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Killer chops or killer tone?

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So here is a hypothetical question I was recently asked, 'If you had to choose between having killer chops or an killer tone (but you could only have one), which would you prefer?'I have thought very, very long and hard about this, but at the end of the day it is a no brainer really, plus the older I get the more I realise and appreciate great tone. I guess one analogy would be that chops without tone I think is a like food without seasoning. To me, the best food doesn't taste any better that the least without a bit of seasoning.The reason it is a no brainer for me, is if you consider  the examples, Dave Gilmour pretty much has the holy grail of tone for me, and Comfortably Numb is my all time favourite solo, I get goose bumps everytime I hear it. Chops are fantastic, but when you look on line and everyone is shreding away with a thin fizzy tone it isn't that great. The more I get into thinking about tone, it is players like Stevie Ray, BB King, Eddie Van Halen, Nuno Bettencourt, Gary Moore, Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden), Nile Rogers, Albert King, Son House and on who's tone really gets me excited now. I am getting a tad bored with some of the technically profcient players who seem to be able to play everything but don't sound good. Actually, maybe that is a bit cruel, perhaps their sound is one that I don't find inspiring and that it is it.Now my biggest problem  is that I don't like my tone much of the time, sometimes it is too thin and weedy, my cleans are too piercing. I love the tone of the unamplified guitar, but can't recreate that, with some of the gear I have. I am more than happy with my rhythm sound, especially through my Cornford Roadhouse 50 Watt Head, it is just the lead which suffers, but then again it is all in the fingers, I need to change my fingers perhaps! Here are some of the things I have done to change my tone

  • Upped my string gauge
  • Tried Telecaster, Stratocaster, new pickups in my Ibanez guitars
  • Switched from Marshall to Fender amps (valve) and now Cornford, switched effects etc.
  • Constantly try different EQ settings.
  • Changed pick to thinner pick (from Jazz III)

Now a lot of these elements sound good in isolation, but when on stage they seem to just don't sound as good! Now there are a variety of reasons that that happens, and some of those are in the realm of psychoacoustics, but my goal is not improve tone (and still have some killer chops!Love to hear your thoughts!EnjoyPeaceNeil

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Achieving your goals

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I wrote this article a while back for some students, who were questioning how does one go about achieving your goals? Well, I can't say I have all the answers, but there are certain tactics you can employ to help you achieve your goals. Be wary though, that you should not just focus on the goal and miss out on the journey that you are undertaking to achieve it. Every step is important on your journey, embrace each step and learn something from it, also be alert to the fact that your destination to the goal might change because you discover something else along the trail."When I grow up, I wanna be a famous Rock and Roll guitar player" - Mr VaiI have read something similar to this lesson before a long time ago in an interview with Steve Vai, and it is something I have been trying to do for a long time, not just with my guitar playing, but in life in general. For me it is like climbing a mountain, the goal is to reach the summit, but to reach the summit, there are a lot of steps to get there, so saying to yourself 'I am going to take 20 steps today', is away of breaking the goal down into manageable chunks.I have a combination of higher level goals, and then smaller goals. All part of SMART system I have been using from many years

  • Specific – target a specific area for improvement.
  • Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.
  • Assignable – specify who will do it. (ME)
  • Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.
  • Time-related - When will you do it by

So to give you an idea, some of my bigger goals, are to continue generating an income through guitar and music related activities, be my own boss, play live as much as possible and to hopefully create something that inspires one person on this planet, or at least is something that makes them happy, just like the music of so many has done for me. These are the higher level goals, first step I would recommend is taking time, as much as time as you need to think of what your higher level goals are, and write them down.What next? Well, the smaller steps I take to the bigger goals are to continually look for opportunities to meet and play with other musicians, from small bar gigs through to the larger function gigs which I do. I try and write as much music as possible, as well as practice areas on the guitar which I think are my weakest. The next biggest goal is to find my own unique guitar voice. When I daydream, it is about playing with awesome musicians and getting lost in the moment.To achieve this I have realised that (thanks to studying at Berklee!) there are quite a few holes in my knowledge, and by working on these smaller goals, will put me in a better place to achieve the bigger ones. One of my current weaknesses is - my ear, thus I am working on ear training. my technique, I have reached a barrier on what i can do, I need to move over this barrier and get out of a rut (thus I am taking these courses), my fretboard knowledge and my song knowledge (I have played thousands of songs, but keep forgetting them) and finally my brand and image, I have to believe that I am a guitarist to be one, this is something Steve Vai talked a lot about when I studied under him at Berklee.I have been very fortunate to do many interesting and exciting things in life, but every since I was knee high to a grasshopper, there is literally nothing in my life which gives me the true inner happiness of playing guitar and I mean that either hammering out riffs along with a record, or a dodgy duo gig in a rough pub to being on a massive stage, or even at rehearsal. The feeling of locking in, being in the pocket, those moments when you transcend your body and become the music (without I hasten to add any artificial or chemical encouragement). I do it for that, those moments when your body has a haptic sensation caused by the simple vibration of molecules of air, be it something you have created or someone else.I also get the same kinds of feelings when you create a new sound from scratch, a sound which perfectly meets the expectation of the visual element, or the composition which transcends notes and fits perfectly with the visual to make you feel some form of emotion. I am still a small fish in a big pond, but if for these reason I do this, because nothing else comes close to creating the same levels of fulfilment, satisfaction, joy, despair, worry, happiness. That is why I bother, and it is feast and famine, sometimes you have to dip back in to other income streams, but for me there is no escaping it.

  • Set down on paper you goals, really take some time to think about them.
  • Take small steps everyday towards them, some days you will take lots of steps more than you thought, others you might not take any or fall back a few, it doesn't matter as they average out.
  • Enjoy the journey, be open to the fact the goal might change and that you discover something else along the way that brings you happiness.

I'd love to hear how you go about achieving your goals...leave them in the comments below.EnjoyPeaceNeil

Musicians Institue Conversation Series Part 2 - Steve Vai

I just found this online 'Musicians Institue Conversation Series Part 2 - Steve Vai'!As those who may have read my book 'Guitar Creativity | a new way of thinking' will have noticed, it's main focus is on Creativity (so much so it is in the title!) and inspiration and pushing the boundaries of your guitar playing and your art. I started the book with a quote from Steve Vai, 'I am that', and Steve has been a massive inspiration on everything I have done, and I find it both fascinating and inspiring to hear him talk about these concepts and how he approaches them. So it was a great surprise when this video popped up online, so if you want to be inspired on the guitar or in whatever for of art you make, I would recommend giving it a watch.EnjoyPeaceNeil

Spotify, YouTube and What 1 Million Plays Means! Scary stuff

I just stumbled across this article Spotify, YouTube and What 1 Million Plays Means! and it is pretty scary stuff. Now, I know the all the arguments, but it is shocking reading  #musicbiz #musicbusiness. I would like to hear your thoughts in the comments below, particularly if you think there are way now to monetise content. I appreciate that $0.000001 with an audience is better than $0 and no audience, I do get that, but it is us as the producers of content (be it music or other digital content such as photography, film, books etc) who are being shafted when you look at the compensation that the hi-tech companies are making in profit from exploiting content. It is a balance which currently I feel is skewed in favour of the tech companies, yes they are the 'facilitators' enabling us content producers to get our content in front of millions (billions) of potential clients, but the reality is different somewhat. No content, no compensation for them without stealing (i.e. the old Napster style model), artists deserved to be paid fairly for the output (you could argue that there is another skew to the top 10 artists who earn millions and again this is something that you could argue).Love to hear your thoughts.PeaceNeil