What makes a good guitarist ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Scoot
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A good guitarist has clear musical ideas, expression they feel strongly, and the chops to play it so the technique is transparent to the listener. The listener should be able to forget everything but the music. If they have to think, "that sounds hard to play", the guitarist isn't quite there yet.
 
Okay, I just joined this forum and I can't believe my first reply is on a topic as cerebral as this. But while I'm a noob to this place, I've only been playing music for 47 years...so here goes.

I agree with Supercreep. It truly does depend. It depends on the venue, the audience (if there is one...some of my best musical moments have been just me and one of my favorite guitars), the message in the music, the reason for the performance and many other things.

Someone who can do two hours of campfire music with a bunch of close friends can very easily be considered a good guitarist if everyone goes home talking about what a great evening they had.

A performer who just laid down bux for studio time and is expecting the hired hands to be quality tracking musicians would consider you a good guitarist if he left with a mix that exceeded his expectations coming in.

Your own band will consider you a fine guitarist if you can adapt quickly, play the gig in a manner consistent with the groups genre, be strong in your performance skills but humble in your self image and promote success of the group. I can't tell you how many times I've heard an otherwise functional musician ruined by 'the dude's got skills but I just can't put up with his crap!'

I'm a bass guitarist who can simply hear the right song at the right time and get huge goose bumps, a lump in the throat and tears in my eyes. I carry music on my heart. I believe that is the basis for any good musician. But the band whose bassist is sick, or walked out the day before a big gig doesn't give a throbbing wanker about my heart....what they care about is that I can step in on a moments notice, perform as well as or better than the guy who should have been playing that nite, and leave their fan base saying nothing less than 'See, I told you those guys are hot!'. That nite isn't about Me...it's about them!

So it all depends on what the guitarist wants to be...that decides what a good guitarist IS.

So, Scoot....what's your guy want to do with his gift? Find the answer to that, and you'll have no trouble helping him understand what it takes to be good at it.
 
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100thdeuce said:
...I'm a bass guitarist... I carry music on my heart. I believe that is the basis for any good musician. But the band whose bassist is sick, or walked out the day before a big gig doesn't give a throbbing wanker about my heart....what they care about is that I can step in on a moments notice, perform as well as or better than the guy who should have been playing that nite, and leave their fan base saying nothing less than 'See, I told you those guys are hot!'...
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Great post, man. :)



Very true about being a working musician.
 
100thduece, since you've said it from the bass players perspective, I'll say it from a drummers perspective: A good guitarist makes my job easy. So many players I've played with were decent but they didn't know that for many styles they were the ones that had to make the groove come alive. They should jointly own the groove instead of thinking it's just the drummers job. What joy it is to play with a guitarist that knows how to push and pull, to know how to create a tension that sparkles.

XLR, yeah, if the listener is thinking, "That sounds hard", you've lost 'em. The beauty of music is that we're exposing our soul when we perform and if we're caught up in technique then the listener will be stuck in the same place.

Also, nobody's mentioned dynamics. Gotta have it!
 
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Henry Mars said:
...a good guitarist is not hanging around GC playing distorted Marshalls with some riff in E over and over trying to impress someone who is a good guitarist. Being a good guitarist is turning off this idiots amp and pointing him or her to a good music school for the sake of every customer in the store...
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;) well said - I'M DOIN' IT TOMORROW AT GC!
 
There are so many excellent posts in here that I might just print them all off and hand it to him and say "Here is the answer to your question". (Editing out my posts of course)

Thanks heaps guys. I have been playing for over 40 years myself and I have still picked up something from reading these responses. ;)

Gotta be happy with that .

Stay cool :cool:
 
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