All Modern Guitarists Sound The Same

Littlejonny

OK, so clickbait title aside...I'd like to discuss this.

I spend far too much time listening to gear demos on Youtube. It seems to me that over the past 10 years or so there has been an ongoing homogenisation of guitar playing. When you hear people noodling (as they almost always do) you hear the same licks over and over, across many many guitar players. 

[One example in Rock/Blues is: in the minor pentatonic scale, playing the root, then immediately the fourth above, then the root again, then the minor 3rd before moving onwards.]

I believe this applies to country and jazz guitar playing (classical has it's own problems, mostly to do with tone) as well. In jazz, the prevalence of certain bebop licks, in country certain bends and scale degrees etc that everyone does (with the exception of Greg Koch perhaps).

And it really bugs me.

I think what was great about the guitar in the first place was the opportunity for individual expression. When you think of all the great guitar bands of the 20th century - none of the guitarists sounded alike. You could recognise the tone, the phrasing, the note choice.

It seems to me no coincidence that rock music in particular has died - everyone studies each other, and gradually individualism is lost. Perhaps people are able to transcend their idiosyncrasies too quickly.

This goes for tone as well. The aforementioned Greg Koch alluded to this in his recent Kochness Monster TPS video - everyone's getting the perfect tone...things are getting too pretty.

ElectricXII

If the title was "All Modern Guitarists on YouTube Guitar Demos Sound The Same", I might agree with you. The use of the same old hackneyed licks has actually stopped me from watching these kind of videos.

However there are many modern guitarists, particularly in the various genres collectively lumped together as "indie", who don't  bore me rigid with rehashed pentatonic riffs. There's so much new music out there. YouTube guitar channels are only part of it, and these focus on maximising views, not on creativity. 

axisus

I think that 'All modern guitarists' is too big a catch-all. I was listening to Yvette Young yesterday and straight off I'd say she's different



However, in terms of the things that I think you are referring to - It's no surprise. The number of guitarists out there now is vastly higher than it was. That is going to massively increase the number of generic guitarists. If the world consisted of 10 guitarists they could all find their own voice, but (according to Fender) there are 50 million guitar players in the world. For anyone to find any individuality in that lot requires a very special talent!

Fortunately it doesn't bug me at all.

PotentialDonkey

I would suggest A/B anyone against Trogly... 

Controversial opinion: his content is super interesting but his playing is meh at best and his tone absolutely sucks... i would never check out gear based off Trogly because he has this uncanny ability to make any guitar sound as exciting as cardboard. 

fretmeister

Youtube does suffer from loads of people using the same plugins, seemingly using the same patch by any given artist in the genre.

And 90% of the time the gain levels are far too high and it's just mush.

LionAquaLooper

Will only get worse when AI becomes the prevalent music maker in the near future.

Vintage65

Fontaines DC, best new guitar album in ages (for me).

Littlejonny

axisus said:

I think that 'All modern guitarists' is too big a catch-all. I was listening to Yvette Young yesterday and straight off I'd say she's different



However, in terms of the things that I think you are referring to - It's no surprise. The number of guitarists out there now is vastly higher than it was. That is going to massively increase the number of generic guitarists. If the world consisted of 10 guitarists they could all find their own voice, but (according to Fender) there are 50 million guitar players in the world. For anyone to find any individuality in that lot requires a very special talent!

Fortunately it doesn't bug me at all.

This guitar playing is amazing but I’m not sure she has an individual voice. Also, very technically perfect. 

I do think Ashley Madison is bordering on recognisable. 

monquixote

I think a lot of Youtube guitar influencers have almost developed a "Youtube" style which is a sort of taseful legato fusion lite style.

That's not true for guitar playing in general.

Kilgore

I sound a lot different to most modern guitarists but not in a good way. 

Littlejonny

monquixote said:

I think a lot of Youtube guitar influencers have almost developed a "Youtube" style which is a sort of taseful legato fusion lite style.

That's not true for guitar playing in general.

Very good point - I think that's what it (hopefully) is. Maybe I just need to get out there and watch some grass roots bands and stop watching gear reviews!

Philly_Q

Are these people even "modern" guitarists?  As others have already said, I'm not sure YouTube demos are an indicator of where things are headed in the world of guitar.  There are undoubtedly lots of creative people making guitar music who are probably very far from the world of YouTube demos, and wouldn't necessarily be suited to making YouTube demos even if they were that way inclined.

YouTube demos are mostly for selling gear to people who are going to use it to produce generic boring music like the demos themselves.  That's not a criticism, it's just how things are.

PotentialDonkey said:

I would suggest A/B anyone against Trogly... 

Controversial opinion: his content is super interesting but his playing is meh at best and his tone absolutely sucks... i would never check out gear based off Trogly because he has this uncanny ability to make any guitar sound as exciting as cardboard. 

I watch Trogly's videos because I'm interested in the guitars.  The history, the detailed specs.  I skip through most of his playing demos because yes, he's not a good player - although that makes him relatable, as neither am I - but also because whatever the guitar sounds like, it wouldn't sound the same if I played it.  In that respect I find all guitar demos pretty pointless.

Littlejonny said:

This goes for tone as well. The aforementioned Greg Koch alluded to this in his recent Kochness Monster TPS video - everyone's getting the perfect tone...things are getting too pretty.

And there's someone who's a great player, but I hate his demos.  No matter what guitar he's playing, it's always the same clean-to-slightly-breaking-up, gnarly country jazz.  If you're demoing a Flying V, Greg, I don't want to hear fucking jazz.

Kurtis

You've probably answered it yourself, watching people noodle on guitar on YouTube. 

It's a bit like sport or sex, to me, much more fun to do than to watch others do.

BillDL

One thing that does bug me about a lot of YouTube presenters either showcasing a new guitar or amp is why they feel that by flicking the guitar's pickup selector switch to a specific position they are then compelled to modify their playing style to the most clichéed and typecast styles associated with the change of pickup sound.  You will see them switch a Strat to the middle pickup and immediately they play a funky Nile Rodgers type of sound, but when they switch to the neck they are instantly instructed to play Hendrix type of hammer-ons and pull-offs.  I find that very irritating.  Just play the same style on all pickup settings so we can hear how they sound in one style, then do the same for another style.

Philly_Q

BillDL said:

One thing that does bug me about a lot of YouTube presenters either showcasing a new guitar or amp is why they feel that by flicking the guitar's pickup selector switch to a specific position they are then compelled to modify their playing style to the most clichéed and typecast styles associated with the change of pickup sound.  You will see them switch a Strat to the middle pickup and immediately they play a funky Nile Rodgers type of sound, but when they switch to the neck they are instantly instructed to play Hendrix type of hammer-ons and pull-offs.  I find that very irritating.  Just play the same style on all pickup settings so we can hear how they sound in one style, then do the same for another style.

Which, to be fair, is exactly what Trogly does.

Jfingers

I like to always sound like me, YMMV.

topdog91

BillDL said:

One thing that does bug me about a lot of YouTube presenters either showcasing a new guitar or amp is why they feel that by flicking the guitar's pickup selector switch to a specific position they are then compelled to modify their playing style to the most clichéed and typecast styles associated with the change of pickup sound.  You will see them switch a Strat to the middle pickup and immediately they play a funky Nile Rodgers type of sound, but when they switch to the neck they are instantly instructed to play Hendrix type of hammer-ons and pull-offs.  I find that very irritating.  Just play the same style on all pickup settings so we can hear how they sound in one style, then do the same for another style.

Ironically, I have become a mini-student and maxi-admirer of Nile Rodgers since getting into party bands, and he mostly used the neck pickup. Definitely changed the way I thought about the Strat pickup positions.

Blueingreen

monquixote said:

I think a lot of Youtube guitar influencers have almost developed a "Youtube" style which is a sort of taseful legato fusion lite style.

That's not true for guitar playing in general.

I'm even more aware of that than I am of the pentatonic stuff.  Modal playing over moody washes of slow moving chords.  Bit of Gilmourish noodling to start, working up to a display of legato chops.

You can see the appeal, especially to people trying to shift gear. Until you twig what's going on, it works.  It makes the player sound good, and makes the gear sound good.  I bet that style of playing has sold a lot of gear.

The problem is it bears little relationship to the kind of music that most people actually listen to for pleasure or what guitarists will be using their gear to play - unless they actually do just want to play against fusion-lite backing tracks in their bedroom.

It's a kind of fantasy of what it would be like if you were in a band whose entire goal in selecting and playing material was to create a platform to flatter the guitarist.  With a fantasy audience that wasn't bored shitless by the blandness of it all within 10 minutes.

Kurtis

I don't understand the older generations these days.
They complain there's nothing good on TV and there's no good music now, then they spend all their time watching, what amounts to, home made adverts, on YouTube! 

  

matt_sefton

This comment is supported by Truefire

Littlejonny

Blueingreen said:

monquixote said:

I think a lot of Youtube guitar influencers have almost developed a "Youtube" style which is a sort of taseful legato fusion lite style.

That's not true for guitar playing in general.

I'm even more aware of that than I am of the pentatonic stuff.  Modal playing over moody washes of slow moving chords.  Bit of Gilmourish noodling to start, working up to a display of legato chops.

You can see the appeal, especially to people trying to shift gear. Until you twig what's going on, it works.  It makes the player sound good, and makes the gear sound good.  I bet that style of playing has sold a lot of gear.

The problem is it bears little relationship to the kind of music that most people actually listen to for pleasure or what guitarists will be using their gear to play - unless they actually do just want to play against fusion-lite backing tracks in their bedroom.

It's a kind of fantasy of what it would be like if you were in a band whose entire goal in selecting and playing material was to create a platform to flatter the guitarist.  With a fantasy audience that wasn't bored shitless by the blandness of it all within 10 minutes.

I think I know exactly the people you are describing. I’m not going to name names, but for me, they seem to take the joy out of the guitar.

It’s like you have this amazing expressive instrument where every note can have a different quality and they turn all these diverse ingredients into a boring creamy soup.