In the end its how well you play

[jdrnd]

I have enough guitars, and the ones I own many here would consider high end. In conjunction with reading the AGF "...women guitarist" thread I listenened to some performances.
I stumbled across a You tube video made for a guitar store selling a Lowden F50cx Brazilian/spruce. Karlijn Langendijk was playing fingerstyle "Englishman in New York" on this instrument.
It was spectacular.
So I down loaded the music for this song from music notes and downloaded multiple tabs and You tube videos from multiple sites. All were simplified versions of her performance. I can barely play the simplified versions. I could buy the Lowden Brazilian/Spruce F50CX, or similar guitar, but in the end its only how well I play.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

You've got that absolutely right, it's much easier for middle class people today to buy expensive guitars than it is for them to learn to play well.
Keep practicing.

[macmanmatty]

It's 90% playing 10% guitar you can't tell me that Tommy Emmanuel Wouldn't sound better on a Martin OM-18 over a Plywood body Rouge.

[J Patrick]

….and how well you play will always be about how much you play…call it practice but whether you’re practicing or performing it’s all about the reps…l

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by macmanmatty

It's 90% playing 10% guitar you can't tell me that Tommy Emmanuel Wouldn't sound better on a Martin OM-18 over a Plywood body Rouge.

I couldn’t tell you because I don’t know….but…I don’t imagine there would be a huge drop off because sometimes the player is just that good…

[Mr. Jelly]

My thinking is a person needs a guitar that fits the way they play and sound not the other way around. So it is the guitar in my mind. We all have desires to not sound like ourselves but we always do.

[jdrnd]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

We all have desires to not sound like ourselves but we always do.

Ain't that the truth.

[TBman]

Almost every time I hear a finger style piece that I would like to learn it seems too hard for me. Even when I buy a tab book with the mp3's that go with it, the simplest sounding tune initially beats my butt. Why? Because too many times I will start in as if I can play it. My ego says, gee, you've been playing for decades you can play this easily. But no, that's not the way I really learn something. I have to take it position by position and familiarize my fingers with the music. As the melody comes through it gets easier. The trick to learning finger style for me is to go in super slow motion at first. The worst thing I can do is go too fast and fumble through parts that I don't really know yet thinking I can fix that later.

I'm not a musician. I'm a guy that can buy guitars and tabs and after smashing my fingers against the fretboard, eventually something musical comes out. It takes time, it takes patience. It takes longer than I want it to.

[lowrider]

I wish I could find the video of Toby Walker playing his neighbor's Disney Princess plastic guitar. This one will have to suffice;



Of course Tommy E is still going to sound great on a cheap guitar, and a mediocre player is going to sound better on an expensive one than a cheap one. But it's always the player that matters.

I love it when I see the young people outside in NYC just killing on a guitar that a lot of us would be embarrassed to take out of the case, but I would never want to be the guy who pulls out an $8000 guitar and can barely strum a few chords. It's a matter of balance.

[jklotz]

Originally Posted by TBman

I'm not a musician. I'm a guy that can buy guitars and tabs and after smashing my fingers against the fretboard, eventually something musical comes out.

I dunno, what's a musician? I don't think one has to be a virtuoso to be a musician. Learning a piece of music starting slowly is what most of us do, at least I think they do. I do. Maybe a musician is somebody who has the desire and dedication to keep practicing, even when it is painfully slow and difficult, because the desire to hear that piece of music you love so much come from your own hands and heart outweighs the discomfort of climbing the mountain you have to climb to get there?

I don't always do it, but in the back of my mind, I always know that comparing myself to other players is pointless and counter productive.

[slimey]

I'm biased, I'm a huge Lowden fan. There's something about the way their guitars talk to you when you play them, it's body vibrations, unique tone responsiveness and dynamics.
I have owned and do own other very nice guitars but for me Lowdens are a little more special.
I think our skills maybe a limiting factor but I do feel really good guitars can coax more from you and increase your desire to keep getting better and play more.
Lowdens are not cheap and they certainly do not go down in price at any time, but you should find one to try if you have a local source.
Just like the prices of guitars, with practice the skies the limit. Except for me. I'm too lazy, I just love the guitars.

[takamineGD93]

I dont think it's about how good you are. Its about how relevant you are.

In church strumming a hymn is right, eruption (van halen) isn't. Im going for relevant.
I have 3 christmas jobs I didn't ask for that pays 300 euro each. Im not a great singer and play mostly cowboy chords. But I fit the context.

[emtsteve]

Originally Posted by takamineGD93

I dont think it's about how good you are. Its about how relevant you are.

In church strumming a hymn is right, eruption (van halen) isn't. Im going for relevant.
I have 3 christmas jobs I didn't ask for that pays 300 euro each. Im not a great singer and play mostly cowboy chords. But I fit the context.

Your comment made me think of John Prine - JP was a pro at that. He wasn't the BEST player, but his playing (and his voice for that matter) was RIGHT for his songs. Many other examples of this. So yes, it's how well you play in the context in which you are playing.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by jklotz

I dunno, what's a musician?

Not me,

[RP]

I think that in the end, it's how much you enjoy playing....