[atsonicpark]

Maybe the better question is... When do YOU consider someone a good guitar player?

Backstory:
I have a few snobby guitarist friends who act above me, act like I don't know how to play guitar, and I'm really confused... it's really easy for me to learn songs and come up with decent riffs and I actually know a few non-power chord chords and I can tremolo pick really well, finger pick a little bit, play decent slide guitar, and can tap and do all that other extended technique bullshit pretty well. The only thing I can't do is bust out an insane shred solo. I can play some pretty technical stuff, like Beefheart and Hella stuff, yeah I'm sloppy at times but not too bad.... I've personally asked one of my snobby friends and he said everything I play sounds like Interpol (?!) and it would only sound good if it was through a million effects. Then he showed me 10 new drop-d riffs that everyone around us thought were badass. And I don't personally care if I'm considered a good guitarist, this isn't about me, it just inspired me to ask what YOU guys consider "good".

[Sheriff Rhys Chatham]

Creative.
Technical skill means nothing to me.
Like dragon force, yeah they can play fast as fuck but it lacks a lot.

[acousticrock87]

It's hard to say, because "good" doesn't really mean anything.

I know this might start shit, but: A lot of people consider Malmsteen to be a shitty guitarist; a lot of people consider Cobain to have been a shitty guitarist. Both opinions are, in my opinion, completely retarded. A good guitarist is a guitarist who can get up and do something with it. They don't have to have heart, and they don't have to have technical genius, but they have to have something that makes them work toward completion--of whatever goal they may be striving toward. (In the examples I gave, that would be technical proficiency and accessible aggression, respectively.)

I would consider "good" to be something bewteen humility and persistence, and I care very little what it sounds like, as long as they're going for something real.

I'm better at guitar than a lot of people I know, but I am not a good guitarist. I don't have whatever I just tried to describe. It's just a hobby for me, and I'm not very confident in it. If that makes sense.

[pbradley]

Yeah, I have a friend who can solo decently but seems to refuse playing chords which is perhaps the biggest problem when jamming with him. My bass riffs were not created so that you could toss a mediocre solo over it. A lot of guitarists use technical skill as an excuse for creativity which is the exact opposite of how I approach music writing. Of course said friend hates Sonic Youth and loves the Mars Volta.

[RdTv]

The land between creativity, developed skill/talent and raw expression.

The way I see it is: every instrument is like speaking. If you only use a few sentences or words to describe things, then it gets kinda boring after a while (for most listening), developing a vocabulary helps you be more creative and expressive.

[uhler]

being creative i guess. i'm not big into what's good and what's not tech wise. i'm a horrible guitar player, but a lot of the sounds i make i find to be really great.

[This Is Not Here]

This forum has raved more than is healthy about Kevin Shields', Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's guitar playing, they're creative and innovative guitarists. Yet I still don't think most guitarists would rate them as being actually 'good'. For me, the innovation accounts for everything, I just don't care whether they're objectively skilled/fast at playing guitar.

[GeneticKiss]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

Maybe the better question is... When do YOU consider someone a good guitar player?

Backstory:
I have a few snobby guitarist friends who act above me, act like I don't know how to play guitar, and I'm really confused... it's really easy for me to learn songs and come up with decent riffs and I actually know a few non-power chord chords and I can tremolo pick really well, finger pick a little bit, play decent slide guitar, and can tap and do all that other extended technique bullshit pretty well. The only thing I can't do is bust out an insane shred solo. I can play some pretty technical stuff, like Beefheart and Hella stuff, yeah I'm sloppy at times but not too bad.... I've personally asked one of my snobby friends and he said everything I play sounds like Interpol (?!) and it would only sound good if it was through a million effects. Then he showed me 10 new drop-d riffs that everyone around us thought were badass. And I don't personally care if I'm considered a good guitarist, this isn't about me, it just inspired me to ask what YOU guys consider "good".

Unfortunately, in this age of Dragonforce and Guitar Hero Rocks The 80s, that is being seen in many quarters as the pinnacle of guitar playing.

I dunno...I don't really think I'm that good a guitarist, but I'm always having people come up to me after shows and tell me how much I rock. I guess it's because the leads, fills, and occasional solo bits I come up with seem to complement whomever I'm playing with pretty well.

[deflinus]

doesn't matter whether the guitar player is playing insanely fast and technical, or if they're playing like they don't know anything - just as long as i find the sound original and innovative.. i'll say to someone "man, thats a good guitar player"

[Dead-Air]

When the guitarist creates sounds that are aesthetically pleasing for me, then that is "good" guitar playing to me. Same with any instrument.

The old cliche is that when Lou Reed finally learned how to play guitar he made Rock 'n Roll Animal which is nowhere near as good as the Velvet Underground stuff. I have no idea how precisely true that is historically, but the essence of the point is hard to argue. The Ramones best records are certainly the first few where nobody claimed whatsoever that they knew how to play with any level of technical skill.

Doesn't mean I don't like some Eric Clapton and Kirk Hammett solos, but I also think Jandek is a good guitarist since he plays songs on the guitar that I think sound great.

[batreleaser]

what the fuck do i know, i just play it and see what comes.

[afterthefact]

It's all relative. I have friends that are all into metal, so they are not going to think I am a great guitarist. But I know that in my mind, I usually pull off what I am trying to do, at least for the moment. Skill + Creativity = Talent. There are many skilled muscians, and, guitarists especially, who forget the second part of the equation.

[RdTv]

Josh, good morning to you sir!

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Dead-Air

When the guitarist creates sounds that are aesthetically pleasing for me, then that is "good" guitar playing to me.

I think that's true to a point. Although I also think it's possible to acknowledge that someone is a 'good' guitarist even if what they do doesn't please me. (Pat Metheny, for example, is not a guitarist I like, but is, I believe, a 'better' player than, say, Julia Cafritz, who I do).

I suppose for me, a 'good' guitarist is someone with the technical ability to play a number of different styles and not have to avoid more complex ones because their skill-levels won't permit it. It's likely that Metheny could get to grips with any Pussy Galore riff fairly quickly, while it's unlikely that Cafritz could cover a Metheny tune. Which has nothing to do with whether I actually like them or not.

I say this as someone whose guitar playing makes Julia Cafritz look like Django Reinhardt.

Originally Posted by pbradley

Yeah, I have a friend who can solo decently but seems to refuse playing chords which is perhaps the biggest problem when jamming with him. My bass riffs were not created so that you could toss a mediocre solo over it. A lot of guitarists use technical skill as an excuse for creativity which is the exact opposite of how I approach music writing. Of course said friend hates Sonic Youth and loves the Mars Volta.

I would go with this, too.

like the ever mentioned sentence is such situations.
music is NO competition.
but a lot of guys try to make it kinda like that.
creativity far over tech skills, like in every creative environment

[afterthefact]

Originally Posted by RdTv

Josh, good morning to you sir!

Indeed it is. Indeed it is.

[Glice]

I think it's when the sound you're making sounds like you, and not like someone else. I know quite a few shredders, and there's one who sounds like himself. He's a good guitarist. I know a few SY-ers (as it were), and there's none of them sound like themselves to me. Hardcore guitarists - I know loads, again, and only two that sound like themselves. It's less to do with their technical ability, but to do with how they forge an identity for themselves on their axe.

[Everyneurotic]

i consider a good guitarist by how they break their guitar.

[gualbert]

^^
That fit with the perception of many people, that Hendrix is the best guitarist ever.
He was the first one to set his guitar on fire, not just commonly smashing it, like many others.
What a genius!

[SYRFox]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

The only thing I can't do is bust out an insane shred solo.

I'm sorry, but if you can't play at least two 25 minutes Dream Theater solos, you can't consider yourself as a part of the guitar elite.
Sorry, better luck next time.