Thoughts on the guitar

Bob-Dubery · 2010-02-24T15:00:01+00:00

"Perhaps nothing in music compares with the versatility offered by the guitar. The instrument has served as the basis for masterworks in classical, jazz, rock, pop, rhythm and blues and everything in between. The list of accomplished players covers the gamut of styles and knows no geographic boundaries. The guitar is just accessible enough so that anyone can pick it up and within a few days feel as though they are making a musical connection with the world. But for those who stick with it, there are infinite varieties of styles, genres and approaches that have made the instrument both ubiquitous and unique. " That's according to Robert Santelli, Executive Director of The GRAMMY Museum.

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Imagine pulling a keyboard out at the campfire...

You would be so cool.... ? haha

With all do respect to great players!!!

Keira-WitherKay

Brentcgp wrote Imagine pulling a keyboard out at the campfire...

You would be so cool.... ? haha

With all do respect to great players!!!

mmm brent the pianists will never pull out a piano/keyboard at a campfire......... since they would not be there....... since they'd all have gigs and not be able to make the campfire ........ good keyboard /pianists are the most in demand musicians ..

a pianist friend of mine works the pro scene in jhb 6 - 8 gigs a week sometimes 3 a day ........ and so do most of the good pianists i know... but yes they all sight read and play everything from classical to jazz to pop ...... and because so there are so few pianists available who meet this criteria ...... they all work consistantly .... and prob very happy that most people get a guitar "urge" and and not one to be a pianist which leads to the lack of competition in the pro pianist scene..........

[deleted]

Keira WitherKay wrote
Brentcgp wrote Imagine pulling a keyboard out at the campfire...

You would be so cool.... ? haha

With all do respect to great players!!!

mmm brent the pianists will never pull out a piano/keyboard at a campfire......... since they would not be there....... since they'd all have gigs and not be able to make the campfire ........ good keyboard /pianists are the most in demand musicians ..

a pianist friend of mine works the pro scene in jhb 6 - 8 gigs a week sometimes 3 a day ........ and so do most of the good pianists i know... but yes they all sight read and play everything from classical to jazz to pop ...... and because so there are so few pianists available who meet this criteria ...... they all work consistantly .... and prob very happy that most people get a guitar "urge" and and not one to be a pianist which leads to the lack of competition in the pro pianist scene..........

Thats so interesting!! I would never have thought!

I said it very tounge in cheek. I love the piano and can sit and listen to a good player all day. Hell I love jamming with one of my mates dads who is a monster pianist. I just play and within seconds he is jamming along with me...

It's just not for me, I find the guitar is part of my soul.. Having been through them all and got quite far in Piano too... It just never grabbed me as much personally.

And it has everything to do with the MUSIC that I enjoy and listen too... So it makes sense ?

Keira-WitherKay

well brent ...piano never grabbed me either ....... but damn there's loads of work out there for em ... ?

Wizard

SvR65 wrote You will often hear people saying "I'd like to learn the guitar", but you very seldom hear someone saying " I'd like to play the Cello/ violin/ recorder/ harmonica/ trumpet/ bagpipes or what have you" ?

I did actually say "I'd like to play the violin"

I heard a senior music student playing recorder the other day.
Beautiful.
Like violin --> sounds good when played well, terrible when played badly.

Is it surprising that a Guitar Forum is finding it easy to say that the guitar is the best instrument?

Being a bit provocative here - but good to keep an open mind.
Guitar is one way to make music, but there are many others.
And often ... when you try another ... then return to your beloved instrument (whatever it is) ... you have a new insight and greater appreciation.

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I disagree! Ever heard anybody trying to sing "Blowing In the Wind" and accompany themselves on recorder? It ain't pretty.

Ok! I never said you'd accompany yourself on the recorder. A good instrument doesn't mean "something that you sing to" . In fact, I think people who are drawn to the guitar for that reason generally like to indulge in Angsty monologues. One of the reasons I stopped going to open mic nights. I think I'd rather listen to some one screech on a violin.

Bob-Dubery

Viccy wrote
I disagree! Ever heard anybody trying to sing "Blowing In the Wind" and accompany themselves on recorder? It ain't pretty.
Ok! I never said you'd accompany yourself on the recorder. A good instrument doesn't mean "something that you sing to" . In fact, I think people who are drawn to the guitar for that reason generally like to indulge in Angsty monologues. One of the reasons I stopped going to open mic nights. I think I'd rather listen to some one screech on a violin.

I have some sympathy for that position. We had somebody turn up at TJs open mic night last week who couldn't tune his guitar (I thought this was some kind of odd joke, but we had to get somebody to tune the thing for him), preceded each song with a rambling monologue, and then sang these well known songs with a cunning twist - they no longer rhymed! Not only that but he never actually finished any of them, they just sort of petered out.

OTOH we had Squonk.

Maybe the good things about the guitar are also the bad things about the guitar.

Jack-Flash-Jr

X-rated Bob wrote
Viccy wrote
I disagree! Ever heard anybody trying to sing "Blowing In the Wind" and accompany themselves on recorder? It ain't pretty.
Ok! I never said you'd accompany yourself on the recorder. A good instrument doesn't mean "something that you sing to" . In fact, I think people who are drawn to the guitar for that reason generally like to indulge in Angsty monologues. One of the reasons I stopped going to open mic nights. I think I'd rather listen to some one screech on a violin.
I have some sympathy for that position. We had somebody turn up at TJs open mic night last week who couldn't tune his guitar (I thought this was some kind of odd joke, but we had to get somebody to tune the thing for him), preceded each song with a rambling monologue, and then sang these well known songs with a cunning twist - they no longer rhymed! Not only that but he never actually finished any of them, they just sort of petered out.

OTOH we had Squonk.

Maybe the good things about the guitar are also the bad things about the guitar.

Growing horror that you were describing Squonk... but nice twist in the end ?

singemonkey

I was skimming bits of a guide to musical instruments over the weekend. The author talked about all the amazing things that a piano can do. But there was something very interesting. He said that a violin was the most expressive instrument besides the human voice. Driving to work this morning listening to Clapton's singing guitar on the Bluesbreakers album, I had a thought about another reason the guitar is so popular.

Yes, it's a handy, portable instrument for accompanying yourself, or playing complex pieces. But, in the case of an electric guitar/amplifier combination, it can also be a singing voice like a violin - except a violin on which you have greater range, and can play chords. For me this feel is exemplified by the British blues players with their woody, rough edged, sustaining sound. But many others will have been drawn to the electric guitar by this capability expressed in other kinds of playing. The expressiveness of vibrato on a sustaining note, the ease of bending strings and precisely controlling the attack and decay of the note with your fingertips and guitar pick - it's a sound that was previously heard from fiddle players like Franco Grappelli.

I believe that this gave guitar playing yet another boost in popularity - the ability to have fiddle-like expression, with an instrument that's much easier to learn, and has certain other advantages over a fiddle too. So I think it's the combination of these various factors that make the guitar so very popular. In fact, it's not one instrument. It's several instruments played the same way - each with its own appeal. There're the nylon-string classical and flamenco guitars, the steel-strung acoustic guitar, the resonator guitar, and the electric guitar and amplifier. These all have very different sounds - as different as any two instruments - but all based on the same physical form with transferable technique.

p.s. I can't stand when people get lazy with song-writing in the name of "authenticity." Verbose songs that just ramble on with no discernible melody, arrangement, or poetic merit. It's not natural and rebellious, it's just a slap in the face for anyone who ever tried to learn to write a song. Even punk bands like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, and The Misfits, wrote brilliant songs, with great melodies and arrangements.

If you're not Bob Dylan, cut it down to bare essentials.

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singemonkey wrote The expressiveness of vibrato on a sustaining note, the ease of bending strings and precisely controlling the attack and decay of the note with your fingertips and guitar pick - it's a sound that was previously heard from fiddle players like Stephane Grappelli.

Fixed!

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It's several instruments played the same way -

I would even say several instruments played in several different ways. The reason people admire the violin for it's expressiveness is that it can do something few other instruments can do (besides the voice and the similar string instruments). It can crescendo over a single note. An instrument that relies on some sort of percussion can not do that.

chris77

Great thread! I reckon a lot of the guitars popularity is based on image and accesability. Eg, in my High school we had a guy who played piano very, very, very well. Won a few comps and played all over the show. But with all due respect he wasnt very popular and nobody I could think of idolized him. We also had a guy who played guitar in a band that played a few gigs at school and such. Most girls wanted to be with him and most of us wanted to be him. And it wasnt because he was better looking and certainly not that he was a better musician than the pianist! It was because the "face" of piano was Richard Clayderman, while the guitar had Brian Adams, Bon Jovi, Def Lepard... And as it turns out it takes years of lessons and Unisa exams to play piano like X, but only an afternoon to learn the intro (or part of it at least) of Nothing Else Matters and Come as you are. And all of a sudden teen dreams of arena rock and groupies take flight. So basically guitar is more popular because of its players and the image it carries, and its just easy enough to get started on to make you go - Hey, I can do this....

Squonk

Good point Chris ?

Couldn't have said it any better

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Squonk wrote Good point Chris ?

Couldn't have said it any better

Maybe. But you probably would've used slightly different references than Brian Adams, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. ?

/frisson

Squonk

Stratisfear wrote Maybe. But you probably would've used slightly different references than Brian Adams, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. ?

/frisson

They weren't around when I was in School anyway ? I wanted to be John Lennon, strange thing is that I wanted to be songwriter more than a guitarist in those days.

singemonkey

Stratisfear wrote
singemonkey wrote The expressiveness of vibrato on a sustaining note, the ease of bending strings and precisely controlling the attack and decay of the note with your fingertips and guitar pick - it's a sound that was previously heard from fiddle players like Stephane Grappelli.
Fixed!

Whoa. Must have had a mental meltdown :-[

Viccy wrote I would even say several instruments played in several different ways. The reason people admire the violin for it's expressiveness is that it can do something few other instruments can do (besides the voice and the similar string instruments). It can crescendo over a single note. An instrument that relies on some sort of percussion can not do that.

Hmm... excellent point. Didn't consider that.

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote
Stratisfear wrote
singemonkey wrote The expressiveness of vibrato on a sustaining note, the ease of bending strings and precisely controlling the attack and decay of the note with your fingertips and guitar pick - it's a sound that was previously heard from fiddle players like Stephane Grappelli.
Fixed!
Whoa. Must have had a mental meltdown :-[

Viccy wrote I would even say several instruments played in several different ways. The reason people admire the violin for it's expressiveness is that it can do something few other instruments can do (besides the voice and the similar string instruments). It can crescendo over a single note. An instrument that relies on some sort of percussion can not do that.
Hmm... excellent point. Didn't consider that.

Surely there's some pedal somewhere... ?

[deleted]

Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote
Stratisfear wrote
singemonkey wrote The expressiveness of vibrato on a sustaining note, the ease of bending strings and precisely controlling the attack and decay of the note with your fingertips and guitar pick - it's a sound that was previously heard from fiddle players like Stephane Grappelli.
Fixed!
Whoa. Must have had a mental meltdown :-[

Viccy wrote I would even say several instruments played in several different ways. The reason people admire the violin for it's expressiveness is that it can do something few other instruments can do (besides the voice and the similar string instruments). It can crescendo over a single note. An instrument that relies on some sort of percussion can not do that.
Hmm... excellent point. Didn't consider that.
Surely there's some pedal somewhere... ?

And Ebow, Volume pedal and a Bassman... from pianississimo to fortississimo in as controlled a manner as you like... ?

singemonkey

Brentcgp wrote And Ebow, Volume pedal and a Bassman... from pianississimo to fortississimo in as controlled a manner as you like... ?

I was thinking about this driving to work. Could you set up a volume pedal so that you can set the minimum as well as the max vol? So you'd only have a certain amount of play. Set the minimum at the normal volume, but you can swell it at any time.

One of the ways guitarists do achieve this is by letting feedback develop on a sustained note with vibrato. But it clearly doesn't give the control that a bow does.

Riaan

So basically guitar is more popular because of its players and the image it carries

There is of course, a Freudian explanation for that also...

See: http://www.yaledailynews.com/opinion/guest-columns/2008/03/25/myth-making-men-reify-the-almighty-phallus/

That might explain why the keyboard player just does not have the same appeal.... ?

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