Play scales or play what you feel?

[Tranman66]

I'm not about to take advice from Neil Young on soloing. He's a singer/songwriter.

.

you my friend, obviously don't listen to neil young. Pick up the live rust DVD or the neil young and friends at red rocks DVD and tell me the man doesn't know how to solo.

his solos are pure emotion and you can tell by listening to them. If people nowadays felt the music they were playing half as much as he does the music world would be a far better place.

you dont wanna mess with fans of neil young the guy is the hard rocker

[MWR]

I'm not about to take advice from Neil Young on soloing. He's a singer/songwriter.

.

you my friend, obviously don't listen to neil young. Pick up the live rust DVD or the neil young and friends at red rocks DVD and tell me the man doesn't know how to solo.

his solos are pure emotion and you can tell by listening to them. If people nowadays felt the music they were playing half as much as he does the music world would be a far better place.

you dont wanna mess with fans of neil young the guy is the hard rocker

I should have been more clear. I know that he CAN solo but that's certainly not his forte'. Not to mention why would you learn from someone who can't even describe what they're doing. He's obviously just a musical layman, I wouldn't listen to his advice I would listen to his music. There are plenty of people who go by "feeling" but they can also verbalize what it is they are doing. I prefer to learn from them.

[1eyed_jack]

haha, im not like a hardcore only listens to neil young guy or anything, but people always seem to write him off as just a guy who plays some good acoustic songs. But when you listen to some of his electric songs its like a whole different person. I'm talking about songs like

cowgirl in the sand
down by the river
words
like a hurricane
cortez the killer and such

i dont mean to jump on everyone, but i feel like neil young is 2 different people, hes a guy that writes some lyrically amazing and musically subtle songs on guitar, and then the next day goes out and jams out cowgirl in the sand 18 minutes in concert

[MWR]

haha, im not like a hardcore only listens to neil young guy or anything, but people always seem to write him off as just a guy who plays some good acoustic songs. But when you listen to some of his electric songs its like a whole different person. I'm talking about songs like

cowgirl in the sand
down by the river
words
like a hurricane
cortez the killer and such

i dont mean to jump on everyone, but i feel like neil young is 2 different people, hes a guy that writes some lyrically amazing and musically subtle songs on guitar, and then the next day goes out and jams out cowgirl in the sand 18 minutes in concert

I'll put it this way:

I respect him immensely as a musician but not as a teacher. Often times they're mutually exclusive. You know what they say "those who can't do teach" and vice versa.

I will check out those songs though.

[1eyed_jack]

ya i mean im not going to sign up for the neil young guitar lesson class or anything. but i find it interesting how he was able to find his own musical voice without the aid of anything really

[MWR]

ya i mean im not going to sign up for the neil young guitar lesson class or anything. but i find it interesting how he was able to find his own musical voice without the aid of anything really

There are people out there like that. I think Hendrix is another one. They are few and far between though. This begs the question, what if they had known music theory? What kind of bounderies could they have broken with that kind of knowlegde? I don't know what the answer is but my own personal opinion is that theory is a very, very good thing and should not be viewed as rules to follow but doors to open. But hey, different people learn in different ways and if theory is the kryptonite blocking you from becoming a supuer guitar player than by all means don't bother.

[i am sam2]

ya i mean im not going to sign up for the neil young guitar lesson class or anything. but i find it interesting how he was able to find his own musical voice without the aid of anything really

There are people out there like that. I think Hendrix is another one. They are few and far between though. This begs the question, what if they had known music theory? What kind of bounderies could they have broken with that kind of knowlegde? I don't know what the answer is but my own personal opinion is that theory is a very, very good thing and should not be viewed as rules to follow but doors to open. But hey, different people learn in different ways and if theory is the kryptonite blocking you from becoming a supuer guitar player than by all means don't bother.

i think not knowing so much theory probably allowed them to develop into the styles they are...with theory, who knows, they might have each become just like the other guys in rock. not saying youre wrong, im just suggesting

[onid41]

i wish i was good at soloing

[Davy28]

its all in the practice and determination

[dmbguitar718]

ya i mean im not going to sign up for the neil young guitar lesson class or anything. but i find it interesting how he was able to find his own musical voice without the aid of anything really

There are people out there like that. I think Hendrix is another one. They are few and far between though. This begs the question, what if they had known music theory? What kind of bounderies could they have broken with that kind of knowlegde? I don't know what the answer is but my own personal opinion is that theory is a very, very good thing and should not be viewed as rules to follow but doors to open. But hey, different people learn in different ways and if theory is the kryptonite blocking you from becoming a supuer guitar player than by all means don't bother.

i think not knowing so much theory probably allowed them to develop into the styles they are...with theory, who knows, they might have each become just like the other guys in rock. not saying youre wrong, im just suggesting

good point.

[MWR]

ya i mean im not going to sign up for the neil young guitar lesson class or anything. but i find it interesting how he was able to find his own musical voice without the aid of anything really

There are people out there like that. I think Hendrix is another one. They are few and far between though. This begs the question, what if they had known music theory? What kind of bounderies could they have broken with that kind of knowlegde? I don't know what the answer is but my own personal opinion is that theory is a very, very good thing and should not be viewed as rules to follow but doors to open. But hey, different people learn in different ways and if theory is the kryptonite blocking you from becoming a supuer guitar player than by all means don't bother.

i think not knowing so much theory probably allowed them to develop into the styles they are...with theory, who knows, they might have each become just like the other guys in rock. not saying youre wrong, im just suggesting

good point.

No it isn't..I keeeed.

How do you get a guitarist to stop playing...put a piece of sheet music in front of them.
Look, guitarist's are known the world over for being illiterate. It's our M.O. A piano player on the other hand is forced to learn, at the very least, the basics.
You can use Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix etc. as a means to justify not learning theory but it just makes you another ignorant guitar player.
Call me a nerd but I find it all really interesting and fun even if it doesn't translate directly to my playing. I want to be a musician not a guitar player and that's impossible if you don't know how to speak the language.

[dmbguitar718]

ya i mean im not going to sign up for the neil young guitar lesson class or anything. but i find it interesting how he was able to find his own musical voice without the aid of anything really

There are people out there like that. I think Hendrix is another one. They are few and far between though. This begs the question, what if they had known music theory? What kind of bounderies could they have broken with that kind of knowlegde? I don't know what the answer is but my own personal opinion is that theory is a very, very good thing and should not be viewed as rules to follow but doors to open. But hey, different people learn in different ways and if theory is the kryptonite blocking you from becoming a supuer guitar player than by all means don't bother.

i think not knowing so much theory probably allowed them to develop into the styles they are...with theory, who knows, they might have each become just like the other guys in rock. not saying youre wrong, im just suggesting

good point.

No it isn't..I keeeed.

How do you get a guitarist to stop playing...put a piece of sheet music in front of them.
Look, guitarist's are known the world over for being illiterate. It's our M.O. A piano player on the other hand is forced to learn, at the very least, the basics.
You can use Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix etc. as a means to justify not learning theory but it just makes you another ignorant guitar player.
Call me a nerd but I find it all really interesting and fun even if it doesn't translate directly to my playing. I want to be a musician not a guitar player and that's impossible if you don't know how to speak the language.

I totally understand what you're saying. Great job with the "I want to be a musician not a guitar player". Bam.

[Tranman66]

No it isn't..I keeeed.

How do you get a guitarist to stop playing...put a piece of sheet music in front of them.
Look, guitarist's are known the world over for being illiterate. It's our M.O. A piano player on the other hand is forced to learn, at the very least, the basics.
You can use Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix etc. as a means to justify not learning theory but it just makes you another ignorant guitar player.
Call me a nerd but I find it all really interesting and fun even if it doesn't translate directly to my playing. I want to be a musician not a guitar player and that's impossible if you don't know how to speak the language.

i have a friend who gives me that attitude on music too. and i agree with him lol. But its hard to just sit down and learn without guidance like a teacher or someone. I do agree that to know music you have to see how it works and fit together and thats the purpose of studying and developing theory.

[gumbomadness]

amen.

[shodoc]

i played lead in a band for about 5 months last year (we didn't do any covers, wrote all our own stuff) and i didn't know the first thing about scales or theory. i was still able to solo decently but i knew i was limited a lot since i didn't know a single scale or anything. i'd basically just jam to the chord progression finding notes that sounded inkey and than after a few hours i'd have memorized all the notes that i knew were in key with the chords.

i'd say that scales and theory aren't somehting u NEED to start writing out a solo but they definetely help loads in getting started.

the rythm guitarist in my band swore he knew scales and how to tell what key a song was in, but every time he'd tell me the song is in this key and i'd go online and see if i could find the scales for that key, theyd never sound in key with the chords
maybe it was just me being stupid or both me and him being stupid.

if u wana hear one of the demos of me improving to write the solos for one of the songs i have a recording on my comp. i have no idea how to post it on a forum tho so if anyone knows how and tells me i'll do it