4 ms·

I don’t know, name me an average guitar player today who is better than Jimmy Page?

luckydata 8y ago
Jimmy was an innovator but also an extremely sloppy player. I can play his parts note for note better than he ever could. That's true for a LOT of people playing the guitar for fun at this point in time. Take a look at this to get an idea of what's "technically proficient" nowadays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj0CjV1QxtQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj0CjV1QxtQ these are almost all folks making youtube videos, not exactly rockstars (with a couple exceptions).
- chosenbreed37 8y ago
  > Jimmy was an innovator but also an extremely sloppy player. I can play his parts note for note better than he ever could. Hard to argue with that. Except to say that ultimately it's not always the virtuosity that captures people's affections. Some have postulated that soon we'll have music made by machines. Perfect pitch and tempo. But it would appear that the irregularities in human performances actually produce the music we all enjoy listening to.
  - luckydata 8y ago
    Agreed, but here we're talking about how difficult it is to become "technically proficient" and my answer to that is "not very with current tools and education methods". The biggest obstacle for most people is drive and interest. If you spend the time, you will get good at playing.
    - joejerryronnie 8y ago
      Good point, if you're talking technical proficiency rather than pure artistry you may be right.
User23 8y ago
There are random dudes on youtube who are virtuoso guitar players. So many in fact that they will never get signed because it's not a differentiating or marketable factor.
- justtopost 8y ago
  I have noticed the 'Virtuoso Performers' are seldom creative to the extent their less talented brethren are. Many of my friends, who can play by ear or sight read, have never composed a single tune. As with any live art, the beauty is not in the perfection of rendering as much as the style of execution. Many can imitate, few can generate.
  - luckydata 8y ago
    But we're talking about execution skills because that's the metric for a violinist, not composition. Hence the comparison.
code_duck 8y ago
‘Better’ is an extremely imprecise comparison here. Music is not objective, for one. If it were touch typing, we could measure wpm and accuracy. This is not the case with evaluating how ‘good’ guitar playing is.
hinkley 8y ago
Not average, but Davy Knowles cut his teeth doing Hendrix and Clapton covers in his garage. Now if only someone could convince him that guitar solos don’t have to be that long, he’d be a god.

Jimmy was an innovator but also an extremely sloppy player. I can play his parts note for note better than he ever could. That's true for a LOT of people playing the guitar for fun at this point in time. Take a look at this to get an idea of what's "technically proficient" nowadays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj0CjV1QxtQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj0CjV1QxtQ these are almost all folks making youtube videos, not exactly rockstars (with a couple exceptions).

chosenbreed37 8y ago
> Jimmy was an innovator but also an extremely sloppy player. I can play his parts note for note better than he ever could. Hard to argue with that. Except to say that ultimately it's not always the virtuosity that captures people's affections. Some have postulated that soon we'll have music made by machines. Perfect pitch and tempo. But it would appear that the irregularities in human performances actually produce the music we all enjoy listening to.
- luckydata 8y ago
  Agreed, but here we're talking about how difficult it is to become "technically proficient" and my answer to that is "not very with current tools and education methods". The biggest obstacle for most people is drive and interest. If you spend the time, you will get good at playing.
  - joejerryronnie 8y ago
    Good point, if you're talking technical proficiency rather than pure artistry you may be right.

User23 8y ago

There are random dudes on youtube who are virtuoso guitar players. So many in fact that they will never get signed because it's not a differentiating or marketable factor.

justtopost 8y ago
I have noticed the 'Virtuoso Performers' are seldom creative to the extent their less talented brethren are. Many of my friends, who can play by ear or sight read, have never composed a single tune. As with any live art, the beauty is not in the perfection of rendering as much as the style of execution. Many can imitate, few can generate.
- luckydata 8y ago
  But we're talking about execution skills because that's the metric for a violinist, not composition. Hence the comparison.

code_duck 8y ago

‘Better’ is an extremely imprecise comparison here. Music is not objective, for one. If it were touch typing, we could measure wpm and accuracy. This is not the case with evaluating how ‘good’ guitar playing is.

hinkley 8y ago

Not average, but Davy Knowles cut his teeth doing Hendrix and Clapton covers in his garage. Now if only someone could convince him that guitar solos don’t have to be that long, he’d be a god.