What do you think about when you play your guitar?

[6CA7-A]

 

[Moondog Wily]

​

 

[Life Eats Life]

Or..what really fires you up to get after it??

-a kick ass Alice In Chains song..riff
-“It Ain’t Like That”, especially when you haven’t heard Jerry’s guitar sound in a while..DAMN.
Fire in the damn hole man..
-the shorthairs are standing tall.

 

[dronerstone]

Or..what really fires you up to get after it??

A slightly dirty amp, along with spring reverb and mkII fuzz put a smile on my face and make me want more.

 

[Life Eats Life]

A slightly dirty amp, along with spring reverb and mkII fuzz put a smile on my face and make me want more.

Oh yeah man, all day & night…livin’ on blues power.
That’s actually my top 3 go to tones for lightin’ up the creative tendrils

-and with volume on 7ish..HERDS of
“10 Years Gone” broken cleans.
( AND the drop-D quintessential Jimmy Page riff
with the LEGENDARY overdriven 12 string upstroke

).
& OMFG his lead tone..the tone of a tangerine..
Tele??..SO freakin’ rad with Bonham up his butt through all the orchestration.
Pagey’ weaponized him.
Unreal song, my favorite of their bionic catalog
of hammers & hits.

NOW I’m fired up & flickin’ outta standby brother!

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Not quite a jab at OP, but actually this is symbolic of what is going through my mind as I'm playing. VRROOOM, GO!!! YEAAHH!!!! SMOOKKEE!!!!

Notsomuch complete thoughts, just feelings, moods, colors, expressions, things to say without saying them verbally.

 

[TSJMajesty]

In the past 5 minutes...
"Man, I wonder if my tone is really this good, without this tinnitus ringing all the time..."

"Got to remember to just barely fret that note so when I roll my finger off it, it doesn't overlap. Maybe I should play it the other way, like I do in that other section... "

"I think I'm fretting too hard because this song is so much to remember. Gotta remember to lighten up!"

"I need to do my taxes."

"I'm hungry."

"Cat, go away! You have food!"

 

[duzie]

In the past 5 minutes...
"Man, I wonder if my tone is really this good, without this tinnitus ringing all the time..."

"Got to remember to just barely fret that note so when I roll my finger off it, it doesn't overlap. Maybe I should play it the other way, like I do in that other section... "

"I think I'm fretting too hard because this song is so much to remember. Gotta remember to lighten up!"

"I need to do my taxes."

"I'm hungry."

"Cat, go away! You have food!"

I was just mentioning this to @Stone
I’m using .008’s on a few guitars .
My thinking is that it’ll be beneficial to reducing gorilla grip

 

[Moondog Wily]

So in all seriousness, what I think about when playing is very largely dependent on what it is that I am playing and how familiar I am with said material. Songs that I know inside and out, top to bottom, my mind wanders, and I do start thinking about anything and everything in my life. I have trouble staying in focus on material that I can play in my sleep. I also am plagued by the "Wow, this is sounding great" or "I have not made a mistake and I am near the end, woo hoo" at which point, I generally make a mistake. If the material is still being learned and/or is not 100% ingrained in me, I do not suffer from such mental wanderings.

As for gorilla grip, I have been trying to change that for about 2 years now, and my progress is NOT impressive. I am still probably choking the F out of the necks 70% of the time. I started my "ease up" routine because I was starting to get pains in my left hand from fretting and that was likely due to the 100% of the time monkey grip. From the time I started working on lightening up, I have avoided such pains, but I would still like to be softer with my touch 100% of the time. One of the reasons is, the harder I fret, the more I am pulling the strings out of tune. And I can hear it. It just sounds better when playing with a lighter touch. I tried .008's last year for a bit, but they did not work for me. I felt like I was going to break a string every time I bent it. A few of those 8's did break on me, but they were all right at the saddle and I found a small bur that I smoothed out. I think I broke maybe 3 strings in 2023 and two of those were the 8's breaking at the saddle. I also find that the song itself can get me gripping the board really tight. Sometimes it is because of the message or intensity of the song, sometimes it can be my unfamiliarity with the song (the newer a song is to me, the more likely I am to gorilla grip it until I have it figured out, at which point I try to back away on the grip, as I then have time to think about such things).

What I have been trying to do lately to avoid the mind wandering, is reaffirming my commitment to the song while I am playing it. If my mind starts to wander, I try to focus hard on the songs message and that sometimes keeps me focused enough to make it through. It is still a work in progress, but being in the moment, rather than other moments of my life, has helped and I will continue to strive for my focus on each song I engage ;~))

 

[FuzzyAce]

Speaking of .008s, I used them exclusively for about 2 yrs. They have their pros and cons. I think they're great if you're doing a lot of fast playing and bends because it's less fatiguing overall. A light touch is fine but sometimes you need to really dig in and play more aggressively and this is where 8's can start showing their weakness. I've switched back to 10's and sometimes 11's for certain guitars because it's a great compromise of performance/comfort. One less thing to think about.

 

[DrewJD82]

Hahahaha the last 24 hours it's been "Ok....pull off the thing you're making up on the spot utilizing something you've failed at doing for about 25 years and do it good enough to keep the take...here it comes....ready....ready....." bllllrrdddddrprprpppp

 

[TSJMajesty]

bllllrrdddddrprprpppp

Sooo..., was ^ that what you were going for or not? I'm unfamiliar with that specific term.

Edit: or maybe I spell it a little differently.

 

[DrewJD82]

Sooo..., was ^ that what you were going for or not? I'm unfamiliar with that specific term.

Edit: or maybe I spell it a little differently.

Nah, I'm going more for bidipidabidpidabipadbedbuduboodoodoodnanabunananemenemenemenem rrrraaaarrraaaarrrrrrrrr raaarrrrrrrarrrrrrrrr

Wait til I pull it off, I'll dig this post up.

Edit- this is actually what's going through my head more often than not. There's a general sense of pitch but it's mostly rhythmic.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Nah, I'm going more for bidipidabidpidabipadbedbuduboodoodoodnanabunananemenemenemenem rrrraaaarrraaaarrrrrrrrr raaarrrrrrrarrrrrrrrr

Wait til I pull it off, I'll dig this post up.

Edit- this is actually what's going through my head more often than not. There's a general sense of pitch but it's mostly rhythmic.

Now that one, I know! Use it often. Probably a bit slower than you though.

 

[DrewJD82]

Now that one, I know! Use it often. Probably a bit slower than you though.

I'm trying to stick an EJ lick in a Cantrell solo.

 

[Sascha Franck]

As for gorilla grip, I have been trying to change that for about 2 years now, and my progress is NOT impressive.

Some tips that might help a little:
- Play passages allowing for it almost classical style, as in keeping the thumb behind the fretboard.
- With yout thumb still behind the neck, play scales with only ever one finger resting on the fretboard (the one you need for that particular tone) with all the others being lifted up.
- With your thumb still behind the neck, play triads or 4-part chords that you need to change between (IOW more than one). Now, between the chords, lift ALL fingers up, then "pre-form" the chord shape in the air, then try to put all of them into their target position at once.

Especially the last excersise is incredibly helpful to gain most efficient chord shape movements, which you will notice once you return to "normal" playing. It's also a nice excersize for the brain and one of the key elements of guitar playing in general as without any slides and what not, you need to be 100% aware of where each finger will go.

You may now ask what any of these may have to do with anti-gorilla-grip exercizes. Well, it's merely a side effect, but a pretty noticeable one at that, simply because for any of the above to work more or less flawlessly, you can't apply too much power, so these techniques are "anti gorilla by nature".

 

[Moondog Wily]

Some tips that might help a little:
- Play passages allowing for it almost classical style, as in keeping the thumb behind the fretboard.
- With yout thumb still behind the neck, play scales with only ever one finger resting on the fretboard (the one you need for that particular tone) with all the others being lifted up.
- With your thumb still behind the neck, play triads or 4-part chords that you need to change between (IOW more than one). Now, between the chords, lift ALL fingers up, then "pre-form" the chord shape in the air, then try to put all of them into their target position at once.

Especially the last excersise is incredibly helpful to gain most efficient chord shape movements, which you will notice once you return to "normal" playing. It's also a nice excersize for the brain and one of the key elements of guitar playing in general as without any slides and what not, you need to be 100% aware of where each finger will go.

You may now ask what any of these may have to do with anti-gorilla-grip exercizes. Well, it's merely a side effect, but a pretty noticeable one at that, simply because for any of the above to work more or less flawlessly, you can't apply too much power, so these techniques are "anti gorilla by nature".

Thanks for those tips! I have been working on the last one quite a bit as I want my playing to be "cleaner" (as in less sliding sounds - I've tried flat wounds to help with that and they just don't feel right to me) and it does lighten my grip because trying to clamp down from the air is a lot harder (at least for me) than when I slide to a new position. So the light touch truly is a consequence of the clean movement from chord to chord! Now if I could just make it a constant ;~))

On the first one, I do play my guitars in a "classical" guitar positioning simply because it is what I find most comfortable for my left wrist and arm, and the only time my thumb is not behind the neck is when I am muting the E or A with my wrap around thumb. That is becoming much less necessary since I switched to finger picking in Aug/Sep '23. Now I don't accidentally hit strings I am not supposed to (most of the time) so I usually do not need to use my thumb to mute those strings these days, but old habits die hard ;~))

On the second one, never tried that but I will. One thing I was doing for a while was, no thumb use at all. I would brace the base of the guitar with my right arm, and then play scales with just the fingers and no thumb or anything on the back of the neck. It was a good exercise, but it became just that to me, an exercise and I abandoned it after about a month of it. While I was doing it, it did help me appreciate and acclimate to a lighter touch knowing that I did not need that back brace to provide sufficient pressure to fret a string.

I know my PRS PS CU24 literally bitches at me (in it's own tactical way) when I choke it. I can literally feel that it is not right to be gripping it that way. I don't get that with my other guitars. Could be that the fret size may be slightly taller on that PS (taller frets make you more aware of your monkey grip as far as I can tell), or maybe it is the different neck shape, but I do feel it rejecting the tight grip ;~))

I very much appreciate your input and tips, and I will give those a go in my continued efforts to become more civilized and less gorilla ;~))

 

[Life Eats Life]

I have to say, this man comes through my playing at some moment or super rad 7th/9th chord
to paint some color over..it comes in the form of outlining the chord notes and throwing in a Setzer blast..
This song is all feel goods, played at my wedding, saw him live 3 times with the orchestra.
My FAVORITE part of this song is the finito chord at the end-THAT FIRES ME UP.

 

[Life Eats Life]

I guess you could say I think of Kevin Parker
somewhere in the sauce of it.
Mainly think outside of the box but play something that’ll sell a million records..super groovy..
and t to run my pedals differently but make somethin’ rad..feel good about it and let it come through..
This video..LOVE the Horner bass guitar
And the Frenchmen on the drums with the classic K-Parker 60’s snare drum tuning..
Got Mitch Mitchell??
The chorus is so good!!
Going to flick outta standby now

 

[EOengineer]

I think about baseball so I don’t get too excited.