Emulating your hero

[Guest alanhindle]

We all have our guitar heroes.

 

People say you should develop your own style that is based upon several influences. However, many folks have that overwhelming desire (or obsession) to be able to play just like their one major influence.

 

If there is one player who I would like to emulate it would be Angus Young of AC/DC.

 

There is a guy on youtube whom many Angus fans will no doubt have spotted known as 'Solo Dallas'. This fella not only tries to replicate Angus' technique but also has purchased the equipment which most enables him to capture his classic 1970s tone, including a beautiful vintage 1967 SG standard.

 

This youtube clip shows Mr. Dallas demonstrating his beloved new instrument and I have to say I was amazed by how close he sounds to Angus, particularly in the second half of the clip.

 

Has anybody else spotted players who sound virtually identical to a famous guitar hero, or indeed are such a person?

 

Alan

[leicester35]

We all have our guitar heroes.

 

People say you should develop your own style that is based upon several influences. However' date=' many folks have that overwhelming desire (or obsession) to be able to play just like their one major influence.

 

If there is one player who I would like to emulate it would be Angus Young of AC/DC.

 

There is a guy on youtube whom many Angus fans will no doubt have spotted known as 'Solo Dallas'. This fella not only tries to replicate Angus' technique but also has purchased the equipment which most enables him to capture his classic 1970s tone, including a beautiful vintage 1967 SG standard.

 

This youtube clip shows Mr. Dallas demonstrating his beloved new instrument and I have to say I was amazed by how close he sounds to Angus, particularly in the second half of the clip.

 

Has anybody else spotted players who sound virtually identical to a famous guitar hero, or indeed are such a person?

 

Alan

 

I can't claim to sound virtually identical by any means, but I got into slide guitar by playing Brian Jones' part from No Expectations, and I tried to emulate the sound he got live, by sticking a P90 equipped Epi through a tube amp and using a brass slide. Happily, I no longer fantasize about having a shed load of Gibson Firebirds, various Scandinavian birds, and kicking the bucket in the swimming pool of my mansion whilst completely loaded.

[Steven Lister]

Has anybody else spotted players who sound virtually identical to a famous guitar hero' date=' or indeed are such a person?[/quote']

There are good-bad-mediocre cover artists, but anytime I hear someone trying to sound exactly like the "original" well, like Bob Seger says, "in ten minutes I'll be late for the door." Covering a song without bringing something uniquely your own is just a rip-off.

 

Why not strive to develop certain skills that a hero displays and then use that skill in your own way?

 

For example --- the skill that sets Jimmy Page apart (in my mind) from all the rest is his ability to improvise fills and leads on the spot -- each one instantly recognizeable to his original recording and yet each one is still unique and transports the audience along a different path of musical discovery. Watching Jimmy play you'll notice him eyes closed, head slightly turned as if he's listening to something far off that only he can hear and trying to mimmic what he hears on his guitar.

 

Being that "tuned-in" in live performance is a "hero skill" worth developing. But new players tend to spend far too much time trying to cop so-and-so hero's tabbed licks to the detriment of skills more important to their ability to improve musicianship.

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on:-"

[charlie brown]

I've never bothered, except in the very beginning, to try to emulate my hero's, note for note as so many

(especially younger guitarists) seem to want to try to do. Why? Because, in every case, when I've seen

my hero's in concert (live), and many times less than 10 feet away...they have NEVER played their "recorded"

solo, or even "fill" licks, the same. Even saying that, most of the time, their solos (except in the case of signature

licks/phrases) is always different, performance to performance. Most of my "hero's," are more inclined to be

improvisationalists, and play what they "feel," at the time, as opposed to what might be written on the page, etc.

Nothing wrong with exact interpretation, especially from a "Classical" perspective, and/or sheet music,

but...I've (personally) always preferred the other more "Jazz/Blues" like approach. But, that's just me...

 

CB

[Guitar Chico]

My "guitar hero" is Randy Rhoads. I don't think that I'll ever be good enough to do those extremely fast solos he's famous for. But there are things to strive for and I wish that I could be like him. He just had an extreme amount of raw talent that I don't possess.

 

GC

[MarxBros]

Everyone has influences; it usually becomes detrimental when you start to become a clone of said influence.

 

Although a few clones have been successful, in the long run it's a road to nowhere, how many Jimi clones does the world need?

 

I'd rather fail (which I have) and play some unbeaten path than line up with the masses.

 

Perhaps that's not failure after all. If the definition of success is sales and popularity, well more than few chart toppers are far from real musicians so....

 

I gotta get back to my best of the Supremes CD now.

[taxman]

John Lennon = my guitar hero

 

- what he played was best for the song, period.

- 99% of what he played was simple but 100% effective (the bends in "Ballad Of John and Yoko" or the entire "Working Class Hero")

- I play rhythm, can't play a lead for anything, and John was as solid as a rhythm player can be

- John was incredibly delicate and tasty on acoustic ("Norweigian Wood," "Julia")

- John could be a beast on electric ("I Found Out," "Well, Well, Well," "Yer Blues")

 

I love playing guitar, but hate guitarists (those guys that feel what they play is more important than the song). John played what was right for the song.

[charlie brown]

John Lennon = my guitar hero

 

- what he played was best for the song' date=' period.

- 99% of what he played was simple but 100% effective (the bends in "Ballad Of John and Yoko" or the entire "Working Class Hero")

- I play rhythm, can't play a lead for anything, and John was as solid as a rhythm player can be

- John was incredibly delicate and tasty on acoustic ("Norweigian Wood," "Julia")

- John could be a beast on electric ("I Found Out," "Well, Well, Well," "Yer Blues")

 

I love playing guitar, but hate guitarists (those guys that feel what they play is more important than the song). John played what was right for the song.[/quote']

 

Agreed, as did George, on his leads. Paul's "lead" bass was quite amazing too, really...especially for "rock & roll,"

at that time.

 

CB

[Mugatu]

Probably my biggest hero is David Gilmour, though I don't exactly try to sound like him. (I don't play a lot of rock for a start!) I just try in general to bend notes as beautifully and precisely as he does, and I try for a similarly "economic" use of notes... mainly because I'm not a fast player anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I like to play a few Floyd tracks now and then... but I've never gone in for trying to replicate his exact sound. I don't even have the right guitar!

 

I'm happy just to do my thing, with a little bit of inspiration from various pros thrown in.

[Ricochet]

I think it's sad, even if you pull it off you're nothing but a second-rate copycat. Why not invest the time in something your own?

[Bender 4 Life]

I don't try to copy anybody directly.........but as far as guitar hero, i'd probably say overall,

Carlos Santana........and when i'm moody, Lightnin' Hopkins.

[IntelligentAl]

I am still in the early stages of my guitar playing, so emulating my guitar heroes (Angus Young and George Harrison) is something that I use to increase my skill. If I can somehow manage to pull off playing 'Highway to Hell' half as good as Angus can, I consider that an achievement. I can then work on improving that and then making it my own. For example, once I had learnt 'let It Be' as it is on the record, I then went on to come up with my own improvised solo that suited me more.

 

However, emulating a heroes playing to such an extent that your sound is their sound is not something that I consider a particularly good idea. It does get to a point where you are merely copying.

[SlagJones]

I think having a hero that inspires is important and beneficial in the early stages of guitar playing. However, as your skill progresses, you should discover and explore your own voice.

 

As far as SoloDallas, I think the guy is very good and I would venture a guess that what he puts on YouTube is only one dimension of his playing and is capable of much more than just copying Angus Young. I would hesitate to write the guy off as a second rate copycat without knowing more about him.

[Ricochet]

I think having a hero that inspires is important and beneficial in the early stages of guitar playing. However' date=' as your skill progresses, you should discover and explore your own voice.

 

As far as SoloDallas, I think the guy is very good and I would venture a guess that what he puts on YouTube is only one dimension of his playing and is capable of much more than just copying Angus Young. I would hesitate to write the guy off as a second rate copycat without knowing more about him. [/quote']

 

I'm with you there.

 

I wasn't referring to Solo Dallas specificly. But speaking of...I agree he's very good at what he does but so far I have seen little of his own stuff... His channel shows 161 vids total of which two/thirds is ACDC and maybe 7 his own... I'm not writing him off, it's simply how he chooses to present himself.

[IntelligentAl]

I'm a big fan of SoloDallas as I have learnt a lot from him. Thanks to him I am now able to play quite a few AC/DC songs half decently. If you watch some of his blues improvisation videos you will see that he is much more than a copycat. When he is playing you can tell that he is thinking about nothing but the music, and that comes across well in his guitar playing.