Drastic overhaul to technique.

[elcid]

Sherinian's solo stuff is awesome. I didnt care for him with Dream Theater, but someone brought in Black Utopia when I was teaching and I went out and bought all his solo stuff.

[OLIE_ROCKS_THE_80'S]

Originally Posted by Eggy

Every 3 to 5 years I seem to reach a junction in my playing, perhaps you do too ? That time has come around again for me. I've spent the past few years looking at the techniques of Vai, Gilbert, Malmsteen etc and spent a lot of time feeling frustrated. Whilst I have the greatest respect for these guys I havn't felt a massive connection with them, in regards to my own style for a long time. There have been elements of many of the greats that I truly admire and wished to replicate. I have had this feeling I was fragmenting my playing style and I needed to find my own voice. I wasn't even realy sure who my influences were anymore when people asked me. After deciding that I was going to "stop trying to be like Stve Vai" I suddenly felt a bit lost.
Enter Doug Aldrich..
This guy has given me a bit of a shake up. The kind that you only get every once in a while ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aK9K70Koek ).
I'm sure that now and again this has happened (or will happen) to a lot of you guys. So now , despite still feeling a bit frustrated about my style and technique at least I've got some inspiration back. I was doing way too much practicing whilst sitting down and having the "stuck in the middle" feeling of not knowing wether I should stick to dorian for this next chop or switch up to a phrygian run. Watching Doug has taught me that it doesn't realy matter as long as you are blasting it out straight from the heart.
I've decided to do a bit of a time capsule thing and make video of my confused/fragmented current situation and I'll make another one in a few weeks time so I can compare and reflect.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsvIfqNujME

Obviously the influence of Doug Aldrich is personal to me but I wonder if any of you guys have been in this situation or perhaps can see it happenening to you in the future ?

BTW ..(If this hasn't happened to you before , be warned...
These kind of situations come with tere own special kind of G.A.S. attacks. I'm in the processeve of getting my hand on a 100w genuine 60's, hand wired butique power amp head. I'm saving up for a 4x12 cab and I'm already selling gear to get hold of a Les Paul (obviously I wont be parting eith my DY though ).

Ben

Nice playing mate!!! i miss the days when I used to wail away like that, nowadays I seem to have too much going on in my life to practice though and on top of that I'm still recovering from my arm/hand injury!!!
Now in answer to your question I guess we all reach that point in our playing!
but I guess we just have to find some new inspiration to make it fresh again!
In your case I think you've already done that by discovering Doug and somehow he has changed your approach to the guitar which is good!!!
we can learn tons by listening to other people! in my case I draw inspiration from many players but when I do an original solo i forget about theory even though I know it and I just go for what sounds good to me, even if some licks or notes are not diatonic! that keeps it fresh I believe and this way I am not overly concerned with theory!!! i learnt that from George Lynch! I always wondered why he would never played the same solo twice but then I finally understood!!! he is a mood player so he just wings it and plays what sounds good to him at that moment whether in studio or Live! the only thing I didn't like is that sometimes consistency is needed so I found that doing a bit of add lib but keeping the recorded solo essentially the same was what worked for me thus I have always employed that approach when recording/giging etc...

[Dee]

Originally Posted by elcid

Sherinian's solo stuff is awesome. I didnt care for him with Dream Theater, but someone brought in Black Utopia when I was teaching and I went out and bought all his solo stuff.

I'm not a Dream Theater fan at all, I just can't get into them mainly because I'm not keen on those kind of vocals. I think Derek's first solo album (titled Planet X, which was the album that led Derek and Virgil to form the band Planet X) is still my favourite. The first 3 tracks especially are pure genius! My jaw literally dropped when I first listened.

He took it in a heavier direction on Black Utopia (3rd solo album) with Malmsteen and Wylde, and though I still enjoy the albums from the 3rd onwards, I prefer the first couple, plus of course his work with Planet X which kicks ass and that's the reason I got into Sherinian in the first place. I admit I never knew of him before I heard PX.

@ Ben -- good, I'm glad you made it clear that you're not out to copy anyone's style. I saw the words "replicate" and "emulate" thrown around a couple of times in this thread, so I posted pretty much a general message regarding copying people's styles, it wasn't aimed solely at anyone, though I should have made myself more clear or worded it better.

[crevis]

selling your guitars to pay for stuff that aldrich uses seems like replicating to me.

No offensive Ben but I think for your age and how long you've played, your perspective on music is a little immature.

[Dee]

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, Ben, but the overall message I got from your last post was that those who learn lots of theory, possess incredible technique, jazz & fusion players, etc., are boring, sterile, nerdy, and artsy-fartsy, whereas straight-up rock guitarists who rarely venture outside of pentatonic scales are not.

If that's how you see it, I would just say look at someone like Guthrie Govan. He wouldn't be able to do what he does without knowing theory, possessing incredible technique, being able to play jazz, fusion, plus X amount of different styles, and the guy is spectacular. Or maybe you find him boring? I don't know. I feel that almost anyone, even non-musicians, can appreciate his music. He's just one example of a great player, but there are lots. It's not possible to put all the great fusion guitarists in the same bag as the boring blues dude you saw, there are good fusion players, bad ones, boring ones, interesting ones and mind blowing ones such as Govan, Howe, Lane, Garsed, MacAlpine, Holdsworth, etc. I do feel that Doug Aldrich has no real identity as a player, but maybe I need to listen to more of his stuff. From the clips I've seen he seems very competent but it's nothing I haven't seen before from a thousand other rock guitarists. To me, that's boring. You could have played me a sound clip of Doug and told me it was someone like John Sykes (example) and I wouldn't know any different. The fusion players I mentioned, you could play a clip of theirs and I'd recognize a distinct style instantly.

Is it true that you think about your playing in the "I just went into Locrian mode" kinda way? I can't do that.

[Eggy]

Originally Posted by crevis

selling your guitars to pay for stuff that aldrich uses seems like replicating to me.

No offensive Ben but I think for your age and how long you've played, your perspective on music is a little immature.

Have a closer look at your own choices of gear and then tell me you havn't been influenced by anyone else's tone. I heard a cool tone Iliked, I couldn't achieve it with my current gear so I set out to change that.

Immature ?
Well, when you've been playing as long as me ( which I guess is longer than you've even been alive) you too might have an awakening and realise all the stuff you were chasing doesn't actualy benefit the music you want to play.

Originally Posted by Dee

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, Ben, but the overall message I got from your last post was that those who learn lots of theory, possess incredible technique, jazz & fusion players, etc., are boring, sterile, nerdy, and artsy-fartsy, whereas straight-up rock guitarists who rarely venture outside of pentatonic scales are not.

If that's how you see it, I would just say look at someone like Guthrie Govan. He wouldn't be able to do what he does without knowing theory, possessing incredible technique, being able to play jazz, fusion, plus X amount of different styles, and the guy is spectacular. Or maybe you find him boring? I don't know. I feel that almost anyone, even non-musicians, can appreciate his music. He's just one example of a great player, but there are lots. It's not possible to put all the great fusion guitarists in the same bag as the boring blues dude you saw, there are good fusion players, bad ones, boring ones, interesting ones and mind blowing ones such as Govan, Howe, Lane, Garsed, MacAlpine, Holdsworth, etc. I do feel that Doug Aldrich has no real identity as a player, but maybe I need to listen to more of his stuff. From the clips I've seen he seems very competent but it's nothing I haven't seen before from a thousand other rock guitarists. To me, that's boring. You could have played me a sound clip of Doug and told me it was someone like John Sykes (example) and I wouldn't know any different. The fusion players I mentioned, you could play a clip of theirs and I'd recognize a distinct style instantly.

Is it true that you think about your playing in the "I just went into Locrian mode" kinda way? I can't do that.

It seems a little deffensive that you managed to deduce that from one player I saw (granted ,he got me thinking) that I think all fusion guitarists are boring.
I think Guthrie is a fantastic player. His tone and technique are first rate. His feel and taste however are not my feel and taste. That's the real crux of the matter. I just felt I'd been chasing after the styles of guitarist such as the ones who are held in the greatest regard on forums like this for so long that I'd forgotten what gets me excited about playing the guitar.
I am "mature" enough to be able to say that despite getting flack from my peers I am happy to be honest about the style of music I want to play and the players I feel are speaking my language.
As far as your question ("Is it true that you think about your playing in the I just went into Locrian mode kinda way? I can't do that.") goes then yes it is true. I've been chasing this stuff for so long that it has completely spoilt my enjoyment of guitarst like Satriani. When I hear Satch now I find myself calling out the modes as he "legato shifts" through them. It was slipping into my own playing and making it feel sterile for me so that's the reason for the drastic overhaul.

[crevis]

Originally Posted by Eggy

Have a closer look at your own choices of gear and then tell me you havn't been influenced by anyone else's tone. I heard a cool tone Iliked, I couldn't achieve it with my current gear so I set out to change that.

Immature ?
Well, when you've been playing as long as me ( which I guess is longer than you've even been alive) you too might have an awakening and realise all the stuff you were chasing doesn't actualy benefit the music you want to play.

I want to play jazz, so I study jazz. I think your music is immature in that after I've played for half as long as you have, I'm sure I will have accomplished alot more than you have. I don't have a problem with you playing what you want to play but your talent and experience doesn't back up how highly you think of yourself imo.

so many people play ibanez's and dimarzio's I don't know which one I'm supposed to be emulating.

[Eggy]

Originally Posted by OLIE_ROCKS_THE_80'S

Now in answer to your question I guess we all reach that point in our playing!
but I guess we just have to find some new inspiration to make it fresh again!
In your case I think you've already done that by discovering Doug and somehow he has changed your approach to the guitar which is good!!!
we can learn tons by listening to other people! in my case I draw inspiration from many players but when I do an original solo i forget about theory even though I know it and I just go for what sounds good to me, even if some licks or notes are not diatonic! that keeps it fresh I believe and this way I am not overly concerned with theory!!! i learnt that from George Lynch! I always wondered why he would never played the same solo twice but then I finally understood!!! he is a mood player so he just wings it and plays what sounds good to him at that moment whether in studio or Live! the only thing I didn't like is that sometimes consistency is needed so I found that doing a bit of add lib but keeping the recorded solo essentially the same was what worked for me thus I have always employed that approach when recording/giging etc...

I agree mate. I like the way that George plays it as he feels it on the day. I think I realy needed some new influences in my playing. Last time I played what I thought was a realy good gig my wife (who knows nothing about guitar) asked me if I was ok when I came off stage. I was like "what do you mean am I ok?, I was able to put a lot of thought into my playing tonight". She said that I wasn't as good as she'd seen me in the past. That night I'd thought I'd shifted through modes realy well, I'd mixed up my technique well and delivered a "thinking mans" performance. My wife however thought I'd stood still, not rocked and delivered a "my heads dissapearing up my own arse" performance.
A change has been on the cards for ages, it's just taken me a while to figure out what I needed to do.
It makes me laugh that you post up on here that you've decided to take a new direction because you weren't feeling the one you were going in and some people (who are perhaps happy in that direction) are all "what, are you trying to say we're wrong? "

No guys, you're not wrong. It's just not right for me. Slamming an influence that somebody has cited with comment along the lines of "he's just a nothing pentatonic player who has no style of his own" etc make me realise that as part of my change for the better I should stop wasting so much time on here.

Ben

[Eggy]

Originally Posted by crevis

I don't have a problem with you playing what you want to play but your talent and experience doesn't back up how highly you think of yourself imo.

Wow!

It seems as though posting up your thoughts on self growth and improvement put you straight in the firing line for stuff like this. *shrugs*

Good luck with that whole Jazz thing Crevis

[Davey]

What the **** is wrong with playing what you want to play? If you're bored of one direction it's only logical to go in another that you feel satisfied with.

Eggy, **** anyone that disagrees with you, do what makes you happy because that's why you play in the first place. End of.

[crevis]

You're saying there's no 'bad' music, just different music and in the same breath you're indirectly belittling other peoples taste in music to justify you're point.

[IbanezGirl]

Hmmm.....reading through this thread, makes me realise, like some other threads on here, people seem to be very quick at saying," you should do/play this with blah blah technique" etc. Why does it seem easier for people too knock others, than to give compliments.

We, as people who play instruments, have it in our nature to be self critical, self analyzing etc, this is what makes us grow and evolve into whatever areas we choose to go.

If a person chooses too alter their direction, buy new equipment to achieve this, and they are happy in doing so, that's great. Isn't music about being happy with what you are doing and hopefully others feeling this too!

Sorry crevis, but i really think your remarks to eggy weren't necessary.
You have no idea what eggy has/or hasn't achieved. Unless you have a crystal ball too say that in 5 years you would have done this with music is arrogant and rude. For all you know, you could end up married with kids and not playing anymore, you have no idea what the future has in store for you. I really do hope all your aspirations for music come true in the future, but trying to have alittle more empathy for people isn't such a bad thing, you know!

[crevis]

Anne, you're being very subjective with how you interpreted my posts and the comments they were aimed at.

[IbanezGirl]

Originally Posted by crevis

Anne, you're being very subjective with how you interpreted my posts and the comments they were aimed at.

Once again, sorry crev, but from my monitor, they came across as attacking and belittling. I don't want to get into any flame's or arguments, so i won't say anymore.

[crevis]

It's one of those days and jemsite.