Ex-MEGADETH Guitarist MARTY FRIEDMAN: People Overuse The Phrase 'Play With Feeling'

[CircuitalPlacidity]

The only time I ever hear the "play with feeling" thing anymore is from this old meth head I know who always says it and then fumbles through a couple blues licks.

 

[starslight]

I wonder what people who call "Comfortably Numb" an easy solo sound like trying to play "Comfortably Numb."

 

[BouhZik]

I dont know.... when I'm watching megadeth live vids with Broderick playing Marty's solos, and then watch an old vid with marty for the same song, "playing with feeling" make sense IMHO. Marty is a lot more sloppy but it sounds way more alive. Broderick sounds dead and robotic to me. (At least when he's playing Marty's parts). "Feelings, emotions" are the best words I can find to point out the difference between the 2 players for the same solo.

 

[fps]

Agree. There are other emotions than "weepy blues", and a lot of people tend to forget that.

 

[hairychris]

To be honest I don't like the article. It loses most of the context from the original interview...

MD: There was a headline on Blabbermouth earlier this year where you were advising up-and-coming guitarists not to pursue a career in instrumental music.
MARTY: [Laughs]
MD: So do you think there’s too much genericism and lack of standout albums within the instrumental guitar genre?
MARTY: No, I don’t have anything against the genre; I’m not a fan of instrumental music - the biggest hypocrite in the world because that’s what I play! But who listens to instrumental music? I mean, if I was giving somebody advice, if that’s what you love to do then definitely do it, but it’s not gonna be popular. It’s a hard road ahead. It’s not something I would recommend unless that’s your calling and life as a musician then absolutely I would recommend it, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a profitable field. I wouldn’t say that it’s a field where there’s gonna be a lot of love coming back your way. No, I wouldn’t recommend it unless that’s what you do.
MD: That’s fair enough. And you posted on your Facebook page a few days ago: “I despise the term "shredder" with every fibre of my being”
MARTY: [Laughs]
MD: Is that because the term seems to prioritise technique over emotional expression?
MARTY: That’s a good way to put it. And emotional expression is one thing but I think content is the most important thing. You know, people overuse the phrase, “play with feeling”. That’s also very overused. Of course, we all want to do that but I’d say content; musical content. If the musical content is good and it makes people enjoy it, the technique is for granted. It doesn’t take technique to play Nirvana and look how many people it pleased.
MD: So content in the general, wider sense of the term that includes feeling, melodies, composition, etc
MARTY: It’s wonderful music if it makes people happy. And “shredder” just totally discounts any content.
MD: It goes back to the virtuoso thing you were saying earlier.
MARTY: Yeah, it’s even worse than virtuoso. I mean, virtuoso is one rank above. I just don’t like it but, you see, I don’t really know the current terms, especially in English, but that word has taken on a new slang and it may even be kinda trendy because guitar is on the uprise lately. So it may even be a compliment nowadays, and if it sells one more record then I’m a shredder!
[Laughs]
MARTY: You know, hypocrite! But I just don’t like it.

 

[TelegramSam]

For what it's worth, I think that music as a whole is raw emotion, in any form. I mean people can convery meaning from any type of music. Just because one piece bores one person to death, doesn't mean it does the same for everyone. As silly as it sounds I've always thought it is quite insulting to say someone's playing doesn't have any feeling.

I understand, however, how some people may be turned off by very technical playing, and yes, there is some music that bores me, but I don't think it's devoid of "feeling", it just doesn't press the right buttons with me.

Just my

 

[USMarine75]

Duh...

Play with feeling = making faces

 

[Volteau]

Any time someone says something about playing with feel, I feel an indescribable rage boiling within me.

Go take your feel and shove it up your ass. As long as you like what you're playing, thats all that matters.

QFT!

 

[Isaac]

I see no valid reason why both of these aren't masterly lessons in expressive guitar playing. I refuse to buy in to the false dilemma.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

To be honest I don't like the article. It loses most of the context from the original interview...

I'm glad you posted that interview. As it does show a bit more context to what Marty is trying to say.

One of my biggest gripes with a lot of instrumental guitar is that it's nothing more than a showcase of their technique over a bland backing track as opposed to writing solid songs.

Jason Becker's Perpetual Burn was great not just for guitar techniques, but also about the songwriting and composition. And for a shredder, Becker knew how to write compelling movements, dramatic changes, awesome melodies... Becker was the total package. His techniques weren't just guitar exercises either, they were used purposely to dramatic effect. And the fact that he continues to break harmonic ground to this day is a very important lesson for a lot of guitarists to learn.

Another example is Satriani. There was a reason why Surfing With The Alien won a Grammy. As prominent as the guitar pyrotechnics were, it was still about the great songs. Using a non Surfing example:



A slightly polyrhythmic groove, and odd chordal changes, but the strong melody keeps everything together. It's a well written piece overall.

Going back to Comfortably Numb, it's legendary for a reason. Sure it's not flashy, but because all the RIGHT notes were played. And the fact the song was already strong to begin with and the backing chord progression behind the solo really help bring it to life. It's definitely a fun progression than any guitarist of any skill and kind can just solo away.

So I agree with a lot of what Marty is trying to say. To me, technique is great, but alone isn't enough to be compelling. Add a good song, instrumental or not, and then it becomes worth listening to.

 

[Aion]

Technique should support your playing and not hinder it. There are some people who throw a bunch of notes in because they know they can fit them in and very little reason other than that. There are others who put each note in because it matters. Telling the difference aurally is somewhat subjective, but most people can generally agree when you're hearing 1000 notes per minute for 10 minutes straight, there were probably one or two moments where it would have served the player well to slow down.

The "play with feeling," school of thought that totally ignores technique (which is really a straw man construct) is flawed because the note bending and vibrato associated with that school of thought is totally a technique thing. As David Gilmour has already come up, I'll just add that his precision when it comes to note bending is unbelievable. That alone is some fantastic technique right there.

My friend has showed me countless technical death metal bands that sound like countless technical death metal bands. To be clear, there are a few I like, that do interesting things. But the "cookie-cutter," ones tend to have riffs that are entirely interchangeable, you could probably do a similar thing to that six song country mashup thing. They're full of technique, but no songwriting or phrasing. In layman's term, no feeling. Their technique exists for itself, not to support anything.

The term "play with feeling," gets overused, but more important is that it gets misused, by people on both sides of the debate. On one side is people not using technical terms, on the other is people who don't understand how to understand a music comment without the technical terms. But if you've actually mastered a technique, you can use it to support your playing with feeling. These aren't mutually exclusive, just mutually misunderstood.