Does a weapon define a warrior?

[Krunek]

Hehe, bet you thought this is going to be a thread about diablo II. :p
Nah, I am yust in one of my moods...I have written a few threads before, when in a state of delirium this big serious questions come to my mind... :)
Anyhow, we were at a gig yesterday.And the owner of the club where we jammed
is also a guitarist. A damn good one too, much better than me.(Of course, that is not much of an achievement...) Anyhow, at the end, few people stayed, we were playing Hey Joe, and out of nowhere he popped out with this beautiful sunburst strat. And he asks if he could play.So I gave him my cable, he plugged in, I did the singing and he played the guitar. Did a great yob at it too. Of course, after that it was obvious we had to play one more song at least. So the keyboard player left, just bass and drums and we were exchanging on his strat. Played blues, just instrumental. And afterwards, of course, we padded each other on the shoulder and went drinking.And we were discussing how very different styles we play. His blues, was, well, bluesy. Know what I mean? Soft runs, bluesy type. Mine was more in the line of rock and roll, with a lot of fast runs and stuff. And a strat didn"t feel at home. Know what I mean? I play Ibanez for years.So, finally, the question. Sorry for the long intro, folks.

To anyone who doesn"t want to read a bible I wrote upwards, here is the main point.
Everybody has their own unique style, depending on a person.But is it yust a matter of peronal preferences?Or does it have to do with a guitar too?
For example, I have this Ibanez, and I am more of a hard rock type of guy. Blues, metall, country, jazz...Never quite felt at home there.Of course, it is hard to define these types of playingcause they flow over each other, but... If I bought a strat five years back, when I got an Ibanez, would it aspire me to become more of a blues type of player?I mean lead my style in that direction. Or if I had bought a Jackson, would I become a shredder?Or something in the line of that.Sorry If I can"t explain it better, (still have a mean hangover) but I think you get the drift.What do you guys think about that?Or am I just stone crazy? :D

[alucard0941]

Ah I see your point. But I tend to play Jackson music on a Stratocaster. But before my friend introdueced me into metal, I was hung up on post 60's musics such as Clapton and Hendrix. So from my perpective, it does to an extent, but it can always be changed. For years, Iv wanted a super-strat guitar, but im now content with my strat. When I put in a hot rail on the bridge pickup, it was the best thing ever because now i can have the metal crunch with the straty quack when changed to the neck.

[jiujitsu_jesus]

I see your point, and I think that the guitar doesn't necessarily define your playing style by itself, but it does contribute to it to some extent. A Jackson KE-3 Kelly, for example, is designed for metal, so the various characteristics of the guitar will lead to a more metal-style "sound" in your playing; I mean, if you play reggae on a Kelly, it will still be reggae, but you might feel a bit more tempted to throw in some chugging riffs or needly-needly-needly bits ( :D) because of the nature of the guitar.
The great thing about Strat, Tele and LP style guitars, IMO, is that they're equally suited to all styles of playing.

[hunter60]

I tend to agree with j.j. and alu. I don't think that the guitar neccessarily leads you to a style. I think that you, maybe subconsciously, already have a style in your mind when you start looking for a guitar. If you're more of a rock and roller, you've been listening to it for years, you know the sound and it's 'comfortable' to you. So you wander into your favorite music shop, pick up a few guitars, pick around a little and after a while, you hear that sweet spot in the guitar and it just feels and sounds 'right'.

I am not a very experienced guitar player so I could be totally off base here but at least that's how it seemed to me when I bought my Ibanez. I love blues, rock-a-billy and good ol' rock and roll. The Ibanez seemed to give me the sound that would fit what I liked.

Not to say that any other guitar wouldn't have, mind you. It just felt and sounded right. Now I know that many, many famous blues guitarists have played Strat's and Tele's and Epiphones and Pauls...and I don't recall many who play an Ibanez but still, it just seemed to fit with me.

Again, I may be totally off base. :)

[earthman buck]

Yeah, I don't think it matters all that much. I play our heaviest music on my hollowbody Yamaha, just because it holds lower tunings better.

[R. Shackleferd]

Yep, I think Hunter was on the right track there, that certain guitars do tend to do better in certain genres, and surely are designed with that in mind. Thus those guitars are sought after by those perspective players. But yeah, a strat is pretty versatile, as Yngwie, Eric Johnson, Hendrix, etc. have shown. So maybe a beginner starting out on a strat wouldn't have too much to overcome in becoming a shredder for example, so perhaps starting out on a Rickenbacker would prove more difficult. But in the end, you'll play like what you want to, and will naturally gravitate towards guitars that help that along in some way.

[quickfingers]

yea, ive had similar experiences with not feeling particularly at home in a certain genre. ive always felt so in touch with my modal kinof ska/reggae jazz side, but for some reason, i always feel like i shouldnt be playing metal on a guild gibson-esque guitar. hah. no matter how much you fight it, gear can make you feel like you belong in a particular musical crowd. cant make you play like it, though. :o

[Poontang_clan]

i dont think that the guitar defines the style but usually the style will define the guitar mainly because people will see oh wow alexi laiho, kirk hammett and james hetfeild play ESP guitars they must be heavy as Sh*t, or satriani and vai play Ibanez petrucci used to for a long time, those must be some quite virtuosic sounding guitars.
I think thats why everyone shreds neoclassical on a strat now, because of malmsteen.

But yea my point is most guitars have been stereotyped for certain genres. If it weren't for outside influence, you probably wouldnt be convinced to use a certain guitar for a certain style

[crazyguy]

I don't think a guitar forces you into a style, but rather that different guitars require slightly different approach. I've always considered teles and strats to be more physical (perhaps with Rory Gallagher or SRV in mind) than les pauls or any superstrat. You don't actually need to strum a les paul that hard, at least I've never felt the need, whereas every bit of violence towards a strat is an improvement in sound (unless you're playing "Wonderful Tonight"). A tele, especially, with bridge lipstick and neck HB, is a combination of extremes that I didn't get for a while, but I like it for Zappa-type weird sounds (though I don't think I've ever seen him play it).
I recommend trying out every guitar you can lay your hands on, even if it's realy cheap, looks or sounds worse than yours, or is pink in color :o . I broke quite a few inspiration barriers using the worst guitar I could find with an extremely irritating sound (BOSS Xtortion into a jazz amp or an old bassman with bright switch on and an open wah in front).

[Lordathestrings]

Players tend to seek out guitars that bring out what thay want people to hear.

I had a really nice Strat for a while, but the sound just doesn't work for me. I like 2-pup axes; it's as simple as that. Scale length is not the issue. I have two SBG1000, 24 3/4" guitars, and two SG-2, 26" scale guitars. Both sound great, in ways that suit my playing. I ended up playing the neck pup on the Strat almost all of the time, because the other switch settings just didn't produce the kind of sound I was 'hearing' when I imagined a song.