He's so articulate and thoughtful with his responses, it's not just the same regurgitated garbage. Everything he says is sincere and that's exactly how he plays. Genius.
If you’ve read his guitar books, they are the same - very articulate and clear, even without seeing what he’s talking about in the books, you could imagine it in your mind what he meant by certain techniques, just a brilliant teacher and writer!
I agree with the concepts that he passed down. What he didn’t mention (because it would be a downer), is that how good you get doesn’t translate to a successful career. I’m a bassist of nearly 25 years with touring experience since I was 21. I’m 38 now. Clearly I have way more experience now and I’m likely a more seasoned player. But I find a lot of doors are closed because of my experience. I guess a lot of people are intimidated or something. Which I think is silly because I am nobody aswell. Esteem isn’t as relevant in reality but’s as big as the sun in our imaginations. Guthrie is my favorite guitarist over all. For my taste, Brian May and Nuno Bettencourt are other top guys. When we have to consider all the styles and narrow it down to our favorite flavor, I guess you can see the area of music that I choose as my favorite. But that fact doesn’t represent how much I enjoy Willie Dixon, Stanley Clark or even Les Claypool. When they call Jackson 5, I play in that spirit, or Crazy by Patsy cline.. Guthrie could be the most prolithic player of any genre, Victor Wooten in the same way. But they don’t.. Because they want to be the best themselves that they can be; more than have the most esteem. Esteem from others or from yourself is like coal powering the engine. You could perform to your capacity without esteem, but you might not have the motivation to do it. For new players: Music is a language. Genre’s are like dialects, styles like accents. Listen and then speak back “musicially”. Listening is the biggest part. Fine tuning your ear to what you are playing and to what someone else law is playing is an essential skill. No one cares about you are saying by yourself, so don’t focus on that. The people who are impressed by you, can’t do what you have learned. But those who can also do that, are less moved. So.. how do you affect them? Taste and creativity, writing, recalling and reacting beautifully.. exactly why I love Guthrie’s playing. I wish him 100x his success, he deserves it. He deserves much more than he gets. So that will most likely happen to you as well. Just be prepared. No esteem and no reaction are common today. Again, I started my bus touring days in 2006. In my experience, no one cares. Fortunately, I’m not proud. I play music for the same reason I started.. because I love hearing and making music. Supposition Objective, do what you will and enjoy it for what it is, a gift to be experienced in the present moment. We are given that opportunity, many aren’t. 🤘🎶✌️
@djbrando202 well written my friend 👏 I agree with everything you wrote. The music world isn't fair, that's for sure. Talent is thrown to the way side in favour of mediocrity and appearance I feel. There are female guitar players who don't have an ounce of Guthries talent but are raking in the big bucks. For most of us we just want to make a living from doing the thing we not only love but also put countless hours into. I don't seek fame, I just wish I could make music a sustainable career, but it doesn't seem like a possibility these days, unless you're extremely lucky. I say luck because I don't seem to see the people who really deserve it, but rather those who for whatever reason have hit it off big, most often unexplainably so.
Nice. This is like a short version of the four stages of knowledge, which goes something like 1 You don't know what you don't know 2 You know what you don't know 3 You know it, but you have to think about it 4 You know it so well, you no longer have to think about it.
I totally agree with this statement, but it would be nicer and surely more fair to mention the guy that really formulated it, Antony Wellington. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UGXkTmmkIFc.html Cheers.
@@RobertMJohnson who hurt you my friend? it is your FOURTH unnecessary reply of hateful words just in this video. i hope you can work it out of whatever is hurting you. wish you the best
@@flipviperyou’re projecting like a child and desperately trying to be clever. Analysis is for adults, unlike you. My comments are accurate and true. GG is nothing more than an uncreative virtuosos. He’s barely an artist. He’s a high IQ emulator with great dexterity and technical knowledge The fact that you cannot accept truth shines through with your own inability to think critically and clearly forcing you to reach for unsubstantiated claims about others who happen to disagree with your weak, fanboy position. Hall monitor.
@@RobertMJohnson I don't think either of them did claim that, we can however deduce from your reaction to what is a purely made up issue, that you seem to have some form of psychological problem.
I had the honor and privilege of sitting with him in a pub, at Steve Vai’s first Vai Academy and we talked about many things. But he took the time to tell me about Konnakol. We talked about it for quite some time and he had that some deliberate intensity wrapped in genius, understanding and empathy. He is truly a genius with a huge heart.
Guthrie Govan is not just a master on his instrument, he is also one of us mere mortals. For some reason, he never seems to have lost the connection to his early days when he himself struggled with mastering his instrument. This ability, to stay grounded in the very roots we mere mortals reside, makes him such a trustworthy and delightful source to listen to. I luv' yah, man.
Guthrie Govan gives some of the best guitar and music advice and wisdom. While most guys focus on technical playing skills, he puts things into context with how it applies to real life playing situations. He gives that extra perspective on what it really means to play what you're learning in your journey. That can only ever come from life experiences in music both good and bad. I've always loved how he puts a lot of thought into his answers like he doesn't want to waste a word or a sentence. Great guitarist and teacher.
Guthrie's wisdom is like a free brick of musical gold. The man has chops like very few on earth and has the teaching abilities of someone who has taught well for a millennium. The rarest of musicians. AND, he's a lovely bloke!
When I used to teach university classes large enough to require use of computer-scored multiple-choice exams, my students would often complain to me that they would leave my exams having no idea how they did. My reply to them was "Good, that's what I was aiming for". I wanted what they learned in my courses to be used almost like an unconscious reflex, and not merely an easily forgettable list/inventory of factoids. I wanted them to *feel* that something was correct, without necessarily knowing why, or treating it as something they remembered from their notes. I drew an analogy with steering one's car out of a skid on an icy road. You don't want to go through a checklist in your head of what to do in such a situation. You want it to be so automatic it feels like the knowledge is in your hands. As Guthrie notes, using it quicker than one can *decide* to use it. It's rare that being able to walk upright, without keeling over, requires our conscious awareness and deciding about what to do next in order not to fall over. Yet it's something we learned to do, and all the moment-to-moment decisions that need to be made in order to remain upright, rely on long-term memory. Fluid musicality should be like that, regardless of the instrument. Seeing Guthrie play live, what one is impressed by is not his speed of playing, but rather the fluidity of the ideas he expresses on the fingerboard. They come quickly and seamlessly *AND* playfully. Funny how people who don't HAVE to think when playing have actually thought a great deal *about* their playing and what could improve it. Matteo Mancuso is very much the same. I'm floored by his playing, but I'm more floored by how articulate an understanding he has OF his playing.
You don't get to a level like his without being extremely intelligent and thoughtful, but also the lack of ego removes a big barrier to creative greatness.
My partner is bilingual. She was saying that before she would think of a word in her native language translate it into the second language, but eventually this stops and you just use the 2nd language independently. She said that she really knew she had cracked it when she started dreaming fluently in her second language. I think this translates to what Guthrie is saying here.
Amazing I chatted to him a few times, he was the year above me at school in Chelmsford. He did his own thing, I played in the school orchestra ... he was a renegade that played a electric guitar crazy fast ... He was very knowledgeable about music, I remember talking about 20th century composers with him, nice chilled out guy - he eventually went off to Oxford
That's VERY true. Whether in Guitar Playing or Martial Art If you try to run before you can walk , you'll TRIP....Another thing to remember is motor skill improvement cannot come overnight. Whether you are moving your fingers (in Musicianship) or your arms & legs (in martial Art) so young students mustn't give up easily but STAY focused....And also forgetting what you have learned is something BRUCE LEE taught students in JKD (Jeet Kune Do) .....You start with raw clay as a substance which is knowledge you have acquired through training until it is second nature & then you subtract from it to get to the essence of the Art. Guthrie makes the same point HERE with active vocabulary....Your instincts will know and you will apply it at the right time in the right context...Both musicianship or martial art....Thanks so much for this Guthrie. 👍🙏
Guthrie is 1,000% correct here. I've been playing the guitar for about two and a half years, pretty much picking it up due to losing everything during the lockdown in 2020. Long story short, I used to have a similar explanation for how I learned to play the guitar whenever I talked to people. I would ask them if they practiced boxing, martial arts, or any form of self-defense, and then I would ask them, "What's the purpose of your practicing?" They would tell me it's so it becomes instinctual and they don't need to think about it to do it. I would respond, "Exactly." That said, the way I learned to do certain riffs and scales was by practicing them over and over for about an hour and every time I flubbed on a note, I would just keep repeating the same pattern until I got it right. I would sleep on it, wake up, do it again, and realize it was easier than before. Point being, it was about integrating this pattern into the instinctual parts of my brain. That's when something incredible happened. While I do still pick up my guitar regularly, I don't play as much as I used to because I've been more focused on writing a book for nearly the past year. However, when I do play, I realize that I don't feel any unease or intimidation about which notes, chords, or patterns I play anymore. Just as he said, you have to learn it to forget about it, and that's exactly what has happened. Seriously, to anybody who watched this video and listened to Guthrie's words or read my comment: Never give up.
I feel so greatfull for living at the same time as Guthrie. ❤ I have learnt a lit from him, not only for my passion (the music) also for my work, I’m a teacher and in my opinion the way he arguments and elaborate the responses and explanations are incredible. Thank you for everything Guthrie, i hope to say this to you one day 🥹
I can’t ever put into words how beautifully he described being a player and as a player I’ve struggled with hearing something in my head and then try to make it happen, and most times I fail. But that bottom line is so crucial if you are a weathered player. “Look, this will ONLY be useful to you, the day that you can do it, quicker than you decide to do it.” You have to have a lot passive vocabulary until it becomes ACTIVE vocabulary. It’s really inspiring stuff to any musician I think…
Guthrie - I have the first transcriptions you made. And they are signed by Jennifer Batten. You have the presence to be instantly recognised in one’s note. I like your vision that it’s ok to be unique. This is a wonderful clip. Thanks guys and gals.
Brillant, wise words from a wise man with a great sense of humor, plus, as a French MF, I really appreciate his so British accent… Such a good player, source of inspiration… Thank you Mr Govan.
@@RobertMJohnson Guthrie obviously isn't interested in writing pop music, he chooses to play what he likes... and that's not "hit songs". He's a players player.. and he's gotten a good amount of recognition doing what he's so good at. Maybe you don't hear melodies in his instrumental playing with The Aristocrats... but some of us do.
@@RobertMJohnson A musician’s back catalogue doesn’t define how great a player they are. If Guthrie has been born 10 years earlier, he’d have been in Zappa’s band instead of Vai.
I also discovered the same thing about my own playing when learning drums. You - that is I - only really had and have the most fun when my competence and technical vocabulary had reached the point to allow me to not think too much about what I'm going to play, but rather, just let my playing "talk". In order to reach that point you have play a lot, hours every day, and be patient and let your body absorb everything about what you are trying to achieve whilst you are practicing. Also accept the old adage " slow and steady wins the race" - get it right at a slow speed, and the accuracy will remain when you can increase the speed. Try to play it fast from the beginning and you will build-in inaccuracies which will always be there.
I’m a guitar tutor and deal with these kinda students all the time. I will 100% be saying this to the next beginner who asks me to learn the solo to ‘Hotel California’
It's interesting that actor Anthony Hopkins gave exactly the same advice, but about learning your lines (by reading them 300 times) and then throwing the script away and letting your subconscious absorb the character and interpret it on autopilot.
I think I like listening to GG talk just as much as play. The knowledge, the humble nature and entertaining delivery... good stuff. My favorite line of his was during a rig rundown about a pedal that was taken from him - he said "it was stolen by Romans" because it disappeared in Italy. Made me lol. Love that guy.
Yes! I live for the moments that I hear my hand doing what I need to learn and doing that without a laborious process of wrote. Music is reaction to sound in a language learned by listening.
Very interesting. Got back to judo recently and I've been thinking, and also talking with my instructor who plays piano, how similar learning martial art and playing an instrument is. You start from almost not touching the instrument but you still need *something* that resembles what your mental image about that is so it'll keep you interested and motivated. When you get into something new, you never get into it thinking you're gonna learn basic ability and preparedness for it for a while before you can think about actually learning the thing - getting your body used to it - and then spend years learning the basics. You won't be expecting that the real enjoyment is in the progress of getting better, connecting pieces, starting to develop your own system. How a lot of it is that almost mindless repetition, except you should keep your mind in it and be what they call mindful to observe, analyse, adjust and absorb. To make your path quicker eseentially without compromising its quality. And guitar playing also has that component where your fingers hurt in the beginning and if you get really serious about it, probably start to hurt again later. At some point you forget stuff like flashy stuff and ranks and just enjoy the art of it, your ability to express yourself with it without stopping to think about it.
So true. I used to study for exams, certifications etc like this. At a point you have to just trust that you've absorbed enough, and invariably when the questions are presented, stuff comes rushing back out.
Well said. My best playing has always been with my eyes closed, or not looking at the fretboard; you gotta do a bunch of woodshedding, until it’s second nature.
My two cents, I’ve experienced what I believe to be a 4 to 6 month delay, between the time I spend working on a unique new musical concept, and the time I see it and experience it manifesting on a gig or a improvisation without thinking about it I feel like it’s about 4 to 6 months, on average for me. I’ve been also noticing lately, that if I take more time to write down the concept on manuscript paper, that may be that gap shortens a bit Always amazed at how the mind and body work!
That is so true. It ties in with Guthrie's other wise words on playing music being like speaking a language - so if you go to a foreign country armed with a load of stock phrases that you have memorised, you're not going to have much of a conversation. You need to think about meaning and let the language part of your brain take care of the words themselves.
So true especially in regard to true improvisation; where you’re both playing and composing music at the same exact instant in time; a beautiful and true art; especially compared to just playing notes on a page or from memory.
As a musician and mma fighter, it’s so true. Masters are people who have done the basics over, and over and done them millions of times. Most spectacular actions are built on the foundation of mastery of basics.
Steve Vai has talked about this before as well. I've always taken this advice to heart, and I think it's one of the most important things any musician can be made aware of. Learn the technique to the point that you no longer have to think about technique.
