UGM Zombies

[Rudi]

To my everlasting regret, the overall majority of guitarists, while perfectly sane & reasonable in all other respects are, on the subject of guitars and guitarists, messed up beyond all salvation. This takes place in

sequence. First of all they...

1/ Develop a passion for music

2/ Have a desire to play music

3/ Decide to learn guitar

4/ Meet teacher or guitarist `mate' and get started (rot sets in !)

5/ Are taught, & in the process become a clone of the universal guitar method zombies.

6/ As UGM zombies, they seem to have no recollection of the initial spark of excitement and creativity that generated 1, 2 and 3. Instead they mindlessly wade the stagnant waters of guitar conformity.

This is, however, extremely demanding work. Some fall by the wayside, defeated by the effort, others strive for more & more speed. Some achieve zombie perfection, believing with a passion that they have no right to step

on to a stage until they have mastered the most difficult piece that their guitar deity has passed down from on high.

Most never step onto a stage. Those that do, more often than not become jam session regulars; gravitating to UGM zombie gathering places.

These are not places of culture, they are fiercely competitive arenas dedicated to the establishment of a pecking order. At these shindigs, If you are not as fast as the previous bloke then you are not worthy of being listened to !

I feel sorry for all of them, particularly the ones that don't give up.

If I were a young man about to embark upon a musical career, I think the guitar is the last instrument I would choose to study. I think its a terrible waste. Im not aware of this happening with any other instrument. Anybody ?

[john]

Hi

For me I guess it's that they spend their time copying, trying to achieve a technical perfection. Which normally means being able to play lots of notes quickly.

What they all see to forget is the one essential component of good music....feeling. And it is feeling that paves the way to creativity.

So what we end up with is a bunch of technical whizz kids, tightly focused on the styles of a particular genre, who couldn't convey emotion if their life depemde on it.

On the other hand, there are still self taught guitarists, out of which there is at least a possibility of finding something innovative. Well maybe.

I say all this as a guitarist....sad really.

Cheers

John