The Art Of Guitar
I love the guitar. But, more than that, I love music. This blog is dedicated to anything I may have to say about guitars, guitar playing, guitarists, and music in general. After over 30 years of playing, studying. and teaching guitar, playing all kinds of music from punk rock to blues and jazz, I have a few things to say about it.
There are many sites devoted to the craft of guitar, i.e. the technical skills necessary in order to play. Technical ability is important. Every good musician spends a lot of time working on technique. It is extremely important.
But that’s not what I want to do with GuitarWiz.net. Of course I will offer tips, tricks and licks, but I want to discuss more than that on this site. I want to talk about the art of guitar, or just music I like, and what I don’t like, and why. If you agree with me, let me know. If you think I’m flat out wrong, let me know. You may be right. I look forward to a lively discussion.
I have seen many players with lots of chops and absolutely no imagination, no originality, nothing unique to say. At the low end it sounds like they are practicing when they should be playing. At best it is like a skilled painter who paints a perfect copy of the Mona Lisa. Does that take skill? Absolutely. But is it art?
On the other hand, I’ve known more than a few players who believe that to develop technique, to learn to read music, to study the music of others will “ruin their style.” I hate to break it to them, but they have no style. Can they actually believe that a deeper understanding of music and their instrument will make them less artistic? That to improve their guitar skills will have a negative impact?
The truth is that every musician needs both technique and artistry. All technique and no artistry is absolutely boring. All artistry and no technique and you can’t express those ideas. What every guitarist needs is sufficient technique in order to execute their ideas.
Some musicians need more technique than others. All the great jazz guitarists have awesome technique, and they have great ideas. Go check out Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, or Wes Montgomery.
On the other end of the spectrum are people like Neil Young, or Bob Dylan. Not a lot of technique, but just enough to support their immense artistry. And the Ramones got a heck of a lot out of those 3 or 4 powerchords!
Of course, beauty is in the ear of the beholder. I can only offer my opinions, from my point of view. Feel free to respond to my posts with an “Amen!” or to set me right.
Don’t hold back, I can take it.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 2:53 pm and is filed under The Art Of Guitar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
