Manfred-Klose
when i saw guthrie govan and matthias eklundh, i was a total sucker. ?
Been trying to have as much fun on guitar as those guys, a real inspiration.
i just love them ,and respect them for putting in all those hours to perfect guitar.
Who would you like to play like ?
stu
I dont want to sound like an ass but I want to play like me.
I love Gary Moore. I think he was one of the greatest guitarist ever. But my music and style of playing is not like his so I dont want to play like him.
Keira-WitherKay
stu wrote:
I dont want to sound like an ass but I want to play like me.
I love Gary Moore. I think he was one of the greatest guitarist ever. But my music and style of playing is not like his so I dont want to play like him.
yeah i'm with stu here .
in that at the moment i'm still over indulging my ears with Jim Campilongo (New York tele maestro) i would love to be greatly influenced by him , and i have already learnt lots from him that i incorporate in my style......... but i like the idea of being uniquely me .....but happy to admit to influences by great players like jim campilongo and martin taylor ...... frankly musically i have no scrouples i'll steal idea's from anybody ? if i think i could incorporate it beneficially into my style
so if you change the question to rather what players style/ technique do you admire /appreciate the most and consider to be the "next best thing to sliced bread" ....... at the moment my answer would be Jim Campilongo
Bob-Dubery
Well I'm in the "like me" camp, but I think all great players have influences, things that they've soaked up deliberately or unconsciously , and then add something unique to those. It's a stew, and the magic ingredient is your own personal spice from somewhere inside of you.
In my case "like me" is probably going to mean sounding a lot like Richard Thompson (on a superficial level). PART of the reason I am so hooked on Thompson is because his playing is a close match for the sound I hear in my head. For years (decades) I've been playing guitar solos in my head (the nice men in the white coats assured me that this is harmless). I hear or remember a song and I start thinking "what would I play on top of that?" I can't actually play that stuff, I can hum it or "listen" to it internally but I'm light years away from playing it. Many years ago I borrowed the Richard and Linda Thompson album "Shoot Out The Lights" and after hearing the title track for the first time I thought "Bummer! Somebody beat me to it."
I think there'd be a large pinch of Clapton in there too, so I wouldn't be an exact Thompson clone. Thompson isn't a very bluesy player, and Clapton was the first electric player whose playing really thrilled me. Hearing Tales of Brave Ulysses for the first time was some kind of cosmic experience.
Stephen Stills... I liked his playing a lot too (and dug out Deja Vu the other day). There's this slightly oriental aspect to his playing, especially on acoustic. Gilmour - he has such a great sense of drama and tension in his playing, a great feel for dynamics. Jerry Donahue (listen to Joan Armatrading's 3rd album - that was the one that got me sold on Donahue). Tom Verlaine for his unpredictability. The influences are many (or would be if I had skills at a sufficient level). Maybe Mick Ronson (listen to Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust")
I tend to like players who play acoustic and electric (though not exclusively). So Stills, Page (who also has some oriental, north African things in his playing which he got from Davy Graham via Bert Jansch - see what I mean about everybody having influences), Thompson, John Martyn...
Tone wise I like wiry single coil tones. Verlaine again, Thompson, Donahue (such a fab bite in his tele tone), Gilmour on the "thicker" side of things. Early Knopfler (the solo from "In The Gallery" on the first Dire Straits album is one of the most amazing things I have ever heard - in terms of tone as well as in terms of playing, indeed the two come together beautifully in that solo).
And he's not a guitarist, but for me the player who really epitomises the approach I like and admire - great skill and versatility, great ideas and a healthy dollop of something that comes from inside of him and makes him distinctive and inimitable - the amazing Danny Thompson (no relation).
Jack-Flash-Jr
For me "play like" is less about technique than passion and showmanship... I'm going to go with Jack White for guitar and Suicidal Tendencies era Rob Trujillo for bass, Jerry Lee Lewis overall. If you pushed me for technique I'd go with scrabbly Jimmy Page and for bass Berry Oakley.
StephenG
none of this 'I-wanna-play-like-me' heroics for me thanks...
I wanna play exactly like Knopfler - finish and klaar!!
then i'd phone all the guys in the band - saying 'bugger mark, if he doesn't want to tag along.."
and I'd take over as the front man for Dire Straits and make millions of dollars playing stadiums all around the world..!!
it just wont be today though, cause I gotta take the wife to the shops later ☹ :-\
Manfred-Klose
lol its a fantasy thread.
seems like stepheng gets it ?
ofcourse you want to be yourself, duh.
Sean
Billy Gibbons
At least I can start growing my beard ?
Bob-Dubery
StephenG wrote:
none of this 'I-wanna-play-like-me' heroics for me thanks...
I wanna play exactly like Knopfler - finish and klaar!!
then i'd phone all the guys in the band - saying 'bugger mark, if he doesn't want to tag along.."
and I'd take over as the front man for Dire Straits and make millions of dollars playing stadiums all around the world..!!
You've been beaten to it! SA-born player Terence Reis recently landed that gig. ?
singemonkey
Something I like to point out is that sounding "just like me" isn't always great. Think about it. You've heard hundreds of skilled guitarists. How many of them stood out for you? A handful. The rest? Statistically, there's a good chance that sounding like you won't be very exciting ?
I'm only half serious. What I really mean is that the players we admire most usually (although not always) started off trying to sound like someone else. Jimmy Page wanted to be Scotty Moore and Eric Clapton wanted to be Freddie King. But they didn't end up sounding like those guys (although you can hear it in them) because they had more than just one influence. Sounding like me, in other words, often means sounding like a combination of other people that you really like.
But I think if I sounded exactly like Clapton in the mid to late sixties, I wouldn't be too sad about being unoriginal. After all, I'd be playing the kind of lead guitar that I like listening to best as opposed to playing something original that just doesn't move me as much.
If I get that good (quiet Chad! ?) many of my other influences will also be showing and I won't sound just like him.
Working out the tiny nuances of why your favourite players knock you out - as compared to similar sounding players who leave you going, "meh" - allows you to incorporate those knock-out elements into your playing. There's no downside.
StephenG
X-rated Bob wrote:
StephenG wrote:
none of this 'I-wanna-play-like-me' heroics for me thanks...
I wanna play exactly like Knopfler - finish and klaar!!
then i'd phone all the guys in the band - saying 'bugger mark, if he doesn't want to tag along.."
and I'd take over as the front man for Dire Straits and make millions of dollars playing stadiums all around the world..!!
You've been beaten to it! SA-born player Terence Reis recently landed that gig. ?
the guy who should have landed that gig is Guy Feldman from the Sultans of Swing tribute band... he even looks like Knopfler, never mind sounding like him, both vocally and guitar playing ability.
went to go watch them playing at the baxter a few years ago..me and my mate sitting right in the front row, having grow up on Dire straits.. half way thru the gig we screeming out like teenage girls "We Love you Mark..!'
still..as for terence.. accidents happen... is all im saying. 8)
Averatu
StephenG wrote:
X-rated Bob wrote:
StephenG wrote:
none of this 'I-wanna-play-like-me' heroics for me thanks...
I wanna play exactly like Knopfler - finish and klaar!!
then i'd phone all the guys in the band - saying 'bugger mark, if he doesn't want to tag along.."
and I'd take over as the front man for Dire Straits and make millions of dollars playing stadiums all around the world..!!
You've been beaten to it! SA-born player Terence Reis recently landed that gig. ?
the guy who should have landed that gig is Guy Feldman from the Sultans of Swing tribute band... he even looks like Knopfler, never mind sounding like him, both vocally and guitar playing ability.
went to go watch them playing at the baxter a few years ago..me and my mate sitting right in the front row, having grow up on Dire straits.. half way thru the gig we screeming out like teenage girls "We Love you Mark..!'
still..as for terence.. accidents happen... is all im saying. 8)
I worked at the Civic Theater in Johannesburg in the 90's, I saw Terence Reis perform several shows, in 'Hair' he sang, in 'Buddy Holly', 'Psychedelic Cowboy and Sister Nun' he both sang and played guitar, and he was consistently impressive. He had a down to earth attitude, total professional, and in my opinion a brilliant guitarist.
Its a bit Ghey replacing the fronting member of a band with a clone in any case.
Averatu
I'm with the me'ish crowd. Obviously we all borrow and steal from everything we hear and like. As long as the goal is to innovate, not many 'sounds like' bands go very far, they may have an album and a hit, but generally they are short lived. On the flip side of that are the bands that imitate the trend with every album they release. A JHB band who's name I wont mention started out as a Pearl Jam clone and now sound like The Killers.
Reinhard
Peter Green.
Incredible feeling in his playing, tone that's out of this world and actually really good vocals.
He wasn't named the green god for nothing.
---mario---
Eddie van Halen, then I'd play slower so more people could hear and get a better vocalist... ?
more seriously, I'd like to develop a mixup between Eddie, Jimmy Page and Slash, I'll tell you how if I get it right after a couple of decades ?
vic
Averatu wrote:
I'm with the me'ish crowd. Obviously we all borrow and steal from everything we hear and like. As long as the goal is to innovate, not many 'sounds like' bands go very far, they may have an album and a hit, but generally they are short lived. On the flip side of that are the bands that imitate the trend with every album they release. A JHB band who's name I wont mention started out as a Pearl Jam clone and now sound like The Killers.
next thing they'll be into gospel...
Hammeron
If someone comes up to you and says :"Dude you sound like James Hetfield" take it as a compliment.
But if someone says :"You guys sound like Metallica", well, that's not cool.
In other words, sound like the guitarists you love, but don't sound like they bands they play in.
Bob-Dubery
singemonkey wrote:
Something I like to point out is that sounding "just like me" isn't always great. Think about it. You've heard hundreds of skilled guitarists. How many of them stood out for you? A handful. The rest? Statistically, there's a good chance that sounding like you won't be very exciting ?
Well ja.... I don't see many kids saying "Gee... I wish I could play like X-rated Bob". Though of course my low commercial profile doesn't help.
Wizard
singemonkey wrote:
Jimmy Page wanted to be Scotty Moore and Eric Clapton wanted to be Freddie King. But they didn't end up sounding like those guys (although you can hear it in them) because they had more than just one influence.
+1
True of all "innovation" & "invention" throughout history.
Take all the favourite recipes you've tried; drop a bit; add a bit; muddle with your own unique skills & weaknesses & Voila!
A new recipe !!
This thread is asking for your favourite recipes ...
Charlie4
Wes Montgomery + Shawn Lane = guitar god, at least in the electric realm. 8)
