getting famous

Don't be an instrumental guitarist if you want fame. I can't even get booked in my area despite good reviews and all that stuff. Without a singer nobody cares.

For me ultimate fame would be to be known for my catchy riffs,soulful solos, and heatfelt lyrics rather than my face. Its just one of those things all of us dream of being on stage lights on us starting a song and the crowd cheering while we jam out. The only way to get to this point I know for a fact is through hard work dedication and a never give up attittude. There will always be doubters, haters, w/e they may be....my goal is to prove them wrong or atleast gain theur respect

Great playing Randy.

"I guess all that we want to say is we wanna be heard."-Brenden Fraser Airheads

the whole "i want to be famous for my ablity, not having girls jump on my d*ck" thing kindof bugs me in the respect that thats a totally unrealistic dream, 100 times moreso than being in rolling stone. you could be the best in your whole damn city and still be a nothing talentwise. i mean, look at all the steve vai wannabees who play amazing. no one really gives a ****. yea, thats really cool you can play that fast. but i would give up all the talent in the world to keep writing songs, and thats usually what i do. yea, i love shmabbing it up just as much as the next guitarist. thats usually waht i do when i play guitar. but to say you want to be famous by being an incredible musician is the most farfeched of all. theres always going to be a 100 guys better than you, always, that are playing the same thing youre trying to play, but better, and it doesnt have a thing to do with "style", it has alot more to do with that they can play a hell of a lot better than you can.

on a side note, i get annoyed by how music is less about music and more about money, clothing style, attitude, ect...but you cant go so far as to say that you would want your fan base to be lonely nerd guitar players who want to know how to play what licks in what songs. that **** would be more irritating than girls asking if you can play acoustic AND electric guitar...music cant always be about theory and bla bla bla, sometimes its good to have fans that dont give a **** how to play your songs, and just enjoy it. notice how players like joe satriani dont have fans like that? thats because to people who dont want to play like satriani, its not very interesting. it turns to elevator music. sometimes its good just to listen to music not trying to say "ooooh, i can play better than this dude and hes famous!" and more about just enjoying music.

btw, airheads was a kickass movie.

Originally Posted by: quickfingersthe whole "i want to be famous for my ablity, not having girls jump on my d*ck" thing kindof bugs me in the respect that thats a totally unrealistic dream, 100 times moreso than being in rolling stone. you could be the best in your whole damn city and still be a nothing talentwise. i mean, look at all the steve vai wannabees who play amazing. no one really gives a ****. yea, thats really cool you can play that fast. but i would give up all the talent in the world to keep writing songs, and thats usually what i do. yea, i love shmabbing it up just as much as the next guitarist. thats usually waht i do when i play guitar. but to say you want to be famous by being an incredible musician is the most farfeched of all. theres always going to be a 100 guys better than you, always, that are playing the same thing youre trying to play, but better, and it doesnt have a thing to do with "style", it has alot more to do with that they can play a hell of a lot better than you can.

on a side note, i get annoyed by how music is less about music and more about money, clothing style, attitude, ect...but you cant go so far as to say that you would want your fan base to be lonely nerd guitar players who want to know how to play what licks in what songs. that **** would be more irritating than girls asking if you can play acoustic AND electric guitar...music cant always be about theory and bla bla bla, sometimes its good to have fans that dont give a **** how to play your songs, and just enjoy it. notice how players like joe satriani dont have fans like that? thats because to people who dont want to play like satriani, its not very interesting. it turns to elevator music. sometimes its good just to listen to music not trying to say "ooooh, i can play better than this dude and hes famous!" and more about just enjoying music.

Sorry for sounding like I"m on the offense, but I partially am. Did you think about anything you just said? To say that a guitarist with the dream of being famous by his own talent is far fetched is like saying a guy that is going to college to become a doctor that hopes to discover new medicines because he wants to heal is far fetched. I mean, not everyone in the world just wants to get laid and show off and yes, people (myself included) do pay attention to the talented guitarists aside from Vai. Yes, there always will be someone better than you, that's a fact. But it's not like it's a competition, so who cares about who's better than who?

On the second paragraph, music isn't always about image or money. You have to look for yourself to find the pure music. If you just turn on the radio or television, then yeah you're going to be force fed something that's completely full of it. But if you really look for it you can find worlds of music that are just made because some guy wanted to make something a certain way. Music isn't always about theory. What it is always about is feeling. And it varies on how much is there from artist to artist. Furthermore, not everyone learns what they listen to. I personally can play maybe 3 songs on 2 instruments combined. I don't learn other peoples' music typically because it's just not interesting to me. I don't know a single bit of Satriani's music, but you can bet your ass I appreciate every last song he makes simply for the feeling that's gone into it. Not everyone is worried about who's better. There are, simply put, just people out there that really appreciate the art and heart that go into music. And there are several of them here at this forum.

but it IS competition when you are labeling yourself as a musician who is trying to be "among the best." thats the facts, bro. if your a skateboarder who's claim to fame is doing 20 stair handrails, and you want to be the best, thats DIRECT competition. dont tell me that guitarists dont compete, becasue thats a damn lie. even in the most creative of environments, with ideas flowing, theres still direct competition, wether you feel it or not. so to say that you want to be known for your instrumental skill in guitar (im assuming that by this statement you mean technical skill) then thats a million times moreso. im not ragging on people that want to be good guitarists....hell, i play guitar all the damn time to BE a real good guitarist. im not trying to put other peole like me down. but you do have to sit back and laugh a little bit at people in a guitar forum, without a band, who have been playing for like 4 years maybe, and are approaching mid-20's that are talking about "making it big" or "being a respected musician among guitarists." its not that that dream isnt possible, it just sounds damn incompitent when people try to act like theyre the only ones who have thought of that. like, oooh, thats real revolutionary. becasue every otehr guitarist in the world plays powerchords, you will be the ONLY guitarist to step it up and you will be known as "guitar hero" in your hometown. come on, people. seriously. you could close your eyes, shoot a bullet, and nail a guitarist in the head wehrever you are in the world. not to say that just becusae there are tons of musicians in the trade means that you have zero chance of being recognized, but...f*ck, you guys. sounding a bit on the pathetic side.

ps, joe satriani made a softrock song solely so he could play staccato runs down it. ****ing pouser **** right there. nothings worse than being a solo artist and making "deep" songs to show off your sensitive side after playing a song like surfing wtih the alien. yea, you know we all do it too, after "welcome to the jungle" solo we listen to "civil war" and ****, but to put it on a record, with no real lyrical value, just sitting and listening to satch play a slow jams is really pompous and lame. id rather take a **** guitarist that ****s **** up on stage and makes you actually want to beleive in rock and roll than that ****.

Originally Posted by: quickfingersbut it IS competition when you are labeling yourself as a musician who is trying to be "among the best." thats the facts, bro. if your a skateboarder who's claim to fame is doing 20 stair handrails, and you want to be the best, thats DIRECT competition. dont tell me that guitarists dont compete, becasue thats a damn lie. even in the most creative of environments, with ideas flowing, theres still direct competition, wether you feel it or not. so to say that you want to be known for your instrumental skill in guitar (im assuming that by this statement you mean technical skill) then thats a million times moreso. im not ragging on people that want to be good guitarists....hell, i play guitar all the damn time to BE a real good guitarist. im not trying to put other peole like me down. but you do have to sit back and laugh a little bit at people in a guitar forum, without a band, who have been playing for like 4 years maybe, and are approaching mid-20's that are talking about "making it big" or "being a respected musician among guitarists." its not that that dream isnt possible, it just sounds damn incompitent when people try to act like theyre the only ones who have thought of that. like, oooh, thats real revolutionary. becasue every otehr guitarist in the world plays powerchords, you will be the ONLY guitarist to step it up and you will be known as "guitar hero" in your hometown. come on, people. seriously. you could close your eyes, shoot a bullet, and nail a guitarist in the head wehrever you are in the world. not to say that just becusae there are tons of musicians in the trade means that you have zero chance of being recognized, but...f*ck, you guys. sounding a bit on the pathetic side.

Well, "best" in a musical context is easily related to a person's opinion of musical quality as well as how much a person knows about music. If, for example, we have a person who only listens to radio play then their knowledge of other qualities of music is much more limited so what is best to them isn't going to be what's best to, say, me. Furthermore, the genre of choice will also play a role in this. To a person that listens to country music, a metal band won't do anything to sway them into the opinion that they're among the greatest. I can honestly say I've never tried to compete with another guitarist. I've never tried to out solo, or come up with more riffs for a song, or anything like that. In my eyes, the song always comes first and if it happens to sound better by someone else's doing, then by all means. Why ruin a good thing? I don't necessarily work my technique with the intention of staying better than anyone else. That's a futile goal because, as stated before by the both of us, there will always be someone better so why bother? And furthermore, I'm 21, been playing for 3 years, just finally found a stable band and also happen to have goals in the music industry. Don't think I've not thought about just how many other people are in the business or just how much work and effort goes into it. I'm aware of all of that, I've done my reading. But it's still a decision I wish to follow through on and I fail to see how that sounds pathetic in any way. I will, however, agree that it's growing quite disheartening if, say, I'm in the same place within a decade. But even that can be forgiven because these things don't just fly by for everyone. It takes a lot of time, dedication, and patience. But I can honestly say from my own personal experiences in music that trying to be better than others is missing the point of music itself. I'm not saying that people don't compete in the business, just that not everyone is so concerned about it.

Originally Posted by: Cryptic ExcretionsTo a person that listens to country music, a metal band won't do anything to sway them into the opinion that they're among the greatest. .

not true at all, dude. thats like saying a trumpet player that plays latin music cant relate to a trumpet player that plays jazz. you especially shouldnt be swayed towards such an opinion, given that almost everything can easilly be linked with straightforward scales that any competent guitarist would know of. so kenny chesney or keith urban dont know what a natural minor scale is? its easy to judge talent for the most part, at least as far as that goes. of course, i never try to judge guitarists or any musicians for that matter by the material they play in their band; similarly, i couldnt say that kirk hammlet is better than chet atkins. just different ****. but on a general level, you can be respected in all forms of music. im sure as **** that randy rhoads can rip some chickin pickin, and ill bet my right testicle that.

Originally Posted by: quickfingersnot true at all, dude. thats like saying a trumpet player that plays latin music cant relate to a trumpet player that plays jazz. you especially shouldnt be swayed towards such an opinion, given that almost everything can easilly be linked with straightforward scales that any competent guitarist would know of. so kenny chesney or keith urban dont know what a natural minor scale is? its easy to judge talent for the most part, at least as far as that goes. of course, i never try to judge guitarists or any musicians for that matter by the material they play in their band; similarly, i couldnt say that kirk hammlet is better than chet atkins. just different ****. but on a general level, you can be respected in all forms of music. im sure as **** that randy rhoads can rip some chickin pickin, and ill bet my right testicle that.

I guess I should've specified that the above quote was meant to be taken as a broad example and not so literal. Yeah, one person can relate to another through their craft but ones views on what compiles the best form of musicianship differs and though the two forms can come to agreements neither one is swayed from viewing their particulars as their own personal "best." And that, more or less, gets us absolutely nowhere.

^^^^valid.^^^^^^^

i would only want to play in a jazz band( piano guitar or clarinet) in manhattan

fame.....of course.... the only way to make a living doing what we all love (guitar in one form or another) is to be at least semi-famous... in one way or another.