Do Your Guitars Inspire Different Ideas (If You Have More Than One)?

[László]

I was playing my SC58 tonight. It's a wonderful guitar, equipped with an ebony fingerboard and 53/10 pickups. It has a delicious, warm, buttery sound that reaches deep into my roots, and playing it is instant inspiration. While mine feels pretty heavy, it's also very resonant, and has tons and tons of sustain. I barely have to pick a note, and well...ok...you know the drill with these, but the 53/10s really warm it up, and the ebony board gives it a lot of articulation. It's a great sound!

If I took the stage with a solid blues band that occasionally had a jazzy vibe, this is the guitar I'd want to express that side of myself with.

I play differently with this one.

So...do you play the same stuff with every guitar, or do you find they take you in different directions?

 

[cosmic_ape]

If the guitar has enough personality, it will take over!

I just experienced this at NAMM, I started playing these guitars I've never played before and all of the sudden, new stuff started coming out! I should have written it down!

 

[Twinfan]

Only when I play my Tele - I go all SRV on it.

Everything else I sound and play the same.

 

[veinbuster]

Most definitely. Some evenings I'll just open a random case and see what it makes me play.
My Les Paul always makes me go very bluesy.
Hollow body I favour finger style arpeggios.
The dirty 100 wants to be played with vigour with segues from active chords to lead.

 

[kingsleyd]

That's the whole point of having multiple guitars, innit?

I mean... ...at one level, I always play like me, but different guitars are like using different lenses. Maybe I'd phrase it "different perspectives on similar ideas" but there is also an extent to which certain guitars will engender somewhat different ideas.

 

[László]

That's the whole point of having multiple guitars, innit?

I mean... ...at one level, I always play like me, but different guitars are like using different lenses. Maybe I'd phrase it "different perspectives on similar ideas" but there is also an extent to which certain guitars will engender somewhat different ideas.

I think there are several points in having more than one guitar; one point is that you are inspired to play differently (this is the point I'm making in my original post), but another could simply be that you play the very same part on a different guitar to see what sounds better, or sits in a mix better, etc.

Then there are players who might want to switch guitars for a different feel, alternate tunings, or more mundane reasons, such as because the color goes better with their shoes. I dunno! LOL

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

Definately!

I have different ideas if I play my Strat compared to my Bernie for instance. With the Strat I tend to play cleaner and thing more about chords or big soundscapes. With my humbucker guitars I tend to have a rock or blues rock head on and think more about solos. An acoustic makes me think in a totally different way too. Possibly why I like to have a healthy number of instruments around!

 

[László]

Definately!

I have different ideas if I play my Strat compared to my Bernie for instance. With the Strat I tend to play cleaner and thing more about chords or big soundscapes. With my humbucker guitars I tend to have a rock or blues rock head on and think more about solos. An acoustic makes me think in a totally different way too. Possibly why I like to have a healthy number of instruments around!

Too many, and I get paralysis by analysis, but yeah, it's nice to have more than one.

I find with the Artist V, I want to rock out a bit more. I'm still finding my way with the Sig, and doing a little bit of everything.