Ever have a guitar change you as a player?

[DungBeatle]

Every guitar I've ever owned has changed me little by little into a listener.
~Bob

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by RP

I recently purchased a pair of Martin dreads. I can't recall having ever owned guitars that are so strummable, and I find myself playing more songs that call for strumming and not finger style...

Other then for the fact that I only own a single Martin dread, my story is the same. When I transitioned from a Guild dread to a Martin dread, it renewed my interest in strumming and playing rhythm. I made a conscious decision at that point to engage in less frenetic flatpicking, slowing everything down a bit to highlight the wonderful tone.

[j3ffr0]

Well the change all started when I was a teen and got my second electric guitar, my first one with the whammy bar. I found I could mesmerize myself and others with just one note and the bar!

Since then, some have changed what I do a fair bit and others not so much.. I have been playing the harp guitar a lot lately, and that is a lot of change. I have also installed pickups in the thing. Playing when amplified significantly changes a few things too.

[J Patrick]

...I dare say every guitar I own affects my playing in some way....but I can’t say they fundamentally change the way I play....it’s more like they draw different qualities and aspects of my playing out....certainly they draw different songs and styles out....

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by RP

I recently purchased a pair of Martin dreads. I can't recall having ever owned guitars that are so strummable, and I find myself playing more songs that call for strumming and not finger style...

Wow! I was about to write almost the exact same thing!! After years of only playing smaller body guitars with my fingers because I just couldn't get along with picks, I very recently found I could play halfway decently with a pick and then picked up a dread from my new favorite guitar maker - Cole Clark. I'm loving the tone and strumming. Go figure.

[Oldguy64]

To a degree it does.
I’ve pretty much been ignoring my six strings the last few weeks.
And while I’m a decent writer, I don’t believe I’m an eloquent speaker.
Events of the past little bit have had me praying a lot.
But rather than speak my heart, I’ve been playing it on a battle worn Guild 2512.
And that has changed my playing a bit.

[M19]

My first Lowden, an O32 flipped me from mostly plectrum player to mostly finger player. That guitar is gone, but my McIlroy A30c is more than up to the standard.

On a slight tangent, my first foray into open tunings with DADGAD was the true catalyst for the above change. 90% of my fingerstyle repertoire is in an alternate tuning.

[51 Relic]

Yes My Martin Jeff Tweedy , I haven't touched my electrics for a year

[Pura Vida]

Every guitar I play causes me to change and adapt as a player. I recently got my first Maple Jumbo, and it's really made me change my approach, compared to playing a (perhaps more forgiving) Rosewood guitar. It's made me appreciate different woods and body sizes.

[Gordon Currie]

Naturally. Every single guitar I own has distinct abilities. They each lead me into different areas which is EXACTLY why I acquired them. If they didn't do this, I would get rid of all but one.

[Brucebubs]

Yes, I'm now bad on a much wider variety of guitars than I was when I just had one.

[Pitar]

No. I will admit to learning that playability and sound can be improved upon, though. Learning that was part of the journey. Otherwise, I see them all pretty objectively and swap them out accordingly.

[Photojeep]

Yes, my Gibson J15 did it for me. I don’t know how much of the change I feel is heard by listeners but owning a solid wood ACTUAL Gibson guitar changed my entire outlook on playing.

Best,
PJ

[pjmacd]

About a year and a half ago, I started to develop more interest in blues, old-time and Tin Pan Alley songs. Before that, I had mostly played singer/songwriter/Celtic/Pop music. After a workshop with Toby Walker at Fur Peace Ranch in the summer of 2018, on the way home I bought a Waterloo WL-JK at Down Home Guitars in Frankfort, IL. The Waterloo has completely changed my approach to blues and Tin Pan Alley, and I play many more of those songs now because the Waterloo tone is absolutely perfect for that. I still play singer/songwriter/Celtic/Pop on other guitars but I love the Waterloo (and a somewhat similar-sounding Eastman E10-00M all mahogany) for da blues.

[BluesKing777]

Ooh yeah......

My first guitar was a blues face lesson with an inch or so on the action!

My next was an electric and a wah wah ha ha yahoooooo I bought soon after!

Then the great Fender Tele plus Fender amp and the chunka chunka riffs.

Nearly 10 years of Tele lead to the Strat.......and a bit of ...megolomania.....

Strat in standard tuning plus lessons lead to Tele in open E and SLIDE.

Slide lead to Dobro and the real, real, real big one for me - fingerpicking blues.

Fingerpicking blues at live gigs lead to learning the foibles of a mic and an acoustic guitar live, which lead to buying....ha ha ha...acoustic electrics!

Washburn acoustic electric may have got me booed, customers wanted the resophonics, may have got booed anyway

Guitar shop dude said I needed an OM Martin with barn door pickup instead of the beautiful EC I tried at his shop......EC was about 7 times the price of the 000-15e I bought and the EC was the first really beautiful acoustic I had ever held.

Forums got big.......and I was reading about my 000-15e somewhere and somebody implied that for blues we needed a Gibson L-00.....rightly so, but way too much coin, but soon I was walking down the main street of hip cafe culture with my brand new Gibson Blues King L-00 in the supplied yellow Blues King carry bag! Which lead to my forum name.....

And on it goes, still........10 years later and many guitars under the bridge with the BIG BIG ones being a custom beauty made by a local luthier friend leading to a used Lowden and all kinds of things nothing like any previous guitars.....

BluesKing777.