I think what I’m trying to say with my posts on “songwriting” is that I’m just trying to get local musicians to take guitar playing a little more seriously. I’m noticing that a lot of musicians around here don’t really take guitar playing seriously. Not enough passion and enjoyment in it. They just simply use the guitar as a vehicle for songwriting, that’s pretty much it, really. With my own music, I like to take my guitar playing seriously as you can probably tell. It is part of why my guitar playing is better than my vocals and why I always play pretty tight with my songs. With my guitar playing, I try to do more than just playing power chords and basic open position chords. I don’t just use the guitar as a vehicle for songwriting either, I like to play the “guitar”. I want my songs to be guitar playing songs. Songs with just good guitar playing. A lot of songwriters around here don’t really focus on the guitar… they focus on the “songwriting” part. Don’t get me wrong, the “songwriting” part is pretty important but you must take the guitar playing part more seriously too.

There are so many songwriters out there that don’t really know what they’re doing, they just throw random chords and riffs out there — try to put them together into a song. Just keep playing until they find stuff they like. Don’t just throw random stuff together. Learn how to play the guitar and play it good — you would be surprised of how much better your songs could be. If you want to call yourself a “musician”, then you gotta fucking become one, ya know? Learn how to play the damn instrument. Take passion and pride in it. Put your fucking heart and soul into it. Play the guitar like you mean it. Don’t just take a guitar pick and just start strumming. Take everything you play seriously. The rhythm parts, the riffs, and guitar solos. Everything.

If you feel that you aren’t as good of a guitar player you say you are, don’t be afraid to admit it and learn to improve. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Take your slow time. I’m not the best guitar player but I’m always trying to improve as you can tell. You can also tell that I try to make the guitar playing as good as possible in my original music.

I’m not trying to tell people how to create art… I’m only trying to tell them to make it better. A lot of musicians around here are not that confident with their guitar playing and they really must be. If you take guitar playing more seriously, it will make a difference in your songwriting. I know from my own experience. Taking time off from songwriting to learn better guitar was worth it for me. I still have a lot of learning to do but I’m getting there.

My next goal is to get really good with lead guitar and I’m still trying to improve that too. I want to become good at guitar solos so I can solo over my original songs. I never believed in choosing which one you want to be good at either rhythm or lead. A lot of guitarists make the mistake that you must be good at one of them when the reality is you should really be good at both… rhythm and lead.

I like music with great guitar playing. That’s what I enjoy listening to the most. I know good guitar playing when I hear it. I give the most respect to bands & artists who do take the guitar seriously. A lot of musicians don’t really see it and they’re pretty lazy with guitar playing but the guitar is a pretty important tool.

I’m still not a professionally skilled guitarist yet and no virtuoso but that is my dream. I’m trying to get there the best I can. I’m doing my best to become an actual, “musician”.

Kev