Dare to be different

I came across this while reading a Satch interview recently. He dared to embrace something different. More importantly, he did this for himself. 

I noticed that players here tend to go with what's hype. They wanna feel safe & keep the company of like-minded people. Music is a creative platform & choice embrace should be it. Don't just go with the flow, know why you are going with it. If it doesn't serve you, then move on. Embrace something else. There are choices out there, it's not like you have only one guitar brand, one amp brand, one string brand... you get the drift.

The counter argument here would be - they don't have what I want so I have no choice. This is true as some brands deal directly, dealer-free & we just don't have the means to acquire it, especially the younger players out there who are just starting out, without credit cards. Along the way, as your purchasing power changes, you should exercise your choices. Nevermind if those popular brands work for others, ask yourself if those work for you. Coming back to the creative realm - it's about the artist. 

I just find this quote inspiring. Satch had a particular liking to the Radius model which was discontinued & Ibanez kept this one particular model going which became the current JS model. People around me are either Fender or Gibson players & I made it a point to try those instrument just to find out why they don't really work for me. However, I keep it open on creative grounds; on days when I need a good single coil tone & I know none of my Ibanez could pull it off, I would gladly reach out for the Strat. But coming back to my Ibanez should not be an issue. 😎

Guitar mastery

Came across this quote some days ago. I've been playing for more than a decade. After all those years, I must say that, despite being fluent in certain playing aspects, there's still a deeper discovery waiting to happen when it comes to all things guitar. Come to think of it, despite the same number of frets and strings across players & many playing styles, there's still a fresh manifestation every time the instrument is used to put forth musical ideas. 

As for me, every time I acquire a new instrument, I'd be swayed to think & play in a certain way not that the fresh player-instrument relationship has anything significant going on, but it's that differentiated vibe injecting subliminal behavioural changes. It happens every time. This is the reason why I tend to prefer a certain guitar for certain solo, phrasing or song idea.

PIC: AZ Quotes

Ability & sweat

Very inspired by this quote today. How many times do we see talent go to waste because of its lazy owner? I'm telling myself, in today's rat race, the smarter rats will leverage on talent over time. That comes with much sweat for sure, peppered with resilience at times. It applies to non-talent inclined industry as well with an emphasis on niche capacity. Most of the time, organizations with niche excellence tend to get lazy because nobody else is running the race with them. One fine day, should an alternative surface, offering better all round performance, then our existence will be under threat. We should not be lulled into fulfilment because we know not what lies ahead. It's no longer enough to be talented, we should be proving our worth at all times. 

Worthy quote: John Petrucci

Someone told me I am a collector but I disagree; otherwise I'd be busy hunting collectibles not the potentially abject instruments which I hold dear. But I'm not alone in this, John Petrucci has this to say:

I'm not a guitar collector... I don't have old Les Pauls & Strats or any of that stuff, I just have some Ibanezes & my Music Man guitars. I never went down the road of picking up old guitars. I'm into playing them... 

Why play something else just because it's old? Being old doesn't mean it' great. It might be, it could be awesome - but what I'm playing is perfect for me. It's like having a really perfect glove & someone tells you, 'No, you've got to wear this glove, because it was made in 1960!' But it doesn't fit me & it has holes in it!

When we talk to senior players (especially), they tend to opine that older guitars are better, more appealing & true treasures unlike the compromised production units of today. I believe, those guitars were magical. Something happened to them (referring to production magic of course, not a spell cast in any way). They ended up being appealing more than paltry survivors over time. Some of us would be drawn to this charm while the rest prefer to embrace the contemporary. It's OK to stand by our preferences, yes? But it gets chauvinistic & myopic if we tell people off because they don't align themselves to our liking.

Worthy quote: Devin Townsend

Here's some food for thought from one of the wildest, most aggressive individual (& definitely an under-rated genius) in metaldom: Devin Townsend

... instead of picking up the guitar & riffing until something comes out, try to think of a riff in your head first, then find the notes on the guitar afterwards. The guitar should be a translator for the ideas in your head.

I've fallen into this trap so very often; picked the guitar up, widdled but nothing concrete happened in terms of ideas. Then lethargy took over & suppressed creativity. However, to avoid this frustration, I've learnt to think first before getting into action, have that idea play in my mind before figuring it out on the guitar. What Mr. Townsend said here is definitely a gem of an advice; the guitar is a translator, primarily. It shouldn't take over the player's control of his/ her ideas. But we are often weak-willed, we love to hear our instruments in action first, we often get into this rather subconsciously. So the next time you play, stop; think first before you widdle & get stuck in a rut.

Worthy quote: Guthrie Govan

What GG said in a recent interview: I'm also very into avoiding any situation where I become known as 'the guy who can sound like other people.'

This is a reminder that there are like-minded people like me out there. I strive not to sound like others in terms of tone or playing style. I get put off by people who ask me if I can play like someone else, "Hey, can you play Vai stuff?" Yes, we all started out by emulating our heroes but along the way, we have to disown this phase in life where we can't generate our own music & simply replicate others' ideas. I am a proponent of music, the guitar is my tool. It shouldn't overwhelm me, I should be in control.

Worthy quote: Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa on improving one's playing:

Buy a really cheap guitar. The cheaper the better... and play that for a week.

Before we jump up victoriously & revel in the fact that we do own some of the cheapest guitar this side of planet boutique, we'd like to reflect why we own such instruments. For those of us who are serious players, the cheaper numbers serve as a reality check; if our skills are potent, it doesn't matter how much our guitar costs, we can still play well. This is a situation where true capacity would out-do any material deprivation. On the other hand, the newbies among us would hinge upon the instrument's lesser nature to internalize our abilities, needs & wants, before moving on to other models up the production tiers. All in all, the cheaper instruments would serve us in many ways, we see people with costly guitars who can't really play to save their nuts & are reminded that without the skills, we are actually nothing; our $5,000 guitar can't save us.

On a personal note, I do make it a point to check out the less costly guitars out there because there are some of the most well-crafted & sweet sounding instruments which are ignored because they don't possess the bling.