some emotional playing

[iommi]

Ok..I sound like a machine playing the guitar...I mean all my notes seem to be showin no emotion..In the limited no of solos i play..EVn though i play them quite well,I really don't seem to have as much emotion as the one actually created the solo

What do i do?I play my electric through a program called Revalver(I don't have a amp yet,Unless i play something good...i won't get one either :( )

[paul]

putting emotion into playing is hard to explain as a technique. try to get into the feeling of what you're playing and then play the lick like that feeling. a little vibrato now and then can really add to the emotion of notes as well. hope that made some sense.

[55'gibby]

playing with emotion isn't something you can have someone teach you how to do. I have made many (prolly too many) rants about feel and touch around here. Coupla things that may help is: get yourself some of the jam along things from the 'net, don't try to play the song, just play what comes into your head. don't think so hard about the theory when you play (not practice) solos, playing a wrong note isn't the end of the world (ala Mike Bloomfield). Write an original song. Don't try to "copy" your favorite guitarist, be yourself.

[Black Star]

jesus, this is a hard question.

you kinda have to try and "connect" with the guitar, like it's an extension of your emotions and feelings, and use the guitar to express how your feeling.

work on your bends, vibrato, and try to make your guitar have a "singing" this is very very hard to explain, sorry. But these things will help your notes have more feeling in them.

[spider_fox]

Two words:

Facial Expressions :)

Nah, but even though people say this is hard to answer, I will give you a couple of things to think about.

First off, start by playing music you like, if you dont like what you play, you cant put emotion into it anyways.

Start bobbing your head to your rhythm. Start feelin' that groove, no matter what your playing. 2nd step, start doing the chris tucker thing from rush hour where he swings his head from side to side :) Heh heh.

Alternate between different feels and times in mid song. One thing that is going to sound extremely machine like is an extremely consistent sounding up and down scale or something. You CAN make this sound exciting, but you have to stick techniques in there. Double back slowly and charge ahead. Do pinch/artificial harmonics in odd spots while doing the scale run.
Have a listen to Paul Gilberts solo in "race-x" band song "B.R.O" (you can download it at the dimarzio site, its an example for the humbucker from hell) he is simply doing slightly muted runs up the scale, which is something pretty much any guitarist can do but take a listen how he jazzes it up.

Stick a couple of chromatic notes in there just to catch peoples attention. Most non musicians wont notice, but guitarists will notice and be interested in how you "resolve" it. Straight scales are boring and machine like.

I guess most of the stuff I am saying is not really "feel" stuff. But these techniques can help make your solo's sound a little more interesting, its up to you to "feel" your solo and let the audience know how you feel about your solo, thats what feel is about. Playing with feel is different than playin "with" feeling. Playing with feeling makes what your playing sound good, so through a recording or whatever, your going to sound great. But thats not necessarily what you want. Its great to sound great, but live, you stand there like a stunned mullet, even if you sound cool, your audience will grow bored just watching you, no matter how good your solo is. They will of course be amazed by your technical prowess, but thats not enough. Thats why you must play "with" feel. You have to let your (imaginary or otherwise) audience feel your need to scream, hush when you whisper, and want you to let out your aggression when you chunk. (I am speaking more or less about metal obviously, but you can apply this to other styles obviously) Thats much more important in my view. You can make a single note seem like a whole show if you put some show into it. I know this one song, this 80's'ish "hair metal" song I have on my computer, they do lots of scale runs and cool stuff, but the one thing that held my attention was this single harmonic that gets held for like 20 seconds. The guy starts off with it being normal, then he bends it up and turns it into a harmonic, sounds a like a fighter wing of mosquitoes. Now as he is doing that and slowly putting some vibrato on it, I can just picture him sinking to his knees, his head thrown back , :o as he is just wailing on this single note. And that my friend is what you want to picture and do as you are soloing. Trust me your solo's will sound better jst by that, without fancy techniques and such. Just knowing how to use the basics to drive your own emotion, will have you playing with so much feeling you'll probably start crying and give your guitar some sweet lovvin' that night lol. *hang on, did I just say that ? :o *

So, just let your music make you have more feeling, rather then you put more feeling into your music. Thats basically what I am trying to say with my long ass post. Bend if you want to put your audience on your tiptoes, or even better combine it with a harmonic to really get them to squirm. Get some vibrato happening as a finisher on a root note (or even a chromatic for some interest since the vibrato will resolve and unresolve it) and give your audience a sense of "theres more coming". Slide up and down and make the audience cheer.
Chunk when you want your audience to mosh.

These are the main emotion makers, the stuff like hammers and pulls are techniques an intrument for you to use in conjunction.

Although I bet no one has read this far, I hope this all helps.

Good luck,

Spider_Fox.

[Black Star]

GOOD ONE FOX!!!

yeha facial expressions rule, i do them all the time, when i bend, i lift my head up, and stuff, and make cool wierd distorted faces, and when i shred i put on my *serious nothin too it face* hehe, facial expressions rule....nuff said

[iommi]

Spider_fox...That was a really good reply..Probably that is what most gutiarists these days do :)

Thanks to all who replied ...

[Mr B]

spider_fox, you the man.

Everybody always slagged off my facial expressions, which range from the constipated to the orgasmic, and my tendency to salivate uncontrollably and duckwalk around the room while playing, but now I know I'm on the right track.