Guitar Player vs Song Player

[Jengstrom]

Homie don’t sing. Or care about lyrics (mostly).

From the time I was 4, music has been about melody and harmony. I have been a trumpet player for over 50 years and more recently discovered guitar as a way to explore music.

I can listen to a song hundreds of times for years and not be able to recall more than a line or two of lyrics. There are exceptions. I can’t listen to a Randy Newman piece without hearing the lyrics.

I know , I know, I’m the freak, not you guys.

John

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by Jengstrom

Homie don’t sing. Or care about lyrics (mostly).

From the time I was 4, music has been about melody and harmony. I have been a trumpet player for over 50 years and more recently discovered guitar as a way to explore music.

I can listen to a song hundreds of times for years and not be able to recall more than a line or two of lyrics. There are exceptions. I can’t listen to a Randy Newman piece without hearing the lyrics.

I know , I know, I’m the freak, not you guys.

John

I’m not great at remembering lyrics either. Always felt I should’ve tried harder, but didn’t. So, I use an iPad, the OnSong app with lyrics and chords and just love playing complete songs whether for myself or others.

[ghostnote]

From day one, which was a long time ago, singing and guitar playing were two sides of the same coin. I always did both together; when I was young, I thought that was the way you had to do it! I didn't know that most music on the radio had the guitar and vocals recorded separately - when I saw those people on TV they were singing AND playing. (I didn't know about lip syncing either) But even so, I consider myself a singer who also plays guitar.

[morebass]

this is why I love the AGF. all positive stuff,nobody being a guitar snob, encourage each other all the time. Even players like me that strum along to our songs. well done guys.

[reeve21]

Hey markd,

I would like to be you Nothing feels better than seeing others take pleasure in your music.

My limitations as a vocalist have lead me to focus more on playing the guitar, but I really love to sing. Mostly for my own enjoyment, and upon request from my family.

Most non-musicians really don't care about instrumentals, or how much effort goes into trying to master an instrument. I'll play some highly syncopated fingerstyle thing and my wife says "they all sound the same to me" or "that reminds me of the itsy bitsy spider song"

So I'm trying to do more songs, ones she likes! Lately it's Ripple, which is probably the only Jerry Garcia song she likes (and I dig it because the first verse is a fun instrumental). Great sing along, the whole last verse is la de da de da......

[DukeX]

I'm a song writer (not singer), but enjoy the guitar, so I write my own stuff.

So IMO I'm a guitar player but not a guitarist.

[nightchef]

Most of my learning on guitar, to this day, has been song-driven. I acquired skills so that I could execute the accompaniment to some song that was stumping me. I learned to fingerpick so I could play "Kathy's Song," and learned to play sixths so I could do the intro to "Peace Train." I learned drop D to do "Find the Cost of Freedom," and thumb wraps to do "Pinball Wizard". Et cetera. For me, being a song player and a guitar player have always been the same thing.

[rmoretti49]

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher was also the music teacher, so we had singing sessions in class regularly. The teacher singled out me, and 4 others, to be in what she called the "special singing group." This was because our singing was so bad. We would be called together in front of the class to run through vocal drills. So I grew up believing I was a terrible singer.

Oddly enough, when I picked up the guitar only a couple years later, I did so because I wanted to sing the popular folk songs of the era. I sang them for myself, and eventually led a very well attended guitar mass at my church every Sunday. I clearly wasn't as bad as I thought I was. It probably did help that the acoustics of the church, which sat several hundred people, made the voice sound better.

If you think about it, there are a number of guitar playing singers who do not have golden voices and who play fairly simple guitar accompaniment. How did they attain popularity? I strongly believe that it was by learning to effectively convey emotion in their songs. So that is what I try to remember. Once can be a vocalist with a not very great voice, who plays mediocre or simple guitar, and still be appreciated by listeners as long as one can convey the emotion of the song. Listeners want to feel that emotion.

[LakewoodM32Fan]

Song player. Guilty as charged.

[H165]

So fun to get folks joining in on choruses. Are there other song players out there?

Yep. I am a B level acoustic guitarist and an in-tune-on-time singer with decent live projection. That's all.

Put them together though, and I've been a youth group/campfire/local gang/RV social/cowboy gathering songleader for 55 years with no sign of slowing down. It makes me and a whole bunch of others smile, and that's enough for me.

[DocHolliday]

I’m just another guy that can sing ok and play guitar well enough to accompany my voice as I perform.

[nowgypsy]

I started learning guitar in order to have live music. Where I was living the wasn't much. I always gravitated to the vocal part of the music. My playing has improved over the years as has my singing and it is has been entirely in service of the song.

[jaymarsch]

I think that being able to lead a group of people in singing a song is an art in itself! I am a singer songwriter who writes lyric driven songs. I work at improving on accompanying myself on guitar and getting better at writing melodies and chord progressions that most musically expresses the emotion of the song. There are many fine and accomplished guitar instrumentalists but I am surely not one of them.
Best,
Jayne

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by nightchef

Most of my learning on guitar, to this day, has been song-driven. I acquired skills so that I could execute the accompaniment to some song that was stumping me. I learned to fingerpick so I could play "Kathy's Song," and learned to play sixths so I could do the intro to "Peace Train." I learned drop D to do "Find the Cost of Freedom," and thumb wraps to do "Pinball Wizard". Et cetera. For me, being a song player and a guitar player have always been the same thing.

Yes, a good guitar player plays to serve the song.

I love "Pinball Wizard"!

- Glenn

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by markd

...I am much more a player of songs than a guitarist. I don’t have much patience for all the work necessary. I would rather learn a new song to share or perform...

While that's a matter of personal choice, as has been suggested above the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive - if you take the time to cultivate the chops to add some variety to your accompaniments (moving bass lines, chord substitutions/inversions, changes of register, etc.) it's a great way to build audience interest - and if you're looking for a gig IME parties concerned would sooner hire an "entertainer" who puts heinies in the seats (be it at a summer camp, charity fundraiser, coffeehouse, or Madison Square Garden) than "some guy who plays songs"...