guitar players

[low_delta]

What makes a good guitarist?

Talent, obviously, but what kind of talent, and what qualities, specifically?

Technical ability, versatility, originality, uniqueness, ability to compose, plays well with others... what?

The qualities don't have to have concise names, but I need to know what you look for in terms of talent.

Comments

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno, maybe a couple of complete body blood transfusions?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I guess, if it works for Keith Richards.

Love this subject :) Will try to keep it short

[methos.livejournal.com]

A performer and a showman are the qualities I would be looking for first off in a great guitarist.
Next has to be his ability to be at one with the rest of the band. The band has to think and work as one. He must read the audience well too and take them along with him. His lead riffs need to, at times be a reply to the vocalist as he should be in musical conversation with the vocals and the rest of the instruments in the band. If that part is right the technical ability plays a lesser role in the end result.
A great guitarist has to have a blend of many things, and to be truly great he needs something pretty unique too.

Re: Love this subject :) Will try to keep it short

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

"Plays well with others" is very important to me. An artist needs to play what's best for the song, not what makes him look the best.

I appreciate charisma, but I'm not sure how much it applies to *talent*. What do you think?

Re: Love this subject :) Will try to keep it short

[methos.livejournal.com]

I feel it takes real talent to keep charisma from turning into a show off ;)
I would like to see more solo performers with guitars. Such a rare thing to see. Manring does it with a bass, as does Hodgkinson. Just doesn't happen with six strings around here.

[aki-dreaming.livejournal.com]

I do not what makes a good guitarist, but I do know what I like.

Having said that, I can now demonstrate myself to be the utter goob I really am when it comes to stuff like this--
I expect a professional musician to have talent and technical ability. Guitar players are a dime a dozen and the bad ones tend to leap out at me more than the good ones. I went to high school with 25 guitar players. My young adulthood was filled with guitar players. My old adulthood is not quite so guitar player filled, but I still don't have to look very hard to find a person with a six string and deep need to impress me. And it's hard to impress me.

I'm not saying I'm a connoisseur--far, far from it!
I'm saying I'm a complete idiot when it comes to guitar. All I know is what attracts my attention, what stands out to my ear.
Bad stands out. Sometimes bad is bad. Sometimes bad is downright awful. I can always tell a bad guitar player. They suck.

Then there's what I don't like.
I don't like Yngwie Malmsteen. I don't like people who play like Yngwie. The closest I ever got to loving a guitar player in that particular camp was Randy Rhodes. He's dead, and I lost interest. It's too technical for me.
Or, to quote the movie Amadeus, "it has too many notes."

(see, I told you I was a bone head when it comes to this stuff.)

I don't like that crazed, wailing thing that was so hot with the Hair Bands back in the day. That was fun very briefly, and there were a few notables that were actually good at it (Steve Clark of Def Leppard springs immediately to mind), but for the most part that got so old so fast it hurt.

So that brings us to what I do like.
I respect and can identify skill, but I like communication. I like emotional content. I admit, I do like a degree of cleverness in my guitar. Or I should say, clever guitar playing will get my attention every time. And I love to be surprised.
I like Brian May. I like the guy that plays for Cake. I like Steve Clark (there's the really adorable little riff in the bridge of "Pour some sugar on me", a song I otherwise despise, that is really delightful. I'll listen to the song just to hear that bit). I think Randy Rhodes was on his way to something great when he died and I'm still really bent about that.

My absolute favorite guitar collectively is the multiple small folk jams I've been at. I enjoy a person playing guitar because they love it. I especially enjoy it when they don't suck and they don't expect to be the center of attention. I like the "rightness" of a competent guitar player adding personal, heartfelt background music to a gathering of friends.

And the bridge of "Hello Cosmo" by Animal Bag.