Members hcprimerib Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I've slowly become the player I dislike. I used to go to lengths to work up melodic solos into our metal tunes. More singing than they were technically profound. But over the last couple years, I've been pushing more towards shred. And I just listened to our last live set, and it's mostly a wash of sweeping and pure aggressive lead guitar. Very little emotion anymore. I pondered this for a bit, trying to figure out how I got here. Here's my take: I've never had anybody come up after a show and say "great melodic, emotional guitar solos". BUT: after every show now I have people come and tell me what a shredder I am, blah blah blah. So I just kept introducing more and more gymnastics. And after listening to this last live show, I'm not happy with it. I think I have to find the happy median where it's still technically proficient but includes enough emotion. I guess that's what the masters do day in day out and I'm just a wanker in the club scene. DAMMIT! LOL/rant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jn062181 Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 Have a listen to people who've found that middle ground. Marco Sfogli comes to mind - listen to some of his solo work, and some of his work on James LaBrie's solo album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C-4 Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 Shredding, while impressive visually and at first aurally to most non-musical people, cannot usually be hummed as some melody which has the chance of being retained in the mind. I appreciate speed and technical viruosity, but find that melody gets the most response from the people that I have performed for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I'm currently playing in a classic rock/southern rock cover band and find that in a live setting, particularly a bar setting, drunk patrons are easily impressed by flash and speed. That's what I've found. When I'm playing slower and more melodically and accurately and cleanly and feel like I can't play a wrong note even if I tried, I don't get too many comments but when I let loose with what I called controlled slop which consists of high speed tweedling with little regard for cleanliness or accuracy, I get a ton of positive comments about my playing. Go figure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members greg apocalypse Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 maybe you just need to pull the dicks out of your ears and learn that emotions are for pussies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pioneerprogress Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I have the exact opposite problem. I get stuck playing stuff that's kinda slow and while it might not be all that impressive, I think it really communicates the way I tend to interact with songs. I can't play something flashy or impressive to save my life though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oblivion DC Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I'd listen to more players like Marty Friedman and pay special attention to his note selection and how he transitions from expressive to shred parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Aibric Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I am not a great shredder by any means, and I don't really have the motivation to practice sweeps and {censored} like that all the time so I don't know that I ever will be. But I generally write any leads for my songs by starting with a melody line - and if no melody line presents itself spontaneously, I usually decide the song doesn't really need a solo there. But if you have an inspired melody line and you hear in your head how you want the whole lead to go, you can find the places in the melody to add, say, a fast scale run to get to the next note, or a sweep, or some tapping deal, etc, so that in the end your lead is melody-driven yet not just simple notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members axuality Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I've slowly become the player I dislike. I used to go to lengths to work up melodic solos into our metal tunes. More singing than they were technically profound. But over the last couple years, I've been pushing more towards shred. And I just listened to our last live set, and it's mostly a wash of sweeping and pure aggressive lead guitar. Very little emotion anymore. I pondered this for a bit, trying to figure out how I got here. Here's my take: I've never had anybody come up after a show and say "great melodic, emotional guitar solos". BUT: after every show now I have people come and tell me what a shredder I am, blah blah blah. So I just kept introducing more and more gymnastics. And after listening to this last live show, I'm not happy with it. I think I have to find the happy median where it's still technically proficient but includes enough emotion. I guess that's what the masters do day in day out and I'm just a wanker in the club scene. DAMMIT! LOL/rant Good for you for realizing all that man. You're on your way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members axuality Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I'm currently playing in a classic rock/southern rock cover band and find that in a live setting, particularly a bar setting, drunk patrons are easily impressed by flash and speed. That's what I've found. When I'm playing slower and more melodically and accurately and cleanly and feel like I can't play a wrong note even if I tried, I don't get too many comments but when I let loose with what I called controlled slop which consists of high speed tweedling with little regard for cleanliness or accuracy, I get a ton of positive comments about my playing. Go figure.... Attention from drunks may not be what you're really after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 I have the exact opposite problem. I get stuck playing stuff that's kinda slow and while it might not be all that impressive, I think it really communicates the way I tend to interact with songs. I can't play something flashy or impressive to save my life though you'd be surprised. What's flashy and impressive to an audience can sometimes be the easiest things to play. Open string hammer on - pulloffs for example. On the high e string, do a 8, 5, open, pull off/hammer on thing. Also a pentatonic triplet....bar the high E and B strings on the 12th fret, pick the E string 12th fret then hammer on the B string 15th fret and pull off to the B string 12th fret...{censored} like that...very easy, stuff you should have learned the first month of playing, but if you do it fast enough and cleanly enough it will always catch the audience's attention. Of course, other musicians won't be impressed but if all you're trying to do is catch the audience's attention, stuff like that works great and will impress 90% of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jnurp Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 play to express not to impress. try writing a solo to one of your originals using only simple phrases and singular notes with vibrato and see how that goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FBird Nation Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 Stop being influenced (consciously or otherwise) by what audience members tell you...what Guitarman3001 posted is absolutely true, drunken bar patrons are easily impressed by flash; it's like a fast-food musical mentality...gimme a Big Mac, man! What/how people listen when they're home, or driving in the car, is a totally different thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pioneerprogress Posted March 24, 2010 Members Share Posted March 24, 2010 you'd be surprised. What's flashy and impressive to an audience can sometimes be the easiest things to play. Open string hammer on - pulloffs for example. On the high e string, do a 8, 5, open, pull off/hammer on thing. Also a pentatonic triplet....bar the high E and B strings on the 12th fret, pick the E string 12th fret then hammer on the B string 15th fret and pull off to the B string 12th fret... {censored} like that...very easy, stuff you should have learned the first month of playing, but if you do it fast enough and cleanly enough it will always catch the audience's attention. Of course, other musicians won't be impressed but if all you're trying to do is catch the audience's attention, stuff like that works great and will impress 90% of them. I haven't learned jack.I've taken a total of 3 lessons in my life, and all 3 of those were before I seriously picked up the guitar. I've kinda picked up stuff as I've hacked my way the past 13 years though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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