Improve by listening to different music

[Minty]

can you guys recommend some bands and musicians that I can listen to and study to help further my guitar playing. It'd be good if someone gives me suggestions of music that will help contribute to certain aspects of guitar (like speed, sweeping, etc.) and also maybe recommend some songs or albums where they really shine through.

Basically Pwnage stuff.

[seafoamer]

If u really wanna get pwned, buy Pat Metheny's "Question & Answers" LP & a box of tissues.

oh yea, he'll pwn u with speed, melody, comping, and songwriting (on the original compostions).

buy it, u prolly won't.

[tone4days]

Q&A is awesome ... there is enough there that even after it's done playin', i'm still not done with it in my head

funny, before i read your post, i was thinking the pat metheny group eponymous CD ... i think phase dance is a really cool tune to play ... he clearly grew exponentially in the 20 or so years leading up to Q&A ... knowing that i'll nevr get to where he is, i aspire to getting to where he was

if you must be all about sweep pwnage, get gambale's back catalogue and some claritin

t4d

[vinterland]

Speed and Sweep PWNAGE with taste - Jason Becker

[ratherdashing]

No one makes me realise what a piss-poor guitarist I am quite like Pat Metheney.

[Kamanda~SD]

Yngwie ****ing Malmsteen man!

Look at alot of the popular shredders in the 80's, ritchie kotzen, paul gilbert, yngwie, marty friedman, vinnie moore, jason becker, toony macalpine etc. Alot of more modern jaz guys like menthey as well. Petrucci is an awsome one as well.

[Minty]

Yngwie ****ing Malmsteen man!

Look at alot of the popular shredders in the 80's, ritchie kotzen, paul gilbert, yngwie, marty friedman, vinnie moore, jason becker, toony macalpine etc. Alot of more modern jaz guys like menthey as well. Petrucci is an awsome one as well.

Yeah that sounds good for pwning my friends lol...
What about for like, self improvement, like normal rock soloing and improv?
And do you know what specific songs I should look into by those musicians?

[daemon barbeque]

Michael Lee Firkins.Chapter eleven.Not metal but awesome guitar playing and speed
Tourniquet..for different aspects of music

[Osensei]

I agree about the comments with regards to Metheny. I am also amazed at the fact the nobody on this forum ever mentioned Pat Martino! Man what planet are you guys on!

I hear a lot of talk in this forum about aspects of guitar playing thats really a bunch of hype. You know? Like crap that really doesn't matter. Like who plays the fastest. Who's got the meanest chops and garbage like that. Then they hold up some goofy spandex wearing idiot thats still living back in the hair band era as an idol cause he plays a bazillion notes a second! LOL! Then you look at guys like Metheny and Martino that hardly get a mention and you just shake your friggin head.

So you might ask whats so great about these guys? Well number one is that they play jazz guitar. I mention that because tackling jazz on guitar and being able to actually make it "work" is probably one of the most difficult things for a guitarist to learn. Number 2 is that they are versitile. To illustrate the point let me tell you this true story.

When I was a freshman back in high school I joined the jazz ensemble the first year as a guitartist naturally. We had this guy named Greg on guitar who was a senior. The most amazing thing was as young as he was, he could play just like Pat Martino! I mean the spitting image of the man! Licks, phrasing everything. Even more amazing was the fact that he could immediately fit his style of soloing to any style of music. Straight ahead jazz - head could do it! Fusion, Funk - no problem! R & B sure! Rock - he could eat you up!

I find the same thing is true for Metheny's style. Sure he's a jazz cat, but I know he could Rock, R&B, or do whatever if he wanted to. So to me, these two guys have a style that's like the Rosetta Stone of guitar. If you can play that then you can play anything!

[SOLO GUITAR STEWIE]

Tourniquet..for different aspects of music

I dont like the guitar tones most of the time but tourniquet has some very interesting almost prog mentality going.

chris

[seafoamer]

I lyke Martino when he had his first brain.

[tone4days]

i used to see him for free at 'the shire' in cape may NJ before his hemmorhage ... was mind altering ... i don't even play the same instrument as that cat ... it's a plane i can't even aspire to

t4d

[Osensei]

Dude, I can't even imagine seeing Pat Martino live! I'd have an anurysm my damn self! I can only hope to be like either one of the Pats in my next life. Karma be kind to me!

[tone4days]

i had to stop going with my then gf/fiance (now wife) because i would accidently start to ignore her and she couldnt take but about 5 or 10 minutes of it ... i would just get completely altered ... he would pull off these incredible lines and i'd turn to her like "did you HEAR / SEE that?" and she'd wrinkle her nose at me like "can we leave yet?" .... he was kinda funny too .. he'd introduce the band and they'd take little features ... then he'd say something like "and i'm george benson" ... i had left Drexel by the time he recovered and got with the music dept. thre for a while ... i mightve never graduated if he had been teaching ...

t4d

[Osensei]

Lol! I know what you mean! I'm glad Martino wasn't my theory professor! Man, I woulda dropped out! He's got some thing about the I-Ching, the Daoist (I think) book of changes from Chinese philosophy that he applies to playing the guitar. I can't figure out WTF he's talking about! I would flunked his class! LOL!

[tone4days]

lol - no, i was an engineering major ... i meant that i just would've hung around not getting on with my life / career / debt-repayment if i had a chance to sit in his classroom and learn from him

[B2D]

When I get into a rut wth my playing I do one of two things:

1) I listen to a style of music thats somewhat outside of what I normally listen to, but something I know I can learn from. It doesn;t have to be any style in particular. For instance, a few months ago I saw a performance on TV with two gentlemen... one playing a Cello and the other playing an Eqyptian lute called an 'Oud. Very inspiring and exotic sounds there.

2) Listen to solo horn players or jazz solo horn players in particular. I've heard a lot of great guitar players say that they think in terms of playing a sax ora trumpet when they solo. It really does help to be in a different fram of mind sometimes.

[LesStrat]

Kerry Livgren. Solo and with Kansas.

Phil Keaggy.

Larry Carlton.

Rik Emmett.

Steve Morse.

BB King.

[dd12939]

Al DiMeola is good.
There is a cool record called "Friday Night in San Francisco" with Al, John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia all on acoustic guitars, no band. It's got some STUPID playing on it.

[Osensei]

I've heard ppl say that DeLucia, DiMeola and Mclaughlin were the original G3! I remember they were a hot act in the mid 80's. Those guys were bad to the bone together!