-The thing about Roy is
he plays the guitar.

- He does?

- Yeah. Girls love that.

I've been trying to play this for so long I get sick of hearing it. :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJmPtneBibU

Start out with this. Should take you no time at all and it will impress the other guitar players.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_y_kft_3IU&feature=related

I think the fastest way to get any enjoyment out of the guitar is to learn songs! That means developing your voice, learning and memorizing the words and chords from beginning to end. You will develop your ear to recognize pitch, and you will begin to recognize traditional chord patterns. You'll come to realize that there's a lot of great songs that are incredibly simple and that after all the guitar is mainly an accompanying rhythm instrument. You will also gain a whole new appreciation for lyrics and how important they are. It's not about the guitar, it's about the song. If you pick up some sheet music of some of your favorite songs in a few weeks ( a bit of practicing everyday) you may surprise yourself.

By observing and imitating other players you can learn a lot as well. If you want to play blues or lead style guitar (you may or may not want to investigate that after learning some songs- major and minor pentatonic scales) , that's really a lifestyle commitment( you'll have to endure endless suffering and criticism) in my opinion, that is if you want to sound like a credible player, unless your just super talented.

Oh yeah, just learning to play you'll have to endure endless criticism, that's just part of the package. The glory comes much later.

I'm still waiting for that.

LOL, yeah cliffs of dover was the first song I learned. Not. ;)
That video cracks me up, 2 minutes and 45 seconds for the lead intro before he gets to the song. One of those songs that only he can play right.

This version is my favorite. Cleaner and truer to the original that he won a grammy for, he plays it in a stock room with a drum machine as backup. He may be playing along with the original recording, can't tell. How the heck can anyone get their fingers to do that?

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I used to be an EJ disciple and believe me, Cliffs is one of his easier songs. His stuff is just so technical and his chords are from another planet. Check out Trademark and Manhattan for unreal chords. Anyone can play fast. But EJ's phrasing and tone are what makes his fast stuff sound so different. You hear no attack on his strings. He slices each note with his pick and doesn't do the typical flat picking. Sounds almost like a violin. He is a true master. I think the album version of Cliffs of Dover is a live recording too. I've seen him about 10-15 times live and every time he jazzes up Cliffs way, way beyond what it is on the album.

If you want to learn blues guitar, it doesn't get much better than Fred Sokolow's Beginner DVD.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1196700315.jpg

You can rent it from Netflix or buy it here..http://guitarvideos.com/

Pick up a morgan Monroe "Blues 32" for about $375 w/ case and you're on your way. Good luck.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1196700442.jpg

That video of Eric Johnson is amazing. Living in close proximity to Hollywood I've seen and heard a lot of guitar players and I can say that players of that caliber are extremely rare.

It is often said that music is like a language, which I think is true. If you start at a very early age you can aquire a facility for it that is effortless. I'm sure EJ started when he was knee high. I'm just guessing but this song almost seems derived from traditional Celtic influences, with Maj7? modalities. Similar to language, the later in life you try to aquire the sound, the heavier the accent. That's why in my opinion no matter how hard you try, you will never duplicate his sound.

Similarly, different musical forms, jazz, classical, blues rock etc. are like different languages. Each form has it's unique set of musical nuances or accents. Just because one player can play classical with all of its' technically complicated voicings and harmonic structures, does'nt mean he can play the blues. You have to practice what you want to play. If your a rock player, you will not fit in with blues players, however conversly, blues players in my opinion will make for better lead rock players. I think that better jazz and rock players were heavily steeped in the blues.

I would recomend to anyone who was interested in playing the guitar to learn blues. It has a very simple structure 1,4,5, (three chords) so you can sit in with anybody and play. The key to making blues interesting is to do some research and understand the different rythm, textures and styles . When it comes to lead playing, it's all about phrasing, feel and tonality. You really need to listen to and study the phrasing of the great players. The common trap players will fall into with the blues is they will ape the scale as they play along and harmonically it will be correct, but they're not really taking the time to really listen to the phrasing. I've fallen into that trap for years and every now and then I'lldiscipline myself to really listen to what's going on, only then do I improve.

With the blues approach you will come to learn traditional blues form/structure and you will devolope the abilty to distinquish the one, the four and the five. This is extremely important to musical developement because this form is really the basis for a LOT of modern music from country to pop.

Of course, if your really driven and inspired you can try to play like EJ, but that will take some complete dedication. Ultimately I think you'll become one of those players that can parrot snippets of songs but not really being able to play something from beginning to end and satisfy an audience.

Players like EJ and EVH always start out on piano and gravitate to guitar. I think both those guys would say they can still play piano better than they do guitar. There's just better money in guitar music.

I'd get a couple of harmonicas in the typical blues keys and find the "sound" you are looking for. I'm not a musician, although I've always wanted to be. I understand progressions, intros, bridges and a few things. A blues harp can be a lot of fun and a teacher at the same time because much of the blues is improvisation. If you've got an A key harp, a B flat and an E, you can go on for hours.

Once you get the idea, maybe you can get your fingers to do the "talking."

PS, musicians, did I get those keys right?