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Alex and His Guitar


Lorraine
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I am wondering if those of you who are musicians can tell me if Alex's guitar parts are complicated or simple to write.

 

Depends on the era. Lots of his stuff is relatively easy to play, but it's stuff I'd never think to write. His approach to the guitar from a creative perspective is where his strength lies.

 

What do you mean by your last sentence?

 

And why do you say it is stuff you'd never think to write? Especially you??? :)

 

From a purely technical perspective, Alex isn't anything to write home about. He's basically just a blues-rock guitarist as far as technique goes, but the reason he sounds so very different from, say, Stevie Ray Vaughan (who was a tremendously talented guitarist) is because he comes up with different ways of skinning cats. He's the master of making one guitar sound like more than one guitar. Playing in that style isn't hard, but coming up with that approach was genius.

 

I'm a decent player -- somewhat edgy and emotive -- but I lack the ability to come up with truly inspired guitar parts.

My mother used to say that about pianists. My mother could play the piano and organ like nobodies business but whenever we would go and hear other players she would talk about how great their playing was. I was like "Mom it sounds the same as when you play" and she would say "No. That person is super talented on the piano or pipe organ etc. I can just play the notes on the page".... :huh:

 

She was probably hearing qualities that only she, as a player, could hear.

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I am wondering if those of you who are musicians can tell me if Alex's guitar parts are complicated or simple to write.

 

Depends on the era. Lots of his stuff is relatively easy to play, but it's stuff I'd never think to write. His approach to the guitar from a creative perspective is where his strength lies.

 

What do you mean by your last sentence?

 

And why do you say it is stuff you'd never think to write? Especially you??? :)

 

From a purely technical perspective, Alex isn't anything to write home about. He's basically just a blues-rock guitarist as far as technique goes, but the reason he sounds so very different from, say, Stevie Ray Vaughan (who was a tremendously talented guitarist) is because he comes up with different ways of skinning cats. He's the master of making one guitar sound like more than one guitar. Playing in that style isn't hard, but coming up with that approach was genius.

 

I'm a decent player -- somewhat edgy and emotive -- but I lack the ability to come up with truly inspired guitar parts.

My mother used to say that about pianists. My mother could play the piano and organ like nobodies business but whenever we would go and hear other players she would talk about how great their playing was. I was like "Mom it sounds the same as when you play" and she would say "No. That person is super talented on the piano or pipe organ etc. I can just play the notes on the page".... :huh:

 

She was probably hearing qualities that only she, as a player, could hear.

My brother and son were (are) both brass players and they would tell me the same thing. There is "talent" and there is proficiency. There is a huge difference at least according to them. My ear is of tin....
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Geddy said he is a very emotional person, and his playing shows that.

 

Is that why his playing is able to touch others on an emotional level? Or would he be able to do that even if he wasn't putting himself into his playing?

 

That's hard to say for sure, since different people like different things. Guitarists like Yngwie, John Petrucci or Nuno Bettencourt throw a bunch of notes out there and impress people with their speed but I don't think that's the same kind of emotional level that Alex brings out in people.

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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....
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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....

 

Thanks Narp!

 

:cheers:

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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....

 

Did you give a listen to my old Rush tribute band's medley that I posted over the holidays. Folks who have listened to it say I really captured the 70's era Alex.

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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....

 

Thanks Narp!

 

:cheers:

Anytime brother and I mean that sincerely.... :d13:
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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....

 

Thanks Narp!

 

:cheers:

Anytime brother and I mean that sincerely.... :d13:

 

Right back atcha!

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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....

Yes, JARG. You ought to do it more often. It helps clear the head getting out of SOCN. :)

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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....

 

Did you give a listen to my old Rush tribute band's medley that I posted over the holidays. Folks who have listened to it say I really captured the 70's era Alex.

I didn't hear all of it as I am lazy and have been somewhat preoccupied lately. Is it buried somewhere and if so can you pull it up somewhere that I can find it?.... :)
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BTW JARG on a personal note, I always like when you wander out here amongst the bourgeoisie and break away from the SOCN for a moment. I really enjoy your perspective....

 

Did you give a listen to my old Rush tribute band's medley that I posted over the holidays. Folks who have listened to it say I really captured the 70's era Alex.

I didn't hear all of it as I am lazy and have been somewhat preoccupied lately. Is it buried somewhere and if so can you pull it up somewhere that I can find it?.... :)

 

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?/topic/90862-a-medley/

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Geddy said he is a very emotional person, and his playing shows that.

 

Is that why his playing is able to touch others on an emotional level? Or would he be able to do that even if he wasn't putting himself into his playing?

 

That's hard to say for sure, since different people like different things. Guitarists like Yngwie, John Petrucci or Nuno Bettencourt throw a bunch of notes out there and impress people with their speed but I don't think that's the same kind of emotional level that Alex brings out in people.

Whoever Yngwie, Petrucci and Bettencourt are, I have no idea. :LOL:

 

I'm trying to remember if I ever encountered a guitarist who had the same affect on me but I do not recall any.

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Geddy said he is a very emotional person, and his playing shows that.

 

Is that why his playing is able to touch others on an emotional level? Or would he be able to do that even if he wasn't putting himself into his playing?

 

That's hard to say for sure, since different people like different things. Guitarists like Yngwie, John Petrucci or Nuno Bettencourt throw a bunch of notes out there and impress people with their speed but I don't think that's the same kind of emotional level that Alex brings out in people.

Whoever Yngwie, Petrucci and Bettencourt are, I have no idea. :LOL:

 

I'm trying to remember if I ever encountered a guitarist who had the same affect on me but I do not recall any.

 

Does Pink Floyd's guitarist do anything for you? He's like Alex in some ways.

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To keep it simple for non muscians,you have to have a feel,emotion for your playing otherwise it aint happening.The old blues players,three chords played badly but god they moved you.Alex has emotion in bucket loads.So did Hendrix.So does the Edge.Listen to his solos on Beneath the Wheels,Limelight,Avaidable Light,etc.They lift those songs to somewhere else.An arguement that i have with other guitar players is he is not as fast as Malmsteen,Petrucci or those characters in Dragonforce.Who gives a toss,at the end of the day its the song that counts.Guys if you learnt a few chords you could play passable fireside versions of Closer to the Heart,Presto or New World Man but not Xanudu or Camera Eye just yet
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Geddy said he is a very emotional person, and his playing shows that.

 

Is that why his playing is able to touch others on an emotional level? Or would he be able to do that even if he wasn't putting himself into his playing?

 

That's hard to say for sure, since different people like different things. Guitarists like Yngwie, John Petrucci or Nuno Bettencourt throw a bunch of notes out there and impress people with their speed but I don't think that's the same kind of emotional level that Alex brings out in people.

Whoever Yngwie, Petrucci and Bettencourt are, I have no idea. :LOL:

 

I'm trying to remember if I ever encountered a guitarist who had the same affect on me but I do not recall any.

 

Does Pink Floyd's guitarist do anything for you? He's like Alex in some ways.

No. If you want to know the truth, I dislike Pink Floyd intensely. Always did. Even back when they first appeared. I always felt they were a rip-off of earlier bands.

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I am wondering if those of you who are musicians can tell me if Alex's guitar parts are complicated or simple to write.

 

Depends on the era. Lots of his stuff is relatively easy to play, but it's stuff I'd never think to write. His approach to the guitar from a creative perspective is where his strength lies.

 

What do you mean by your last sentence?

 

And why do you say it is stuff you'd never think to write? Especially you??? :)

 

From a purely technical perspective, Alex isn't anything to write home about. He's basically just a blues-rock guitarist as far as technique goes, but the reason he sounds so very different from, say, Stevie Ray Vaughan (who was a tremendously talented guitarist) is because he comes up with different ways of skinning cats. He's the master of making one guitar sound like more than one guitar. Playing in that style isn't hard, but coming up with that approach was genius.

 

I'm a decent player -- somewhat edgy and emotive -- but I lack the ability to come up with truly inspired guitar parts.

My mother used to say that about pianists. My mother could play the piano and organ like nobodies business but whenever we would go and hear other players she would talk about how great their playing was. I was like "Mom it sounds the same as when you play" and she would say "No. That person is super talented on the piano or pipe organ etc. I can just play the notes on the page".... :huh:

 

She was probably hearing qualities that only she, as a player, could hear.

My brother and son were (are) both brass players and they would tell me the same thing. There is "talent" and there is proficiency. There is a huge difference at least according to them. My ear is of tin....

 

As an intermediate saxophonist (I'm considered very good by my peers, but I'm only in high school, and I can' to lay much college level stuff) I agree completely with your musical family members. You can practice and practice till you get the notes without a doubt, you can learn every scale and mode and memorize them backwards, forwards, and otherwards, you can have an insane level of talent and learn to make sounds that boggle the minds of most anyone you show them to, but without emotion, passion, and true deep musical feeling, your work has little chance of making an impact.

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Geddy said he is a very emotional person, and his playing shows that.

 

Is that why his playing is able to touch others on an emotional level? Or would he be able to do that even if he wasn't putting himself into his playing?

 

That's hard to say for sure, since different people like different things. Guitarists like Yngwie, John Petrucci or Nuno Bettencourt throw a bunch of notes out there and impress people with their speed but I don't think that's the same kind of emotional level that Alex brings out in people.

Whoever Yngwie, Petrucci and Bettencourt are, I have no idea. :LOL:

 

I'm trying to remember if I ever encountered a guitarist who had the same affect on me but I do not recall any.

 

Does Pink Floyd's guitarist do anything for you? He's like Alex in some ways.

No. If you want to know the truth, I dislike Pink Floyd intensely. Always did. Even back when they first appeared. I always felt they were a rip-off of earlier bands.

 

Fair enough. They had some brilliant albums (imo, of course), and David Gilmour is one of my favorite guitarists.

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Remember he has tricky dicky bass and drummer behind him playing dicky tricky time signatures .You can practise widdly tricky guitar licks in your bedroom but it all goes dicky if it aint sticky with the other guys in the band.
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To keep it simple for non muscians,you have to have a feel,emotion for your playing otherwise it aint happening.The old blues players,three chords played badly but god they moved you.Alex has emotion in bucket loads.So did Hendrix.So does the Edge.Listen to his solos on Beneath the Wheels,Limelight,Avaidable Light,etc.They lift those songs to somewhere else.An arguement that i have with other guitar players is he is not as fast as Malmsteen,Petrucci or those characters in Dragonforce.Who gives a toss,at the end of the day its the song that counts.Guys if you learnt a few chords you could play passable fireside versions of Closer to the Heart,Presto or New World Man but not Xanudu or Camera Eye just yet

 

You don't have to sell me on him. :LOL: I know what his music does to me.

 

That's why I am asking about him.

 

So - to recap - Alex's notes aren't genius or complicated, but Alex is. It's not so much what he is playing, but how he plays it and how me makes the most of whatever guitar he is holding in his hands.

 

Is that right? Or am I way off?

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Remember he has tricky dicky bass and drummer behind him playing dicky tricky time signatures .You can practise widdly tricky guitar licks in your bedroom but it all goes dicky if it aint sticky with the other guys in the band.

 

What's a time signature?

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To keep it simple for non muscians,you have to have a feel,emotion for your playing otherwise it aint happening.The old blues players,three chords played badly but god they moved you.Alex has emotion in bucket loads.So did Hendrix.So does the Edge.Listen to his solos on Beneath the Wheels,Limelight,Avaidable Light,etc.They lift those songs to somewhere else.An arguement that i have with other guitar players is he is not as fast as Malmsteen,Petrucci or those characters in Dragonforce.Who gives a toss,at the end of the day its the song that counts.Guys if you learnt a few chords you could play passable fireside versions of Closer to the Heart,Presto or New World Man but not Xanudu or Camera Eye just yet

 

You don't have to sell me on him. :LOL: I know what his music does to me.

 

That's why I am asking about him.

 

So - to recap - Alex's notes aren't genius or complicated, but Alex is. It's not so much what he is playing, but how he plays it and how me makes the most of whatever guitar he is holding in his hands.

 

Is that right? Or am I way off?

 

How he plays what he plays is part of it, but a bigger part is that he came up with what he plays to begin with.

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To keep it simple for non muscians,you have to have a feel,emotion for your playing otherwise it aint happening.The old blues players,three chords played badly but god they moved you.Alex has emotion in bucket loads.So did Hendrix.So does the Edge.Listen to his solos on Beneath the Wheels,Limelight,Avaidable Light,etc.They lift those songs to somewhere else.An arguement that i have with other guitar players is he is not as fast as Malmsteen,Petrucci or those characters in Dragonforce.Who gives a toss,at the end of the day its the song that counts.Guys if you learnt a few chords you could play passable fireside versions of Closer to the Heart,Presto or New World Man but not Xanudu or Camera Eye just yet

 

You don't have to sell me on him. :LOL: I know what his music does to me.

 

That's why I am asking about him.

 

So - to recap - Alex's notes aren't genius or complicated, but Alex is. It's not so much what he is playing, but how he plays it and how me makes the most of whatever guitar he is holding in his hands.

 

Is that right? Or am I way off?

 

How he plays what he plays is part of it, but a bigger part is that he came up with what he plays to begin with.

By writing what he wrote, or do you mean something else?

 

I'm not trying to exasperate you, just trying to further and deepen my music appreciation.

Edited by Lorraine
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Remember he has tricky dicky bass and drummer behind him playing dicky tricky time signatures .You can practise widdly tricky guitar licks in your bedroom but it all goes dicky if it aint sticky with the other guys in the band.

 

What's a time signature?

 

It's how musical passages are grouped/arranged. Go listen to the intro to Kid Gloves. If you count each note that Alex is playing, you're counting quarter notes. You'll notice that the notes are arranged into groups of 5 (1-2-3-4-5, repeat). That means the intro is in 5/4: 5 groups of quarter notes per measure. The verses are in 5/4 as well. When the music changes to fit the "call it blind frustration" sections, it switches to 4/4 (you count 1-2-3-4, repeat). The duration-value of the notes in both those sections is the same -- they're quarter notes, but the grouping changes from groups of 5 to groups of 4.

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To keep it simple for non muscians,you have to have a feel,emotion for your playing otherwise it aint happening.The old blues players,three chords played badly but god they moved you.Alex has emotion in bucket loads.So did Hendrix.So does the Edge.Listen to his solos on Beneath the Wheels,Limelight,Avaidable Light,etc.They lift those songs to somewhere else.An arguement that i have with other guitar players is he is not as fast as Malmsteen,Petrucci or those characters in Dragonforce.Who gives a toss,at the end of the day its the song that counts.Guys if you learnt a few chords you could play passable fireside versions of Closer to the Heart,Presto or New World Man but not Xanudu or Camera Eye just yet

 

You don't have to sell me on him. :LOL: I know what his music does to me.

 

That's why I am asking about him.

 

So - to recap - Alex's notes aren't genius or complicated, but Alex is. It's not so much what he is playing, but how he plays it and how me makes the most of whatever guitar he is holding in his hands.

 

Is that right? Or am I way off?

 

How he plays what he plays is part of it, but a bigger part is that he came up with what he plays to begin with.

By writing what he wrote, or do you mean something else?

 

I'm not trying to exasperate you, just trying to further and deepen my music appreciation.

 

Yeah, like I said, his creativity is where he separates himself from the pack. His ability to come up with truly inspired guitar parts. They're not hard to play, but they must be hard to come up with, otherwise other people would have come up with them!

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