Just letting you know that I'm finally getting in the habit of practicing that guitar

[Rabrrrrrr]

that I bought last Easter, and the electric I bought a few months ago.

Over the last two weeks, now that choir season is over, I've gotten a pretty good habit of practicing an hour or so every day. I keep the electric at home, and took the acoustic to the office.

I'm learning The Wall.

Fuckin' cool. I can play like David Gilmour now!

Or, more probably, like David Gilmour if he were playing on a shitty knock-off electric with the lack-of-skill equivalent of an arthritic left hand.

But, it'll come.

:thumbsup:

[jpgray]

1. While not the most inventive or innovative guitarist, Gilmour is a good place to start

I've taught guitar for a few years, and since most of my young students wanted to sound like Jimmy Page, I'd start them on early Harrison and Richards licks to get a good base knowledge, then move them on up to the more flashy lead players. With any luck, after slogging through the respective catalogs of Page, Gilmour, Clapton, Hendrix, etc. they get sick of wanky solos and move on to more interesting styles and techniques. It's a great place to start, though!

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Gilmour has a fantastic tone, and his vibrato-into-whammy-bar is like silk

or chocolate or something else equally orgasmic.

I'm finding it a good place to start, too, because it isn't all that difficult so I'm getting lots of positive feedback (no pun intended), unlike if I had tried to start with, say, learning Rush or Yes tunes, which is what I tried to do twenty years ago when I first tried to learn guitar and gave up because nothing worked. Of course, I didn't have the maturity to think that maybe I need to practice and try it more than two or three times before saying "Well, can't play like Lifeson, fuck it."

Oh, if only I had the wisdom at 20 that I have now, I could have ruled the world!

[Elidor]

7. Gilmour's playing is deceptively simple

As someone who can play many songs by Rush and Yes with no trouble, I can't begin to do what Gilmour does. The notes are easy enough to hit, but that languid grace in his hands is something holy. Bob Ezrin said Gilmour has the "best hands in the business," and he's exactly right. He rarely plays a straight chord or note - everything is fluid, the attack, the exit. (Mark Knopfler has a similar feel at times.) Some people make a guitar cry; he makes it breathe, and even the simplest little touches have that langourous beauty that characterizes most of his work.

I have to listen to him with my eyes closed, to really see the notes.
He needs to leave the pop crap behind and get back to the blues, or go jazz. He's wasted playing his own material, and he'll probably never play with Waters again.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Absolutely!

It's the reason he's probably my favorite guitarist.

He never plays busy, never goes for flash, never feels the need to shred or roll around on the floor while playing - he just turns it way the fuck up and jams, and it's all liquid silver.

Ahhhh.... perfection.

[driver8]

9. That is one of the coolest descriptions of Gilmour's playing that

I have ever heard.

He has always been one of my favorite guitar players, also. Plus, his tones are absolutely amazing.

Listen to "Run Like Hell" from The Wall -- the guitar on that song blows me away! (I know...Bob Ezrin produced it and had something to do with the tone also.)

[Elidor]

12. There's something deliciously insane about that song

Especially when you're in an arena with 50,000 people who all freak out the second the first jangling chords assail your eardrums and rattle your bones.

[SteppingRazor]

16. Playing like waterfalls, I've called it. Gilmour had it. Jerry Garcia too.

You don't hear that sort of fluidity too often these days, but probably just because that style's fallen out of favor, replaced by jangliness, then angular, almost staccato stuff, and so on. Of course, nothing ever goes completely out of style. In my own playing (I've played guitar — purely as a dilettante — for about 16 years), I favor that fluid sort of grace, though of course I can't quite approximate the masters.

On a side note, odd that Gilmour and Garcia are the two most obvious names I could come up with. There must be something about the style that really pops when a listener's on acid.

[jpgray]

13. I'm just saying that technically it's very easy and instructive to play

Whether or not someone can inject the same personality into the notes is academic, since no one should try to duplicate another player's personality anyway. :D

[Shakespeare]

2. Cool. I have one of these....

...that I'm just starting lessons on:

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Beautiful! I love that shade of blue.

I love guitars. Probably my favorite instrument, from a Parkening classical guitar to scorching Hendrix to that gorgeous tone that Gilmour gets to Zappa's fantabulous genius.

Great instrument. And more portable than the organ, my other favorite instrument.

[Shakespeare]

11. Several years ago, the Smithsonian had an exhibit called "Blue Guitars"

And it was just that--a collection they'd commissioned from different guitarmakers with blue guitars in every variation you can imagine. It was breathtaking, and I'm still kicking myself for not getting an exhibition poster from it. I wanted a blue guitar from that day forward, so when I decided to go back to guitar lessons, that's what I looked for.

[Guava Jelly]

3. I need to get off my ass and practice mine

I been so tired lately.

How am i evah gonna be a rawk gawd if i don't practice?

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Freakin' hippy! Get a haircut!!

But I suppose you're spending all your time killing fetuses and spitting on veterans, so why would you bother getting a nice, decent, Christian haircut?

:grr:

:rant:

:rofl:

So you have a Fender acoustic? I don't think I've ever heard one, or seen one. Not that I'm much of a guitar expert, but I didn't realize they made acoustics. I don't think I've ever seen one in the few instrument stores I've been to.

[Mr. Blonde]

10. I wouldn't worry about the quality of the equipment too much

Jack White's entire kit was bought at Sears. Or could have been at least back in the day.

And he does this with it http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qghimc5VSII

[jpgray]

14. As far as staying in tune and non-static squealing tone/volume knobs, it's important

A little noise from the pickups can add character, but cheapness can only be taken so far before it starts to wreck your fun.

[Orsino]

15. I started with a Floyd song book, too, and though...

...I never got to sounding like David Gilmour, I definitely got to the "Oh, God, that clown is trying to do Gilmour" stage.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. If you want to improve your technique, study Carcassi and Fernando Sor exercises.

That is all.