Is it Guitar or the Player

[DanPanther]

Originally Posted by harmonics101

I SORT of understand the poll, but I'd like to put a different spin on it. Is it the guitar ? Well, from a PLAYER'S perspective, its 100% guitar. At least it is for me. I have some quality guitars, and I enjoy the feel, the fact the guitars intonate perfectly and are very easy to play.

When I go to Mom and Pop, I have actually picked up a sub $1,000 guitar and played the thing. Sounds different and my personal experience pretty much sucks, nothing against the sub $1,000 guitars. I just don't get as much pleasure playing a sub $1,000 guitar.

Put that thing back on the wall and grab a Martin HD28 and I'm back in 7th Heaven and enjoying the sound when I play,

So, for me, it's 100% guitar and the player is pretty much secondary,

H

What about that same guitar in the hands of someone that can't play well, you imply the guitar makes the player. I think you should reconsider your view. If you can't play well, a better guitar isn't going to help. However, a good player can, make a cheap guitar sound much better, than a novice could on the same guitar.
Dan

[Doug Young]

There must be some alarm out there that prompts people to ask this every few weeks :-) I know Larry likes the Chet story I posted once upon a time - Can't recall where I first heard that one, it should be credited to someone out there.

I do have a pretty simple mental model myself that I think explains the issue.

Tone = Guitar X Player

Basically, it's multiplicative. Say you have a bad guitar (maybe a 10% of "best" tone) and a great player (say 100% of "best" possible), then you get 0.1X1=0.1. That's not great, but it's way better than the same guitar in the hands of a player with only 10% of the the best possible tone (which would be only 1%). Thinking this way, it's clear that a better player gets better tone out of any given guitar, a better guitar for any given player gets better tone, and you can easily come up with ways that a better player can get a better tone out of a "worse" guitar than a worse player can get out of a "better" guitar. You could argue it's not linear, and also debate relative weightings, and of course we can also debate whose criteria for "best" we use, because everyone's taste and style is different, but that's the basic effect, and it means that pretty much everyone is right about whether it's the player or the guitar - it's both (or neither....)

[steelvibe]

This is a fun threat. I voted 70-30 because I truly believe it is mostly player. I would have even gone 80-20 but I have not played a great deal of high end guitars and never observe my heroes playing guitars way under their level of professionalism or pay grade. So that vote, based on my limited experience, would have been lopsided.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

This is a fun threat. I voted 70-30 because I truly believe it is mostly player. I would have even gone 80-20 but I have not played a great deal of high end guitars and never observe my heroes playing guitars way under their level of professionalism or pay grade. So that vote, based on my limited experience, would have been lopsided.

That is "thread" of course, not "threat".

[Guitar1083]

50%/50%

although you would think most people would say 100% of the player and a could agree with that 50%.

I think if you play a really bad guitar, your not going to wanna play, but if you get a really good guitar you will love to play.

go to a store and try a really high priced guitar. see what kind of smile that puts on your face. it just makes you wanna play.

[bajawatt]

60% player
30% guitar
10% single malt

[Cedar.]

Come on really do you have to ask?

80/20

[rogthefrog]

If the music is coming from the guitar, you're doing it wrong.

When you read Infinite Jest, you're feeling things and thinking things. Those things don't come from DFW's computer. When you read e e cummings, you're not feeling his fountain pen.

When I play the guitar, I sure as heck hope what you feel isn't coming from the guitar.

That's assuming you feel anything when I play. But that's not the guitar's responsibility either.

[jersey]

Exactly 50/50.

You could be Segovia, but if you're playing a couple taught rubber bands over a cardboard box it doesn't matter. Your instrument has to meet a certain standard of quality in order for your skill to mean anything.

[Vinceletah]

I have a friend, professional musician, won a price from one of the best guotar school in Europe. I saw him play on a supermarcket nylon stringed guitar, like a 39, 99 dollars guitar ans in his hands it sounded sweet, like an ok guitar. In my hands, it sounded like the piece of crap it was...
I also remember, that the tone of the guitar, the woods and brand didn't matter to him.
For him a good guitar was just a guitar that stayed in tune, then stayed in tune, then had a decent playability, with no freeze or intonation problem.
So he could play even flamenco or gipsy music on a gibson.
He was also always trying to set up people guitars when they wanted him to play them.
Definitely 80 procent the player that makes the difference, as long as the guitar has good tuners and a set up.

[ronedee]

Originally Posted by GraceGuitars

This reply ought to auto-generate each time this subject comes up.

I like the story about Chet growing a beard and playing at some small venue unannounced. When Chet finished a gentleman approached him and said: "You're pretty good son...but you're no Chet Atkins."

Chet got a real kick out of that, and didn't correct the man! LOL!

[ronedee]

Originally Posted by Guitar1083

50%/50%

although you would think most people would say 100% of the player and a could agree with that 50%.

I think if you play a really bad guitar, your not going to wanna play, but if you get a really good guitar you will love to play.

go to a store and try a really high priced guitar. see what kind of smile that puts on your face. it just makes you wanna play.

Actually, you can make a "seemingly" bad guitar sound good! I've showed up places where I had to play old stellas that made me groan. So in desperation I changed tunings.

You'd be surprised how an old guitar will wake up with some fiddlin'! Using a capo, step it up, or down, and there's open tunings. Any of which can make a world of difference.

Although...sometimes a hammer, or a small fire is the only way to make them sound any good!

[GangstaPat]

Originally Posted by bajawatt

60% player
30% guitar
10% single malt

Official Best Response.