Rant I posted on the HCFX forum, regarding textural guitar

[modernage]

i only bring my english muffin to jams. i like the strawberry jams most!!!!

Mmmmmmm, english muffins. Tasty!



I only bring my 'g' string to jams...

[magiclawnchair]

i only bring my english muffin to jams. i like the strawberry jams most!!!!

Mmmmmmm, english muffins. Tasty!



I only bring my 'g' string to jams...

i hope it dont break.....

[modernage]

i only bring my english muffin to jams. i like the strawberry jams most!!!!

Mmmmmmm, english muffins. Tasty!



I only bring my 'g' string to jams...

i hope it dont break.....

I would hate to have happen.

[modernage]

That's nasty! haha.

[magiclawnchair]

That's nasty! haha.

[morange]

I only bring my lube to jams; well, sometimes I go without.

[modernage]

I only bring my lube to jams; well, sometimes I go without.

Did it take you a year and a half to come up with that?
I keeeed.

[dorfmeister]

I think in the end if it sounds good it is good whether you are using a one stringed homemade guitar through a tin can and string or a custom guitar and a shit ton of boutique effect pedals. What matters is the music that comes out and hell some people will like it and some will say it is crap no matter what you make.

This is one thing that's always bugged me, everyone seems to approach guitar "wisdom" in the same way, as if you're trying to learn prog/blues/classic rock solos and all that. That the best way to play is with no effects straight into a Fender amp or some shit. I hate it because it's only the best for certain types of music, not all. Some people just like to make noise with their guitars, and that can sound great too. A lot of the noodlers are no good at doing that because they lack that chaotic spirit. I think people stick to the "Hiding behind your pedals" idea, or mix up effects whores with cork sniffers. Wanting to use lots of reverb or flanger isn't the same as obsessing over that Dumble tone, or the like. I find people do the same with personal vanity, spending hours putting on makeup etc. versus people who actualy create their own image - those kind of people aren't shallow, but people lump them in the same box "Cares about image", it's the same with "Tone" here.

Here's the rant I posted, anyway.

No one gives a fuck about your sound if you can't play.

Again, are textural guitarists not real guitarists then? Focusing on guitar for making sound rather than wanky blues solos is just as valid a way of using it.

I really hate "guitarist wisdom". It always presumes everyone is approaching guitar in more or less the same way.

IMO, having too many effects available can mean you get lazy, and get lured in to over-using effects, which sounds bad nine times out of ten.

Same as above. If you know when to use effects and how it can make or break the atmosphere of a song.

Being able to play epic Prog Rock solos well won't replace a wah or delay. If you're the kind of guitarist that focuses on simple playing with a lot of texture, like Daniel Ash, then all this guitarist wisdom is just bull. I always hate the stereotype of the guitarist who "Hides" behind the effects, because I think a lot of people "hide" behind the simplicity of guitar -> amp as if it somehow makes them more valid musicians for sticking to the basics. I have plenty of respect for people who can do that and genuinely sound interesting. They usually aren't the guys to rat on about the guys who do use effects, though. Whether you use effects or not doesn't make you a good or bad guitarist. But it can make you a better guitarist if you use them right, because tonal changes are a big part of electric guitar. If you don't care about that, you may as well play acoustic.

OOI I don't use pedals often for jamming(aside from Fuzz) and I know I'm not a very good guitarist either way. Loosing the pedals I often fiddling with doesn't really help me, in fact I'd be better off with more options - new sounds give you new ideas. I don't understand why people don't get this. Have you never brought home a shiny new multi effects or dirt box and gotten ideas for a song? And of course, my sucking is nothing to do with the fact that your sound has a lot to do with how you shape a song. Some guitarists, like Jeff Beck, will sound great and inventive without effects. An awful lot of the "Hurr effects whores hiding behind effects" crowd will sound shit without effects because they're so hung up on their simple philosophy and half-truths like TONE IS IN THE FINGERS that they forget what actually makes a song. Actually, my favourite Jeff Beck album is probably Jeff, because it does focus more on sound and texture instead of just guitar wank like Steve Vai or the likes.

I'm not talking about Klon tonez or anything like that, but stuff like "Hey, I should use low gain here, this would sound great with a phaser, I think I'll take a eBow to my guitar here with loads of delay, that'll be awesome". Many synth players focus very heavily on their sound to the extent where they do minimal playing but loads of twiddling knobs and settings. It doesn't make the Rick Wakemans of the world any more or less valid, or vice versa. The actual sound you create is important too. It might not be necessary for every player, or every genre(for example some chip tunes sound great despite being so limited), but it doesn't make it any less valid. In fact that's a good reason why it should be valid - since it's a less worn way of approaching things, we have far too much blues, classic rock, and "Indie" guitarists.

A lot of the stuff I listen to like Dead Can Dance, Faith and the Muse, uses simple playing with plenty of distortion, chorus and reverb to create some really interesting atmospheric sounds. You can't replace that with virtuosity. Even on the other end of the spectrum - with punk, you can get some great fun songs that don't pay much attention to either atmosphere or virtuosity. There are plenty of different ways of doing it, but you can't deny that being open to all of them gives you more options, and more ways to be inventive. Limiting yourself can help discipline and give you focus, but in the long run, it doesn't make you more creative. There's no reason to do it all of the time, you're just denying extra ways of making your music sound inventive. Too many people treat "effects" as one big cheesy thing, when distortion is just as much an effect as some of them.

I don't see why given it's a highly accepted way of approaching synthesisers which are based on similar principles that isn't a valid way of playing guitar especially when the presence of physical strings can help do more interesting things and sound more organic.