Dude,
Yeah, I know. I shamelessly drew the title from the tagline of a budget airline, which I am still trying to sort out whether to like them or hate them.
But seriously, it is so easy for one to pick up guitar these days.
Nowadays, you can get a fairly good piece of axe with the price of RM500 (or below). A certain effects pedal manufacturer can offer a distortion at less than RM100. More and more brands are now coming up with “Starter’s Pack” – with axe, amp, gig bag and cable all bundled into one nifty looking box. If you know the sales guy well, he may even throw in a set of free strings!
If you think about it, for a beginner, browsing through guitar store today can be quite an exhausting experience. Unless you know what you want (or in my case, it’s the wallet that decide what I will get), you will have to go through a jungle of a showroom (not before doing endless research on the net to find which brand and model is suitable).
Guitar lessons are getting more and more sophisticated as days go by. Back then, I would be damn happy to get my hands on some VCDs or some featured lesson on mags. Today, you get YouTube and recently, there is a new trend in music education – Skype. More and more artistes are coming out with instructional DVDs (most ridiculous one I have is Jeff Loomis’s one, makes me want to stop playing and concentrate on other things).
Dude, more schools are popping up everyday, with the BIG shop forming its own academy. Gone are the days you need theory to get some paper qualification. So many courses today are structured to be practical in its approach and teaching process.
And of course, an important factor…. Buying power.
Dude, I don’t know how many times you encounter this, but I witnessed some really expensive purchases, once in Singapore – an ESP Flying V – by not so great players (mostly decided by the dad’s or mum’s wallet).
And I have also seen some really great players (like Uncle) who are stuck using really cheap/budget gears (also decided by their wallet, but their own).
Now, you may be thinking I am drifting from the title. You may be asking “Dude, what the hell are you trying to say?”
No matter what guitar we use, or which guitar instruction method we use, all are useless. What we need is just passion and love for what we have and play. Sometimes people need to realize that even if we don’t play as well as John Petrucci or we don’t own that Fendeer Custom Shop SRV No.1, our appreciation for music is already, the greatest reward. Furthermore, no use playing like JP if we don’t have his heart and soul (for me, no use playing like JP cos’ can never do things he does).
With all the gears and amenities so easily available today, it’s not surprising there are more and more Melvins out there (check South Park
So, folks, listen up. You may be able to afford that EVH guitar (RM30,000, you gotta be kidding) or stuck with a Squier S-65 for the rest of your life. It doesn’t matter. As long as you have the heart to play, you will achieve that greatness one day. If music and the guitar you play doesn’t discriminate you, then why should you?
You can only start having 25 (or more) guitars if you really show the passion. My musical brother showed me that you need a lot of passion and commitment to achieve that – and playing wise, fully command his hero’s, Zakk Wylde’s playing style and able to summon it by command – as well as bold enough to make sacrifices. He has the heart, so he deserve 25 (and more). You Melvins out there, at least learn to play properly first.
Till I get my own 25, I hope more people can pick up guitar. That will lead to more new (and good) products in the market, more resources available and more guitar oriented concerts in this country. Hopefully, I will be better then.
So, pick up your axe and fight like a farmer.
RM30,000 for a guitar… you gotta be kidding.
Dude,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. I've been out of action for awhile as you know I was down with really bad follicular tonsilitis. My fever hit more than 40 degrees and I was shivering in 30 degree weather and bright hot sun. That's how bad it got.
You are right - these days, any idiot can pick up the guitar and try to play - but I do believe the drop out rate for guitar playing is the highest amongst all instruments by the sheer number of those who pick it up and just give it up in the future. The most they can reach is strumming, and that will be "impressive" enough for the kids during scout's camp. Those who have the passion won't really participate and will dis-associate themselves from this pack eventually. I certainly did not join any camp fire adventures while playing the guitar.
Whether it is 25 guitars or 1, you are right, passion is what makes the difference. What's the point of owning 20 guitars if you can't even play how you want to play. Sure I can't sweep pick, and I can't play technical Sumatran licks - but I play adequately, and can achieve a style I enjoy. Musically I am still growing - I think we all are - and all of a sudden you realise some of the most emotional solos are actually some of the easiest solos ever played. Just listen to David Gilmour. He is not the fastest player in the world, but along the way he developed his own style, and that's what made him great. Eric Clapton, Mr Slowhand, not the fastest player at all, but developed style. Our recent obsession, Steve Rothery, far from fast, but with so much emotion placed into the blues box solos that it feels like a whole different sub-saharan lick.
So yes, anybody can play - but not many actually produce the goods.
I also wanted to add an additional comment to your Boogie recording. I had some time to think over the week when I was sick, and realised that each recording we have done, whether it was my music, your music or a solo or whatever, is a recorded passage of time. You can look back at the time those things were recorded and knew how you felt, and what you were doing and at which moment in time it was. I reflected back on when I recorded World Turn, Wasting Time, the other songs like Retrospect and STYL, and ultimately Boogie - it's all a recording of a moment in history for us. We can listen back to it when we are 70 and remember exactly how we felt during that moment.
I realise this is how I feel when I look at my guitars too. My guitar blog started out as a review, but now it has changed into a passage of time as I start reflecting on my purchases. I think you realised that faster than me, but thought I will share my recent discovery with you.