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Post subject: When are too many notes too many?
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 2:07 pm
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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?

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Post subject: Re: When are too many notes too many?
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:41 am
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hoiekvam wrote:
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?


For the GC ilk, speed and acting like you are having spasms while playing is king. Of course, a concurrent rudiment to this is all contestants must project a Stevie Ray "Vaughnabee" shtick too; all else is secondary. Frankly, out of all the phenomenal guitarists you've named, I doubt any one of them would make it to GC's King of the Blues finals due to the aforementioned.

Listen to Leslie West of Mountain fame if you want to hear the most with the least. You'll also hear the best finger vibrato you've ever heard in your life.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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