Warning: This post may be a controversial one!

Yep! Since a few days I keep on thinking about difficult to play guitar solos. And guess what! I am not thinking about Malmsteen or Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. Hell, no! The song that keeps on running through my head is “It’s probably me” of Sting and Eric Clapton. Did you ever try to play that solo? I know I did some time ago and I just couldn’t get it right. I don’t speak about the notes, cause there are not that many or that fast, but man, those note are so full of soul that you just can’t reach them!

The solo is so warm and Clapton plays it with so much feeling that it makes it so difficult to play it right…

And you know what? I remember in the high school about this guy that managed to nail the theme solo of Wonderful tonight with such feeling that nobody could play it the same. Again, there are only a few notes and I think this song (Wonderful tonight) was one of the most played song when I was in high school, but this was the only guy that managed to play it right.

I think that the most difficult to play guitar solos are not the fast ones, but those solos that requires feeling, interpretation, understanding for the notes you play and a lot of soul.

I think that as in life, or even more than in life, in music, the most difficult thing you can do is really express yourself.So, what’s your most “difficult to play” guitar solo?

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Note: This post is targeted to those young guitar players intimidated by the apparent complexity of playing the guitar.

As with everything in your life, playing the guitar is not an easy thing. I know that in the beginning, most of us look up to various guitar heroes, admiring them, maybe cherish them, even idolizing them. We all say that man, this guitar player is better than I will ever be!!!

Well, there is a big chance that you are right since that guy is probably a professional guitar player that works his guitar a lot each and every day, not being forced to go to work from 9 to 5 to earn a living so he has all the energy just to practice and learn.

But during my life as a person trying to learn one thing or an other, I have understood that as difficult as a particular action or process may seem, in order to master it, the most important thing you can do is to start learning it! I have a saying, I don’t even know if this is a real saying or I just made it up: even the longest path starts with a first step!

So, in order to master playing the guitar, first start learning it, even if it seems you have such a long way in front of you! After a while you will find yourself way in front of other guys that will look up to you saying wow, this guy plays the guitar pretty good! They will start asking YOU for help and tips on how to play the guitar, you will find that THEY will look up to YOU!

And all you did was actually to start and keep on playing the guitar! Remember that in order to become better and better you just need to play and study!

Of course, we can not deny that there are some gifted people that are somehow born for playing the guitar, who seem to have a great learning curve, long and agile fingers, great ear and great composition sense, those ones probably become icons that the whole world looks up and respect. This should never discourage you! This should motivate and inspire you, should give you reasons to study more and play more!

Also, you should keep in mind that playing the guitar is more than shredding and fast arpeggios. Guitar playing is feeling, tone, personal touch, style. All these can be discovered in the simplest songs.

Think of Eric Clapton and his nick name, “Slow hand”. I bet he didn’t get his name for being a shredder. Instead, he is one of the most giving guitar players in matter of feeling and personal touch. He puts his soul in each melody and this gives his playing a particular something that no shredder can achieve.

Think about this and make your first step, playing the guitar is not that hard as it sounds! All you need is start learning it, play from the heart and trust yourself, the rest will follow!

Now go on and play that guitar!

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Since a long time I think about what is the best guitar you could have? Well, I must say that I got to the conclusion that is not you the one that choses the electric guitar, it is not even the “electric guitar choses you” idea. Let’s put it this way: you want to play jazz and you pick a Jackson KE2 Kelly like this one. Would it feel right? Well, I think not, even if it would probably do the job in the right hands, if the situation asks it and you don’t have any other choice.

How about playing heavy metal on an Ibanez Artist model? Again it does not feel right. Of course that, once more, it would probably do the trick for a situation where you don’t have a choice, but it won’t be the same.

As you probably see, I have kept Gibson electric guitars and Fender electric guitars out of this because Fender and Gibson, as the time proved it, fits any gender. I have seen Gibson played by heavy metal bands as well as blues and jazz bands, if you consider Malmsteen, then Fender would be the weapon of choice for any speed kind.

However, I think that in most cases, some electric guitars fit better some musical styles. A jazz guitar player would look and feel right with an Ibanez AS model, like John Scofield, while a shredder would probably use the Jackson model I have spoke about a bit earlier.

Electric guitars are lovely toys, but you need to feel comfortable playing them. Don’t chose an electric guitar that you don’t feel comfortable since it won’t give you the feeling you need on stage. You need to feel full, from the way your guitar stays in your hand to the way you look there. If you feel right from all point of views, then, your creativity will work best. Otherwise you will have drawbacks that will keep you from expressing the way you could. I think this is true for anthing you do in your life, you should only do what you love, unfortunately this is not always possible as all of us probably know.

Did you ever think how Slash would look with a Dean from hell guitar? Dimebag looked great with it and fully expressed what he felt, but think about that guitar in the hands of, let’s say…Clapton?! I remember once while in the rehearsal room of some local band I have tested a hollow guitar and felt like the worst guitar ever to me, at that time. Why? Because I had that “metal all over” thing and no matter if the guitar would have been the best ever, the most expensive and had some signature on it, for me it was not satisfying at that time.

How about you? Are you playing the guitar you love?

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Did you ever notice that famous guitar players have their own way of producing the vibrato? Take for example Eric Clapton, he has some fast, almost one finger vibrato. Also if you consider the fact that he has also an unique way of keeping the guitar neck in his hands, when soloing, I would say that if I would only see his hands playing the guitar, I would know it is him. Pay attention to his solo here.

OK, let’s take Steve Vai also: when  I have seen Vai vibrating a note, I was confused, he has some large, round way of vibrating a note. His (looooong) finger does at the same time a vertical and an horizontal moving, kind of a circle; I could say that he massage that particular string, like when your head hurts and you press your forehead circularly. See here in order to understand. It may be a show thing, it is more interesting for the camera, but this also gives him a low frequency vibrato that is “sweeter”.

To also consider a third  type, take Malmsteen, which has his violin like vibrato, probably because of his violin backgrounds. If you have never thought about that so far, pay attention next time you listen Malmsteen and also listen a violin player after listening Malmsteen.

Any other examples you could think of?

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A few days ago I was thinking about how Eric Clapton’s music evolved over time. I don’t say “evolved” as in “it was bad-now it is good”, far from me such an idea, just that Clapton’s music changed over time as the music business itself. I am not a big fan of Clapton,not in the way I could say about other artists or bands. I can not say that I know all his songs and everything he does or did, but Eric Clapton always had and always will have a special place in my heart.

My first contact with Eric Clapton’s music was when I bought 2 tapes, one with Metallica and one with Eric Clapton (as you may see, my taste in music was not quite oriented at that time as Clapton and Metallica had nothing to do one with the other). The tape was kind of a best of, at that time, so it offered me kind of Clapton’s best works. From that tape I remember Layla, the electric version, and Bell bottom blues. I kept this second song till now in my memories, without listening it again for a long time since I have lost that tape and I can say that it left a strong mark on my musical path.

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