Re-training yourself

I learned guitar about as wrong as it could be done and of course I got
really good at wrong. I must say though that it's been fun in a way
re-training myself and to try and change my attitude and appraoch to guitar.
I hid behind gobs of distortion for years and years and the only time I ever
played clean was when I was forced to play clean. Don't get me wrong I still
use gobs of distortion with my original stuff and when it's actually called
for and I really love music that calls for it, but I've really fallen in
love with that point you get to where it breaks up nicely and you can tame
it with the guitar knobs. The tubes are breathing hot and heavy and the
touch response gets out of this world. Shit I'm getting goosebumps just
typing it.

For so long I thought a lot of the big rock players used tons of distortion
in their rigs but through research I've found this to be a fallacy of
ginormous proportions. I know I'm preaching to the choir with many of you
more intelligent and more skilled players but man I sometimes kick myself
about how long I just turned on the buzzsaw for everything I played.

It's been a work in progress to learn to play without the "heavy" distortion
safety net but man is it rewarding when it just sounds so open and dynamic
but yet fierce when you want it to be. I love it when you find that sweet
spot that allows you to go from Brutal to mellow with the twist of the
guitar knob.


.

Relevant Pages

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