Here's what I've come to notice and understand concerning emotional playing. To play with emotion? What does that mean? Is it proper technique? Is it the way we bend/slide/hammer notes? Playing with emotion...honestly I think that this whole unemotional playing and emotional playing is not based on the player, but the listener. Think about it, a player puts painstaking effort into creating a song, a personal piece of music that he or she made. How can the player not feel emotion if the song to him or her touches base with them on a personal level. Take Yngwie for example, I like to pick on him lol. I could constitute him as an unemotional player 'cause I don't really feel anything when listening to his music, it's just a siren of notes with no true melody, but yet I hear all that energy and focus being put into playing the guitar? Or maybe I'll pick someone else. David Gilmour, I could say he's an unemotional player, blasphemy I know right? lol But I could easily say that he has no ferocity in his playing and he seems to never leave his comfort zone when soloing. So my conclusion is that emotional playing and feeling emotion from one's playing are mutually exclusive. If you have any thoughts on this please share.

This is also refered to as playing with Heart or Soul. It is where you give the music your emotions as you play. It usually happens when some one learns a song by another person, but is only learing to play it, not give in to it.

I am sometimes guilty of it, I'll play something, but I am just not into the song for one reason or another and it comes out sounding a little sterile.

RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
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This is a very interesting theme,Blaqdog.
I've been very disappointed by several hot guitarplayers due to lack of emotional playing.One of the reasons Satriani is not one of my favorites,no matter how nice technique he has.
I think some of the reason is the sound,every string sound the same..no depth. Yngwie is emotional to my ears,as I picture him improvising at high speed,finding the right note to end on with a scream or nice vibrato.
I try to play my solos with emotions,and the best result is when I feel that I can't play it again the same way easily.
A lot of emotions are created by finding the right note to the right chord progression,that's my humble opinion. Gilmour is a true master of that.




My emotions on display here :
www.myspace.com/bergsinferno

Yeah, see what I mean lol Satch to me is a very emotional player and he's definitely influenced me to go to the "shredder territory" You should listen to the song "Ten Words" by him, almost brought a tear to my eye lol Idk, like if someone is playing something with a deep focus of emotion and someone says his or her playing is unemotional, how does that make sense, when clearly they were playing with emotion. It's one thing to critique technique, but another when you try to contribute technique with emotion. I mean maybe that's the way a person naturally plays ya know. Like if some listener told someone, hey you should do this it would sound more emotional, it really only appeals to that particular listener making the comment. The guitar player who does the listener's suggestion might find it unnatural and therefore does not feel the same emotional wavelength as the listener, or maybe he or she does. Who knows? But what could be more emotional than what naturally comes out of a player?

Now attributing technique advice with like saying you might be a little flat or try less vibrato is fine, but I find emotion to be a separate and personal issue. And I think emotion can vary depending on where you're at, who your with, what the situation is, etc.

Also, another point I thought of. Covers. Sometimes the best of players can feel emotionally empty when it comes to them simply because it's not their song and that they didn't write it. Satch was a victim to this when playing with Deep Purple lol Others might not have this problem and sometimes, with some listeners, they might find the cover songs better than their originals, but was it because it's more emotional, or did it just speak to them on a higher emotional level. Just something to think about. I'd really like to get the bottom of this. I'm in an uber questioning mind mode right now hahaha.

I learnt how to play guitar from listening to a radio.

My first guitar was an old les paul copy, I then found my love for Fender.

Onto the point!!! when ever I heard a song on the radio that I wanted to learn to play, it was all because of emotion being expressed through six strings and vocals.

I think every muso that plays a guitar has to put some emotion into their works otherwise I would be listening to BULL%HIT techno music.

anyway, I don't know how to read music, I don't know most of the technical industry talk when it comes to being schooled in music.

However, when I turn up for rehearsal every wednesday night to Rock N Blues with my brothers whom are a mixture of the mentioned (Schooled/Non Schooled) it doesn't mean SH%T because everyone is playing on/through/with emotion.

That statement tells me you understand far more than your letting on. Emotionless people rarely rock. Jeff Dahmler and Ed Gein were not slayer fans.

A million ravers go out and get emotional enough to dance a weekend away with the aid of chemicals. To nothing more than a computer generated noise. Firm proof in my book that we connect with music, not the other way round. What we find pretty we gravitate towards, just like finding a partner.

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No no and no

Gilmour is emotion. Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Gilmour is EMOTION....TOO RIGHT BROTHER...HE IS EMOTION ++++

Let's not make this too complicated. Just play legato and you have emotion. It's all technique.

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Frankly, I came to understand this modern day music subcategory of, "Emo" as a bunch of limited talent 'musicians' playing a mopey, depressing and then, angry themed song (of sorts) where synchronized tuning among the band is purely optional. A gravelly voiced 'singer' is mandatory and before each song (of sorts) ultimately ends, said song (of sorts) winds up in a bellowing free-for-all with everything on '11' before they quiet down again and repeat their intro to end it. Stage antics like having rapid, uncontrollable muscle spasms or other contortions akin to maladies such as but not limited to, intolerable hemorrhoids for that, "intense" look are also required for a 'deep' perception of the collective players' state of mind. Oh, yea, each member's hair constantly falling in front of their eyes and they, constantly removing it with a jerk of their heads also seems to be part and parcel of this whole shtick too.

As always, this is merely IMO, YMMV.

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You dig?

I find Clapton to be very emotional playing guitarist. What he can do with a few notes has much more feeling than what many guitar players can do playing many notes with no feeling.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

Also See - "John Mayall and Eric Clapton Bluesbreakers"

Wonderfully said! Bravo!

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2009 Fender Strat MIM
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30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

[quote="Strataholic"]Also See - "John Mayall and Eric Clapton Bluesbreakers"[/quote
The hard road album the year afterwards is far superior. Santana cites the track 'The supernatural' as being what made him want to play guitar.

Saying that Billy Gibbons's eternal quest is to get the beano sound, hence pearly gates.

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No no and no

Gilmour to me is emotion too. Listening to marooned is like listening to the voice of god lol.