There's not going to be anything about technique or anything like that in this article. When it comes to guitar I believe most of what makes guitarists memorable is their feel. Technique is just a bonus.
I started playing guitar almost five years ago when I had just turned 16. I remember going to a Van Halen concert. It was the first time I had ever paid attention to the guitarist before. Eddie Van Halen was great. I had a guitar for dummies book and a beginner's DVD and my brother had an old electric for me to practice with. I sat down and learned all the chords. After I learned all the chords I stopped practicing. That DVD was my only lesson.
Instead of practicing, everytime I sat down I tried to play something that I made up. I practiced a few songs, but I just ended up getting frustrated. I don't know why, but I just don't like spending time learning songs that people have already written. Instead I like to learn some of the tricks they do and use them for myself like, for example: Eddie Van Halen's two handed tapping or The Edge's effect style. I really like those ones. I was able to do that tapping thing perfectly after playing for like a week.
So I sat down every day and tried playing stuff that sounded good. I wanted to play fast, but it never sounded good. I played around with the effects on my amp, but most of them just made the guitar have a different sound. They didn't actually add to the instrument. The effects were like changing paint on the walls in your house, but I didn't want to paint the walls, I wanted to add another room to the house.
That's when I found the delay effect and my style was born. You hit the string and the note keeps popping up down the line. It was more than just changing the sound, the delay effect changed the dynamic by adding more sounds to my playing. It was way trippy man. One time me and my brother smoked some some daaaank nug and we smoked a lot of it too and I put the delay effect on and started tapping at the top of the neck and the sound was so crazy and weird! My brother started shaking and fell off the bed. He says he had a seizure. It's happened before, but I think he was lying.
So I put the guitar on clean, put on the delay effect, and I arpeggiate the chords at the right speed to get this really crazy thumping sound. I'm the only one I know who can do it the way I do it and because of that I get to play in a lot of bands. It's not the only thing I do when I'm playing, but it's my favorite.
These days, to make a little extra cash, I teach little kids how to play guitar. When they're trying to play all fast and they get frustrated because they can't, I tell them, "Don't worry about that, just learn your chords. Focus on trying to play something that sounds good. You can practice flashy guitar later." They'll never get anywhere by learning all the speed mechanics and flashy stuff when they're starting out. Flashy guitar was unique in the 80's, but these days you sit down with any highschool shmuck and he can play fast. It's all about writing songs that sound good. If it sounds good to have a fast solo then do it, but every song you write can't be a shred fest. Yngwie Malmstein might have gotten away with it, but you won't. My experience was learning first how to play with feel. Technique came way later and I only use it to add to the feel. Are you understanding the point I am trying to make? The little kids I teach are starting to understand and everything that comes out of their amps now is a magic trip fest. The skill they have with writing music is a hundred times more valuable than someone who spent their time learning how to play fast.
It's really weird to hear someone else play like me. It's like watching a movie about someone who's trying to act like you. It's really cool when the only way you can hear your style is by teaching it to someone else.
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