It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Take professional golf for example. Look at the last half dozen Walker Cup matches and count how many of the players in those competitions actually 'made it' when they turned professional. The standard of Walker Cup is extraordinarily high - those guys can hit it long and straight - but that is not enough as all the professionals on the circuit can hit it long and straight too.
Personally, I find GOTY (competitive) guitar playing - as in solo playing - to be pretty boring and often an opportunity for the player to display amazing technical ability. Which, all too often, amounts to a big zero musically.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
We need new blood in the guitar world, whether you guys like what they play or not. It'll die out with out it, but there's still room for all us older guys too. The real gift of all of this stuff is when some of the old style feel and some of that fresh thinking technique gets put together to create something more universal.
And for no other reason than cos I think you guys will like it, here's a previous guitarist of the year, Guthrie Goven playing a Strat (I know you like Strats(by the way, did you notice one of the three finalists is playing a Tele!)). Not so much new techniques on this, but surely one hell of a solo. Guthrie does it all though, including the shred you all hate so much, but it's all part of a being a modern guitar player guys. Just cos you don't listen to it, there's one hell of a lot of other guitarist that do and I suppose these competitions are maybe for those people. Each to their own fellas, that's what makes the world interesting.
Also, how about Acoustic Guitarist of the year (there's no Les Pauls,Tele's or Strats in this one)
https://www.musicradar.com/news/acoustic-guitarist-of-the-year-2019-finalists-revealed
A great guitar solo for me compliments and is part of the whole song it doesn’t work in isolation.
Guthrie’s a great player though and has an exceptional knowledge of the instrument. Wasn’t he writing for guitar magazines when he was about 15?!
That said I’m happy guitarist of the year is a thing and other people appreciate it.
The last guy Todd Blackmore has a nice melodic blues piece without any backing that shows a lot of feel and touch without any neck shaking and I’ll be checking out more of his songs.
Glad you like it though, at least I'm not on my own.
I'm not usually a fan, but that was pretty sweet.
None of the pieces were ones I'd listen to by choice but the in all cases they were superbly played, and not just from a technique point of view. If it gets people motivated, interested, and inspired, and gives players some exposure, what's not to like?
(PS the quote "writing/taking about music is like dancing about architecture" is not Zappa's ...)
I would've got a lot more jobs if I'd played drums or keys.
I did a video of myself playing a month or so ago and I looked really like my mind was else where and not at all as into it as Guthrie seems to be or Paul for that matter. Maybe that'll help my playing if I do a bit of gurning!
Out of the 3 this year, only Todd is playing music imo, the others are just demonstrating their technical capability. It depends what this comp is meant to be... the most technically advanced player, or the most musical.
I personally think they're all playing music.
What tends to happen on here is that if it ain't blues related or somehow mainstream in someway people say it ain't music. That's an opinion but there's obviously people out there that listen and enjoy more challenging stuff as well as the relatively easy listening blues, rock and pop.
As said previously, I'm a Jazzer, Fusionist and Rock and Metal stuff too. It's all stuff I listen to and it's also all music made using a guitar.
For me they're all great players and they're all furthering the cause of the guitar. I think the competition (although like I said earlier, how can it be competitive?) is about highlighting talent on the instrument. Without new techniques from other genres we may as well give up now, cos the guitar will always be about music of the past and not the future. I can't be alone on this either, as these three guys have been chosen out of many and personally I can see why too. They're doing something great in my opinion and I hope they all carry on doing it. Makes for an interesting world and it's ultimately gonna be the future of our instrument after we're all done.