Don’t learn to play the guitar, learn to use the guitar to make music.
And…that just sounded decidedly more Lifetime Original Movie than I had originally anticipated. (Of course, without the teenager trying to kill the wife of the guy she’s having an affair with. Uh…I mean……I’ve never seen a Lifetime Original Movie.) I stole it from a film; but in the film, the quote was about war. It sounded much cooler when it was about war.
However, despite my unfortunate attempt to sound profound and prove my poeticicity (well, if there was any lingering thought that I might be profound anyway…that just killed it), I still agree with the statement. Your sound increases exponentially the less you play your guitar, and the more you use your guitar to create music.
Splendid. (Except for the cheesiness. And the Lifetime reference. And uh…that’s most of the post.)
Karl.
In an attempt to reply without reference to any Lifetime Original Movie, let me just say that I am learning to play the guitar AND to make music. Both are difficult for me, but from completely different sides of the learning spectrum. Your point is made though because I can’t technically play what is in my head if there is nothing in my head.
And I was not having an affair with my guitar even if my wife catches me looking at it longingly from time to time…
Now tone on the other hand…
isn’t this the primary goal of any instrument? to make music and to serve to enhance music?
good thoughts!
When I see guitarist who worship their instruments and gear, I like to remind them that…
“those things are made to worship with and not to be worshiped”
“David played skillfully before the Lord on the lyre”
I read another blog that said, “Imagine if you were called to play some music for the president for an hour. You would put loads of effort into practice. Why should it be any different for God?” I like that.
I’m not quite sure where you were going with this one Karl. Are you trying to say don’t bother with the technicality of music and just play the music? Or are you saying that you shouldn’t get caught up in the technicality of the music so that you forget to play music? Or are you saying get technically good so you can play musically?
In response to the affair with gear: the wallpaper on my computer at work is a picture of my collection of guitars and gear. A co-worker asked if I played all the guitars and also if my wife got jealous of my gear.
My response was this; I said, “Heck yes, and the best part is that if I get tired of playing one guitar, I can put it down and pick up another one. And if I get tired of playing that one, I can pick up another one. I can’t exactly do that with my wife!”
I haven’t mentioned that remark to my wife…
Polygamy comes to mind when trying to put your self in a position to swap out wives like guitars…
I read that reply earlier today and have been giggling about it all day…I am guessing that you want to stay married?
Hey Karl – Thanks again for all the helpful info on this site. In all seriousness, it is a blessing… and funny too. I’ve noticed some really small hum in my signal and I’m on a quest to clean up my cables and power. What power conditioner do you use and is it in a rack? I can’t find one that is not rack mounted. There’s lots of Furmans on ebay for reasonable prices. Thanks again. Bud Reynolds
Hey Bud – Hum is usually caused by the proximity of power supplies. Either that or sometimes I get a tune stuck in my head and I hum all day…
Seriously though, I chased a hum on my board for days. I was going nuts. It turned out to be a wall wart type power supply on my board that was near a patch cable. I could literally move the patch cable back and forth around the power supply and make the hum. It only hummed when within a few inches of the supply, so it doesn’t have to be far. I’ve also heard that power distributors such as the voodoo lab pedal power and Dunlop Brick can also cause a hum if a pedal or cable is too close.
Any resistant power transformer creates a magnetic field. This is why stage lighting is notorious for causing hum in guitars. Guitar pickups were made to pickup magnetic vibrations. Thus the noise. Unshielded patch & instrument cables will also pick up magnetic interference.
I also recommend using a quality/proven wall wart if you need to use one. I see a lot of guys that find a wall wart that was used for their phone, answering machine, video game, etc. While sometimes they work fine, many times those wall warts were not manufactured with the intention of being used for clean audio.
This may or may not be your issue – but it’s a great and inexpensive place to start. Isolate the power.
Sorry to join the discussion late, I’m just getting back in town from a place with no internet. I know…barbaric.
Gtr1ab–good point. Being able to play is important; but so is being able to create a melody worth playing.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with gazing lovingly at tone. haha
Rhoy–thanks, bro. And I completely agree with you.
You can substitute the word ‘guitar’ in this post for any instrument you like. Personally, I’m choosing didgeridoo. 
Sal–is that a veiled criticism of my mountains of gear? hehe If it is, props to you, my friend!
hehe And you do make a great point…all gear, for us, is for the purpose of worshiping God.
Tom–ya, I may have been a little too vague. The only thing I was insinuating was that sometimes it’s good just to simply have a mindset shift as you’re playing. Keep the technicality, keep the minimalism, keep the guitar playing the same whatever you’re doing; but just shift from ‘playing the guitar’ to ‘making music.’ It’s a subtle shift, for sure, but one that always seems to help me. And sometimes that even means playing more technically.
I just know that for myself, whether I’m playing 1 note or 50, I always seem to sound better when I’m thinking about creating music, rather than thinking about playing the guitar.
lol Mmm…different guitars.
Sal–lol
Bud–thanks for the kind words! As for the hum, I use a Voodoo Labs Pedla Power 2+ for every pedal that uses a Boss style adapter. That isolates the power. And then for all the other pedals (and I plug the Pedal Power into it, too), I use the Furman Power Factor Pro. They make it in both pedal and rackmount form.
For hum itself, I usually unplug my board from my amp, and just turn the amp on, to see if it hums by itself. If there’s no hum, then I plug the board in. If there’s still no hum, then it’s probably the guitar. But if it is the board that’s humming, try unplugging the power from pedals one by one to see which one is doing it. Apologies if you’ve already tried all that. hehe And you’re totally right, getting clean power and better cables makes a huge hum difference!
Tom–great stuff on isolating the power physically. I had a Teese wah one time that just couldn’t stand to be next to the Timeline. You could literally make it hum and then not hum like a theremin by bringing it closer/farther away from the Timeline. haha
Making music on the guitar is much more difficult than playing the guitar. Any fool can learn how to copy someones elses music. Just stir in practice and time and the results will be a close proximity of. The difficult part (For me anyway.) was reaching the point that I was so comfortable with my instrument that what I had in my head started becoming reality through my fingers. That’s tough. I still be workin’ on that.
Mark, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Props. I’m still working on that, too. Someday the feelings in my head and heart will be able to come out of my guitar.