Cheating In Guitar Playing !, There is no such thing.. or is there ? Options

[Ben Higgins]

Can You Cheat in Guitar Playing ?

I saw some comments on Youtube aimed at a guy who was using a hairband or some similar device to mute the strings. This is quite a common approach taken by people who use a lot of tapping in their playing. It's mainly for licks that span many strings and tend to produce a lot of unwanted and unavoidable noise caused by vibrations when tapping from nowhere or hammering on from nowhere. And guitar legend Greg Howe uses this as tapping is a major feature of his style.

But many people saw this as somehow 'cheating.'

I don't agree with this and I'll tell you why.

First of all, this method of muting is generally only used for tapping licks that go beyond the typical triad based EVH / Randy Rhoads phrases. The type of tapping licks used by Howe and many others does require a degree of muting that can not be provided by the hands. If one were using a hairband to mute the strings just for general 'easy' tapping then maybe the people crying 'cheat' might have a point but in these types of cases, it's a genuine asset and not a crutch for lazy technique. And by the way, did I say... Greg Howe !

My second point here is more generalised and covers any area of playing a musical instrument. I think that anything that helps one achieve the sound that they are aiming for is surely a good thing. When you look at the bigger picture, what are we all doing with these planks of wood, these drums, these synths, whatever your instrument of choice ? We're creating sound. In my opinion (and it is only an opinion) SOUND is the key word here.

Unless your audience only consists of music students / other musicians who are analysing your work for various reasons, then the majority of your audience don't hear techniques. They don't hear hand positions. They don't hear facial expressions. They don't hear the colour of your guitar. Or the shape. They only hear sound. The only thing that truly matters is how that collection of sound makes that person feel.

When you consider that the end result of all we do is sound, does it matter how we achieve that sound ? Surely, any ingredient that goes into that sound is allowed ? Or are some things allowed and other things not allowed ?

I can't find the quote but I will always remember EVH stating that his approach on the guitar was a process of making things easier for him to play. That influenced a lot of the triad based chord shapes that he used. They were easier to move around, you see. Surely our path is to make the instrument do for us what we want it to. Sometimes the path needed actually is the path of least resistance.

But this is all just opinion, as said before. So, what if the guys leaving the Youtube comments saying 'cheat' are true ? If using something to make your guitar life easier is a cheat then shall we look at everything else that we use to create our sound ?

Distortion is cheating, surely ? Using an amp ? Altering an electrical signal in any way is not the same as what that unplugged guitar sounds like is it ? And what about guitar picks ? Throw them away, you cheater !

So where do we draw the line ? I've thrown my cards on the table so let's have some discussion about this ! Tell me I'm wrong. Is there something I've missed ? Are we all cheaters ??

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This post has been edited by Ben Higgins: Jun 12 2014, 03:58 PM