Putting Feeling In To The Songs

nagukush · #1 January 27th, 2006

Hello All

I was once adviced , that one should put a lot of feeling into what you play !!! i guess that is why great guitarists always make faces when they play !

can we have a discussion on this ??? how does one start putting feeling in to the songs he plays, i mean whether it should be a mental approach or using techniques like hammer-ons , vibrato etc??? i guess beginners (or atleast me) do everything just mechanically, that is just playing the notes !!!

How can we start feeling , what we are playing??? (i think it makes everything just more beautiful regd guitaring !!!)

Kindly advice if you have any ideas

lezenko · #2 January 27th, 2006

i think the more you enjoy the song the more ffort you put in.

I think that it also helps to get correct timing and to play around with different techniques of the song you are playing

allthumbs · #3 January 27th, 2006

That is a very complex question. Part muse and part mastery of technique. You need to be able to shape each note to make them yours. Know the tune like the back of your hand so you can change it to express who you are and what your feeling. Some of the old blues guys could just hold one note and break your heart with it.John Lee Hooker comes to mind. His stuff looks so easy to play,in fact one of his tunes is basicly just a triplet run repeated for the whole song,but he pulls it off because the feel is so strong it mesemerizes you.
Try this to get an idea about feel. Take a tune you know very well and rcord it a few different ways. First just sit and think of things in your life that have made you happy and capture that feeling then play and record your tune. Do the same with sorrow and then anger. When you listen to your takes you may be able to hear how that changes the way your playing and comes out in the music. Great players are very good at expressing that through their hands to the fretboard. That is just my way of looking at it,I am sure some of the other players here have their own ideas about it.

nagukush · #4 January 27th, 2006

Hello Allthumbs

Really a great explanation !!! Now, I realize that its far more a thing than just a component of playing, Thanks for giving your point of view, I think this is a great explanation and i will surely try it out as soon as i learn the song i'm currently working on.

Thanks for Caring

Regds

Kush

chuckswood2001 · #5 January 27th, 2006

when i first start learning a song its mechanical, im just trying to hit the cords rite and the strings, it sounds terable, once i get the mechanical part down then i can get to the rythm of the songs and it sounds and feel rite, if i can hear the original song i can get the beat of it, then play it that way, a slight hesitation here and a fast run there makes the song sound and feel rite

chuck

nagukush · #6 January 27th, 2006

Thanks for the good advice chuck

bluesguy · #7 January 28th, 2006

I am with Chuck on this one. First I get the basics down - slowly and steadly - chords/progressions, strumming, and anything else that goes with the song. After that I work on getting the right tempo - for me. After that I look for little 'mistakes' I am making and either get try to work them out or into the song. I also try to learn how to sing the song - I need a lot

on this part.

After all that I play the song about 5*10^10 times and it is about right

nagukush · #8 January 29th, 2006

Thanks buddy !!! I'm sure someone will help you out with u'r probs. ANyways thanks for helping me out.