Some guitarist are strange

[Benoit]

I needed to write about this.

I ran into a couple of guitarists not too long ago. I couldn't believe my ears. It was the worst ego-concert I had ever heard and they didn't even play a note.

It was a pathetic sight, those guys were flashing their brand new out-of-the-box 3000$ guitars and oversized amps. Man!, it took me everything I had to buy my first guitar and I still play with my 15 year old amp. You should have seen the look on their faces when I took out my old beat up guitar.

For a moment I started to feel cheap about what I had until I realised that I didn't even wanted to hear those guys play anymore. What pisses me off is that they were way better than me. All better now ;)

I don`t know if there's anyone feeling like I do but please when you're about to play for someone let your music speaks for itself.

[Raskolnikov]

I was at a funk jam once playing bass for three guitarists and a keyboard player... all four of which were soloing all the time.

Talk about suck.

[Bardsley]

Here's something that may sound a bit like an ego trip, but it is because I hate that sort of egoistic soloing mentality. I am primarily a rhythm guitarist, who knows quite a bit about chords, but I don't have lightning chops. I like solos, but not to any great extent. Often I hav ebeen in situations where nothing gets done because other lead guitarists spend their whole time soloing and being annoying.
A few days though, I was jamming with two other guitarists, and it was clear that I was the most capable at playing lead stuff, so they just said chose to not really solos, I think because of that tendency to get embarrassed about your own skills. I know how they felt, because I have been in the same position, but it just happened they were rhythm guys like me, and I had just been playing longer. Anyway, what it meant was that because I'm not a big solo fan, but I was the one expected to do the solos, I just jammed out some fills occaisionally, and often just didn't play. Because I had the chance to dictate pretty much whether people would be soloing, there was none of that ego crap, and we were all really happy with the results. In this instance, three reasonable guitarists managed to sound much more cohesive than many groups of lead players with much better skills. Maybe this just reveals my control freak side, but I hope you get the point.

[Benoit]

I get your point Bardsley, and I don't think it's a case of being a control freak.

Take for instance a orchestra. Every ochestra player is capable of some degree of soloing, what would it sound like if everyone decided to start soloing. I wouldn't go to that show...

I just think every band needs a leader, maybe you have good leadership. You probably can figure out if a player should do rhythm or solo and "orchestrate" the band to a better sound. That's cool man, take the credit for it!

[Raskolnikov]

Well, in any good jam situation you have a group of people who know how to wait their turn, take signals from other guys, and let things go when they get stepped on a little. It's part being professional, part being courteous, and part knowing what the song/jam needs. Sometimes a solo is exactly the wrong thing to play.