Marcus King thinks the “gratuitous shredding” of social media guitarists causes the “soul to be detached” from playing guitar
As social media becomes more saturated with budding influencers, guitarists have to do even more to stand out. Unfortunately, this desperation to rake in views can sometimes feel hollow and devoid of personality, at least in Marcus King‘s opinion.
Speaking to Guitarist, the blues guitarist has expresses sadness over guitarists who lose themselves in the rat-race of viral hits.
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“You don’t want the soul to be detached from things,” he explains. “Because [then] you’ll just have gratuitous shredding.”
Thankfully, King notes that the next generation of guitarists aren’t succumbing to the pressures of pumping out “gratuitous” riffing clips. He suggests budding players seem to understand that putting your heart into a performance is what’s truly important.
“There’s hope for the future,” he insists. “It’s just a matter of putting less focus on things and letting the guitar speak for itself. That’s my approach.”
King’s core belief is that players must learn the “language” of the instrument, rather than following one-size-fits-all tutorials. Each instrument and player has their own quirks, and King believes those should be explored and embraced.
“Learn all that you can… get familiar with this neck and just make it an extension of [yourself],” he explained in an Instagram video posted earlier this year. “Think about it like a language, because it is a language. It’s a universal language.”
“When you’re crafting a story, you want to tell a story like you’re not thinking about how each word is spelled while you’re saying it,” he continued. “While I’m speaking right now, I’m not spelling everything out in my head. I’m just speaking fluidly because I know the English language. So that’s how you need to feel about the fretboard. You need to know this language fluidly, and then just speak your mind.”
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Of course, King doesn’t intend to offend guitarists who endlessly push themselves to nail an extreme guitar solo. It all comes from a place of love, he tells Guitarist.
“I just love the guitar so much,” he says. “I want to bring the guitar into the zeitgeist, I want people to accept it and understand it… People can go out and make really incredible pieces of art, like a movie that’s a hit with everybody, but it’s really just an artistic masterpiece… I want to handle the guitar the same way.”
King believes his approach to guitar, focusing on the heart and soul, will help lure people in to the wild world of guitar music. “I want to create as much outreach and advocacy as possible,” he explains.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
