We see this in the studio all the time. So many players trying to sound like someone else instead of themselves. It's individuality that makes music stand out, yet so many musicians settle for sounding like someone else. They even ask for it! My chief engineer always asks them, "Don't you want to sound like you?" Usually, the answer is no, they want to sound like, whoever. If you ask why, the answer is usually, "Well, because they sound really good and I don't." We see this answer as being "fishy" at best. If you want to sound like someone else, don't you think you need to play as well as they do?

Whatever... I struggled with it for years until a short jam session with a great guitarist. I apologized for not being able to play as well as he could. Typical answer from a pro? No, they don't put you down if they're really good. His answer to me? Well, you may not be able to play what I play, how I play it. But, I also can't play what you're playing, how YOU play it!" What? In the same statement he told me I wasn't as good as he was, but that he also wasn't as good as I was! The difference? My style and phrasing. The nice thing about it is that I know it's MINE!

We thoroughly enjoy those groups who come to the studio with individuality intact. Even covers can be realy interesting when a group instills their own phrasing and individuality.

Good post. It's worth it to remind people that playing guitar, or any instrument, shouldn't be a cookie-cutter endeavor. At least not if you really want to stand out, even in the smallest way.

Nothing inherently wrong with learning how other people phrase their music, as long as you can assimilate all of that and use it as a foundation from which to build your own music.

Phrasing is so much more important than raw speed.

yeah, i dont see anything wrong with learning how others phrase.
personally, i find it a great help playing with a metronome like drumbeat. i often improvise over a backing track i made that consists of one bass drum beat repeating at a steady rhythm, just like a metronome, but without the boringness lol. doing that, and making it sound good, really depends heavily on phrasing, and is a great exercise, and very fun.

I don't think of phrasing as a "technique." Is it something you can practice? I'm not sure. If it is I would say the best way to practice it is playing with a good drummer.

Guess I wasn't really clear...

I don't think there's anything wrong with sounding exactly like someone else. Hell, we all sounded the same when we first started. We learn what others have learned, often the way they learned it. We emulate our idols and that's fine too.

Personally, I like to hear something I haven't heard before, or something I have heard in a way I haven't heard it. It's easy to be a copy-cat, (or at least, easier,) but it takes a little bit more to stand out from all the "pretenders." Kind of like the Pink Floyd Tribute group. They sound a lot like Floyd, but if you listen closely, they have their own way of doing it. They didn't presume to be EXACTLY the same.

Honestly I don't think of one technique as more important than the other. Although timing and phrasing are really important aspects of playing. Even with all the right notes, if they're not placed right or out of time then the solo will suck. Period. Learning how others play and coping their phrasing, tone, note choices is how we all learned to play. Take all your influences, the years of playing in smoky clubs and the countless hours of practicing and there...you have YOUR style and sound.
People ask me who my influences are and 'where did you learn that'. I can't answer that. I borrow from everything I've ever heard. It comes out without even thinking about it.
Sometimes when approaching a solo I'll consciously go for a vibe I've heard...an attitude...and go for it using my notes and phrasing. I get a lot of you sound like this one or that one but I also get comments like ..I knew that was you when I heard the record. So. It all comes together at some point. Some guitarists as are lucky and find their own unique voice right away., Others, it takes awhile. Like years in smoky clubs.

IMO the best way to learn how to fraze like a master is to listen to people like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Arturo Sandoval, Chucho Valdez and people like that...they have some amazing chops with their instrument..to the point that sometimes it doesnt even make sence, but their frazing is always amazing

Phrasing. Yup. For me phrasing follows my mood, response from audience. The magic is when it seems like I have an hour between notes to emote...then I have times when the job at the gas station seems more appropriate. Used to work with a bass player that would not leave 'holes"...drove me crazy. I try to separate what I can do, with what I can get away with. I like to take chances too. I remember when the most important thing we could do was get the guitars in tune in a freezing practice room in Indiana. I like what Oscar says about freedom exists in music. We all live out there sometime, like my Aunt used to say, "I wonder what the poor people are doing?"
By the way I am a publsihed writer, so if anyone needs some lyrics I may be able to help. Oh. Phrasing. Maybe I am the only one that *****up, but sometimes phrasing comes out of 'recovery."Note choice? That too. If its a clunker a half step up or down will put ya right.

Good thread!

I have been playing for nearly 4 years now and I am getting to the point where I am happy with my ability to play what i want i.e. past that annoying 'i wish i could play that' phase

The only thing I really concentrate on these days is my soloing.

I have some good techniques and tricks under my belt but I am having realy trouble with phrasing. I just dont know how to develop it.

My main source of practice is jamming along to songs and improvising over the solo's.

Put me in a room with some chilis on, I can improvise over the solo's and make it really sound good but when it comes to having to improvise over music for which i dont have an example solo e.g. a bass track that a mate sends, then I am really inconsistant.

Hope this makes sense.

Can anyone relate?

Any advice?