After learning to play “The Crying Machine” by Steve Vai, I arrogantly asked my teacher if I was almost as good as him.
My teacher smiled. A knowing smile that said “of course not”
I wanted to know why. If I can play one of Steve Vai’s songs, I can learn the rest and become as good as him, right? I’m only a notch or two away.
My teacher’s answer was correct, but incomplete. He noted that Steve Vai did not learn the song from tabs and a teacher, unlike me. He was the one who composed it.
Second, the Crying Machine was not Steve Vai’s most difficult song to play, and the technical skills required to play it were only a fraction of what Vai possessed.
Both are correct, of course, but more than a decade later, I realized there was a third component that caused my playing to be of much lower quality than Steve Vai’s.
There is a difference between playing a Steve Vai song correctly – the right notes, at the right time, and at the same speed – and playing it as Steve Vai does.
Today’s lesson will look at what makes great guitarists both great and unique. Whether it’s Steve Vai, Jimi Hendrix, BB King, David Gilmour, Joe Satriani, or Yngwie Malmsteen, they all use most or all of these elements to improve their sound over that of an average guitarist playing the same notes at the right time.
Many of these guitarists also play fast, but even those who don’t (such as David Gilmour or BB King), or when they’re playing slowly, they instantly stand out in their playing.
The following are 5 ways guitarists stand out in their playing, even if they’re playing the same notes, using the same rhythm and at the same speed.
- Expressive Vibrato
One thing the above guitarists have in common is making excellent use of vibrato technique.
What makes them different is the way their vibrato sounds.
Among phrasing techniques (like string bending, hammer ons, slides, pinch harmonics etc) a guitarist has available, vibrato is one where the player can be the most unique.
Some guitarists can even be identified by their vibrato.
The number of combinations that can be created by simply varying the width and speed of the bent strings in vibrato is infinite. Additionally, some guitarists add their own nuances. For example, Steve Vai uses a circular movement in his left hand motions to elicit even more emotion from the notes.
This lesson shows you how to play vibrato correctly which is where you should start.
However keep in mind that if you want to sound unique you can also create your own vibrato sounds, ones that apply specifically to the musical context they’re being used in.
- Accents
Intermediate guitarists focus mostly on playing the right notes at the right time.
Advanced guitarists and virtuosos take into consideration every element of the sound. These include the loudness of each note (compared with the notes around it).
Simply speaking, some notes are struck harder than others, creating a dynamic accent on those notes.
Incorporating accents into your playing is not hard. Many intermediate guitarists don’t do it simply because they don’t recognize how valuable it is to give it due practice time.
If you practice accents for some time you will notice that you have added a new layer of quality into your playing. You can use these guitar accent exercises if you don’t know from where to start.
- Controlled string bending
String bending is another technique that gives guitarists a lot of flexibility.
If you’re playing a bend, think of ways you can play the same bend (the same notes for the same duration of time), differently.
Here are some ways you can do this:
- Bend the string with equal speed throughout the bend
- Begin slowly and increase speed during the bend
- Begin faster and reduce the speed during the bend
- Delay bending the string and then bend it faster.
- Play the bend fast, and then stay a little on the target note.
- Apply vibrato to the bent string.
Great guitarists are not only concerned with getting their bends to sound right, but also with the nuances that allow their guitar to play the sounds they hear in their heads and express their emotions as clearly as possible.
Note: Due to the possible variations to a single bend, these nuances may not be reflected in guitar tabs.
Thus, to acquire the skill of controlled string bending it is important that when you learn songs with bends you don’t just rely on the guitar tabs but also carefully listen to the guitarist in the original recording.
If you don’t, you may play the bends incorrectly, and miss out on the nuances that make the guitar player you’re learning from unique.
- Lack of unnecessary tension
Returning to the example in which I believed that being able to play a Steve Vai song is nearly the same as being as good as Steve Vai:
I was also unaware of excessive tension at the time.
During the harder parts of the song, my body became cramped and my jaw stiff.
When you look at the guitar greats, you’ll notice that no matter how difficult the musical element they’re playing is, their bodies remain relaxed.
This is due to the fact that they have practiced the songs to the point where they can be played on automation – you can play it without thinking – as well as the fact that these guitarists have practiced controlling their tension while playing.
Controlled tension is one where you’re able to only tense the muscles you need to hold the instrument and play the notes. All extra tension is unnecessary.
Tension prevents you from standing out in your playing in different ways:
- Visually – Watching guitar players being at complete ease and “in the zone” while playing is in itself appealing and impressive.
- Tension will sound in your playing. The effects may be subtle like a hurried vibrato, a note played a micro-second before the beat, or a string bent slightly too far, but for sure excessive tension will show up in your playing.
- Tension limits what you can learn. Since unnecessary tension makes everything harder to learn anything, it limits the abilities you can acquire.
From the points given in this article, tension is the one I find the hardest, and still struggle with. Vibrato, accents, and string bending are acquired after enough practice but not tensing up my muscles unnecessarily frequently finds a way of creeping without me being aware of it.
One last note on tension: If you are not aware of unnecessary muscle tension, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Since we become used to tension, we do not even realize it is there.
Yet it is, and it’s hurting your playing. Learn more about reducing tension here.
- No unwanted sound
If your focus is just on playing the right notes at the right time, you may not notice unwanted sounds coming from the strings you’re not playing.
This problem is likely to surface when playing the guitar with distortion and may easily be lowering the quality of our playing.
To improve your playing you need to use either hand or both to mute unwanted string noise.
This may come from:
- Open strings that are not being played.
- When changing strings
- Any sound that comes from the guitar during a rest.
Work on silencing the strings that are not being played using a combination of these parts of your hand:
- The back of your thumb (right hand)
- Your palm (right hand)
- The fingers you’re not using to hold the pick (right hand)
- The finger who’s tip you’re using to press the note can mute the strings below it (left hand)
- Tip of the finger you’re using to press the note can mute the string above it (left hand)
Record yourself playing and listen to any unwanted noises coming out, and start to eliminate them one by one.
By cleaning up your guitar playing, you will be adding another layer of quality to it.
Faster than speed
As promised, these 5 ways of making your guitar playing stand out from the average do not involve building speed.
The reason I’m leaving speed out is that the above skills can be acquired faster than being able to shred, yet they’re equally effective. (The exception to this would be removing tension, which I personally find harder than building speed, and is the biggest obstacle to improving speed itself).
That being said, playing the guitar fast is fun, impressive, expressive (gives you more options to build emotional climaxes).
If you want to improve in that area, this article should help you build speed the right way.
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