Especially if no one's questioning your guitar sound, because it's your preference and you think it's best for the tune. Shouldn't you do the same? If I'm in a band, and I play piano, let me play piano. If you understand.

Guitar is basically guitar, too. It may have different effects, and it may sound different, but you play it the same way with all its "virtues" and limitations.

Goran

_________________
"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com

Exactly what I'm talking about.

So, why tell everyone...?

_________________
"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com

I don't know, maybe you'll just have to have it out with him and tell him to wind his neck in some people need to be told this now and then.

_________________
Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

Is it a mere suggestion or is it something else. Everyone hears things different. Its OK to listen to a suggestion and move on from there.

I'm a guitarist first and foremost and play keys on the side,I would never be so presumptuous as to tell the keyboard player how to play his instrument unless he invited my input.I feel the same way,if a keyboard player came up to me and tried to tell me what and how to play something on guitar his keyboard would quickly become a suppository.After years of using and experimenting with different combinations of effects I've developed a pretty good sense what effects would enhance certain songs in certain ways and I resent being told what and how to play by someone who's not proficient in guitar.

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'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.

It's easy with suggestions.

But, the story I told was just one example.
I'm talking and am interested in the phenomenom in general. It's interesting that maybe 90% of guitarists I've played with are obsessed with it.
Another example (don't forget I also play guitar, beside keyboards).
True story! Five people in a room. Three guitar players, and two keyboard players.
After listening to some recording for the first time after recording the tune, three people (guitarists) in the room talked only about the "great sounding guitar" and the effects used, and two people (including myself) actually listened to and talked about the composition itself as a whole. It happened numerous times, with different people.
It happens every time, so it makes me smile every time!
A really interesting phenomenon, indeed!

_________________
"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com

I would also not take kindly to someone telling me either but I wouldn,t care if it were just a suggestion. That doesn,t mean I would do anything they ask but I might try it. I don,t know everything.

Musicians are funny people sometimes

I agree!
But, we're not talking about how to play instruments, per se, but what sounds and effects to use and how to make it sound. I agree. Unless an input is invited, we all should stick to our own instruments we're playing at the time. The fact that you play some other instrument, too, does not matter when you have someone else play that instrument at some point in time with you. Unless you're on that instrument, you should not discuss anything about it. That's how I see it. That's why I'm curious about what others here think about it. Very interesting!

It's like telling someone to use a bridge pickup instead of a neck pickup on a Strat. Or not to use a Tele, because you like a Strat better.
"Who cares what you like, I'm playing guitar here!"

_________________
"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com

I think it depends on whose song it is (who wrote it), the sound or tone they heard when they wrote it and what they feel needs to be done to replicate that sound.

In the documentary about the making of "Darkness on the Edge of Town" there is a part of the film where Springsteen keeps repeating "stick" whenever he hears the drumstick hit the drum. This goes on for take after take after take and is clearly driving everyone crazy. Gary Talent wryly tells the camera that they spent 2 weeks "trying to make a drum sound like a drum".

But Springsteen heard something that didn't fit...and he's The Boss.

Then I should have the final word.

_________________
"If you're on a path that's beaten, it's not your path." Joseph Campbell

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"All that is impossible remains to be achieved."
Jules Verne

www.stratcollector.com