What makes you sound unique?

[Securb]

Your ears will tell you all day long if you're in the box or out of it. They'll take you in and out of the box at will, instantly. Without you having to struggle to recall a thing you crammed into your brain from a book.

Knowledge is power. Learning thoery is not about remembering and appling rules as you play. It is about opening your musical choices and breaking away from playing what might seem familiar or comfortable. After my last album was done I immersed myself in theory and hired a great private instructor. I know if I hadent my solos on the new album would have been rehashes of the same solos from the last album. Listening to the rough mixes I am playing things I didn't even know exsisted a year ago. That excites me and motivates me to learn more.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Happy to hear it worked out great for you

 

[jeremy]

im a good, but not amazing, guitar player but people will come up to me after shows and ask about how i play like that, and i dont really know. ive loved and listened to a lot of music, and ya get what ya get. there are some "out" note choices but i couldnt tell ya what they are

 

[Securb]

Cool tune & solo's! I like the funky bits too

Mostly people just tell you how badly you suck at playing guitar (cuz you don't care for theory) ..and you'll never hear any of them post a note of their own

Never said you suck, but here is some music.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

hahaha....plugging your band? ...Why not?

I wuv doing that myself

Nice stuff & cool solo...I like the sweet dissonance

 

[MikeS]

My guitar playing prowess stalled at a point where if someone said I sounded "unique" that I wouldn't know whether to take it as a compliment or a diss.

 

[Cynical]

Re: the theory discussion... it's fundamentally impossible to write music without knowing theory to at least some degree. Even if that's just "if I play several downstrummed palm-muted open power chords, then one on the first fret, then one on the third fret, it sounds heavy" -- congrats, if you know that, you know some music theory. You have observed the results of creating sounds out of your instrument in one way in such a way that you can apply those results elsewhere -- that's "theory" by definition.

Once you play your first caveman chugs, you know theory, and moreover, you're actively using it by continuing to play the sickest, most ignorant, most filthy and wrong riffs you can manage.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

No punch-ins, no nothing like that. I'm not interested in musical perfection, most of the time; it depends on the song. I aim for musical honesty.

This. I have some of the cheesiest looking/sounding video's ever recorded ...not slick at all. No multi-camera's and fancy angle's and most of my stuff's recorded direct to a loop pedal..

I keep it real, warts and everything ...though I will sometimes add stunning visuals

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: the theory discussion... it's fundamentally impossible to write music without knowing theory to at least some degree. Even if that's just "if I play several downstrummed palm-muted open power chords, then one on the first fret, then one on the third fret, it sounds heavy" -- congrats, if you know that, you know some music theory. You have observed the results of creating sounds out of your instrument in one way in such a way that you can apply those results elsewhere -- that's "theory" by definition.

Once you play your first caveman chugs, you know theory, and moreover, you're actively using it by continuing to play the sickest, most ignorant, most filthy and wrong riffs you can manage.

Ya, but it's whether you're getting it out of a book (or class/teacher/instructional video or w/e) or just coming by it using your ears.. that's what I was talking about.

 

[Cynical]

Ya, but it's whether you're getting it out of a book (or class/teacher/instructional video or w/e) or just coming by it using your ears.. that's what I was talking about.

So, did you spontaneously invent the power chord, or were you shown it by a friend, or did you see it in a tab book somewhere?

 

[Phantasmagoria]

So, did you spontaneously invent the power chord, or were you shown it by a friend, or did you see it in a tab book somewhere?

I was shown it by a friend. But then I did say earlier in this thread I learnt a couple of the mega-basics (incl. a couple of scales) and took it from there...

 

[Phantasmagoria]

If you want to insist I'm a genius at theory I'm cool w/ that

 

[Chistopher]

The only theory you need to know is the first position pentatonic scale and the A, E, and D chords.

Everything is else helps make the journey fast and easy

 

[Cynical]

I was shown it by a friend. But then I did say earlier in this thread I learnt a couple of the mega-basics (incl. a couple of scales) and took it from there...

Well, there you are -- you learned theory from a teacher, and it became the base you built upon! Your playing is built on music theory!

 

[Cynical]

The only theory you need to know is the first position pentatonic scale and the A, E, and D chords.

Everything is else helps make the journey fast and easy

I've been playing for almost 20 years (it'll be 20 years in August), and I don't know how to play an open D chord.

(Open chords don't really come up with the noise I make).

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Never said you suck, but here is some music.

I keep expecting your singer to break out with a Geoff Tate howl!

Good stuff, solid rhythm tones, cool dissonance on the solo, well done.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

So, did you spontaneously invent the power chord, or were you shown it by a friend, or did you see it in a tab book somewhere?

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Well, there you are -- you learned theory from a teacher, and it became the base you built upon! Your playing is built on music theory!

If you say so

Dude was a pothead who was tripping balls all day long, so hardly Yoda ..and he'd started playing himself a week or two earlier....not exactly a fount of musical theory knowledge

Besides I already said I'd learned the barest basics early on. Just never looked at a theory book (or even a pamphlet ) ever.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

I've been playing for almost 20 years (it'll be 20 years in August), and I don't know how to play an open D chord.

(Open chords don't really come up with the noise I make).

I make up my own chords as I go (using my ears). No idea how that works , but it probably has something to do with Zen & instinct

 

[weepingminotaur]

IMO metaphors are not particularly helpful in this discussion, in that you can bring too many variables from whatever metaphoric scenario you're sketching out to either disprove the other person or prove your point, since it's all just general metaphor and not localized in any specific and concrete.

There are phenomenal guitar players who are masters of theory, and phenomenal guitar players who wouldn't know theory if it walked up to them and smacked them upside the head. There are many approaches to uniqueness, but also many different personal backgrounds that inform said approach, as well as a wholly personal set of goals for each player. As long as you are playing and happy with what you're doing and trying to improve, you're OK.