I know Syn is in the “black hole” of touring. A place where you work 2 hours a night and think you will have all kinds of time. In reality, instead of 22 hours “off”, it feels like you have 45 minutes between shows. You’re constantly tired and can’t catch up, (except for when you’re on stage). Then you get a week off, and do it all again for 2 months. I hear they are putting on some great shows. God bless them. Ima stay on my couch.
So I’ll tackle this question alone. It’s a great question, because my first thought was – I would like to work on my Gypsy chops. I haven’t played Gypsy in a couple of years and I’m definitely rusty. Oh! And my jazz playing in general. Oh! And three finger tapping. Oh! And . . .
There will always be new techniques to learn. It’s a never ending process. But for what? The answer should be – MUSIC. As guitarists we get so wrapped up in technique and scales that we forget why we’re doing it in the first place. Which is why I HATE so many of today’s shredders. They’re not musical. They should join the finger olympics.
Everything you learn – (be it directly on guitar, or just exposing yourself to new music) – manifests itself in your playing. That sounds great, and it usually is – but sometimes things creep in that you wish hadn’t. Sometimes things are invited in, and you wish you hadn’t opened that door. For me, in the process of “shredding” over the past couple of years, I have lost a significant amount of taste and “playing what I hear”. Lately it seems I have become a slave to playing too many notes and using too much technique. My solos get away from me and I feel like someone else is playing. Someone with too much technique and not enough musicality. The kind of player I have always hated.
While I have had the benefit of speed and technique in my playing since I was a kid, I was always able to use it discerningly. I have been recording my live solos lately and they seem to be a mish-mash of poorly constructed sweeping & eco-picking licks that come out of nowhere and then go nowhere. ALL PLAYED WITH IMPRESSIVE AND FLAWLESS TECHNIQUE! lol
And I totally get why. Even at my age, when you get a new toy – you overuse it. With my ability to sweep and eco-pick like a boss now, I can’t NOT do it. Like giving a Ferrari to a 16 year-old and asking him not to drive fast.
So I have been consciously trying to get back to playing simpler, more melodic, motif-driven solos. Technique should ALWAYS be a means to an end. In other words, your technique should serve your solo. Like adding salt to a recipe. You only want to use what is absolutely necessary. If you use too much – all you can taste is salt and you fucked up the entire dish. If all people hear in your solo is technique – you fucked that solo up – AND the song. Your solo should ALWAYS serve the song and nothing else.
Sometimes a solo calls for slow bends and whole notes, because it fits the emotion of the song. The same way you have to drive your Ferrari through a school zone at 15mph and realize it’s for the greater good.
I am confident that with diligence and self-discipline I will be able to get a handle on it and slowly introduce the sweeping and eco-picking back into my playing – when a solo calls for it. And when that happens I will be grateful that I have those techniques in my toolbox.
So I guess what I am saying is – once you can play your ass off – the weakness will ALWAYS be between your ears.
