Do you use the guitar to do covers or to do your own material?

[Chordite]

I write and play my own material mostly but have a few standards to trot out when people see a guitar and inevitably say "sing us a song then".

For me guitar is a compositional and tonal tool rather than a virtuoso performance thing. I also construct a lot of my own chords in pursuit of particular emotional nuances.

On the the other hand I have friends with shed loads of song books and all they want to do is play standards which I admit is more of a social approach to guitar.

Which way do you lean on this?

[Burgess]

All of my guitars are in standard tuning. I generally write with conventional chords though they may be more than just major, minor and sevenths. All of my songs I could chart out so another musician could follow it on any instrument if I needed to.

[slvrsrpnt]

I do mostly my own material and tune my guitars to D standard (all strings dropped a full step, not just the low E dropped)

[DeepEnd]

I do both. I play in praise band and we do exclusively covers. OTOH, when it's me soling I generally do originals. I do not, however, take my guitar to parties and the like. Haven't since I was in my 20's.

[knotty]

I never used to write my own stuff. One day i was chatting to a customer about the guitars in his home. He was 72 and had been playing for only 6 years. We talked about what he played (mainly folk stuff). Due to arthritis he has never played barre chords.

He showed me 300 songs he had written and 2 cd's which were on sale in his home town.

All with cowboy chords. He is technically streets behind me but creatively miles in front.

He changed my whole approach to guitar and made me a happier player as well.

[humbuckerstrat]

I use my guitar to wank

[knotty]

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[RGfretter]

I started playing mostly original...except for the tunes I learned when I first started learning chords.

 

Then, went thru a cover band phase that was very time consuming(we played both nites every wknd + practice), for ten years. Still always coming up with riffs...or improvising to tracks, but just not much time.

 

Now I play in a cover band that also do originals. A good thing.

[Danhedonia]

It's all about me now.

[soundcreation]

The guitar is my vehicle to write songs. I don't know much theory so learning other people's songs is a way for me to learn and incorporate chords, scales and other techniques into my own. I don't learn covers to play covers...I learn them to steal ideas.

 

I suppose in a way I don't even consider myself a "guitarist". I started on drums and consider myself a drummer who uses guitar to get out that creative musical side of me that can't be expressed on a percussive instrument.

[wankdeplank]

The guitar for me is merely a means to let off steam. It really doesn't matter to me if I'm creating something original, learning a new cover or just jamming along with the radio. No rock n roll fantasies for me, I'm old and I work hard so I feel kinda lucky to have discovered guitar playing (later in life) as a shock absorber. I do the occasional open mic and love to jam with my buds, but I'm also happy just mucking around on my own.

[humbuckerstrat]

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[Burgess]

All of my guitars are in standard tuning. I generally write with conventional chords though they may be more than just major' date=' minor and sevenths. All of my songs I could chart out so another musician could follow it on any instrument if I needed to.[/quote']

I should also point out that I have played in MANY cover bands over the years and have always tuned to standard E.

[speakerjones]

I play in three bands. Two are mostly originally. We throw in covers from time to time, for fun or as filler on a gig. The third band (in which I play drums) is mostly covers.