Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

I need "knock em dead" chops by feb 18th. !!!Plz help!!!


RJpilot

Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

Anybody have any good ideas for a solo to play for the GC judges? I have been working on "eugenes trick bag" by Steve Vai. I have a feeling I will be outgunned by something a little more melodic. Any suggestions?

 

Has anybody been to a guitar shoot out before. I just thought it would be fun to try out and see whats around town here. I would of course like to win the Boss DS-1 and the Ernie Ball accessory kit but I just want to get out of my room and play.

 

And again; suggestions for a something to learn for the competition would be greatly appreciated.

  • Members
Posted

Ive been to a couple of these things over the years and here is my opp on them.

If you are already not confident enough, and good enough on guitar to smoke most of your peers then you are waisting your time. Or in other words, if you need help to be creative in what to play and how to play then you arnt good enough to impresss the judges.

Not insulting you, and not trying to drag ya down guy. But in everyone of these tryout things there are monsters and then there are MONSTERS! In fact, at the last one i went too (not to play mind you) alot of guys wouldnt even take their axes out of the case after hearing some of the talent in the parking lot fooling around.

Great way to meet people though! But if you have to go there to try and get a gig then consider this....

The only thing that will land someone a gig at these places when they are not as good as the competition is uniqueness and personality. Alot of times a decent enough guitarist can win a contest through his face and appearance and personality even though monsters are about the scene. And being unique in some commercial way gets attention as well.

  • Members
Posted

Here is a trick i saw used once by a friend of a friend in a guitarist shootout long ago. You were to be judged on creativity, personality, appearance, and execution/technique.


The winner:
He was a decent player with good looks, no problem there. He also had excellant personality and presence. But the one thing that got him noticed was his melodic phrasing in his orig compositions. Almost every thing he played sounded familiar, but was all new and fresh somehow. And none of his material was identifiable as something done before by anyone there.

His trick i later learned from a mutual friend was to take huge broadway hits from the early years of the stage and then toss out everything except the melody line verses. Then he built his entire new song around the verses melodies in a metal genre tapping style. This made the leads sound sort of familiar, but because it was in something packaged entirerly different from anything we had heard he got away with it. And since he didnt use the CHORUSES from these hit tunes we never caught on. Choruses are more identifiable and would have given his trick away.

A good melody line wins over flash and skill.

He sounded 100% commercial, looked good, and played well. And that was all it took. There were monsters at that setup too. Some were plain scary. They couldnt understand why someone who to them was just an average shredder could win over them.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...