Does what you play affect what you play?

[Acipter]

I am assuming that most folk on here own a number of different guitars? Do you find that the one you pick up dictates to a certain extent what you play? Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to improve my lead guitar playing, ignoring other aspects of my playing (using my custom 22 almost exclusively).

This is evening for a change, I picked up my Rickenbacker 330 and without giving a moments thought immediately went into playing some of my favourite Smiths riffs and messing around with arpeggios.

I suspect if I were to pick up my Les Paul, before I know it, I would be murdering some Neil Young tunes with it.

The question is, does the instrument you choose to use at a given moment influence what you play, or perhaps you play the same things irrespective of what guitar make or model you use?

 

[NomadMike]

Not what I play, but sometimes how I play it.

 

[Huggy Love]

No doubt about it, when I pick up my solid body I wanna shred, when I pick up my HB I wanna compose or play jazz.

 

[AP515]

For me it's a little bit the other way around. I have a song or musical style I'm interested in playing and I pick the guitar I feel will be the best for that job.

Blues - SC or Strat
70 - 90's rock - Cu24 or Mira
Country - CE22 or Strat
Grunge - Std22
Modern Rock - SC or Mira
Etc...

So while I might switch around a little and play all styles on all guitars, generally I find that I pick a guitar to go with the music I want to play.

 

[tiboy]

Not really. My skill and repertoire are quite limited so I play what I play no matter the guitar. One exception is when I plug the P22 into the acoustic amp.

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

Lead guitar wise I play the same on any guitar.

I play rhythm different on my Bernie compared to my Strat. With the Bernie I tend to rock out more with power chords and little riffs whereas I'm more inclined towards more complex rhythm playing on the Strat.

But hey, it can depend which way the wind is blowing too!

 

[László]

The medium is the message.

Hey, that's a Marshall McLuhan kind of thing, isn't it?

 

[markintime]

The medium is the message.

Hey, that's a Marshall McLuhan kind of thing, isn't it?

Now THAT is funny as hell!

Oh yeah, almost forgot... I'll try to pick the one that would best suit the music. But then, I would probably try to stick with whatever I picked up. Hell, I dunno............

 

[Texas_minor_blues]

I find this post so amusing because I was having this discussion today with a co-worker.
generally I pick up my McCarty for just good old rock stuff even metal stuff
my JPs I find I go for when I just want to play lead stuff
the exception is my DGT I find I will reach for it over all the others 95% of the time and when I do I will play just about everything on it

 

[11top]

I am assuming that most folk on here own a number of different guitars? Do you find that the one you pick up dictates to a certain extent what you play?

Actually, in my case it's the opposite. What I want to play dictates which guitar I pick up.

 

[prsrocker1988]

Absolutely. I also like to mess with playing Stonesy rhythms in Open G. I approach the guitar very different in different tunings.

 

[veinbuster]

Yes. If I just grab a guitar, I will play the things that it is best suited for.

If I know in advance what I want to play, I will pick a guitar that will work best for that.

 

[CVS]

Actually, in my case it's the opposite. What I want to play dictates which guitar I pick up.

+1

 

[shinksma]

Actually, in my case it's the opposite. What I want to play dictates which guitar I pick up.

Exactly! When I want to play drums, I go to the drums in the room - I find beating on a guitar does not provide the same experience.

Wait, wut?

Oh, right...

I find that the guitar can influence how I play and what songs/tones I might mess around with, and I find that sometimes I'm in a mood for a kind of music that may sway the particular guitar I select to plug in. i.e. what veinbuster said.

But more often than not, if I stop thinking about what guitar I'm playing and just play the dang thing, I can vary my styles and songs wildly.

And a final caveat: I play my P24 a lot because that is my gigging guitar. Plus it is a very versatile guitar, tone-wise due to the piezo+mag pups, tremolo, 24 frets, etc. So I practice with the band and gig with it, and often pick it up at home because I want that guitar to become part of me (or vice versa), such that all of my instincts are tuned to that guitar and its controls. It is very easy to swap between my P24 with Pattern Regular neck, Cu24 with Wide Thin, and Hollobody with Wide Fat, but there is that little bit of conscious adjustment that has to happen. I want the P24 to be my "default setting", if you will.

 

[dogrocketp]

For me, the gig dictates the guitar. Tomorrow`s blues gig will be the SE Tremonti Custom with USA Mira pickups. I`ll need the tremolo by the third set to keep it interesting.

 

[gball]

For me it's a little bit the other way around. I have a song or musical style I'm interested in playing and I pick the guitar I feel will be the best for that job.

Blues - SC or Strat
70 - 90's rock - Cu24 or Mira
Country - CE22 or Strat
Grunge - Std22
Modern Rock - SC or Mira
Etc...

So while I might switch around a little and play all styles on all guitars, generally I find that I pick a guitar to go with the music I want to play.

This is how I tend to be too. With the caveat that at times I will force myself to pick up a guitar that mentally does not "fit" what I am playing at that moment just to see what will happen. Sometimes the results are worthwhile and sometimes a mess, but always an interesting exercise.

 

[solacematt]

When I pick up the CU24 I find that what I set the rotary to tends to dictate how I play. if I switch to the strat or tele sound I tend to play more blues or country over anything else. It's like as soon as the ears hear the tone the brain tells the fingers what style they should be playing

 

[BALIstic]

Not really. My skill and repertoire are quite limited so I play what I play no matter the guitar. One exception is when I plug the P22 into the acoustic amp.

^^^ I'm in this situation !

I find my amp choice tends to dictate what and how I play. All of my guitars sound excellent through my Bad Cat Cub amp but not necessarily for all the styles I like to play. Not without pedals and the like. Whereas I can plug any guitar into my little Blackstar ID Core amp (40 watt) and via the different amp models / settings use any guitar to play essentially any style of music. If that makes sense ?

I tend to rotate my guitars every two weeks or so. If a guitar playing friend comes over I tend to use something a bit left field like the Parker, Flaxwood, Cabronita, my 3x P90 loaded Yamaha Semi even, something ya don't see everyday.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

For me, absolutely. A perfect but extreme example, would be any time I turn on my POD HD500. As I cycle through radically different presets, I play music fitting for the tone that's coming out. If it's clean, I'm chording, doing bluesy leads, etc. and if the very next one is some extreme metal tone, I'm shredding.

Similar with my real amps. If I have the Mark V25 plugged in I might play the clean channel for a few minutes and again, chording, playing bluesy leads, whatever. Flip it over to channel 2 and I'm chugging, grinding and ripping.

If I set down with a specific purpose though, I just go straight for the tone that I want for whatever it is I need to play.

 

[Whitecat]

I like guitarists who confound expectation, though...

John Mayer, whom I'm not really a fan of, at least amuses me when he pulls out tricks like this:

... so he still gets mad respect from my end anyway.