Serpico

zak
Impressionism (like surf music) has given an outlet to plenty of people with no technical ability. Are there impressionist painters who can paint figuratively with equal aplomb?
I'm sure there are.
Are the majority of guitar players currently playing in surf bands capable of fingerpicking a Merle Travis instrumental, or playing a Charlie Christian solo with any degree of conviction, or capable of working out a bunch of chord substitutions for a jazz ballad?
My money is on NO.

i am certainly not able to fingerpick a Merle Travis instrumental. or the other things You said. because im only learning the music and songs i am interested in playing. I see no reason in learning alot of stuff that i would never play anyway. it sound on You that we only play Surf because we are not able to play anything other..

I don't get that at all from what Zak said. The set of skills for most conventional surf music is relatively easy, that's why me and every other kid with a guitar could play Wipeout in 4th grade. No new info there. I was more taken aback by his Impressionism statement since lots of Impressionists painted figures, and with a great degree of skill, like Monet and Caillebotte...but that's another thread. Maybe he meant Abstract Expressionists, which is a term for artists who can't paint or draw.

This thread continues to draw a lot of debate and I kind of wonder why. Sorry folks but I don't buy into surf being simple to play music. I've played in bands off and on for more years then I will admit to and have played many styles including blues, funk and the dreaded classic rock. As a blues guitarist I found at least for myself it was all about chops and feeling and that I could improvise around the tune as long as I stayed in key , kept tempo and stayed in the pocket...same for funk which was mostly chord driven but you better put those stabs in the right spots...playing surf melodies creates it's own set of challenges. Play a wrong note in a melody and it sticks out like a sore thumb. In particular tunes like Mr Moto, Walk Don't Run etc...in other words the slower melodic stuff you best not hit a bum note or it well be heard. Playing any musical style well takes practice and dedication...period..

www.northofmalibu.com

Stormtiger
One more time. No one said ALL surf music is simple but we keep coming back to this one part of the equation. Some is simple, some is complex, I think we all agree. No one said ALL surf guitarists are lame and can't play anything else, although that is certainly true in some cases. There seems to be a lot of defensive responses and I don't know why, I myself have seen and heard a lot a lousy surf guitarists, more mediocre, and a few exceptional. I can live with that. It all comes back to trying to define "surf guitarist", which I consider to be a fruitless and pointless exercise, unless one likes getting backed into a corner.

back to the begining, this quote may sound really offensive for that ones that choose to play surf music instead other kind of music

A "surf guitarist" is a "guitarist" with a drastically reduced chord vocabulary who is incapable of sounding good without reverb...and not just any reverb, but a specific kind of reverb.

that puts like surf music is a lame style of music.............looks like if you can play "good", you don´t wanna go to play surf music

El Papu & los Fantasticos Reverberantes

JakeDobner
But Zak is good and he plays surf music. Not only that, he is in one of the top surf bands of the last decade and a half.

that makes still more difficult to understand that why zak said that

El Papu & los Fantasticos Reverberantes

JakeDobner
Because it is true?

I really think that isn´´t true...........you play surf music because you cant play anithing else?

I can play reaggae, ska, punk , metal, dark, pop, even some jazzy or bossa nova things, but I prefer to play surf music, because i play it with my heart and soul

El Papu & los Fantasticos Reverberantes

JakeDobner

big_papu

JakeDobner
Because it is true?

I really think that isn´´t true...........you play surf music because you cant play anithing else?

I can play reaggae, ska, punk , metal, dark, pop, even some jazzy or bossa nova things, but I prefer to play surf music, because i play it with my heart and soul

So you are a guitarist, not a surf guitarist. Zak is just saying that surf is simple compared to other genres.

mmmmmmmmmmmm...................I guess that I am a surf guiatarist who can play reaggae, ska, punk , metal, dark, pop, even some jazzy or bossa nova things........... but i have surf music in my heart, thats the difference

El Papu & los Fantasticos Reverberantes

Speaking of heart...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AoH-IxvKEA

zak
Yeah my heart insn't in surf, I do it for the money.

OK Zak, .........you WIN !!!!!

I go to start to forget all the minor melodic scales and all the 7, m7 , 6, + and - chords that i know..........just to be a SURF guitarist !!

El Papu & los Fantasticos Reverberantes

Last edited: Sep 11, 2008 21:40:16

When I played in a blues band there often was much competition between guitar players..cutting heads kinda thing...there were also lots of guys who really just love the style and want to see it grow in popularity and are willing to lend a hand and an ear to players coming up. I see many on this site that are willing to also help and teach each other...I've been working on a Strat modification and Mel from MBP has been a great help by sharing things he's learned along the way. I digress...when playing blues one can slide in and out of key at times and get away with it the "off note" being treated as a passing tone. Now if we take a simple melody..say Mary Had A Little Lamb...pretty basic right but play any wrong note at it's going to be very easy to hear the mistake. Much surf music is based on a melody with little or no room for improv so precision is key.

www.northofmalibu.com

I would be perfectly happy to be a good surf guitarist.

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