Guitarists Priorities (fortune telling)

Put these elements in order of importance in regards to your guitar playing:

a. Emotion
b. Rhythm
c. Improvisational ability
d. Diversity/ Originality of styles
e. Precision/technique
f. Technical knowledge (how your gear works)
g. Theoretical knowledge (how music works)
h. Speed

You can add one or two if you think they are important/relevant but don't go crazy. I will try and read your musical fortune from your answers (eg. guess what styles music you are likely to be into/get into and what areas of the music industry you might be suited to)

Rhythm-if you cant stay on beat your no use to me. If you dont have groove... My hands will be on my face...

Emotion/Feel-I include feel.. If you dont have this its like playing with a computer to me... It works... But its not the same feeling... If you dont got feel... Well...

Improv- I understand some people dont have the ability, but if were jamming you better have it.

Technique-Obivous reasons

Theoretical Knowledge-If i yell out im finishing with a 2-5-1 in G. YOu better know what i mean...

Technical Knowledge-If you have a ***ty tone you wont be jamming with me for long...

Diversity- Important, but this low because if you can do one thing, and do it killer your of good use... However... Get better at more things!

Ability to get your idea across in as few notes as possible-Just to mock how much i dont feel speed is necesary...

SPACES!- Music needs spaces. Guitar players are under the impression just because they dont have to breath that they dont have to leave spaces and take breaks. If your not leaving spaces... And also i put this in to mock speed...

Speed-I could honestly give a rats ass about speed, theres so many more things before it itd be the dead bottom.

I say you use all of these at once. Study/practice each element individually and incorporate them all in your playing. If anything, I would say speed would come last.

I think I would put them just about the same as EMB. Maybe put Feel above rhythm

a then g. after that i dont know

I would say that they are all pretty equal to me, with an emphasis on Rhythm, Theoretical/Technical knowledge, and good technique.

I do care a lot about speed, since if someone can't play over 100 BPM's to save their life, they're sort of useless outside of SLOW blues.

In regards to improvisation and originality in playing... I like to think my style with riffing and leads is quite unique. I also write all of my leads by improvising over the solo section until I start to find a structure and progression that I like with things--after a while, I come out on the other side with a new shiny solo :D

Emotion. I would actually say this means the most to me playing wise, since if I'm not in the mood to play my performance(while still probably solid) comes off as lifeless to my ears. Gotta have the desire to rock if you want to sound good. Besides, listen to Kim Kardashian's new "song", and tell me that her emotionless singing is fun to listen to...

@ EMB: I will now endeavor to read your musical fortune:
you seem to be suited to playing rhythm and melodic leads in a band situation. you are most likely to be able to carry off styles such as blues funk folk and mid to heavy rock both in a preorganized and jam situation and are less likely to feel at home in a high distortion genera such as metal. your choices suggest that you are rooted in acoustic guitar but willing to pick up an electric if the mood takes you. the fact you added SPACES into the selection and put an emphasis on tone suggest to me that you could work well as a sound engineer and would take well to a place behind a mixing desk.
...
so how did i do?

@ macandkanga: I think you may have misunderstood my intent on this, obviously pretty much every well-rounded guitarist will use all those elements to some extent when playing. I was asking your personal opinion of their priority to gain a better understanding on how other guitarists view their musical experience.

unless you write out the whole list in order i cant read your musical fortune

1. Theoretical knowledge (how music works)
2. Rhythm
3. Emotion
4. Improvisational ability
5. Diversity/ Originality of styles
6. Precision/technique
7. Technical knowledge (how your gear works)
8. Speed

1.emotion
2.rythem
3.improv.
4. tasteful playing
5. theory/ear
6. technique- includes speed
7. diversity
8. tech knowlege

Rhythm (Gotta hold a beat)
Improvisation (It takes more skill/talent to come up with something on the spot)
Emotion (Gotta feel the music)
Diversity (Don't wanna get bored)
Theoretical Knowledge (Gotta know timing at least)
Technique (It's nice to have individuality in one's technique)
Speed (I like speed in moderation)
Technical Knowledge (You don't have to have the best gear, but you should know about what you have)

hmmm...here's the best I could come up with:

Rhythm
Technique
Theory
Diversity/Emotion(tie)
Speed
Improvisation(many people just cannot improvise-just one of those things)

Though it's extremely hard to get something like this to be right with what we really think and feel about our playing...

Sorry Harleyofdoom! Yeah, I tend to read fast and make quick assumptions.

c. Improvisational ability - a natural ability to improvise is number one if you want to be interesting at all.
a. Emotion - I think emotion goes with improv.
d. Diversity/ Originality of styles - Improv + Emotion = Diversity/orinality.
b. Rhythm
e. Precision/technique
f. Technical knowledge (how your gear works)
g. Theoretical knowledge (how music works)
h. Speed

1. Rhythm
2. emotion
3. improv
4. Precision
5. theoretical
6. Technical
7. diversity
8. speed

B
C
A D
H
A
G
F

@ Harley

You started out well then went down hill...

Im HUGE into Funk And Soul. With Roots in Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Rock, Psychadelic. If im jamming i wanna play Funk or Soul. Thats me.

I like everything to have a basis but be open, like jamming we usually stay over a progression and form, and let the music take us where its gonna go.

I acctually dont have an acoustic and dont play acoustic ever really...

Im awful at sound, By Spaces, i mean like Pink Floyd, the ability to solo hit a note and just let it ring or stop and let the groove go, then come back in later, instead of filling everything with notes...

Tone is big to me just because if you have bad tone you wont be enjoyable to listen to, no matter how good you are. HOwever tone is more in the player then the stuff... I play ***ty stuff at school and still sound good.

proof that gear doesn't make you sound good automatically haha though if a tone is bad, it can't really get too much better by just changing the player haha
Case in point: my other guitarist plays a Line6 Spider III 212 combo(wait it gets better). his tone settings are as follows:
Channel-Insane Color-Green(highest amount of gain possible)
Bass-10 Mids-1 Treble-10 Gain-10

I can't honestly say that I don't believe too many people can make that sound good...

1.Diversity/ Originality of styles. this is why i play guitar.
2.Emotion. without this u might as well give up
3.Precision/technique. dont want to sound sloppy
4.Rhythm. everything in my world has this and so should my playing
5.Theoretical knowledge. i like to know how and why things work
6.Improvisational ability. I usually write all my guitar parts anyway
7.Speed. this is a byproduct of 3 and 4
8.Technical knowledge. music always comes first.

@case. if thats what hes using i wouldnt be playing with him... I may be a snob... But ive wasted enough time with line 6'ers who scoop mids comletely out and use WAYY too much distortion...

hahahaha i played with him one time, and he turned his mids up when he got home XD I told him before we started playing to turn his mids up--he didn't heed my warning, so I sort of buried him the whole time(drums did too) haha

The annoying thing is, he's got a 1993 Randall Pro Tube Half Stack that is in Perfect condition! he doesn't touch it!!

...he claims it doesn't distort enough...

Just so you know I'm not gonna forget about this thread i will be back to try and figure out your musical fortunes in a week or so, my schedule has just become very cramped so i will have to delay my musical palm reading for the time being.

Oh and also if you would care to comment on how you view each of these 'elements' in regards to your particular experience of music Im sure the conversation would be interesting...

These are all very important... But here is my low down.


1) Rhythm - If you can't keep a beat or keep up you are useless, unless jamming alone.

2) Emotion - Don't be a tool and learn other folks' songs just to get attention. Play covers or originals with feeling to show that you actually enjoy music.

3) Precision/Technique - Learn how to do it right, or don't do it at all.

4) Theoretical Knowledge - It is always good to know what the hell you are doing.

5) Improvisational Ability - An essential skill.

6) Speed - I would like to ammend this choice to 'Speed/Technical Ability'. Speed and all the good things that come with speed are an essential part of any guitarists' arsenal.

7) Diversity/ Originality of Styles - Once you've got all the above down, go ahead and branch out. Learning other styles is an extremely important step in improving your guitar playing and understanding of music.

8) Technical Knowledge (how your gear works) - Always good to know.

Rock on!