The truth about old school players... 

Guitar playing has become a sport. Back then, players would have things come to them and find a way to play them. They used their instruments to play music. Now, players work on how to use their techniques. The use music as a way to demonstrate their chops.

I've never been a clean technique player. And I'm 100 % ok with that. I play from my heart, enjoy every moment of it, and that's all that matters to me. My spark comes from channeling energy straight from the soul.

Most dudes back in the day were self taught. They learned by listening to records over and over. Now everyone takes lessons and little kids can play anything.

As a kid, I loved Carlos Santana and mocked heavily for it. I felt the emotion and intensity of his playing. It’s nice to hear your respect for his playing.

There is a reason why "Old man" guitar playing is so iconic. Clean, technical guitar playing is fun and interesting to listen to IF you're a clean, technical guitar player....Maybe 1 percent of any audience. The rest of the audience enjoys art. They want to feel and be transported by leads, not put in a catatonic state or lulled to sleep.

Scott Henderson said it perfectly ( something to the effect of ) " I'd rather hear Albert Collins drop his guitar than hear perfect sequence of 1/16th notes.

Early guitarists like Django, Charlie, Wes, Herb Ellis, Early George Benson, Tal Farlow, many more, and late sixties/early 70s guys like Bill Conners, McLaughlin, Holdsworth, and many more, have as much or probably more technique than the "new guys." The early ROCK guys were almost PURPOSELY letting it be loose, because of the feel. Technique matters to a point in any art, but art with little technique is still valid, and sometimes way cooler than perfection if done right. I always felt those with tons of technique have very little in the way of musical ideas, so they just practice technique. Plus, Yngwie, for instance is stuck in the past, like 200 years in the past, harmonically and melodically. When blues came around, it had very little to do with technique, it was more about expression. Finally, in the Hendrix or Zeppelin catalogue, there are very few songs that sound alike, and it was about a band sound and interaction with the other musicians so it was more of a general musicality and creativity thing. So many of the new players just shred over what sounds like jamming to harmonically basic jam tracks. Not all, of course, but many. There are always incredible guitarists around, the new guys too. The new stuff, by the way, is almost always completely edited, note for note, so of course it sounds like they never make a mistake, and if they can do it live, they are not living on the edge, which is what many listeners are looking for, reaching for things. Might miss, oh well, but if you GET it it is worth it!

By 1993 I'd been playing for 15 years. Us "old school players" didn't have RU-vid, the internet or cellphones with video capabilities and massive storage. When we wanted to learn something we had to work it out by ear from a record or cassette. Getting lessons was expensive so Guitar Player magazines with their shitty little plastic records included were our saviour. To get specialist training ,, you had to mail a money order to the U.S. ( that took at least a few weeks } for a booklet with notation and TAB and a cassette of the style of player you wanted to be. The whole exercise took about 6 weeks. Going to gigs and hassling good players into giving up some knowledge was the other method of learning. One guy that became a good friend of mine,, Victor Holder,, went to Berkley music school and was a great influence. I was 17 and playing in some of the roughest blues bars and pubs in Australia. Nowdays if i want to learn some really cool shit i just click a link. The computer generations don't know how fucking lucky they are. The struggle was real.

The things that these older guitarists had that is all to lacking in todays players, is heart and soul. Now it's all technique, and it's hard to differentiate the players.

All the fast and clean shredding is nothing modern or new:already done in the seventies by the jazz fusion guys.The modern guys are not cleaner and faster than their seventies counterparts, there are just more of them. Allan Holdsworth and John Mclaughlin had done all that stuff by 1973!

Imagine a 3 hour Zepp concert or similar with the guitarist playing with economy of movement, accuracy and uniformity in note spacing like some modern shredder. What a total drag that would be. Or a great singer singing Since I’ve Been Loving You and then some idiot chimes in with legato or picked scales. People would walk out after half an hour. Speed needs to be exciting, not a smooth move up through metronome notches. Great technique sounds great in its place but its place is not in emotional music.

60s guitarists were breaking trail. Yes, they stood on the shoulders of blues and to a lesser degree jazz and country players, but sonically this was a whole new game. All the cutting edge players of the time had the improvisational high-wire expressiveness and nerve of many of the blues and jazz players of the time... often even in the studio. With amplification and effects, sounds were being made for the first time. With all of the imperfections and sometimes sloop, the really great players seemed to have captured the lightning of those times... sparks flew. Many are still burning today.

What you are describing and you just recently discovered, delightfully so, is something the musicians of my generation knew instinctively but actually WAS explained by Page in early interviews when asked about his style. He summed it all up in 3 words. Loose but tight. It's a feel that most of the players of that era subscribed to.

Ya I get what you're saying, being in the same age group and started in the same genres. In the 80s I used to mock alot of bands and genres as sounding too easy. Blues, even rock bands like ac/dc. First working dollars spent on a half stack and played in the house. Showing up at a jam ready to play Free Wheel Burning, some local blues guys were there already jamming with my drummer buddy. I thought "weird", then fire up my amp and blast away. They ask me to try doing a few blues riffs. I was stumped. Couldn't. Should have been my eye opener. Fast forward a few decades and I read Angus Young stating that rock is supposed to be fun, supposed to be simple. Then I get it, and try learning a few of their songs. The little nuances they used..... more than meets the eye there apart from that basic 4/4 beat. Suddenly I'm getting it and having fun again. With a new found respect for alot of other early artists.

A couple other factors... back then studio time was often limited, and tracking was not infinite. They often didnt have the time and resources to cut and paste to get perfect tracks... and editing the finished material was far more limited. I might be the odd man out here, but there have been many instances where I've split up a guitar part to try and get it recorded tighter... only to toss out the tracks and use my rough take. Cut a paste recording can suck alot of life out of a track. Imo you can still hear this in more current albums, bands putting out excelent albums early on, and later recordings somehow losing something as the budgets go up.

I went to the jazz but started with Rory Gallagher, came from school and started playing " on the boards" which blew my mind and in the end I could play the whole album, all the leads by ear before I went to the conservatory in Adam. I can understand you completely, the Era of Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Page, is about expressive inperfection, the mindset is very important, yes I'm an older guy. Greetings Vic

When I started out I wanted to play like the greats but in the pre-internet world of the 80s, most of all I just wanted to play. I had one great guitar, one great amp and a few pedals and for 30 years that was all I used. Now in my 50s, I am surrounded by gear and overwhelmed by all the talent on youtube - most of it also selling me more gear or telling me my technique sucks (which it probably does) - and I can understand the "Road to Damascus" moment David must have had. The guitar is the love of my life but it is also a massive steaming pile of over-priced pedals, amps, modifications and assorted nonsense that distract you from making music. And guitar solos? Give me 15 seconds of quality that works in a song over 60 seconds of widdly widdly wank. The best Eddie Van Halen guitar solo was the one in Beat It - perfect, succinct and made the song. I think we all need to take a breath and step back from this overload of information and sales pitches so we can get back to enjoying playing music without over-analysing every tone, sound, riff, whatever, and most importantly, get back to making songs that can blow away an audience in 3 minutes with or without a guitar solo. That's all they did in the past that was really different to today.

I'm a player who, for the most part, doesn't like most of what I hear on guitar since the mid 80's. It seemed like anger or technique (being too technical) had become what was passing for music. I think what you call sloppy playing is a deeper connection between the soul of the player and what comes out the guitar. The interesting thing is, I've heard people complain that Jimmy Page was a sloppy player. In the 60's this "sloppy" player was said to have played on 90% of the records coming out of England. That's right, he was a studio musician playing all kinds of music and in different genres. I'm sorry but my feeling is, just because it's technical or ultra fast doesn't mean that it's music that others would want to listen too. In the early 80's there were some great guys, playing very original sounding stuff on guitar, who were far from being technicians. Some that come to mind are Robin Guthrie of a group called Cocteau Twins, John McGeoch who played with a group called Magazine in the late 70's and a group called Siouxsie And The Banshees in the 80's, and a guy name Daniel Ash who played in Bauhaus, Tones On Tail, and Love & Rockets. All of these guys were self taught and none of them were angry or technical players, yet they've made more money than most of those that are considered great guitarist. I want to hear the soul, not just the speed.

Totally agree with this. I've played since the 70s. Whatever the type of music, emotion, (excitement, love, sorrow, anger etc) and feelings for the music are what elevates it , even if the listener doesn't realize that. If you really love what you're playing, whether it's from original songs, the other musicians you're playing with, or just on your own, nailing a cover or two, and really getting into it then it will show in the final results. And this translates for the audience, most of whom are not guitarists remember. For some reason the "new" technical/shred, acoustic two handed tapping type or whatever, come across as clinical, cold and calculating, over polished/produced, and lacking in emotion to my ears. They have no emotion whatsoever and actually very hard to listen to.

There is a big guitar revolution going on in Africa right now, that is worth examining...They are combining raw old school unrefined classic rock/blues type playing with traditional African styles...It’s really cool to hear....

It's a relief, really A painter that can imitate a photo will never be Picasso.

I do think that some of the modern guitar players are absolutely amazing because of their technical prowess & precision that they employ. But to my ear, it “feels” cold & sterile. The music of my generation (yes 60’s & 70’s) was filled with raw emotion. Think about Neil Young for instance. If you are critical of his vocal style (for some it sounds like screeching), I might agree. But listen, not with your ears, but with your heart & soul & you might find your eyes filled with tears. The best music is about expressing EMOTION, no matter who the generation was that played it (think Billie Holiday or George Gershwin or Frederic Chopiń). That’s why music is called a “universal language “. Here’s a couple of sayings from Buddhism that I’ve always loved - “To the beginner, there are many possibilities. To the expert, there are few.” or “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” In music, many teachers have appeared in my life, but only when I was ready to truly listen to their wisdom.

A few years ago I decided to put one of my acoustics in DADGAD for a minimum of a year. It made the guitar so new to me again and it felt like my early exploratory years. It also led me to seeking out other DADGAD players, which exposed me to some wonderful music I hadn't encountered before. Two years later and I'm still learning new ways to approach songs, both new and old, in this tuning. It was what I needed to get me out of that plateau.

I grew up listening to those "old school" artists, and listening to it when it was new, I just felt it. I didn't analyze it. You hear every note, and every note counts. Also, as Debussy noted, the music is not just in the notes, but in the spaces between the notes. If there are no spaces, something is lost.

any musician who claims this one is better than that one isn’t a true musician. You learn music and make it your own,you want to sound like Muddy Watters or slash there mere influences,music and YOUR sound comes from within you.

J’aime beaucoup l’exploration que tu nous proposes, elle interroge et en quelque sorte permet de se poser et de se recentrer sur l’essentiel dans la music : l’émotion qu’elle procure ! Merci David👍🏼🍒

I play acoustic and electric guitar. I'm old, sigh. I've wanted to play guitar for a long time. So I started to learn and practice, practice, practice! Page, for example, pushes himself... hard. He plays 'beyond' his technical abilities. He actually incorporates his 'mistakes' into his playing. That's really hard to do, balancing on the knife-edge like that. Also, I think the time and spaces between the sound of the notes actually being played, is very, very, important too. Too many notes/sounds without controlling the air/space properly, is hard too.

I feel like much more "soul" came through in the older music. The distance between emotion and the tape was much shorter.

Wow , you picked the guy that got me playing the guitar , hats off to you , Alfred NYC /PR

When you said "mindset" I think you nailed it. Something that really is not tied to guitar specifically, it's the way you look at the world in general. But those were different times, much more optimistic times, the future looked bright and going up and up. If you want to capture that mindset, you pretty much have to block out most of what is thrown at you by modern culture. BTW, good hair style David, it works for you. I remember you from the old GMC days.

So much to unpack here First, those old rock guitarists didn't have the pedagogical advances to work with. We learned from friends, teachers and records. There was no slowing down the tracks. I literally played "Crossroads" from "Wheels of Fire" hundreds of times to learn the song. In using this process for dozens of songs, I also learned Second, nuance. People who "shred" all too frequently have very little nuance in their playing. You "shredders" can argue this all you want, but you're wrong. Third, the old guys had a guitar or two - not half a dozen - and a single amp. They had to learn how to get the most out of the minimal equipment they had. Fourth, because there were few pedals available and most of them were very noisy - I was there! - guitarists had to use their hands to achieve their tone, not technology. It's something most modern guitarists won't admit, but pedals have the effect of homogenizing your sound. You all have 42 pedals and you all sound alike. Fifth, as the really old guys - Bach, Mozart, Haydn, etc. - understood, the space between the notes is just as important as the notes themselves. "Shredders" apparently don't understand this, preferring to fill the allotted time with as many notes as possible. It's fatiguing to listen to. Sixth, most of the old guys who are still around are musicians who play guitar, not guitarists who play music. This is a crucial distinction, and if you don't get it nothing I can add is going to help. Finally, technique wasn't an end in itself. Its purpose was to facilitate the expression of feelings. So many "shredders" seem to put technique first. RU-vid is jammed with videos of - mostly - guys who came out of formal programs who can play 250 bpm over complex chord changes and yet they are unspeakably boring to listen to, unless you're a fellow technocratic guitarist.

The first time i heard Eric Johnson. Brought that back for me. Was stationed in Dallas Tx. A guy at Longhorn guitars. Plays a vtg strat. Thru a jcm 800 combo with orig chandler tube driver. He was playing s song off TONES N BLEW ME AWAY …. soul is where it comes from. All the joy n pain of life should come out. Its not just playing guitar. Itsa Spiritual awakening.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Robert Fripp is relearning to play in EAGDBE tuning again at 74 years of age. He has always been one of the most challenging guitarists to listen to. He rarely disappoints as he can hear and play the unexpected and is thrilling for that. His philosophy on the relationship between music, the musician and the audience feeds into and from that. After 50 years of listening to Crimson, frippertronics, him guesting with everyone from Bowie to blondie, he always makes me listen, really listen hard.

Hey there! That's an EXCELLENT description of the same thing that happened to me. The excitement of the discovery is what makes music wonderful

Start a solo by stating a theme. It can be a very simple theme (listen to Beethoven’s 5th.) Then, play around with that theme: keep the same rhythm but change the notes, change the rhythm but keep the same notes, etc. If you’re not doing this, you’re just noodling. Repetition of a phrase is very musical; play it over and over, in slightly different ways (listen to Roy Buchanan.) Use various picking techniques. Play softly and tenderly, loudly and ballsy. Snarl and purr. Slow and fast. Think of all the human emotions and try to express them. The key to musicality, as well as all the arts, is playing with the opposites (light and dark in a painting, for ex.) Gradually build in intensity. Build to a climax, which should be near, but not at, the end, like in a novel or a movie. THEN you can throw in those Tom Quayle licks, if you can (I can’t). After the climax, bring it back down at the end (like sex ;-). Tom Quayle plays Tom Quayle licks way too damn much. It sounds robotic, sterile, and boring after the initial WOW wears off. So many players are like this. Again, the key to all great art is playing with the opposites. Again, the key to all great art is playing with the opposites. OPPOSITES. Let that sink in to the very core of your soul.

I am a 51-year-old fairly accomplished multi-instrumentalist. Somehow, since 1985 I recorded nearly every riff as it came to me on guitar, all in tune and great tone, drumming, Hammond and multi-tracking hours and hours. Trash bags full of High Bias Cassettes at half=speed! Digitizing and reworking some currently. I sounded like Bonham Jamming with Page.

The latest players are amazing. But the old school music I grew up with you can recall in an instant, it’s emotion. When I hear Hendrix play some of his lesser known songs like Hear my Train, it’s humanity crying out it’s thousand of years of emotion. Listen to Stop from aBand of Gypsies rerelease. It’s a blues conversation about being in love, an extension of the soul. Some music today in the virtuoso realm sound like typewriting at 80 words per minute. An amazing feat but not memorable.

I always think I'm hearing their heart beat and raw emotion translated thru the guitar strings.

"... and then I realized...". Love it David.

Another great video, great job dude and thank you so much for what you’ve brought to my playing even after 30 years of experience

Originality and soul...that's what makes them famous.

The playing of the "old school" players was blues-based; nearly exclusively minor minor scale including wide bends, vibratos and string inflections. Those players were expanding on the innovations of the blues guys; Freddie King, BB King, Albert King, Buddy Guy and Otis Rush it is like a blues template. Listen to Hendrix's solo on "Red House" it is mostly BB King licks! The examples you played of modern players are scales, arpeggios and sequences played as fast as possible as if the building blocks of Western music are beautiful in themselves. They don't at any moment bend, vibrato or inflect of shade the notes in anyway. It sounds to me very digital! It's like comparing apples and oranges.

I'm very new to playing guitar. My philosophy from the beginning is, after getting my fundamentals, if I want to try to play like my favorite guitarists then I need to find out who influenced THEM.

I grew up on the old school stuff. When I was 18, I could play 'Crossroads' and all the rest, pretty much note for note. Then, I found Steely Dan and Larry Carlton and all of those melodic players. After rap, a new breed of one-e-and-uh-two-e-and-uh-three-e-and-uh-4-e-and-uh high speed shredders had learned how to exploit complex chord changes by playing at warp speed through the song. At 74, I treasure my experience. Listen to the fine crafted solo in LED ZEPPLIN'S Whole Lotta Love. Finally, a nobody who commented below 'jason malever' used the word slop. These folks are treasures. You will never join their ranks.

They might have intended to be sloppy but everyone has their threshold for sloppiness, I actually enjoy a little sloppiness but I can't stand Page or Zappa's solos, if they were unknown and played today at the local pub they would be shot. There are players from that era that weren't sloppy and had great feel, on the other spectrum I have trouble connecting to modern players that play every note perfectly but end up sounding like a computer.

Keith says "No-one remembers the solo, but everyone remembers the riff".

I find it interesting that in the classical music world, there are critics, especially in competitions, of flawless playing, where it lacks heart and soul, an individual's or ensemble's interpretive ability . With such standardized music bringing something of the individual artist's or ensemble's interpretation, personality spirit soul to the same notes/score is important . In other words, things beyond technical proficiency. It is another side to the equation of what constitutes a truly great performance.

I grew up in the G3 area with vai, satch, petrucci and so on, but also at the same listening to gilmour, blackmore, page from my parents collection. But now that im older, I starting to gravitate more towards the old school players. Why? I think its because they "channelling" their raw emotions and its feels more like at the edge of your seat all the time. Like the guitar is on fire and shit is going down haha

Dan Rogers, Kenny's nephew, said in interview with Dean Olson "Strongwriter on the Radio". When he asked Sly Stone if he could teach him how to play the guitar, Sly replied " You don't play the guitar..... You feel the guitar"

It’s really Interesting how we cannot help it as human beings even at an unconscious level to imitate somewhat or a lot. Sure even by imitating there is enough variation to say this is my sound and what not. But everything begins to sound somewhat predictable after awhile. I never been a big Foo Fighters fan but I think that the riff to the song Everlong is one of the most original and exciting riffs in the world where we probably thought that Van Halen had exhausted all the possibilities of what to do with a guitar but here comes a riff that is so unique. There are moments like this, but yes as you say it’s difficult to return to that very stage where you first held the guitar and the sky was the limit ! You learn and it’s like you can’t unlearn in order to go back to really try out something out of the ordinary. Great topic 👌🏻

It's funny. Back in the day we had such limited access to music that you could go for years not knowing about very popular music that would later become like the air that you breathe. It's also funny that I grew up in the 70's, but I had a similar experience with my evolution as a guitar player that you had 20 years later. For me, I loved the heavy guitar sounds of bands like Kiss and Judas Priest, and I had a guitar teacher trying to teach me classical, but I told him I wanted to play Priest, so he taught me how to play bar chords and the pentatonic scale. I'm very grateful for that knowledge, as limited as it was. Anytime I could get money to grow my collection of vinyl albums, I tended to buy stuff like Kiss, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, of course. But then, at some point, I was gifted with the Woodstock album and Jeff Beck "Wired" on vinyl, plus several 8-tracks of albums from Santana and the Grateful Dead, and this opened my whole world up to a different kind of music and a different approach to guitar playing. Of course, it took me an extremely long time to get good enough on guitar to be able to understand why, but I knew right away that players like Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Jerry Garcia, Alvin Lee, and Jeff Beck had a very different type of relationship with their guitars than the "heavier" players I had idolized. Then, it was a year or so later before I made a trade for Frampton Comes Alive and Led Zeppelin I, and I had my mind blown again. Now, I don't want to disparage the art and skill of my earlier guitar heroes, for I still love those 70s and 80s metal bands as much as I love all the metal bands that came after, but I know that few of them have the same level of Mojo that the earlier greats had (and the even earlier greats that they learned from), and my many decades of playing guitar have led me to understand what I need to keep striving for, even as I learned that I am already there, if I can only just "let go" and be the music that I feel inside. I know I don't need to explain that to you because I have heard you try to explain it in several videos now, and I just wanted to say that I totally get what you are saying. Also, I appreciate and enjoy what you are doing here and have subscribed to your channel. Keep jamming!

I just happened on this and I have to thank you for explaining the thoughts behind the music. As a person who grew up with the birth of rock you can't explain what it was like to hear what had never been heard before. the excitement was fresh. this non musician just subscribed to learn more.

Slash's Influences: Aerosmith, The Stones, Sabbath, AC/DC, Zeppelin. Metallica's influences: (Hetfield) Tony Iommi, Johnny Ramone. (Hammet) Hendrix, Zeppelin, UFO. Joe Satriani influences: Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Brian May, Allan Holds worth. I find it comical that many younger musicians are often some of the most snobby, narrow minded listeners and are almost completely disconnected from musical history and musical heritages. They must think that great musicians just spring forth from their mother's wombs as fully formed musicians. I don't really even qualify as a "musician". I'd call myself, a guy who owns a bass and plays it. But, at least I've listened to enough music from various eras before I was born, dating back to several hundred years ago and I can recognize various musical influences when I hear them. It's acceptable for casual listeners to limit their playlists to only their musical tastes. However, musicians are supposed to think differently than casual listeners. Even if musicians dislike musical genres like, Jazz, Country, Latin, Classical, Blues or R&B, they should still force themselves to listen to it with an open mind, because musicians are supposed to be creative people and having a large musical background to draw from can help them be more creative. If another musician tells you that Djano Reinhardt or Andres Segovia were amazing guitarist and you play guitar, then you would be a fool not to at least check them out, if for no other reason than to expand your musical vocabulary and experience. Some comedian, I forget who it was, once commented in an interview that that when he started doing stand-up in his late teens, all of his jokes were about jerking off and taking a sh*t, because he had no life experience to draw from. That's what happens when creative artists limit their input. Their output tends to be immature and lacks substance. Most great musicians will drop a few quick and easy names when asked about their influences, but the more that you talk to them, the more you realize how many different types of artists influenced them.

No one has topped Hendrix, it’s not just the guitar, it’s not just the songs, it’s the whole vibe, music, songs, guitar, creativity and still going strong.

I feel what you are talking about can be related to the death of heavy metal. there was this push for a bunch of notes being played but forgot about one of the main elements of a good metal song, the riff.

In ears and playing to a click, back in the day they had soul!

If ever in human history a single human being can replicate Little Wing correctly, I'll begin to think Hendrix wasn't an actual demigod. Sometimes I wonder if every other person on earth isn't clinically deaf. Because the note for note replications of Little Wing by extremely talented and skilled guitar players aren't even close. That includes myself of course. I still can't figure out exactly what's going on on that track. Is it studio magic? Or was he really just that good.

This is a awesome video with a amazing message!it brings me back to 9 years old and stayimg the night at my uncles to see his album collection when he got in from work!wow man my life has been blessed! I grew up at the right time!!

It's all about FEEL. Everyone feels different things when they hear sounds or music. The greatest thing any musician of any genre can do is connect people to emotions and feelings. Music is a language. You're speaking and having a conversation. Telling a story. Technical skills are of course important but it isn't the thing that connects people. You can know every word in the dictionary but it's the way you use those words in a real conversation that matters. "I LOVE YOU" are literally 3 simple words any human being from a toddler to a dying person can say but it can mean so much and so different.

Man... you're awesome I've had a similar experience without playing music for about a year (due to incarceration unfortunately lol) but when I picked up a guitar again I was playing exciting new and better stuff...I wondered wtf it was and I didn't know until I watched this video... change of mind set is every thing...thanks for sharing your experiences

Exactly sir. And thank you David,

I wonder if technical means better necessarily. Keith Richards isn’t technical but he can kill it on one riff. I do respect the technicians though. Not everyone can start playing guitar at four years old though and become a technician lol.

I remember driving on a highway through Pennsylvania farmland as a kid, listening to the Houses of the Holy. I was already a fan of the album but listening to it with the wide open sky and fields that ran on into the horizon was practically a spiritual revelation.

colorado springs is not near any place that is remote! go up outside Gunnison (take 4WD and 2 sets of tire chains plenty of fuel and blankets food water flares...) then listen to tunes as you drive 4wd trails. It will sound way different.

I can relate to this so much, eventually the licks and songs I’m playing all become boring and repetitive. I often just need to step back for a day or two and I come back with that hunger to learn new things

How do you spell the name of the new guitarist that is mentioned at 6.28?

Thanks mate, I’m quite a bit older than you but not an issue. I may mention that I’ve been playing over 50 years. After listening to ya, you certainly qualify to let us pick your brain. Thank you for your insight that aligns with my own and I’m sure,many other musicians and not. Good luck,Rocky

Santana is the man! I've been into him since about '72 and he taught me how to play lead guitar right thru the '70s and '80s.

My favorite guitar players aren’t afraid to play the melody and (I believe) trying to “sing” with their instrument. They are also able to channel something spiritual that words cannot express. Way too many to name here but Robben Ford playing live with Jing Chi is pretty amazing.🎸🇺🇸

There's also the fact that tape was expensive, and you couldn't afford to do 100 takes

Very interesting and philosophical video! I have to agree with the comments that have mentioned the importance of the song and the guitar serving the song. Even Jimi Hendrix's guitar playing sits within the song (although he obviously flies off when he plays live). Today's modern players seem to be all about technique and showing how well they play and seem to forget that they're playing music. They are players that I like to watch and see their tricks....but if I want to listen to music, I'd listen to Jeff Beck, Pixies, Queens of the Stone Age, or Elliott Smith.

When i had my band together. They would always talk pollished recordings. Like i would always tell them RAW SOUBD IS ALWAYS more exciting!

I’m 50 now. I didn’t have RU-vid. I learned mostly by ear. So I didn’t play a lot of things correctly. But I did develop my own style. Of course I’m not world famous. I just love playing. In bands or doing my own weird jams. The best compliment is when I play my homemade songs in my car and people think it’s the radio. Until I tell them, and I get the ‘that’s you?! Really?’….yeah man. Todays players have so many ways to learn and quickly learn. Which is good and bad. Good that those resources are there. Bad in that so many young players are learning from virtually the same sources. And never mind the ‘watch me shred for 30 seconds’ videos…I pass on all that. Give me a tune!

You have to take the thinking out of the playing. That’s what’s Hendrix, Page, Santana, and every other legend of rock guitar did/does. When you’re thinking,, your source of creativity is cut off. Just feel it and let it flow. Great video, btw!

Everything you said is completely true,but there are exceptions, particually in the fusion world,i.e. a young Al Di Meola, Ray Gomez , Allan Holdsworth, Pat Thralls, Magnificent playing on Automatic Man's 1976 album , But above all all these mega shred technicians rarely posses that Magic factor X "INDIVIDUALITY",These views were echoed to me,in a conversation I was fortunate to have with The Magnificent "Guthre Govan" !!!!! if you really search them out and listen,Tracks like,All along the Watchtower,Angel, ect by Hendrix,,Becks Bolero, Beck,and not to forget the great Jan Akerman, Hocus Pocus, much more than repertetive 3 notes per string patterns,as "Pete Thorn" said learning to play fast is relatively easy, but to play well and Individually is much more difficult.

Dude, your end card transitions are flawless and then the end screen video doesn't appear. Drives me crazy.

Nice talk but it's all "Subjective" Everthing good can be appreciated for what it is. I doubt most players have a master plan as to how they will sound , I could be wrong but every musician I know is a product of his influences all those combined make them sound unique . I'm no expert and its great to break down everything in a quest to improve. I'm listening to this like most to hear some inspiration and tips from David. I doubt you David will now continue to try to play only old School. We're on here most of us coz we can only dream about playing like David Wallimans. Thank you always enjoy your thoughts and teachings.

Thank you! Really important -- re-discovering the point of it all. Virtuosity without music is -- nothing.

And while we are at it I'd to mention: Steve Howe, Steve Hillage, Zal Cleminson, Robyn Trower, Robert Fripp, Andrian Belew and the Great Rory Gallagher.

I'm more inclined to think that it's the inherent imperfection that appeals. It's more human...organic...there's a chance that you may hear a mistake, and the guitarists just left them in there. The 80's started moving towards solos that just...crammed in technique, just to do it. Guitarists such as Vai, Satrianni, Malmsteen, and a host of others during and after the hair metal era were just TOO flawless in their approach. The result is, while the playing is perfect, it's clinical, cold, and kind of sterile because of its' perfection. Having said that: I don't think that was the intent of these players. It was just the result. See, these earlier guys (Page, Beck, etc...)were influenced by (and are still fans of) their influences. Buddy Holley, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, etc...those guys were busy inventing Rock and Roll. They weren't polished players. To say nothing of the Blues cats that they loved. It should be kept in mind that these very guys whose playing is so precise, who can technically play circles around the guys from the 70's are all big fans OF those players, lol Malmsteen is a big fan of Brian May. As is Steve Vai. Alex Lifeson of Rush gets giddy talking about when he saw and met Jimmy Page. That's kind of why it makes me giggle when I see fans go on about their favorites of today, and rip on guitarists from previous eras. They're just fans in the end, like the rest of us.

I had a huge disconnect with my guitar teacher too. He wanted me to learn jazz standards by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mathis, and I was more into the burgeoning hard rock scene of the 80's. In hindsight, I'm glad I was exposed to jazz, but I still wish my teacher would've approached it differently. That said, modern music may have the precision and polish, but the old-school laid down the foundation and broke so much ground over what a guitar could do.

I have been playing guitar on and off for 40 years. Am I polished? No. Do I want to be? Not really. Could I be better? Sure. I am not impressed with all this technical prowess that exists in today's music. Do I respect the time and effort that went into becoming super polished? Absolutely! But, it does not move me. As an example, Billy Gibbons can make me feel more with 4 or 5 notes, than these "speedsters" can with 40 or 50 notes. To Me a lot of this technical speed just seems to be for the sake of speed. Page, Santana, Gibbons, Hendrix, Gilmour, Allman, BB, et cetera, et cetera, AND I know I am leaving many out! They could emote! That is it in a nutshell to me. And I may be over simplifying, but those old school guys and the songs took me to great places and I will always love them for that! The end.

Welcome to the club David. ;-)

I couldn't agree more. I'm the same age as you, and also grew up in the mid 90s. At that time, all I cared about was Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Pearl Jam. Of course, over time, ones musical scope vastly expands. Fast forward 25 years, now I'm a huge Grateful Dead fan for example. I've never heard another guitarist do what Jerry Garcia could do. Trey of Phish is similar, but not as prolific. A lot of really amazing and unique players in the jam band scene. My first experience of what you are talking about was in school. I went to school for Recording Engineering and Production. There was quite a diverse lineup of musicians out of the 70 of us. One time in studio, one of the guitar players was asked to play through something. He was known as being very good, but I hadn't heard him play yet. He played the part technically perfectly, but to me, it was completely DEVOID of any feeling or emotion or VIBE. I was so caught off guard, I couldn't figure out what I was experiencing. The more he played, the more it became apparent, and later discovered he really didn't have much of a personality to begin with, so that was all it was. Imagine being able to play an instrument really well, but not really knowing how it should sound like or feel. That was what it was like hearing him play. Aside from technical ability, It's all about the emotion and attitude you put into the music. Most recorded music today doesn't seem to capture the same emotion and attitude the bands may very well have, but you likely won't hear it unless you see them live. I LOVE ALOT of different types and genres of music, from the 1920s up until now, but I really feel like a lot music in the last 15 yrs or so has really lost the mojo, that was always very apparent with the music from the past.

2 words SOUL, PASSION. I forgot which jazz player said it but the quote was "learn everything you can and then forget everything you learned."'' We can teach a computer to do everything perfect, but what it cant do is play with soul and passion. Great music resonates the best when the artist is using they're instrument to expose a piece of themselves. Maybe musicians should go to acting school where you are taught to dig down into yourself to drag out the emotions from their own personal experiences. The "old school" guys your mentioning arent really the "old school" guys. You need to go back one generation to the guys they were listening to such as BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Muddy Waters, etc. These are the guys who wrote the book on how to play this new fangled thing called an electric guitar. Listen to the early 1950's rock-a-billy players, The licks those guys invented are still played today almost intact. Then listen to guys like Chet Atkins and you'll see where players like Steve Howe from Yes was getting their inspiration from. Once you explore all these guys, then go and listen to Clapton, Page, Santana, Hendrix, Allman and you'll hear the direct link to the guys before them, it just oozes out of them.

I am rapidly approaching 70 and have been playing guitar for 50 of those years. I've owned the old Vintage guitars, when they were New, both Single Coils and Hum buckers. And I've played those older songs when they were still New. And when Pedals were very limited. When we played, there was a Rawness to the sound. Dynamics was known of, but when you are that young, Dynamics just meant we turned the Amps up louder and played harder! Today, I sort of laugh, and I am surprised at how the old Classic tunes are still hanging around. Hendrix, or Page or Santana are still heard all the time. And a Ton of music has come and gone and for the most part, creativity, to my ear, has been crippled by the quest to make Money, both by the Artists and of course by the Studios and Record Labels. Are Artists allowed to be creative today? Perhaps, as long as they are able to play their songs using 4 or 5 well known, but popular chord progressions. The "Creativity" has become Formulized. When I listen to those old songs from the 1960's I hear them as crude and unpolished. Players knew about intonation back then, but how many thought it was important might be the real question to ask. And Close enough was Close enough? And who had a Digital Tuner back then? Nope, a Tuning Fork was as good as it got. But, probably a larger influence upon why those songs of the Good ol' Days sound so rough at times is the methods used back then to record. The Beatles Producers did amazing things to accomplish those Beatle albums. Today, Guitar players have perfected their Art, and now they can hide behind hundreds of Recording Tricks, and playing the same lick 35 times and picking the best of the 35 examples to plug into the Master. When I listen to a live band, where they are limited to their guitar, their Pedal board, and their Amp, the over all sound still can sound unpolished and raw. Poor timing on someone's part, or obvious mistakes, and the level of actual talent of the various members of the Band can color the combined sound, good or bad. When I hear those old songs, I tend to think those players were playing at the Height of their ability, of their guitar, and of their recording abilities. Saying that, I think that many younger players have taken what those old players accomplished and have taken the Art of Guitar playing to a much higher level. I think it takes a lot more dedication and talent to be a very good player these days, and yet, there is so much available to teach what today's players need to know. If I would have had the Internet and RU-vid in my day? I would have been a much better player. And since I am throwing Stones in Glass houses, let me add that I would rather have a New Guitar from some Manufactures Custom Shop than anything New from the 1960's, or 70's. That Vintage Instrument that so many worship, I have found to be mostly a Mythical Dream, that causes someone to hunt for that early 1960's Strat. No Thanks! Give me something out of Fender's Modern Custom Shop any day! Today, I would love to have a top end PRS 594.

For me it's really easy. I also went through my "I need to be a shredder" phase, and thankfully got over it fairly early. Here it is: 1 - Slow the f$%k down!!! A song is not a competition to see how many notes you can jam into it. Focusing on speed alone is like buying a high horsepower motor that nobody bothered to put in a car. It takes all the parts to get you anywhere. 2 - Find the groove. Playing precisely to a locked clock is NOT groove. Not even close. It's technically impressive, but it's also totally wankery that will clear a dance floor or get someone to stream a different song. Groove. Groove is somewhere in between a thing that makes you want to move your body physically, and something that moves your heart. Pick one small, short riff... play it over and over and over for like 15-20 minutes along with a basic drum groove, and you will feel yourself slip in and out of groove. Learn to identify those groove pockets. Then listen for it in other people's music. And then never play a song again without aiming for that. A guitar player that can groove on one note will always impress and inspire listeners more than a million notes jammed into 4 minutes.

This video speaks to me. I taught for a while, and I remember I had a student who was into a legendary Rock guitar player (not gonna say the name to avoid needless debate). They weren't technically great but wrote some of the greatest songs of the 2000s (clue 😜). So the student in question excelled and in less than a year could already play all his hero's songs, solos and all. HE WAS SO DISAPPOINTED!? I remember him saying, "I thought this guy was good, this stuff is so easy". And my response was "Okay, now go write just one song that's memorable". He looked at me like his brain just got fried. ---- Now off topic speaking on pure technicality, there were also many guitarists in the 40s and 50s that played circles around the 60s rock gods. Look up Jimmy Bryant, or shit...Django.

Part of it is that they were "rockers" and not "guitar nerds". The excitement wasn't just from what they were playing, it was also the scene they were in and indeed that particular time period. I'm not knocking so-called modern "guitar nerds" at all. The only way to push the boundaries nowadays is to get into ever more complexities in the playing. Jimi Hendrix was more complex than those 50's rock'n'roll guys and the blues he was influenced by. Eddie Van Halen was more complex than Jimi and so on. Even though they had their feel and all that other great stuff, they were still pushing the boundaries by increasing the complexity. They were just lucky that they arrived at a time when there was still "plenty of the pizza left". Now we're down to that last thin slice or even picking through the crumbs. Although I do think we are due for another "Kurt Cobain Event" i.e. someone comes out more back to the basics and everyone thinks it's cool.

Thanks for setting us free. It’s also fun to have a little messiness. Like Jackson pollack or Picasso

David Gilmour, Carlos Santana, Brian May, Rory Gallagher Jimmy Page. They are masters of feel!

I think that you can still play fast but with tons of feel, but to a point it does become mechanical if you don’t have phrasing or expressive emotion behind your playing . Reb beach was a player that I always loved because he had the chops to burn it up , but always with melody and purpose and wonderful phrasing . Mark Kendall was another player that taught me that you don’t have to be extremely technical to be amazing. Man house of broken love is everything that guitar should be in my opinion, the guitar in that song is absolutely amazing.

Everything you have covered is true. Guitar is no longer the driving force behind a song (or forefront of an instrumental piece) as it was then, so there much less of a context within which to fit it within popular culture. 40 years ago, guitarists were relevant only due to whatever compositions could create and audience and a demand. Without that, - what use is there for a polished guitar player (apart from being a RU-vid reviewer)? I mean without the lifestyle to encompass experience, all you have is a bunch of technically adept bedroom players.

I really love modern, clean, and innovative guitar. My suspicion, though, is that it mainly appeals to musicians.

Well I'm 51... I was always told play real basic ..and have a great groove to it ....& Everyone will enjoy it ...play real technical, people have to concentrate & do last jamming...so you pick..

You can play or learn to play another instrument or sing, or play a completely different style of music, that can allow you to switch your mindset. I once read in a magazine that David Bowie would switch from playing right handed to left handed on his guitar to achieve a similar goal. Muscle memory as well as having good ears to easily memorize music, sometimes traps the mind into playing the same things over and over.

I'm a Boomer. The Beatles were my first introduction to the guitar.The sound those 4 guys produced was cosmic. I've been a professional musician for over 50 years. GeorgeHarrison, Jerry Garcia,Duane Allman, Carlos Santana, Hendrix,Page,Stevie Ray Vaugn & so many others from that era ... they knew something about playing ... something mystical ,spiritual, or whatever you want to call it. They dug deep inside their souls & that's where the true music resides. That's where the secret is. Don't get me wrong,technique & music theory is important to know, but the real magic comes when we release the fear of making mistakes, & let the music in your soul,flow through your instrument. Less mind ... more instinct. I still struggle with this,but I always try to remember what a good teacher once told me... its not just the notes your playing... but the silence between the notes.

Nice to see you've divided art from craft. It was innovation and emotional depth that had no precedent back then. It was about music not just pushing the technical limits to a point where that becomes the point. At the end it's about conveying one's humanity, not excelling in gymnastics. Every endeavor will improve technically with every generation, in music as it does in sports. There's a reason though, that the Garcias and Gilmours MOVE more listeners than most every shredder. It's telling a story. My son is a big Tosin fan. The man is a guitar genius. However, after awhile, it can become fatiguing.

Understanding the fuII context of something is crucial. How can anyone say "I love this, or I hate that" without first fuIIy understanding it; is to rob oneself of not just information but truth. Guitar technique, as weII as production and recording technique have changed, and continue to do so, through the years.

I like the solos on cherub rock and silvergun superman