Do you play a mean guitar but sound like you’re flying in a Satriani dream?

Have you won the statewide guitar contest for playing all of the Yngwie Malmsteen Marching out songs and solos note for note twice as fast?

Are you the second coming of Greg Howe or Holdsworth but going nowhere with your own sound?

“Innovators are risk takers”

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs recalled in a recent interview how they remember they found themselves more scared than they had ever felt inventing the Mac desktop computer. But it was exciting an unpredictable venture for them when they took a huge risk in inventing and marketing the 1st Mac computer.

Steve Jobs points out whenever he felt the risk taking was bigger it was a good feeling, and that’s when you knew your’e about to discover something.

We still go into Apple everyday excited because there’s something new and exciting and we don’t always know what that might be.
(quote from Steve Jobs in a recent interview on his experience as CEO of Apple Computers
at the D5 conference 5/07)

What does this have to with us Guitarists?

EVERYTHING!

Today I’m addressing mainly us shredders and how sometimes we tend to sound like every other shredding guitarist.
Hopefully we can explore some ideas and reveal some insight on how to define your own voice as a multi string maestro.

No, I’m not going to say let’s all slow down or try and play some tastier blues or something like that. On the contrary.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the art of comping in jazz, chording, slow blues, country picking, or just rhythm playing in a group setting. It’s all exciting, and it’s all part of growing as a guitarist, but this website is targeted at those of us who who have jumped on the race track to be bolder, faster, stronger and live by the words’ more is more’.

Like James Bond driving fast on the PCH, we shredders love the fact that it is necessary to play faster more often than you’d think and why not? You worked hard at your craft and you deserve the recognition and accolades for your technical prowess. Today it’s about how to take this crazy art of acrobatic guitar pyrotechnics to the next level; play faster while being different.

Copy Cat or Original?

If you’re a shredder it means you’ve mastered the art of FAST guitar, and for some that includes a loud and or beefed up guitar rig.
Chances are you can power an entire city with the kinetic energy coming off your fret board. Some of you can play Yngwie, Paul Gibert, etc in your sleep. That’s Great! The aforementioned artists are what prompted some of us to pick up the wood and fret wire that we call our axe in the first place. But when was the last time you had some fun or had a real moment of creativity?

The New Breed

In my observation, there is an abundance of unknown amazing guitar players these days. Just look at My Space. Lately there seems to be a renewed appreciation for shredders who don’t just play insanely fast but insanely weird and or whimsical. You’ve got guitarists that have covered it all. There are guys who are paid big bucks to play note for note the solos on Sony Playstations ‘Guitar Hero’ Game. Interestingly enough, those same sessionists have their own sound going on outside of their session work. The question is after learning to play all these solos of our favorite Jedi master guitar hero How can you define yourself? How can you Play great earthshaking innovative guitar at shrapnel speeds and be recognized for being original or maybe even an innovator rather then a clone. It’s the question of whether you are looking for your own voice or not to distinguish yourself in the world of guitar players.

“Can I have some CHANGE?”

If you’ve already mastered all the solos on Yngwies Marching out album, and have the speed to boast, so do a ton of other guitarists.
Maybe it’s time to redefine your approach, define yourself, take a chance. Don’t stop learning because you are now the fastest gun on your block. Be innovative. Scared to try something new? Good. Feeling the fear but doing it anyway is good. The unknown means something new and great is around the corner.

“Video killed the guitar hero”

1st step Evaluate yourself.
Could you sit down and do an entire instructional video of your own with your own material? If you can’t then that’s a good way to begin. Practice recording yourself. Not audio, video! Recording video of your self will reveal your hidden identity trying to get out. You’ll be surprised at how you’ll ‘hear’ yourself visually. You’ll come up with tons of stuff that you’ll realize is good and you can call your own.

“Listen don’t talk”

Here’s an old one:

Listen to new music. Easier said right?

• Pick out a musician who is playing something you like but also find out what secret music they listened to that made them sound different.
• Write a song that your drummer hates and won’t want to play to….
• Write a song that an A& R rep would hate.
• Write an instrumental your favorite guitarist would hate….

These are just ideas to push you away from what you’d normally do. The idea is to discover a new musical voice inside you somewhere.

“IDEAS for New and freaky Modes”

• Movies Scores. (listen to your favorite movie soundtrack) Imagine learning the theme to your favorite movie score then playing it through a cranked Marshall with a whammy pedal!
• Classical ( Yngwie got all his great riffs from baroque music) Maybe choose a different era in classical music to inspire new riffs. Try some Debussy or Stravinsky or Holst. Learn to play another composers music on your guitar, present it a new way an maybe you’ll be thought of as the next new innovator!
• Jazz (yes, many of you don’t get into jazz or are intimidated by it.) Others adore it but who’s saying you have to sound like a laid back jazz guitarist at 1:00 pm Sunday brunch? Why not learn some cool jazz licks, then crank up the Marshall and freak everyone out with your new sound? I don’t mean fusion either, I mean shred like a metal, progressive guitarist with an attitude but with the knowledge and technique of a jazz dude. Shawn lane was a jazz fanatic. He set out to play the guitar like Art Tatum, an innovative jazz pianist. The result: his insane style, speed and freaky harmonic sound. Some of his later compositions had a fusion edge, but anyone who’s familiar with the freaks of nature in music have heard Shawn lane tear up tunes and make grown guitarists cry with his technique!

“Enough Already!”

Once you’ve learned how to emulate all your favorite shred guitarists. Put them on the back burner and move on. Unless your getting paid big bucks to imitate a certain guitarist or your just happy with transcribing and performing others’ work, you already have achieved your chops and speed, now it’s time to find your own voice. For some of us, we have achieved speed and we like it. It ’s hard to stop because we are in our comfort zone. Slow down and learn new material.

written by Brev Sullivan

www.myspace.com/brevsullivan

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