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Do you actually dislike guitarists?

pklima

pklima

Commercial User
May 2, 2003
8,470
7,074
Kraków, Polska
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Karoryfer Samples
#1
This forum is full of posts about "stupid guitards" etc, but when it comes down to it in real life do you really dislike guitarists?

I guess I do, judging by the fact that I avoid working with them whenever possible. I currently play in five bands and only one (a children's choir, of all things) includes a guitarist. He's a great guy, does a great job playing and also runs the sound. Probably the best guitarist I've ever worked with. But I really do seem to be avoiding guitarists - I've quit a couple of bands which included guitarists (actually two guitarists each! the horror! the horror!) over the past year and found guitar-free bands to replace them. I wasn't intentionally looking for guitarless bands but it just worked out that way.
 
#4
I agree, they can be a necessary evil, but I think that there are still many different makes and models when it comes to guitar players. I think the best guitar players are people who play other instruments as well (who preferably learned guitar after piano etc) because they not only have a strong musical background, but it also tends to prevent the "Guitar-hero syndrome" from coming out.

I honestly don't think it's the guitarists fault though. I think they were weaned on music that doesn't exemplify bass and drums. What kind of budding musician wouldn't get high on their instrument if all you ever did was play the melody and solo?

This is honestly why I love bass so much. it's a great instrument that can step out from the background and sound amazing, but never loses its importance as a background instrument.
 
#6
robd said:
I like guitarists :D

I dislike guitards :spit:

There is a difference.

But all guitarist will act guitarded at some time in their life...they just can't help it :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

+1 to this.

I try to judge on a cas-by-case basis and not lump everyone together. Overall, most of the guitarists I've met are cool people... at the same time most of them pretty much suck at guitar. That only becomes a problem when I'm in a band with them.
 
#9
Fendercustom7 said:
I honestly don't think it's the guitarists fault though. I think they were weaned on music that doesn't exemplify bass and drums.
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I don't think it's their fault but I'd put the blame elsewhere. It's mostly a case of too much practicing alone at home and not enough playing with actual people. Part of that is that there is a surplus of guitarists so they just don't have as many opportunities as the rest of us. The other part is that they are rarely taught as part of a large ensemble class, unlike say string or horn players.

Sure, some guitarists are great listeners and don't have any major gaps in their skill set. And there are plenty of guitarists so it doesn't take that much effort to find a good'un. But somehow... I just have drifted away from working with guitarists over the past six years or so. That made me wonder how many other people just plain prefer working with, say, pianists.
Fendercustom7 said:
What kind of budding musician wouldn't get high on their instrument if all you ever did was play the melody and solo?
Click to expand...
Ha. According to stereotypes - woodwinds.
 
#10
I've only ever been in one band (using a very loose definition of the word "band") and both the guitarist (using a very loose definition of the word 'guitarist") were complete a-holes.

Having said that, I generally don't dislike guitarists, in fact most of the ones I've met were actually pretty cool.

Don't know if I'll ever play in another band, though when I've honed my bass chops a bit more, I will be wanting to find other musicians to jam with, and I really can't imagine playing in a band that didn't include at least one guitarist, even if the "band" consisted of me and three or for other musicians (using a very loose definition of the word "musician") who did nothing more than hang out in the drummer's basement, smoke kind bud, and jam on old late 60's proto-metal thru 80's NWoBHM stuff.

Most of the music I like and would like to play is heavily guitar based, so avoiding playing with guitarists is kind of out of the question.
 
#11
I only hate them when they try to drown out the bass, seeing the bass as "inferior" or a "necessary evil". Not all guitarists are like that, but IME, there are more like this than not.

I've also noticed an "ego" issue with a lot of guitarists (again, not all) where they seem to "know everything".

Another interesting thing I've noticed a lot, again in my own experiences, is they don't generally have the same appreciation for luthiery and technology in basses and amplification.
 
#12
I`m purposely building my next band without a guitarist until I`ve found a keys player and a drummer (and maybe even a singer) first. I just don`t have the time or energy to find a guitarist for a funk/jazz outfit until I know for a fact that he`ll know as soon as he steps into his first rehearsal that he`s going to be a support instrument for once in his life.

Remember kids - stereotypes become what they are for a reason.
 
#13
I seriously don't understand what some bassists have against guitarists, is it some kind of inferiority complex? Can't handle that a guitarists role - can - consist of soloing which draws attention while a bassist is generally there to keep the pocket?

If a guitarist is a prick, hes just what he is, a prick. Just like any other person in the entire world can be one. If a guitarist is full of himself and overplays, just don't play with him, simple.

I know some great guitarists that are cool people and some who are total douchebags, also drummers singers etc. Never have I seen a connection between being a prick and being a guitarist or any other musician for that matter.
 
#15
Hagelslag-

I don't think bassists suffer from an inferiority complex (except maybe the ones who started on guitar and switched because, for whatever reason, couldn't make it as a guitarists).

I play bass because I love the instrument, and I'd bet that most folks here on TB, hell, most bassists, love their instruments, and don't feel inferior to guitarists. We know we're part of the rhythm section, and are quite happy there.

I think it has more to do with feeling that you're treated as a lesser musician because of your choice of instrument. This isn't an experience unique to bass players- you should see the jokes classical musicians tell about violists, or Middle Eastern musicians about mizmar players.

And, more particularly, you're often being treated as a lesser musician by someone who doesn't play their own instrument very well.

No, not all guitarists are jerks, heck, most of them probably aren't, and plenty of bass players are jerks. But I think that because guitar players tend to get all the glory, guitar tends to attract a higher percentage of egomaniacal assgaskets, much in the way certain occupations (police work, marketing) tend to attract a higher percentage of people with psychopathic tendencies.

I don't see bassists thinking they are superior to other musicians because they play bass. They may have an overinflated opinion of their own skills as a musician, but they don't think that the mere fact that they play a particular instrument makes them a better musician that the other people in the band.

That seems to be an attitude that's fairly unique to guitarists.
 
#19
Byzcat said:
Hagelslag-

I don't think bassists suffer from an inferiority complex (except maybe the ones who started on guitar and switched because, for whatever reason, couldn't make it as a guitarists).

I play bass because I love the instrument, and I'd bet that most folks here on TB, hell, most bassists, love their instruments, and don't feel inferior to guitarists. We know we're part of the rhythm section, and are quite happy there.

I think it has more to do with feeling that you're treated as a lesser musician because of your choice of instrument. This isn't an experience unique to bass players- you should see the jokes classical musicians tell about violists, or Middle Eastern musicians about mizmar players.

And, more particularly, you're often being treated as a lesser musician by someone who doesn't play their own instrument very well.

No, not all guitarists are jerks, heck, most of them probably aren't, and plenty of bass players are jerks. But I think that because guitar players tend to get all the glory, guitar tends to attract a higher percentage of egomaniacal assgaskets, much in the way certain occupations (police work, marketing) tend to attract a higher percentage of people with psychopathic tendencies.

I don't see bassists thinking they are superior to other musicians because they play bass. They may have an overinflated opinion of their own skills as a musician, but they don't think that the mere fact that they play a particular instrument makes them a better musician that the other people in the band.

That seems to be an attitude that's fairly unique to guitarists.
Click to expand...

Good point about guitar being most popular and thus attracting more retards, which is simple statistics.

Thanks for clarifying the 'treated as lesser musicians' part, I can imagine that happening. It's just not my experience (yet) and thus didn't see that as a reason.
 
#20
robd said:
I like guitarists :D

I dislike guitards :spit:

There is a difference.

But all guitarist will act guitarded at some time in their life...they just can't help it :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

+1, and I'm also a guitarist

I think the complaint about guitards can be leveled at any musicians who A) think they are the center of the known universe, and B) don't understand, listen to, hear, or take into consideration what the other instruments are doing in the overall scheme of things. I know vocalists, drummers, keyboardists, and, yes, bass players who fit this description.
 

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