I taught myself guitar by writing songs. I read all the guitar magazines, back in the day, but for the inspiration of the artist, not to copy them, although I picked up a few chords & scales, here and there. Whenever I attempted to learn someone else's songs, I would invariably stumble onto something cool, which I would then explore, rarely getting more than a few bars into anything before wandering off on my own. I realized that a major theme expounded by most artists was to develop your own style, and not copy anyone else. I soon realized that there are millions of guitarists who can play all the great classics note for note, down to the proper setting of effects, with better "ears," and steeped in theory... But there is only one me, and I am the best at that. Not the path for everyone, but art should be about the artist.
Eddie Van Halen just sat in his room, learned songs by ear and made up stuff to amuse himself. Then he showed it to the world. It all came from just goofing around though, having fun. He had no master plan for chaning the world of music. He did though because he just followed his muse.
Totally agree. Been playing for decades and never once learned a solo by anyone else and most of the time, if I know how to play a song, its because I just heard it so many times, that one day I picked up the guitar and the song just came out of me without trying. Personally, I have no opinion on whether I'm a "good" guitar player or not, that's not important, what matters is that I like what I play and how I play and have improved significantly over the years and have been asked many times to play live with people, but I'm just not interested in playing live anymore, I just like to play for enjoyments sake.
What you have described is almost exactly how i approach playing. i grew up in the 60s 70s 80s ..i had learnt blues and whatever when i was still at high school. i was always very creative and almost too restless to get into any style. i always felt uncomfortable learning things note for note . so i stopped wanting to know any keys . i would say don't tell me the chords i don't want to know. When i started writing songs for my first band i was attracted to art music rather than just music. the more songs i wrote including lyrics the better my playing became.
In my opinion, one of the best examples of this is early Santana. He's got so many instrumentals that are very lyrical and emotional. That and his command of dynamics speak of emotions in most things he played.
One of the things that makes me wonder about guys like Jeff Beck, Gilmour and Lukather is also the fact that they often alternate between playing on the grid and floating in time. This skill used at the right time, makes the solo more organic. It’s really beautiful
Brian May often talks about his guitar as his voice, that he imagines it singing "with something to say" that is as valid (and as lyrical) as the singer, that a guitar solo is actually a duet... Listen to Bijou by Queen to understand this idea precisely; it is an inverted song, where the guitar has the verses, and the singer gets the solo.
I worked for many years in a guitar store, and I had this one customer who was a middle aged man who was mad on Dave Gilmour. One day he came in and started ranting about the fact that he’d bought all this gear off us that was the exact same gear that DG was using at the time, but he still didn’t sound like DG! I kid you not. I said to him, “if Dave Gilmour came into this shop right now (he never did but he would send his tech in to purchase old Millard valves we had), and he picked up a Strat copy and plugged straight into a little 15w Squier amp and he started playing, who do you think he would sound like?” He didn’t reply 😂
I think to be a little more specific, when it comes to getting that more melodic sounding Gilmour and Brian May style, it mostly comes down to 1. Actively listening to everything in the music and not just playing once you know the key 2. Leaving space for the music to breathe and for your notes to stand out more ( since there are less of them, each one means more). 3. Using notes from whatever chord is being played at the moment
This reminds me of how once I was listening to Miles Davis’ rendition of “I Thought About You”, and it suddenly occurred to me that he was “singing” the lyrics with his horn.
Hey David, I really like your videos and your approach to the subject. The "secret" you mention here is exactly what I think and what in my opinion seperates playing music and express yourself from just doing what is "the right thing". I learned autodidactic and was driven to the guitar when I heard (probably 5 or 6 years old) "Samba pa ti" and "Europe" by Santana, surely not the most gifted player on earth, but his tone and "storytelling" was (and is) sooo mesmerizing. And who drove it to perfection for me is Frank Zappa with his ourstanding way of telling the weirdest stuff with his guitar. Keep it up, and live long and prosper! Greetings from old Germany
That was actually a very useful video. The "cheat" to telling a story with the guitar was aperantly under my nose for almost 3 years now and I feel like I can implement it right away. Thanks man!
How right you are. I’m in my mid forties and getting better at playing my favourite songs. But these guys were on another level completely in their 20’s. Another level completely
Zappa Crapa, can't stand his personality, and I never paid much attention to him as a result. Steve Vai has some intriguing stories abt this self centered, know it all of a person....
I think Trey Anastasio said it best one time. He said, "Play the music or melody that's in your head." That's always stuck with me. I think your channel does a great job channeling a very central and important message: *Be Yourself*
You nailed an important phenomenon David... I think it applies to every creative endeavour. Writing, painting, engineering etc. The concept of education being a ladder where you start at the bottom, learn everything that has gone before. Have your progress monitored and affirmed by people higher up the very same ladder. Dissect and regurgitate established tropes, then after all the study, suddenly become original and creative... Not likely! You need to keep the playful childlike inquisitive experimentation alive. Not knowing that their are rules and conventions makes it easier to just do whatever seems good to you. And if it seems good to you, it will appeal to some other people. Music has always seemed like a conversation to me. A phrase has a response which in turn necessitates a further retort. Sometimes all the technical clutter can get in the way of turning inspiration into sound.
You're the first TH-camr that I've ever seen that "gets it". This is a truism for any instrument, any genre, any time. You're not only telling a story with your instrument, but you're also having a conversation with it. I like to point to Duke Ellington's "The Mooch" to illustrate the point. But any good music will also serve. But not only that, get the breathing patterns into your phrasing to drive home the point. People naturally tune into the Human voice, that's also why we're attracted to the mid range instruments as much as we are. It's relatable on a real visceral level.
I think one huge mistake a LOT of guitar players make is having way too little treble and upper mids in their tone. Brian May famously used treble boosters. You need that top end to cut through the mix. You can sound great if you EQ your tone to have more miss and bass if you’re playing alone, but with a band, it’s not going to sound good to the audience.
@@Danaction87 I agree. Don’t scoop mids, cut the bass and dial the mids and treble and it’ll sound much better live. I play bass and as a result I don’t even like playing with lots of lows when I’m playing guitar, I want it to have a light tone that cuts. Let the bass hit and be heard, because you’ll both sound better B)
I can never remember what I was thinking when I'm playing my best. It's literally being in the moment and reacting. What you're doing here is separating yourself from the dogma of rules and tapping into your subconscious.
David, you hit the nail on the head. Thanks for documenting this. I’ve understood this way back after I took a couple of guitar lessons. The more I learned and practiced the less I was feeling, I was thinking instead. After 50 years of playing I now read the words of the songs, and decide at that moment what the story is and what feelings I get. I ask the composer (if available) what the song means to them and what sort of feeling it has for them and especially what it was when they wrote the song. I suggest what I feel and if it is what they would like. When we play the song for the first time we record it and then,after discussing how we “felt” about it then listen to the playback. We found the first take was usually the best. But we also discovered that our moods at other times give it another twist. Sometimes better sometimes….well just different. But it’s always good. Thanks for your confirmation that I have been doing this all along.
You're definitely onto something here. If I try and solo, I devolve into a blues scale pattern, with no feeling. No soul. Its rubbish. I might just try and add feel and not worry about which notes I hit for a while, and see what happens. I'l be on my own during this experiment haha
You're right. I often was blown away by a guy in music store who had monster chops. I'd invite them to come and sit in.. Almost always, they would show up and be sterile or clueless in a REAL gig! Couldn't improvise, listen to get clues from band, try to lead into new themes or kicks. Just NO IMAGINATION left after learning all that theory.
@@G_Demolished You're so right! Matheny, Jaco, Herbie, Corea, So many Juilliard &Berkley players and I played with some not big names that smoked. LISTENING is more important than chops most of the time
I learnt classic Royal School of Music stuff for the violin as a kid. I found it clinical, technical, all about the nuts and bolts of music. I didn't stick with it. When I started playing guitar a short while later it was also classical, and I started to get that same feeling of it being a chore. I did the usual progression thing, enjoyed a short time with a major lable, but after ten or so years life circumstances changed and it was not a biggy to let it all go and drop the playing altogether, I went the other side to FOH and took up live sound. I kept one instrument, a quality Spanish acoustic, and after twenty five years of it gathering dust, and with a sense of guilt for this lovely instrument sat behind the sofa being neglected, I popped into a local guitar shop for some decent strings for it and chewed the fat with the lovely guy running the place explaining my situation with guitars. It was there I learnt about the existence of DAW's and how the scene had moved on. Not wanting to get embroiled in the frustrating scene I'd left I decided to have another go, but to use the tech that was now around to work solo and not be dependent on others. I've set myself a personal mission, and have made a point of staying away from the sterile route of theory and formula and my stuff sounds, and more importantly, feels, right to me. It's working for me. I'm enjoying it more than I ever have, and expression is coming to the fore. Sure, the nuts and bolts matter, but mostly as a means to communicate music. And with me being the audience, and with little need to communicate it to others, I'm chilled about it, grinning about it, and my internal locus of approval is strengthening. I put no effort into sounding like anyone else, but have picked up on the telling a story thing through that, much better than widdly diddly pyro stuff where the locus of approval seems largely external.
Read an interview with Jeff Beck and in it Jeff said that he approached his playing like a vocalist. He mentioned a singer (don’t remember her name) that he’d been sort of channeling for a particular song he was recording. He said something to the effect that he was a really a singer who’s voice is a guitar.
B B King plays fairly simple licks. But, he MOVED us, whether on record or, even better, live. As Bruce Lee said about mastering the Martial Arts, “Emotional content”. technique is important, but without Soul, it’s just notes.
thats his genius- he plays what are seemingly very simple stock licks, but he has perfect touch / feel, that massively lift those licks and give them a real black blues authenticty and gravitas that a lesser player without that magic touch wont be able to create / quite evoke,
It's the difference between playing 'with' feeling and playing 'from' feeling. The former can be copied and replayed as dynamics. The latter is a far more complex psychological process of learning to label emotions and their nuances and connecting these to motor skills. Most people never achieve more than a rudimentary understand of this and musicians are no exception. The story method is very good but it's not a cheat - you're really going much deeper but haven't realised it's potential. For those really stuck, working with an art therapist or music psychologist can help. Keep exploring!
Excellent job of explaining your theory..!.. I always start my Solo, Theme run, hook with a simple lullaby type melody that you can hum. Everyone can hum and when you activate that part of the brain and use the melody/theme to build on it opens so much and gives you a good base of operation..!.. Well said lesson amd valid real life hacks/cheats/points, Great Video..!.. 🔥 🔥 🔥
I don't know what it is about your videos, but it feels like I am watching an old 90s video recording on a roll in TV in my classroom! Not a bad thing at all.
The feeling from within is a gift for sure funny thing is I've been playing for over 30 years I don't know what scales are I mean I do but I don't know I can't read music I write my bass player is a music scholar says that I play in thirds I said what is that he said don't worry about it just keep doing what you're doing LOL I have no idea what I'm doing but it feels good it feels great and I'm very blessed to play music
I've often thought about how many guitarists actually learned guitar fully, and I think many haven't. A lot of players over the years have just played what they wanted to play, and made it sound how they wanted it to sound. It's not about scales or chords, you are the poet and the guitar is your piece of paper. So many players think playing songs or even just a solo from a song makes you an amazing guitarist but the truth is, it doesn't. To play with heart, feeling and to have a smile on your face is the way it should be.
My thing always was when either composing an entire piece or playing over a track, I imagined what I would sing over the track and played that. Works alot of the time. Of course if you're covering a song and want to sound like the record you have some practice to do. But if you're jamming or playing an original piece, making your guitar "sing" is a way to go.
Kirk Hammett has talked about doing just that. I read an interview with him in GW as a teenager where he goes in depth about it. I have tried to approach things from that perspective a lot of the time. Now with a lot of time and experience and a ton of ear work it has gotten to where I can translate what I hear in my head a little easier and more intuitively. On a good day it feels like an extension of myself. Also... I can't whistle but I have always felt that if I could I would be better able to use this technique.
@@joeydurant6267 Whatever works for you. It's a great feeling when you can express what you imagine into the sounds you want to hear in you ears. When I've been able to do this I put on a happy face. 😁 Keep on playing.👍
Excellent vid, David. To paraphrase a well known action star : "Emotional content; don't think, feeel. It's like a finger pointing at the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all the heavenly glory."
Brilliant that all three are from this side of ‘the pond’! Just been listening to Rick Beato’s fantastic interview with Brian May (if you haven’t seen, it’s a ‘must’) and he says he sees his guitar solos as an extension (continuation) of the vocals. Freddie had the solo then he has it for a while before handing it back… Dave Gilmour’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ solos brings tears to my eyes - so beautiful. PS Just discovered your channel. Love it. And I have subscribed! 😉
I seen a old interview with Clapton saying this is exactly what he did . Interviewer tells Clapton he is guitar genius. Clapton says no, All I do is play the words in the song
Awesome video Man! I've also found that just ditching tabs and lesson videos or even using guitar videos in order to "spoon feed" yourself a song, and just learning a song by ear can really get you into this type of mindset. Especially if they feature the kind of guitarists you mention in this video. You get into this mode of, how can I use my fingers to make these sounds. You're playing with your ears and your fingers are just a tool. Your ears are calling the shots, so to speak. Not your fingers!! It's like what your fingers are doing are just the raw computer code and what you're experiencing is the video game. Learning old songs that you are super familiar with as a fan can be such a revelation, like. oh that's what they were doing!! By learning super melodic vocal like leads is bound to have an impact on your own playing if you make it your intention to do so.
I stumbled upon this trick myself many years ago. My soloes always seem to "pop" more when I am singing a phrase, particularly an emotionally laden one, or even just a word, along with it in my head. The phrasing also seems to flow more naturally. Usually I just grab something from the lyric of the song, often whatever the last line was going into the solo. The only trouble I have is that I often forget to use this technique. I also forget about dynamics sometimes and just get obsessed with notes, which leads to really lacklustre playing. Not sure if anybody has any techniques for REMEMBERING these little tricks and employing them more consistently. I wish I had simply been taught them when I first learned my instrument, instead of such an emphasis being placed on playing notes.
Watched multiple interviews from multiple guitarists I admire. I caught something very similar from a few of them. The idea was... how do you make a guitar "sing"? They all stated something like (duh), "Hear the words a singer would sing in your head... with all its inflections... and play it". Make the guitar try to sound like it literally is "singing" those words. Make the guitar the vocalist. It changes everything. Of course, its not likely anyone can do that right away.... you have to experiment for some time. But... like you said, the idea of scales and theory leave... entirely... and you learn how to find the pitch and vibrato on the guitar naturally, without over thinking. I think the best exercise is to play a game.. have the vocalist (or even yourself) sing a phrase, try to mimic that with a guitar. Keep doing that and you can improvise almost anything and it will always be unique. I think its best with other singers/vocalists because you can hear the harmony and they will inherently have many differing nuances to their approach and style that broadens the spectrum. Plus, they can give seriously valuable feedback. Would like to see an episode on that: Bring a vocalist. Play the mimic game. See how close you can get the guitar to "sing" their phrases.
2:45, what Jeff Beck song is that? It sounds like something I've heard Masayoshi Takanaka play before and now iI'm wondering if it was covering Jeff Beck.
There are many players of instruments that copy artists to the point where they almost sound like the artist but not quite making it which can cause frustration to those type of players. Then there are artists who don't copy anyone else's way of playing the instruments. After learning some basic sounds, riffs, etc. they find their own sounds that enter their minds first, then transfers to their bodily movements, hands and fingers. It's very similar in how a good speaker learns how to speak, not only with the voice and the way the sounds are coming from the voice but with the entire body. Some speakers stand still behind a pulpit and rattle out words without much movement of the body. They are very boring no matter what words they speak. What makes a good speaker interesting is how the words are delivered from the voice in various tones ( higher and lower frequencies ) and loudness and softness. The body movements are just as important as the sounds coming from the mouth to keep the audience focused on the speaker. Now, think about watching Michael Jackson singing and dancing without having to play any instrument.
Part way through watching this I was thinking “dude, just _feel it_ man, let that music structure stuff go, you’re over-systemizing a way to get out of over-systemizing, you’re exchanging complex for a different kind of complex.” But it’s not. It’s simple, it’s a way to break out of a rut. This is pretty brilliant! I’m benefitting from your hours (probably weeks or months) of puzzling this out. Thank you! ✌️😌🎸
👍 I started to play out of The Bible.. AND just WOW!!! Started with " Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth ".. I think it was one of UR vids, when you talked more of this consept that made me just trying it!! so THNX!! AND BLESS U!! Hope you feeling better now, from all things that happend to you? Take Care man! KB
this is absolutely wonderful. I have coached a few other players into the basics of improve by having them hum some notes they feel fits a backing track and then to find them on the fretboard. gets you translating. works. also a question: have you ever noticed how many of gilmore's phrases on lead guitar are similar to sax phrasing (he did grow up on sax)? also, have you ever notices EVH phrasing is similar to a big band clarinet? it's light, fast, fluttery and swings like crazy. someone needs to do a video on this. go!
It's called Breath Dynamics. Think about it this way - if you're playing a woodwind or brass instrument, the sound only comes out when you breathe into the mouthpiece. When you inhale a breath, the playing has to stop. The same thing happens with singers. All their phrasing is based on breathing out through the notes. Gilmore does this. And you can too. Do this. Practice your scales to a metronome. Doesn't matter what scale or mode. Now, only play notes of the scale when you breathe out, pausing as you breathe in. Repeat. If you want to hear it in action, listen to trumpet solos and sax solos and learn those melodies on guitar.
Practice expressing particular emotions through your playing, tie those emotions to your story, then tell it on your guitar. It's like method acting for music.
David G first played sax. EVH was raised on big band (clarinet). Great hack. When someone tells me they can’t play lead I ask them if they can hum along some lead ideas to a backing track. If yes, I have them emulate what they on guitar. It usually works.
Watch the video by Barney Kessel - Jazz guitar improvisation : progressive concepts. He talks about all of this and more. He was a member of wrecking crew!
Even The Beatles started as a cover band playing the music of other artists. And guess what… the didn’t try to sound like the originals. They INTERPRETED the originals using their unique style…
when you started playing " rhyme and reason " style it reminded of Neal Schon of Journey. He's a great guitar player and very expressive in his playing.
I saw him in 1979. One of the few concerts from that long ago I can remember. Steve would sing his part and then Neil would just step forward and shred on every song❤
Very good insight. I'm not sure I would call it a cheat, more like a revelation on how to connect with your subconscious mind & let go of all the technical chatter about music theory in your conscious mind. I made up this crazy exercise of creating solos on just 1 string. I would play different solos on each string ,but I'm not allowed to use any other string.It really helped me instinctively learn the fretboard & not think so much during solos.Anyway,great channel & so many thanks for taking the time to pass on your wisdom.
If I may offer this, "the Cheat" is using all the Theory and Technique to ATTEMPT to achieve that "Feeling". The real thing is playing from your heart. Theory and Technique are important but will never replace Feeling. Over the years, (1963 - 2022) I've noticed as I learned and focused on new Theory or Technique, the Feeling took a back seat for that moment.
Good stuff but the missing element Is the team. Nobody cheated or took a weird shortcut necessarily but they worked together as a team not just the band but the engineers and the producers. Another huge advantage they have is their recording ideas and then moving on to new ideas. When you write and record you are forced to do something new and different. Most amateurs never write and record so they keep doing the same thing over and over again.
I was going to comment it's who you're with & they're not cheats - I listen to Daoly Doug do his pink floyd commentary. Richard Wright was classicalky trained keyboards & Dave Gilmour interacted with him so well each taking over from the other. They may go off a bit obscure but can return to the origin where classical training has the asvantage of buying shhet music & just copying whay they play. & yep Brian May might not know indepth theory but he has the ear & he said in an interview on bohemian rhapsody he wanted to follow the melody in the guitar lead.
i started learning their songs for fun before even knowing scales existed then when i discovered, "oh, this is what people use to write solos" i realised "oh damn, comfortably numb, stairway to heaven, shine on you crazy diamond, whole lotta love, voodoo child slight return, voodoo chile all match the shape of these scales" and it clicked i didn't get stuck in the improvised soloing thing where you basically play the scale and call it a solo, because i had already learnt songs that use aeolian (pentatonic wasn't the first scale i learnt, i saw pentatonic, then i saw aeolian and thought it was just the better pentatonic, so i just learnt that instead and skipped pentatonic) and so im way behind on my theory work, but i still kinda understand it at the same time so now when i improvise, i understand the licks that i learnt and can join them together coherently and i don't think about scales at all, just what feels natural and what sounds cool i noticed that a lot of players play the note just flat of the root note occasionally, so i incorporate that in my playing too. i have no idea what scale i am using, nor if there is one but i just play aeolian with the blue note and add the note flatter than the root note because he sounds cool and more technical using aeolian than just pentatonic and i feel like i know more about music and makes me feel cooler when playing even though i don't have a damn clue why it sounds good
Gilmour learned to sing and play lead guitar at the same time. That’s the cheat. Brain to voice, then transcribe voice to guitar. IDK about Brian May, but John Mayer sings his leads before he learns them on guitar
Its expressive emotional compositional writing. You have to have an innate quality to express yourself through your own invention expression and imagination.Let these attributes pour out and release from your heart and then play them/ translate them on your guitar, what your head and heart says and this will grow ..............and blossom..............
Some tips to become "more melodic" when playing. 1---Sing, hum or whistle the solo, record it then try and copy what you just did. 2--Play everything on 1 or 2 strings. This automatically forces you out of predictable boxes, patterns and cliches. 3---"Pretend" you are one of your heroes and try and lay down a solo that sounds like that player on purpose....Then do it with a couple more heroes. See what comes up. Then mix them altogether. 4---Practice playing melodies. Seems obvious doesn't it? If you want to play more melodic,....then play melodies. Anything will do. Happy Birthday, National Anthems, Christmas Songs, Commercial, those charming folk songs we all learned in Hal Leonard and Mel Bay books....all good. ........I know you can play all that stuff,...BUT....when was the last time you did? On command, just one memorable melody after another, that everyone knows and can sing to, without having to think about it or fumble around. It trains your ear, melodic sense and helps you with your own phrasing. (Then try it in different keys and tempo.) ...Also you will be a real hit around the campfire with an acoustic. Good Luck. Cheers!
Kiko Loureiro talks about this with Rick Beato, how he imagines solos for example (through a picture) and how he sees Marty Friedman thinking about stuff while playing his licks in Megadeth...he even says, "i dont think about scales or modes" even though he knows them, he knows theory very well.
I've looking at it this way ever since watching Carlos Santana talking about teaching w friend to play and explaining that when you play two notes, try to tell someone to f'ck off with them; literally "f'ck you." The other thing was when I listened to music, I paid way more attention to the singer than the guitar player. Later I'd use the song as a platform to improvise over, but repeat what I heard the singer doing, not the guitar.
I personally never had that problem I taught myself to play by watching my dad listening to music and watching live performances I don’t know what I sound like but I certainly don’t have a clue what I’m doing
I never tried theory or learning solos note for note. I'd play along to records and try to match the feel, learning a couple key riffs here and there, but mostly just winging it on the fly. It probably made me a worse guitar player than most, but I still got reasonably accomplished at it, and I sounded like me. I think there's a balance there... Theory and all that is great, but if you have nothing to express through your instrument that is truly you, you're just replicating someone else's expressions. Sometimes I think guitar players need to bag the scales and theory, and just play, and work off that.
David ... luv you for that particular video. I am in my own universe at guitar and ever was. I am a miserable player by public expectation, which i give a damn about. All these decades i fundamentally always used this thing as a voice. The most simplistic cowboy chord Am is enough to paint a whole drawing. One that presumably only the painter understand the meaning of, but he/she does, and that matters. Everything else is bonus, meaning if other people too get an idea of what is being expressed here.
What strings are on your guitar? - it's just a question, your reasoning (thoughts) are absolutely correct and speak of musical and creative maturity, ... thanks!
It is a absolute truth. Malmsteen is a priest who is singing ancient liturgy from a 17th century priest. The Gilmour is a vagabond wandering minstrel playing from a source of pain, war. A real troubadour of the human condition as it is. Malmsteen is playing a liturgical document of how men should be. It is a big difference between Bach. vs Whiskey in the Jar.
I loved this video. Yes, detach from all you have learned, and just 'play'. I played like this for years in blues, and it was magic, now though, I learned an exotic scale, then learned it all the way up and down the fretboard in E on a 24 fret, and wherever I can fit that, or just in the regular position for a scale. Now, I detach in the exotic scale. I can barely remember the blues scale, or any other scale; I just practice this new exotic scale. Our band now has this as our favorite scale, like Tool.
Seems a bit like the guitar equivalent of method acting... "Laurence Olivier famously expressed his disdain for method acting when filming the 1976 film Marathon Man. Exasperated with the lengths his co-star Dustin Hoffman was going to for his role, he asked: "My dear boy, why don't you just try acting?"" I feel a bit the same about this, but then I love Dustin Hoffman... P.S. I should have said I enjoyed the video, thanks!
You have to be great for one. Sure! Anyone can. But not everyone can have a creative team of people with the same vision and sound. That's the difference! When a bunch of unique and creative individuals get together to create music, they create magic. That's what people are missing. Because it's hard to get! You are right, they cracked the code by doing it their own way whilst crafting their sound with others as a group. Never alone
This really highlights the absurdity of plagiarism suits in music… not the blatant ones like Queen/Vanilla Ice, but the more recent court cases that sue over 3 or 4 note progressions… stupid.
I thought everybody played this way? The point to learning all the technical stuff was to "get it into your fingers" (muscle memory) so you could then forget it and just play. Of course we all know that's MUCH easier SAID than DONE, but that's the idea. I've only recently gotten to the point I can pick up my guitar and the theory fades away and I can start thinking about what I want to say - and I've been working hard on this journey for eight. years now. This now leads me to the phase of coming up with better things to say, but that's a whole other problem!
I taught myself guitar by writing songs. I read all the guitar magazines, back in the day, but for the inspiration of the artist, not to copy them, although I picked up a few chords & scales, here and there. Whenever I attempted to learn someone else's songs, I would invariably stumble onto something cool, which I would then explore, rarely getting more than a few bars into anything before wandering off on my own. I realized that a major theme expounded by most artists was to develop your own style, and not copy anyone else. I soon realized that there are millions of guitarists who can play all the great classics note for note, down to the proper setting of effects, with better "ears," and steeped in theory... But there is only one me, and I am the best at that. Not the path for everyone, but art should be about the artist.
Eddie Van Halen just sat in his room, learned songs by ear and made up stuff to amuse himself. Then he showed it to the world. It all came from just goofing around though, having fun. He had no master plan for chaning the world of music. He did though because he just followed his muse.
Totally agree. Been playing for decades and never once learned a solo by anyone else and most of the time, if I know how to play a song, its because I just heard it so many times, that one day I picked up the guitar and the song just came out of me without trying. Personally, I have no opinion on whether I'm a "good" guitar player or not, that's not important, what matters is that I like what I play and how I play and have improved significantly over the years and have been asked many times to play live with people, but I'm just not interested in playing live anymore, I just like to play for enjoyments sake.
What you have described is almost exactly how i approach playing. i grew up in the 60s 70s 80s ..i had learnt blues and whatever when i was still at high school. i was always very creative and almost too restless to get into any style. i always felt uncomfortable learning things note for note . so i stopped wanting to know any keys . i would say don't tell me the chords i don't want to know. When i started writing songs for my first band i was attracted to art music rather than just music. the more songs i wrote including lyrics the better my playing became.
You Nailed it 🔥
Same here.
In my opinion, one of the best examples of this is early Santana. He's got so many instrumentals that are very lyrical and emotional. That and his command of dynamics speak of emotions in most things he played.
One of the things that makes me wonder about guys like Jeff Beck, Gilmour and Lukather is also the fact that they often alternate between playing on the grid and floating in time. This skill used at the right time, makes the solo more organic. It’s really beautiful
Brian May often talks about his guitar as his voice, that he imagines it singing "with something to say" that is as valid (and as lyrical) as the singer, that a guitar solo is actually a duet...
Listen to Bijou by Queen to understand this idea precisely; it is an inverted song, where the guitar has the verses, and the singer gets the solo.
Yes. The whammy bar is just like vibrato when singing. I saw him say that once.
I worked for many years in a guitar store, and I had this one customer who was a middle aged man who was mad on Dave Gilmour.
One day he came in and started ranting about the fact that he’d bought all this gear off us that was the exact same gear that DG was using at the time, but he still didn’t sound like DG!
I kid you not.
I said to him, “if Dave Gilmour came into this shop right now (he never did but he would send his tech in to purchase old Millard valves we had), and he picked up a Strat copy and plugged straight into a little 15w Squier amp and he started playing, who do you think he would sound like?”
He didn’t reply 😂
Brilliant
You should be influenced by players you love. Never try to be them. They couldn't be you. We can only be who we are.
That is mean.
@@wolfgangdevries127 don’t be daft, it’s the truth.
🤔Slash 😳?... 🤣🤣
I think to be a little more specific, when it comes to getting that more melodic sounding Gilmour and Brian May style, it mostly comes down to
1. Actively listening to everything in the music and not just playing once you know the key
2. Leaving space for the music to breathe and for your notes to stand out more ( since there are less of them, each one means more).
3. Using notes from whatever chord is being played at the moment
Rule 2, as you wrote them, is THE most important thing to learn.
Breath dynamics in solos is one of the most important parts of phrasing.
This reminds me of how once I was listening to Miles Davis’ rendition of “I Thought About You”, and it suddenly occurred to me that he was “singing” the lyrics with his horn.
I've always said when you're playing a lead break you're telling a story, with a beginning, a middle and an end.
Clapton is also a master of thism
@@fatkitty4207 Absolutely.
That's a BB King quote!!
@@bryanfalcho6293 So that's where I got it. Thanks.
Ur stealing a BB KING line, shame, for shame...LOL, JK great advice
I love your guitar philosophical videos. It’s different than anyone else and they always make me think outside the box
Agreed
Bingo! Not now John we’ve got to get on with this….gotta get on, gotta get on…gotta get on with the show….
Hey David, I really like your videos and your approach to the subject. The "secret" you mention here is exactly what I think and what in my opinion seperates playing music and express yourself from just doing what is "the right thing". I learned autodidactic and was driven to the guitar when I heard (probably 5 or 6 years old) "Samba pa ti" and "Europe" by Santana, surely not the most gifted player on earth, but his tone and "storytelling" was (and is) sooo mesmerizing. And who drove it to perfection for me is Frank Zappa with his ourstanding way of telling the weirdest stuff with his guitar. Keep it up, and live long and prosper! Greetings from old Germany
That was actually a very useful video. The "cheat" to telling a story with the guitar was aperantly under my nose for almost 3 years now and I feel like I can implement it right away. Thanks man!
How right you are. I’m in my mid forties and getting better at playing my favourite songs. But these guys were on another level completely in their 20’s. Another level completely
Frank Zappa was explicit about this. He stated that his guitar solos were derived from human vocal speech patterns.
Derek Trucks as well but of the human singing voice
Warren Haynes too. The question? What do you want to say and what do you feel?
Zappa Crapa, can't stand his personality, and I never paid much attention to him as a result. Steve Vai has some intriguing stories abt this self centered, know it all of a person....
@@bryanfalcho6293 good for you
@@Bbbbad724 that’s why Keith Richards said “ it’s not how you play, it’s what you play !!’ ….. 🙏👍🏻
I think Trey Anastasio said it best one time. He said, "Play the music or melody that's in your head." That's always stuck with me. I think your channel does a great job channeling a very central and important message: *Be Yourself*
You nailed an important phenomenon David...
I think it applies to every creative endeavour. Writing, painting, engineering etc.
The concept of education being a ladder where you start at the bottom, learn everything that has gone before. Have your progress monitored and affirmed by people higher up the very same ladder. Dissect and regurgitate established tropes, then after all the study, suddenly become original and creative... Not likely!
You need to keep the playful childlike inquisitive experimentation alive. Not knowing that their are rules and conventions makes it easier to just do whatever seems good to you. And if it seems good to you, it will appeal to some other people.
Music has always seemed like a conversation to me. A phrase has a response which in turn necessitates a further retort.
Sometimes all the technical clutter can get in the way of turning inspiration into sound.
You're the first TH-camr that I've ever seen that "gets it". This is a truism for any instrument, any genre, any time. You're not only telling a story with your instrument, but you're also having a conversation with it. I like to point to Duke Ellington's "The Mooch" to illustrate the point. But any good music will also serve. But not only that, get the breathing patterns into your phrasing to drive home the point. People naturally tune into the Human voice, that's also why we're attracted to the mid range instruments as much as we are. It's relatable on a real visceral level.
Brian May is an incredibly unique player. Great solos, great riffs and great tone.
I think one huge mistake a LOT of guitar players make is having way too little treble and upper mids in their tone. Brian May famously used treble boosters. You need that top end to cut through the mix. You can sound great if you EQ your tone to have more miss and bass if you’re playing alone, but with a band, it’s not going to sound good to the audience.
@@Danaction87 You have been understanding wrong about treble booster.
@@a.a486 what’s the right way to understand them?
@@Danaction87 I agree. Don’t scoop mids, cut the bass and dial the mids and treble and it’ll sound much better live. I play bass and as a result I don’t even like playing with lots of lows when I’m playing guitar, I want it to have a light tone that cuts. Let the bass hit and be heard, because you’ll both sound better B)
I think a lot of his solos are more composed. I did read that about him years ago
I can never remember what I was thinking when I'm playing my best. It's literally being in the moment and reacting.
What you're doing here is separating yourself from the dogma of rules and tapping into your subconscious.
David, you hit the nail on the head. Thanks for documenting this.
I’ve understood this way back after I took a couple of guitar lessons. The more I learned and practiced the less I was feeling, I was thinking instead.
After 50 years of playing I now read the words of the songs, and decide at that moment what the story is and what feelings I get. I ask the composer (if available) what the song means to them and what sort of feeling it has for them and especially what it was when they wrote the song. I suggest what I feel and if it is what they would like. When we play the song for the first time we record it and then,after discussing how we “felt” about it then listen to the playback. We found the first take was usually the best. But we also discovered that our moods at other times give it another twist. Sometimes better sometimes….well just different. But it’s always good.
Thanks for your confirmation that I have been doing this all along.
You're definitely onto something here. If I try and solo, I devolve into a blues scale pattern, with no feeling. No soul. Its rubbish.
I might just try and add feel and not worry about which notes I hit for a while, and see what happens. I'l be on my own during this experiment haha
You're right. I often was blown away by a guy in music store who had monster chops. I'd invite them to come and sit in.. Almost always, they would show up and be sterile or clueless in a REAL gig! Couldn't improvise, listen to get clues from band, try to lead into new themes or kicks. Just NO IMAGINATION left after learning all that theory.
Learning theory is not the problem. It’s learning theory without learning how to play with others.
@@G_Demolished You're so right! Matheny, Jaco, Herbie, Corea, So many Juilliard &Berkley players and I played with some not big names that smoked. LISTENING is more important than chops most of the time
I learnt classic Royal School of Music stuff for the violin as a kid. I found it clinical, technical, all about the nuts and bolts of music. I didn't stick with it. When I started playing guitar a short while later it was also classical, and I started to get that same feeling of it being a chore. I did the usual progression thing, enjoyed a short time with a major lable, but after ten or so years life circumstances changed and it was not a biggy to let it all go and drop the playing altogether, I went the other side to FOH and took up live sound. I kept one instrument, a quality Spanish acoustic, and after twenty five years of it gathering dust, and with a sense of guilt for this lovely instrument sat behind the sofa being neglected, I popped into a local guitar shop for some decent strings for it and chewed the fat with the lovely guy running the place explaining my situation with guitars. It was there I learnt about the existence of DAW's and how the scene had moved on. Not wanting to get embroiled in the frustrating scene I'd left I decided to have another go, but to use the tech that was now around to work solo and not be dependent on others. I've set myself a personal mission, and have made a point of staying away from the sterile route of theory and formula and my stuff sounds, and more importantly, feels, right to me. It's working for me. I'm enjoying it more than I ever have, and expression is coming to the fore. Sure, the nuts and bolts matter, but mostly as a means to communicate music. And with me being the audience, and with little need to communicate it to others, I'm chilled about it, grinning about it, and my internal locus of approval is strengthening. I put no effort into sounding like anyone else, but have picked up on the telling a story thing through that, much better than widdly diddly pyro stuff where the locus of approval seems largely external.
Read an interview with Jeff Beck and in it Jeff said that he approached his playing like a vocalist. He mentioned a singer (don’t remember her name) that he’d been sort of channeling for a particular song he was recording. He said something to the effect that he was a really a singer who’s voice is a guitar.
Bends bbbyyyy it’s the expression within those moments shows the heart of a player
Tell a story was told to me years ago. Your advice is spot on.
B B King plays fairly simple licks. But, he MOVED us, whether on record or, even better, live. As Bruce Lee said about mastering the Martial Arts, “Emotional content”.
technique is important, but without Soul, it’s just notes.
thats his genius- he plays what are seemingly very simple stock licks, but he has perfect touch / feel, that massively lift those licks and give them a real black blues authenticty and gravitas that a lesser player without that magic touch wont be able to create / quite evoke,
It's the difference between playing 'with' feeling and playing 'from' feeling. The former can be copied and replayed as dynamics. The latter is a far more complex psychological process of learning to label emotions and their nuances and connecting these to motor skills. Most people never achieve more than a rudimentary understand of this and musicians are no exception. The story method is very good but it's not a cheat - you're really going much deeper but haven't realised it's potential. For those really stuck, working with an art therapist or music psychologist can help. Keep exploring!
Excellent job of explaining your theory..!.. I always start my Solo, Theme run, hook with a simple lullaby type melody that you can hum. Everyone can hum and when you activate that part of the brain and use the melody/theme to build on it opens so much and gives you a good base of operation..!.. Well said lesson amd valid real life hacks/cheats/points, Great Video..!.. 🔥 🔥 🔥
Emotion.
Yes.
Exatally.
_"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat."_ - Jeff Beck, at Ronnie Scott's.
Stuck it in and broke it off. Best DVD EVER !!!
I don't know what it is about your videos, but it feels like I am watching an old 90s video recording on a roll in TV in my classroom! Not a bad thing at all.
The feeling from within is a gift for sure funny thing is I've been playing for over 30 years I don't know what scales are I mean I do but I don't know I can't read music I write my bass player is a music scholar says that I play in thirds I said what is that he said don't worry about it just keep doing what you're doing LOL I have no idea what I'm doing but it feels good it feels great and I'm very blessed to play music
I've often thought about how many guitarists actually learned guitar fully, and I think many haven't. A lot of players over the years have just played what they wanted to play, and made it sound how they wanted it to sound. It's not about scales or chords, you are the poet and the guitar is your piece of paper.
So many players think playing songs or even just a solo from a song makes you an amazing guitarist but the truth is, it doesn't. To play with heart, feeling and to have a smile on your face is the way it should be.
My thing always was when either composing an entire piece or playing over a track, I imagined what I would sing over the track and played that. Works alot of the time. Of course if you're covering a song and want to sound like the record you have some practice to do. But if you're jamming or playing an original piece, making your guitar "sing" is a way to go.
Kirk Hammett has talked about doing just that. I read an interview with him in GW as a teenager where he goes in depth about it. I have tried to approach things from that perspective a lot of the time. Now with a lot of time and experience and a ton of ear work it has gotten to where I can translate what I hear in my head a little easier and more intuitively. On a good day it feels like an extension of myself. Also... I can't whistle but I have always felt that if I could I would be better able to use this technique.
@@joeydurant6267 Whatever works for you. It's a great feeling when you can express what you imagine into the sounds you want to hear in you ears. When I've been able to do this I put on a happy face. 😁
Keep on playing.👍
Excellent vid, David. To paraphrase a well known action star : "Emotional content; don't think, feeel. It's like a finger pointing at the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all the heavenly glory."
Brilliant that all three are from this side of ‘the pond’! Just been listening to Rick Beato’s fantastic interview with Brian May (if you haven’t seen, it’s a ‘must’) and he says he sees his guitar solos as an extension (continuation) of the vocals. Freddie had the solo then he has it for a while before handing it back…
Dave Gilmour’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ solos brings tears to my eyes - so beautiful. PS Just discovered your channel. Love it. And I have subscribed! 😉
Throbbing Gristle talked about this - by learning standard chords and scales you're already molded to be like everyone else who learns the same.
I seen a old interview with Clapton saying this is exactly what he did . Interviewer tells Clapton he is guitar genius. Clapton says no, All I do is play the words in the song
Playing with the heart is the way to go. Bringing together the melody, harmony and rhythm takes practice, hours of practice.
Very useful. So obvious, yet so obscure. Thanks!!
Awesome video Man! I've also found that just ditching tabs and lesson videos or even using guitar videos in order to "spoon feed" yourself a song, and just learning a song by ear can really get you into this type of mindset. Especially if they feature the kind of guitarists you mention in this video. You get into this mode of, how can I use my fingers to make these sounds. You're playing with your ears and your fingers are just a tool. Your ears are calling the shots, so to speak. Not your fingers!! It's like what your fingers are doing are just the raw computer code and what you're experiencing is the video game. Learning old songs that you are super familiar with as a fan can be such a revelation, like. oh that's what they were doing!! By learning super melodic vocal like leads is bound to have an impact on your own playing if you make it your intention to do so.
I stumbled upon this trick myself many years ago. My soloes always seem to "pop" more when I am singing a phrase, particularly an emotionally laden one, or even just a word, along with it in my head. The phrasing also seems to flow more naturally. Usually I just grab something from the lyric of the song, often whatever the last line was going into the solo. The only trouble I have is that I often forget to use this technique. I also forget about dynamics sometimes and just get obsessed with notes, which leads to really lacklustre playing. Not sure if anybody has any techniques for REMEMBERING these little tricks and employing them more consistently. I wish I had simply been taught them when I first learned my instrument, instead of such an emphasis being placed on playing notes.
Watched multiple interviews from multiple guitarists I admire. I caught something very similar from a few of them. The idea was... how do you make a guitar "sing"? They all stated something like (duh), "Hear the words a singer would sing in your head... with all its inflections... and play it". Make the guitar try to sound like it literally is "singing" those words. Make the guitar the vocalist. It changes everything.
Of course, its not likely anyone can do that right away.... you have to experiment for some time. But... like you said, the idea of scales and theory leave... entirely... and you learn how to find the pitch and vibrato on the guitar naturally, without over thinking. I think the best exercise is to play a game.. have the vocalist (or even yourself) sing a phrase, try to mimic that with a guitar. Keep doing that and you can improvise almost anything and it will always be unique. I think its best with other singers/vocalists because you can hear the harmony and they will inherently have many differing nuances to their approach and style that broadens the spectrum. Plus, they can give seriously valuable feedback.
Would like to see an episode on that: Bring a vocalist. Play the mimic game. See how close you can get the guitar to "sing" their phrases.
2:45, what Jeff Beck song is that? It sounds like something I've heard Masayoshi Takanaka play before and now iI'm wondering if it was covering Jeff Beck.
"Cause we ended as lovers"...th-cam.com/video/VC02wGj5gPw/w-d-xo.html
There are many players of instruments that copy artists to the point where they almost sound like the artist but not quite making it which can cause frustration to those type of players. Then there are artists who don't copy anyone else's way of playing the instruments. After learning some basic sounds, riffs, etc. they find their own sounds that enter their minds first, then transfers to their bodily movements, hands and fingers. It's very similar in how a good speaker learns how to speak, not only with the voice and the way the sounds are coming from the voice but with the entire body. Some speakers stand still behind a pulpit and rattle out words without much movement of the body. They are very boring no matter what words they speak. What makes a good speaker interesting is how the words are delivered from the voice in various tones ( higher and lower frequencies ) and loudness and softness. The body movements are just as important as the sounds coming from the mouth to keep the audience focused on the speaker. Now, think about watching Michael Jackson singing and dancing without having to play any instrument.
The Cheat is called a Telecaster
Part way through watching this I was thinking “dude, just _feel it_ man, let that music structure stuff go, you’re over-systemizing a way to get out of over-systemizing, you’re exchanging complex for a different kind of complex.”
But it’s not. It’s simple, it’s a way to break out of a rut. This is pretty brilliant! I’m benefitting from your hours (probably weeks or months) of puzzling this out. Thank you! ✌️😌🎸
Thank you so much man!
👍 I started to play out of The Bible.. AND just WOW!!! Started with " Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth ".. I think it was one of UR vids, when you talked more of this consept that made me just trying it!! so THNX!! AND BLESS U!! Hope you feeling better now, from all things that happend to you? Take Care man! KB
this is absolutely wonderful. I have coached a few other players into the basics of improve by having them hum some notes they feel fits a backing track and then to find them on the fretboard. gets you translating. works.
also a question: have you ever noticed how many of gilmore's phrases on lead guitar are similar to sax phrasing (he did grow up on sax)? also, have you ever notices EVH phrasing is similar to a big band clarinet? it's light, fast, fluttery and swings like crazy.
someone needs to do a video on this. go!
It's called Breath Dynamics.
Think about it this way - if you're playing a woodwind or brass instrument, the sound only comes out when you breathe into the mouthpiece. When you inhale a breath, the playing has to stop.
The same thing happens with singers. All their phrasing is based on breathing out through the notes.
Gilmore does this. And you can too.
Do this. Practice your scales to a metronome. Doesn't matter what scale or mode. Now, only play notes of the scale when you breathe out, pausing as you breathe in. Repeat.
If you want to hear it in action, listen to trumpet solos and sax solos and learn those melodies on guitar.
Your channel is different and original and I really like it 👍
Practice expressing particular emotions through your playing, tie those emotions to your story, then tell it on your guitar. It's like method acting for music.
David G first played sax. EVH was raised on big band (clarinet). Great hack. When someone tells me they can’t play lead I ask them if they can hum along some lead ideas to a backing track. If yes, I have them emulate what they on guitar. It usually works.
Watch the video by Barney Kessel - Jazz guitar improvisation : progressive concepts. He talks about all of this and more. He was a member of wrecking crew!
I felt exactly like that when I heard Clapton, I said the difference between him and other guys is he tells a story through his playing.
Even The Beatles started as a cover band playing the music of other artists. And guess what… the didn’t try to sound like the originals. They INTERPRETED the originals using their unique style…
*David Gilmour was a sax player before he was a guitarist, theat's why he does those bends and slides up to notes in his melodic phrasing*
Reminds me of Clapton playing Blue Moon to start the solo in Sunshine Of Your Love. I'm not sure if that was intentional.
we learn all they rules and then they break all the rules .thats why its so difficult to copy them i think
when you started playing " rhyme and reason " style it reminded of Neal Schon of Journey. He's a great guitar player and very expressive in his playing.
I saw him in 1979. One of the few concerts from that long ago I can remember. Steve would sing his part and then Neil would just step forward and shred on every song❤
Fascinating.... Similarily, I've often hummed my leads as I improvise them.... it makes them way way better. Will experiment with using words instead.
Very good insight. I'm not sure I would call it a cheat, more like a revelation on how to connect with your subconscious mind & let go of all the technical chatter about music theory in your conscious mind. I made up this crazy exercise of creating solos on just 1 string. I would play different solos on each string ,but I'm not allowed to use any other string.It really helped me instinctively learn the fretboard & not think so much during solos.Anyway,great channel & so many thanks for taking the time to pass on your wisdom.
Thanks so much! You’re right, it’s definitely not a cheat or even a hack. It’s just a little bit of Clickbait to get people to click.
So glad I found your channel
Playing only on theory without feeling is like writing a book just because you can spell and grammar.
Thanks for clarifying a way to transfer it.
Gamechanger, love it
Far out solid and right on David!
awesome. This reminds me that I think I read Steve Vai recommending something like this in a guitar player interview long ago
Outstanding video dude!
If I may offer this, "the Cheat" is using all the Theory and Technique to ATTEMPT to achieve that "Feeling". The real thing is playing from your heart. Theory and Technique are important but will never replace Feeling. Over the years, (1963 - 2022) I've noticed as I learned and focused on new Theory or Technique, the Feeling took a back seat for that moment.
Good stuff but the missing element Is the team. Nobody cheated or took a weird shortcut necessarily but they worked together as a team not just the band but the engineers and the producers. Another huge advantage they have is their recording ideas and then moving on to new ideas. When you write and record you are forced to do something new and different. Most amateurs never write and record so they keep doing the same thing over and over again.
I was going to comment it's who you're with & they're not cheats - I listen to Daoly Doug do his pink floyd commentary.
Richard Wright was classicalky trained keyboards & Dave Gilmour interacted with him so well each taking over from the other.
They may go off a bit obscure but can return to the origin where classical training has the asvantage of buying shhet music & just copying whay they play.
& yep Brian May might not know indepth theory but he has the ear & he said in an interview on bohemian rhapsody he wanted to follow the melody in the guitar lead.
YES, I believe you are correct.
i started learning their songs for fun before even knowing scales existed
then when i discovered, "oh, this is what people use to write solos" i realised "oh damn, comfortably numb, stairway to heaven, shine on you crazy diamond, whole lotta love, voodoo child slight return, voodoo chile all match the shape of these scales" and it clicked
i didn't get stuck in the improvised soloing thing where you basically play the scale and call it a solo, because i had already learnt songs that use aeolian (pentatonic wasn't the first scale i learnt, i saw pentatonic, then i saw aeolian and thought it was just the better pentatonic, so i just learnt that instead and skipped pentatonic) and so im way behind on my theory work, but i still kinda understand it at the same time
so now when i improvise, i understand the licks that i learnt and can join them together coherently and i don't think about scales at all, just what feels natural and what sounds cool
i noticed that a lot of players play the note just flat of the root note occasionally, so i incorporate that in my playing too. i have no idea what scale i am using, nor if there is one but i just play aeolian with the blue note and add the note flatter than the root note because he sounds cool and more technical using aeolian than just pentatonic and i feel like i know more about music and makes me feel cooler when playing even though i don't have a damn clue why it sounds good
Brilliant video for offering a tool to unlock creativity and expression. Something that is not easily accessible to everyone all the time.
Gilmour learned to sing and play lead guitar at the same time. That’s the cheat. Brain to voice, then transcribe voice to guitar. IDK about Brian May, but John Mayer sings his leads before he learns them on guitar
Fascinating concept. Thanks.
Its expressive emotional compositional writing. You have to have an innate quality to express yourself through your own invention expression and imagination.Let these attributes pour out and release from your heart and then play them/ translate them on your guitar, what your head and heart says and this will grow ..............and blossom..............
Some tips to become "more melodic" when playing.
1---Sing, hum or whistle the solo, record it then try and copy what you just did.
2--Play everything on 1 or 2 strings. This automatically forces you out of predictable boxes, patterns and cliches.
3---"Pretend" you are one of your heroes and try and lay down a solo that sounds like that player on purpose....Then do it with a couple more heroes. See what comes up. Then mix them altogether.
4---Practice playing melodies. Seems obvious doesn't it? If you want to play more melodic,....then play melodies. Anything will do. Happy Birthday, National Anthems, Christmas Songs, Commercial, those charming folk songs we all learned in Hal Leonard and Mel Bay books....all good.
........I know you can play all that stuff,...BUT....when was the last time you did? On command, just one memorable melody after another, that everyone knows and can sing to, without having to think about it or fumble around. It trains your ear, melodic sense and helps you with your own phrasing. (Then try it in different keys and tempo.)
...Also you will be a real hit around the campfire with an acoustic. Good Luck. Cheers!
Well put sir, thank you. One other thing that helps me: Don't look at. Just LISTEN to it. It Is after all, a Sound Tool.
Kiko Loureiro talks about this with Rick Beato, how he imagines solos for example (through a picture) and how he sees Marty Friedman thinking about stuff while playing his licks in Megadeth...he even says, "i dont think about scales or modes" even though he knows them, he knows theory very well.
I've looking at it this way ever since watching Carlos Santana talking about teaching w friend to play and explaining that when you play two notes, try to tell someone to f'ck off with them; literally "f'ck you."
The other thing was when I listened to music, I paid way more attention to the singer than the guitar player. Later I'd use the song as a platform to improvise over, but repeat what I heard the singer doing, not the guitar.
I personally never had that problem I taught myself to play by watching my dad listening to music and watching live performances I don’t know what I sound like but I certainly don’t have a clue what I’m doing
I never tried theory or learning solos note for note. I'd play along to records and try to match the feel, learning a couple key riffs here and there, but mostly just winging it on the fly. It probably made me a worse guitar player than most, but I still got reasonably accomplished at it, and I sounded like me. I think there's a balance there... Theory and all that is great, but if you have nothing to express through your instrument that is truly you, you're just replicating someone else's expressions. Sometimes I think guitar players need to bag the scales and theory, and just play, and work off that.
Dude, that is some serious low action on that Strat!
all the greats on any instrument play their instrument like they mean every word/note w/ their own sound.
This video is worth its weight in gold
David ... luv you for that particular video.
I am in my own universe at guitar and ever was. I am a miserable player by public expectation, which i give a damn about. All these decades i fundamentally always used this thing as a voice. The most simplistic cowboy chord Am is enough to paint a whole drawing. One that presumably only the painter understand the meaning of, but he/she does, and that matters. Everything else is bonus, meaning if other people too get an idea of what is being expressed here.
You are RIGHT ON!!!
What strings are on your guitar? - it's just a question, your reasoning (thoughts) are absolutely correct and speak of musical and creative maturity, ... thanks!
Thank you so much! I use 10-42
This is what separates david gilmours from yngwie malmsteens.
It is a absolute truth. Malmsteen is a priest who is singing ancient liturgy from a 17th century priest. The Gilmour is a vagabond wandering minstrel playing from a source of pain, war. A real troubadour of the human condition as it is. Malmsteen is playing a liturgical document of how men should be. It is a big difference between Bach. vs Whiskey in the Jar.
@@Bbbbad724 Interesting correlation and comparison.
Gilmour, my favorite.
David, you're awesome.👍👍
Damn you little time traveler!
You had a PRS Silver Sky when you were learning guitar?
Mind blown!
I use it with a scat singing from years ago Mel Torme Ella Fitzgerald, etc.
I loved this video. Yes, detach from all you have learned, and just 'play'. I played like this for years in blues, and it was magic, now though, I learned an exotic scale, then learned it all the way up and down the fretboard in E on a 24 fret, and wherever I can fit that, or just in the regular position for a scale.
Now, I detach in the exotic scale. I can barely remember the blues scale, or any other scale; I just practice this new exotic scale. Our band now has this as our favorite scale, like Tool.
Over playing is what everyone from GIT does. It hard on the ears. He's right, vocalize a story.
Seems a bit like the guitar equivalent of method acting...
"Laurence Olivier famously expressed his disdain for method acting when filming the 1976 film Marathon Man. Exasperated with the lengths his co-star Dustin Hoffman was going to for his role, he asked: "My dear boy, why don't you just try acting?""
I feel a bit the same about this, but then I love Dustin Hoffman...
P.S. I should have said I enjoyed the video, thanks!
You have to be great for one. Sure! Anyone can. But not everyone can have a creative team of people with the same vision and sound. That's the difference! When a bunch of unique and creative individuals get together to create music, they create magic. That's what people are missing. Because it's hard to get! You are right, they cracked the code by doing it their own way whilst crafting their sound with others as a group. Never alone
Eric Clapton says he’s singing in a short clip from the south bank show
Great Video Man!! I completely agree!
This really highlights the absurdity of plagiarism suits in music… not the blatant ones like Queen/Vanilla Ice, but the more recent court cases that sue over 3 or 4 note progressions… stupid.
I thought everybody played this way? The point to learning all the technical stuff was to "get it into your fingers" (muscle memory) so you could then forget it and just play. Of course we all know that's MUCH easier SAID than DONE, but that's the idea. I've only recently gotten to the point I can pick up my guitar and the theory fades away and I can start thinking about what I want to say - and I've been working hard on this journey for eight. years now. This now leads me to the phase of coming up with better things to say, but that's a whole other problem!
Dude how are you getting your lead tone? Sounds nice.
Thanks! I go straight into the Axe FX III