[atsonicpark]

hah.

Best response yet.

[SYRFox]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

hah.

Best response yet.

Should be the title of my biography

[fugazifan]

i think what swa(y) and dead air said are correct.
it depends really on the guitarist. i dont think that technical ability should be frowned upon. because an understanding of your instrument could only benifit the player. look at marc ribot, nels cline, django reinhardt, those people were and are incredible musicians, but they play tactfully. i think a good trait is to be able to play really complicated stuff but have the luxury to decide not to...
i unfortuantly can play well enough to play whatever my bands are playing and to write interesting stuff. but i still try to better my playing.
and its important to know chords/scales, what notes the strings are etc.

[sonic sphere]

when you can play stairway to heaven. backwards.

[atsonicpark]

Classes? Eh...?!

[SYRFox]

I'm talking from my experience as a pianist, but I think it works with guitar as well.
I've taken piano and musical theory lessons for 6/7 years and I think it has both benefits and drawbacks.

Benefits -> well for sure, it gave me technique, a knowledge on a lot of things - and I am able to play Deerhoof's Fresh Born on the piano since they released the score!

Drawbacks -> when I'm improvisating, I can find myself falling back on "classic" schemes (like for instance, basic chords) that I often played when I took lessons. So I sometimes have to do efforts in order to get out of those schemes

[Glice]

Originally Posted by hypertonic

Yes this is very true, but the more years you put those theory lessons behind you, the better you can seperate them from yr "vocabulary" if needed, and again don't play what you don't want to incorporate. (See above post regarding Equal Temp. too) I relate way more to Derek Bailey than say... Chuck Berry. A general understanding I think helps a bit, at least to relate to other more classical trained musicians. I don't like to pigeonhole, and generally refer to myself as a multi-instrumentalist now, but as synth/sampler as primary instruments for now, I admire the semi-freedom from rigid perfect 5th's or whatever.. Fretless stringed instruments (bass) and slide guitars are kinda neat...

Sorry for getting a bit off topic... These "good" noise and "good" guitar threads are pretty subjective...

I'm not sure what your point is, but Bailey is a sickeningly talented guitarist. The best my fair nation ever produced, I sometimes think. But it's that problem of Vivaldi making more sense than, say, Strauss - I know who's the more amazing person, but the world at large doesn't really like Dicky Strauss, do they?

NO POINT. AM PISSED.

[Savage Clone]

Strauss is OK when rendered by a 23-piece kazoo ensemble.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I say you are officially a guitar player when you can either pull off a proficient solo performance or hold your own in a band of some sort, and play music which outside ears determine as palatable. This solo performance, if necessary, could be substituted for a decent recording, however stage-shows are where you really cut your teeth as a musician and earn the stripes so to speak.

[greedrex]

you're a good guitarist when you can please yrself and others with yr sounds/ songs.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

Strauss is OK when rendered by a 23-piece kazoo ensemble.

Dude, - Strauss is my homeboy, get me? Elektra. That's the real shit right there. Any motherfucker who can break his shit down when he's dead and being raped by kazoos is a badass motherfucker if you ask me.

When you stop thinking about your guitar the same way most males go on about cars and driving them. They are different things. A guitar is also not an extension of your cock because it's a guitar, not a cock.

[fugazifan]

Originally Posted by Glice

I'm not sure what your point is, but Bailey is a sickeningly talented guitarist. The best my fair nation ever produced, I sometimes think. But it's that problem of Vivaldi making more sense than, say, Strauss - I know who's the more amazing person, but the world at large doesn't really like Dicky Strauss, do they?

NO POINT. AM PISSED.

i like vivaldi...
(i do need to start listening to more strauss though)

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

Strauss is OK when rendered by a 23-piece kazoo ensemble.

you took the words right out of my mouth

[Death & the Maiden]

A good guitarist doesn't necessarily have to be innovative. For me, a good guitarist may or may not have versatility, a decent knowledge of theory, innovation, good technical ability

[shentov]

a good guitarist has to ROCK. no more no less.

[blunderbuss]

I've no idea how I'd go about deciding whether someone else is a good guitar player or not, but if I was trying to decide the same about myself, I'd consider myself good when I was able to get the sounds and melodies that are going on inside my head to come out of the guitar exactly as I imagine they should be.

[[Sandbag]]

in my opinion a good guitarist is someone who uses the guitar in order to work for/serve the composition.

theres also the technical part... depending on the music you make, you'll know what to use.. if long solos, effect pedals, bending, pullo-ffs/ hammer-ons, feedback, harmonies, weird noise, fuzz... in order to be a good guitarist you need to know what works best with the composition.

to me, a good solo is something like the instrumental part in Chapel Hill or Purr... a sequence of riffs that somehow fits the song more than some cheap-rockstar-lesson-cliched bullcrap

and 'becuz' instrumental part is one of the best '''solos''' i've ever heard

[afterthefact]

sKILL + cREATIVITY / dISCERNMENT = tALENT

[atsonicpark]

Wow.

I'm a good guitarist afterall. Thanks guys!