Why do musicians feel the need to show off?
@simpson_boogie (43)
United States
December 23, 2006 1:10am CST
So i currently play bass guitar and am in a band i also take music lessons. I dont know what it is about guitar players but they always feel the need to show off. I have never encountered this problem with bass players, only guitar players and sometimes drummers. Point and case, the other day i was practicing for an upcoming show with my band and during downtime between songs i was trying to talk with my lead singer about our set list and out lead guitarist would not stop playing increadibly loud and long solos that had not point to anything. not only that but the same thing also happened with my bass lessons. i was trying to learn a new riff on bass (my teacher plays guitar while i play bass) and whil i was attempting to learn it he went off on some crazy tangent of crazy soloes. It seems to me that every guitar player i have come in contact with is more interested in heraring themselves play than anything else. does anyone else have this problem or are there any guitar players out there who can proove me wrong or say why this might me? are guitar players just natually selfish people?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
28 May 08
LOL every guitarist i'd ever met was like that.
i think honestly sometimes they completely forget other people are in the practice room with them.
my brother's 2nd lead you literally had to unplug to get his attention,and even then it took him a couple of seconds to realize he was unplugged 
@kobocheck (1)
• United States
6 Oct 08
A guitarist has a different passion towards music. Some people are selfish period no matter what instrunment they play. There is a lot more work involved in mastering the fret board for a treble. The bass guitar just fills in the bass part for a song and the drummers require more phisical work, so they need to be aggressive and pumped up. We still have love for everyone who plays whatever instrunment though ;)
@cancatis (406)
• Brazil
29 Apr 07
You're right in a way... I guess it's all about discipline and about the importance given to status.
We should remember that our society is the society of "more" and "er": bigger, faster, cleaner, quieter, louder, more expensive, more luxury, more money. Lead instruments gets more attention, that's natural (usually guitar and vocals. Sometimes keys and drums. Few bassists play leads, like Flea for instance). So sometimes the one who plays a lead instrument - like a guitarist - need to play something louder, faster, better, etc etc etc to be "accepted".
Also, "guitar heroes" is the only term I know for popular musicians. I have never heard of "bass heroes", "drums heroes", etc. So I guess that guitarists feel the need to show off so they can be compared to those heroes.
Some others are going to heaven, tho. I play the guitar and I never play between songs on stage. =P (Also I dont play louder than the rest of the band ^^). Maybe I'm an exception. hahaha I think some of it came from studying Classical Guitar at college, always giving so much credit for silence. ^^
@cr1st1nel (3564)
• Romania
23 Dec 06
Well they feel the adrenaline they get so hot on the scene they surely must be dressed with little clothes to avoid such things. I have seen many musicians on the stage and many of them got undressed because of the heat or because they were looking more cool that way. Good luck
