most annoying things...

One of the things that annoys me the most is that one day your fingers move exactly how you want them to, everything you hear in your head, you play, and there's nobody on planet earth playing better than you are right now. Then the next day, your fingers move exactly where you don't want them to, nothing you play sounds like what's in your head, and everyone on planet earth is playing better than you right now. I don't know why this happens, but it does.

Okay....your signature scares me. I didn't even know my own IP address...

My biggest thing is not fitting in with the other guitarists around me. There is this unwritten list of guitarists you HAVE to like, Clapton, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, David Gilmour, they're all on it. Unforunately, I don't like any of them, I've even been told I'm broken as a guitarist because of it. The biggest thing is when I'm with other people that play, I don't fit in. When they talk about some vibrato Clapton does on some song I've never heard of, on an album I've never heard of and I have no idea what they are talking about. I'm the only one into metal, they are into blues and R+B. It's really hard to find common ground.

Hey OWA, I'm in to older metal (Maiden, Metallica, Priest, etc) and they don't get too much play here either. While I would never say that someone is "broken" because they don't like certain music, I must say that I find it odd that you haven't heard some of the music discussed on this board. The four guys you referenced in your first post are literally being played on the radio, in movies, on TV, in commericals, at the mall (etc,...) constantly. I don't think you need to like any of the music, but I think if you want to grow as a guitarist at some point in your life, you'll want to listen and understand some of the "classic" riffs out there.

I guess my point is, if you want to be a guitarist then other influences will probably come into play for you. If you just want to play metal then stick with what you know.

NEZTOK, have you popped in on the Big Road Blues forum yet? http://bigroadblues.com/forum/ We've got several teenage blues fanatics on there, and at least a couple of guys from WV. Grady Martin's a good friend of mine (not a teenager) who lives near Bluefield, not too far from me in Bristol. I can't think who else is from WV, but I know some have popped up in the "Meet and Greet." Several of us are active on both that board and this.

My biggest thing is not fitting in with the other guitarists around me. There is this unwritten list of guitarists you HAVE to like, Clapton, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, David Gilmour, they're all on it. Unforunately, I don't like any of them, I've even been told I'm broken as a guitarist because of it. The biggest thing is when I'm with other people that play, I don't fit in. When they talk about some vibrato Clapton does on some song I've never heard of, on an album I've never heard of and I have no idea what they are talking about. I'm the only one into metal, they are into blues and R+B. It's really hard to find common ground.

Hey OWA, I'm in to older metal (Maiden, Metallica, Priest, etc) and they don't get too much play here either. While I would never say that someone is "broken" because they don't like certain music, I must say that I find it odd that you haven't heard some of the music discussed on this board. The four guys you referenced in your first post are literally being played on the radio, in movies, on TV, in commericals, at the mall (etc,...) constantly. I don't think you need to like any of the music, but I think if you want to grow as a guitarist at some point in your life, you'll want to listen and understand some of the "classic" riffs out there.

I guess my point is, if you want to be a guitarist then other influences will probably come into play for you. If you just want to play metal then stick with what you know.

I've heard some Pink Floyd, not much. I heard Jimi Hendrix on the radio, they did a full hour of his music which I didn't like. I don't feel there is any guitarist out there that I absolutely must study. I'm not sure what's special about Jimmy Page. People say I have to hear him in Stairway to Heaven. I have heard the song, my friend plays it on guitar everytime he comes over. Of course, if I don't like Jimmy Page I'm not going to see what's so great, nor would I read into it.

I think it's more of a case that a lot of people like these guitarists that makes them a must understand in order to grow. I doubt many Hendrix fans on here have bothered to study Kittie riffs. There is no reason not to, why not add some hooky Drop C riffs to those rock/blues progressions? Why? Because you aren't a fan of Kittie, that's why. Same with me and Hendrix.