Perceptions of greatness?

[Steadfastly]

The short answer is yes. The more we learn, generally the more we have appreciation when we see something done/played with the guitar that we have learned along the way, whether we can do it or not.

I found the same thing in my younger audiophile days. I started hearing things in recordings that I didn't hear before because I was "listening/looking" for those nuances that I used to miss before training my ears/brain to listen for.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

Just a fun question for today. Regardless of where you are on your journey as a musician, as your abilities on the guitar increase, do you find that you have a greater appreciation of the professional and awesome guitar players in the world? Or, do you you see them as more human and realize that "I could do that too" if you spent more time studying/practicing it?

In other words, does better knowledge and ability bring more awe and appreciation, or does it bring more "meh, it's not THAT great" moments?

And, before anyone complains, I realize it's not a competition and that joy is gained from the process as much as the goal. I was just ruminating on this earlier and thought it might be fun to ask AGF.

Todd

Todd, wow, what a great question, and one that I've never thought of in exactly those terms. For me: Mad love and respect -- even awe and wonder -- at the best players, in no particular order: Eddie Van Halen, Hendrix, Mick Ronson, Django, Tony Rice, Santana, Orianthi -- the list is endless.

I DO suck, and always will, but I'm grateful such people exist in our world.

scott memmer

[tnez13]

I end up with both reactions to musicians. I am truly in awe of pros that I admire like Richard Thompson, Brad Paisley, and Bryan Sutton to name a few. I will never reach that level, not even close. On the other hand, some of the guys who play local restaurants and bars do not impress me. Those are the players I look at and think, man, if I ever win the lottery, I'm going quit working and just start playing these little places cause I could pull that off.

In the end, I don't aspire to anything more that being a good back porch picker. That will put a smile on my face.

[Bob Womack]

It's a great question and a complicated one.

On Daryl's House, Joe Walsh talked about starting out playing live, being awful, and putting in the 10,000 hours. But eventually "you don't really get better you just bring awful UP... so you're not THAT awful." Daryl replies, "That's my favorite music: when awful gets on a higher level!"

Honestly, it's a mixed bag to me. There are artists who never seemed to get any better after I listened to them in the '60s and '70s. It feels like they never "grew up" but I feel that I moved beyond them in skill or creativity or both. And I say that with humility because I may still love their music!

But I met my musical mortality in the '70s, both in terms of skills and of creativity. I remember that I was finally approaching the creative and playing skill level that some of my influences had displayed. Right about that time my bandmates pulled out Al DeMeola's Elegant Gypsy album in 1977.



They played "Race With the Devil on a Spanish Highway" with a giggle and said, "Can you match that speed?" That was it. Done. Mind blown. I knew I would never get up to his speed. There has been a whole generation of players arise since Al hit the scene who are even more technically proficient than Al... and I'll never catch up with Al.

Around the same time I remember when YES' album Going For the One hit in July, 1978. I was blown away. They were at a level of creativity and complexity that I knew I'd never reach, and I know it to this day.

So, it's a mixed bag that helps keep me humble, learning, and pushing.

Bob

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

More appreciative in general but also more critical of gimmicky playing and noodling compositions.

Thanks, I was about to say that there's a fine line between being a musician and a technician. The latter should always be an adjunct to the former, but should never dominate. Restraint, taste and subtlety in all things musical is what I look for.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

In psychology, an interesting phenomena was noted by two researchers and dubbed the Dunning–Kruger effect. Their research suggested a couple of neat ideas. The first, more famous concept is that "people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognize their lack of ability." In plainer language, when you don't know anything (about a specific subject) you don't even know how little you know. Before any of us picked up a guitar, we couldn't know how difficult it can be to coax the sounds you desire out of it. When we climbed the steep curve to mediocrity we may have thought we were better than we actually were/are. We all know people who believe they are much better at guitar, singing, governing, etc. than they actually are.

Conversely, the Dunning-Kruger effect also describes how competent people (guitarists, perhaps) tend to underestimate their own competence, because they erroneously presume that tasks easy for them to perform are also easy for other people to perform. I think many of us believe the line that "well if I can do this anyone can do it. I'm not that special/smart/good."

You know, I often feel uncomfortable taking compliments from others knowing I either didn't play especially well, and knowing I could do better. That said if a simple three-chord progression and a good tune is bringing someone pleasure, who am I to argue.

[richard1]

As Mark Knopfler would say:

' Look at them yo-yos, that's the way to do it. You play the Guitar on the MTV '

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

…do you find that you have a greater appreciation of the professional and awesome guitar players in the world? Or, do you you see them as more human and realize that "I could do that too" if you spent more time studying/practicing it?
Todd

HI Todd

A bit of both. I have studied, practiced and learned a lot, and I accept that I'm never going to be a Thom Bresh or Tommy Emmanuel. Doesn't stop me from growing…

[SouthpawJeff]

I feel much like TBman, I find a high level of skill to be impressive, but it’s the creativity that really means something. If you watch The Voice it’s easy to see there’s no lack of talented singers in this world. But for me it’s the ones who write their own songs and music that are truly impressive.... singing is just a part of it.

Same with guitar, there are a million really talented guys in cover bands, but the guys who write their own stuff are much more impressive. And those few who seem to redefine what we think of as great playing, Hendrix, Les Paul, EVH, Joe Pass, and on and on. Those are the ones that really stand out for me.

As for me, my butchering of the guitar is more for my own enjoyment and I’ll never be great, just good enough to fool non musicians into thinking I’m good😉So I’m at a point where I believe, (maybe naively), that I can play the majority of popular music if I were to spend a bit of time on it. So some of the mystery and magic has gone, though I still respect that I’m just regurgitating someone else’s creativity. It’s the non top 40 music that still amazes me, great jazz, classical, etc players that still blow my mind and likely always will.

Jeff

[Jon29526]

The longer I play I notice that somehow the line behind me of how far I have come seems to increase slower than the line in front of me of where I want to go.

[elmcmeen]

I think it's about finding one's voice on the instrument--one that transports the listener to a special place and fulfills oneself. It took me about 25 years.

[stringjunky]

Originally Posted by Jon29526

The longer I play I notice that somehow the line behind me of how far I have come seems to increase slower than the line in front of me of where I want to go.

The more you know, the more you realise you don't know.

[roylor4]

The longer I play the more I get the feeling that I can achieve more and do things that beforehand seemed so difficult as to be witchcraft.

I used to be more critical of other players but the more my skills improve the more I can see the potential and strength in others. If I watch and listen closely I can learn things from players of almost all skill levels.

[SongwriterFan]

10,000 hrs of practice (even with the same teacher) is going to push some people a lot further than others.

That's where TALENT plays a role. And yes, it's very real.

[Triumph1050]

Ever see the movie Mozart??

Well...Im Saliari.