The reason this occurred to me is that I've been playing along with some rockish 1-4-5 blues trax lately with my distortion turned on, and I've been finding lottsa notes and licks that fit pretty well without straining. But playing good clean soulful country licks to country ballad trax is a lot harder. Maybe it's me (I grew up on 70s rock). Anyone else?

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Bill L | My steel page | Email | My music | Steeler birthdays | Over 50?

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There's a difference in playing and playing well..

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I guess I become more discerning, but that level seemed to drop with the popularity of the Beatles, and sundry British bands (don't 'flame' me - I'm British!). Right at this time, a friend played me some Earnest Tubb and Buck Owens records - it was my first taste of Country music and I was immediately struck once again by the standard of musicianship. I became a convert!

Well, it turned out that country wasn't as easy to play as they all thought it would be. They wanted to do a couple Waylon Jennings/ Billie Joe Shaver songs and the strum-the-guitar-around-the-campfire technique really didn't sound right. The best explanation I could come up with was, it's the difference between the frantic clutter of the city and the clean spaces of the country. You're driving down the road and if you think of the telephone poles as the beats, there's a lot of space in between them and they give you room to breathe and think about what you're doing.

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you'll disappoint your audience greatly.

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Ray, you're right... and in Texas dance halls the dance floor activity (or lack of) is a pretty good indicator.

[This message was edited by Bill Terry on 07 February 2003 at 12:06 PM.]

I would contend right here and now that if anyone thinks they are playing Country music and thinks it's easy, they are not playing Country music , but think they are.

I think Gene Jones came close above but I would contend that not only do you need to have the right state of mind, YOU MUST have a very good knowledge of your Instrument and it's tonal qualities.

I hired my Rock/Jazz guitar pal to play a gig with us years back..it was a bust..he admitted it...he told me that he didn't fit in , he couldn't feel the simplicity of the songs . I told him that he had everything it took to play well and fit in except the correct attitude. We are still great friends today.

tp

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 07 February 2003 at 05:39 PM.]

I have found that learning to play clean (without effects) effectively is the best way to go. It is much easier to go back and play with effects after knowing how to play without them. When one starts out playing with effects, if they are not careful, they will "hide behind" them.

After playing lead guitar in church and our weekend country band using just reverb (in addition to steel, my main instrument), I have found the transition to distortion and chorus effects in my playing to be very easy.

I think a "three chord" country song or rock song to be equally easy to play. Songs with complex progressions, no matter what genre are a challenge to play. Also, not too many players can handle a song in a minor key very well. One reason is that we often do not play in those keys.

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Country music, like jazz and western-swing, depends upon a state of mind, not proficiency in playing an instrument

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Did you ever go in the music stores and ever hear the young players try to play clean without distortion ? NOT...I always wondered why someone would buy a very expensive amp or guitar and test it under full distortion before the purchase.

Ah' tell you what !

tp

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 08 February 2003 at 12:52 PM.]

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"playing any style of music well, whatever style it might be, is to a great extent dependant upon many things in addition to just playing an instrument well"

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Just Country;;

When I made my move from the Rock/Blues bands to straight ahead Country back in the late 60's early 70's, it was very awkward to make the transition. It was very hard to play simple open phrases and feel it and like it. I felt I needed to add more notes..or something...But this simple open style is mandatory for a Country picker. I was fortunate to be able to work with some very experienced players who pretty much dragged me along for the ride and not to far down the road I was actually playing with them and not on top or over them, but it took time. But I did have a burning desire to become one of those Tele' dudes so I stuck it out, and by the way , at that same time I put down the flat pick . There was no way I was gonna get out of the Blues R+R mode with a flat pick in my right hand ..so ..no picks for me. I never picked them up again. I pretty much had to learn how to play all over again but at least this time I knew how to tune the guitar before the gigs !..well almost...I'm still workin' on that...

Don't give up..stay the course..think simple,play simple and from there you add on to your technique. You can slowly put back in the stuff that you were playing before, but in a little bit different setting.

Listen to Merle "thats the way love goes"
( the album cut that he plays on ) it's a classic for us Country Tele' boys. Exceptional tone and simplicity. 1/2 dozen notes never sounded any better. This one song is a Country music lesson all by itself which I still listen to and play regularly.

Now some 30 years later I'm playing Country but add many Blues and Fusion phrases and somehow on the Telecaster with that bright clean sound everyone seems to think I'm a pure Country boy...ok.....

I was talking to an old friend about this same subject the other night and we both came to the same conclusion that we may have finally become actual musicians, and it only took 35 years ! You play the song, if it's Johnny B Goode, you rock out...if it's Tennessee Waltz, you don't. IF you're backing a singer, you do what you can to make them sound good.

The band I am in currently I have a pretty different challenge, I play Bass ( which I also love) behind a Telecaster player and forum member Joe Smith, a very talented and gifted Pedal Steel player. I pretty much have to put away my Tele' and Steel' hat and put on the Bass hat which is a total support role. Totally opposite of what I have been doing the past many years. I do my best to play the songs and along with the drummer give the tunes a quality rhythm section.

These guys are tuff,they want me to play Country , Rock + Roll and Blues!! So of course I had to ask, " All at the same time" ?

you can do it...just do it...

tp

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 09 February 2003 at 02:47 AM.]

Some effects like chorusing, affect the way you sound, but don't really change the way you play. With distortion, the notes are artificially sustained beyond their normal decay time. Playing with it requires a different touch.

There are (unfortunately) a lot of kids who ONLY know how to play with distortion. Take it away and they don't know what to do.

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Click on the pic!

I think we can all agree that, all else being equal, some types of music are far more "easy" to play than others. That is, for an average pedal steel guitar player, it would be far easier to play a single-note version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on a piano than it would be to play an orchestral part of some classical tune on, say, an oboe -- wouldn't it?

The point is, as many have stated above, some forms of music require a bit more technical skill to play than others do, and hence, those forms that do require a bit more technical proficiency are therefore not as "easy" to play in an acceptable manner. Of course there will be exceptions to the rule, as there always are, because somebody's always going to argue that to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with real feeling is not easy -- know what I mean, Vern?

If you're going to argue that, then why don't we just say that to play any type of music with enough feeling to satisfy every critic in the world is just going to be impossible. So, let's take the "feeling" out of it and just consider actual ability to play the music.

As we all know, a majority of rock guitar solos are played out of a pentatonic blues scale which is a sort of abreviated version of a minor scale (I think) that can be played throughout the cord changes of most songs. You don't have to really worry about what note you hit when, because most any note of the pentatonic scale will sound OK against most, if not all of the cords (I know, I know, someone want's to argue that there are exceptions to the rule -- there always is).

But, in most country lead solos, the notes are played out of the actual cords themselves (I'm not a musical whiz, so my terminology is really basic). In other words, you can't just play any note out of a given scale throughout the cord changes in most country solos -- you have to know what cord you're playing against, and thus play one of a corresponding group of notes according to that cord (I know, I know, someone's always going to argue that there are exceptions to the rule).

So, IN GENERAL, playing a rock solo is easier than playing a country solo because of the above reasons. I know, I know, someone's always going to argue that there are exceptions to the rule

[This message was edited by Tom Olson on 10 February 2003 at 09:26 AM.]

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Just try playing "Chopsticks" on pedal steel sometime. Not easy!

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