When are you a musician that plays guitar, rather than a guitarist that plays music?

[crikey]

Originally Posted by RustyZombie

The best answer I can come up with is when you're more excited by getting another song down perfectly than you are by a new guitar.

What if that new guitar was replacing a crap guitar or otherwise allowing more musical expression for the player?

I know many guitarists who play music. Some are really talented musicians. Some do it for a living. Most of them always get excited about getting new instruments (who doesn't?), but I doubt they bother to measure if they're more excited about getting new instruments than they are about 'getting another song down perfectly'. There's room in the head for many levels of excitement for many different things.

A musician that plays guitar and a guitarist that plays music are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

[Random1643]

+1 a musician who plays guitar.

[eastcoast Chris]

The definition is subjective, I know people who are trained in music who cant play without the dot's (and i mean anything) I know some who have such a good ear that if they hear it once they can play it & I know one guy who can write orchestral scores in there head. me I dont know if I am a guitar player who sings or a singer who plays guitar. I have made a living playing & singing sometimes as a side man & sometimes as a solo. I can play & sing some 500 songs without the sheets in front of me .not all in the current set list & quite a few that pop into my head that I dont remember learning.

[devellis]

The distinction is certainly subtle and perhaps a bit arbitrary. If I had to distinguish (and honestly, I really don't feel pressed by such a need), I'd say someone is a musician rather than a guitar player when he or she can communicate music on something other than guitar. That would include other instruments or voice. So, if you asked someone to perform a given piece, if they asked you what instrument you wanted to hear it on, I'd be inclined to think of that person first as a musician and secondarily as a guitar player.

Although I can play some other instruments to a degree, I actually prefer thinking of myself as a guitar player. It's the instrument I enjoy the most and give the most time. I also prefer listening to guitar players than other types of musicians (although I enjoy lots of them, too). So, for example, I'd rather hear a good player play than someone play more simply as accompaniment to their singing. To me, calling someone a "guitarist" connotes that they can play at a level such that their playing alone stands as an engaging musical performance. Someone who is a musician, I would think of as perhaps using a guitar secondarily as part of their music. I personally prefer the former but everybody has their own preferences and I recognize that mine is in the minority. And, of course, I do enjoy a great singer who plays guitar as accompaniment. But a really great guitarist who plays in styles I like is even more enjoyable for me.

Mostly, to be honest, I really don't distinguish between a guitarist and a musician unless someone brings it up (as the OP did) and asks me to focus on how I'd differentiate the two. Spontaneously, I just don't make the distinction.

[jetcode]

When you learn to honor the sound rather than your ego.

[s2y]

I think there could be a lot of semantics with the whole "musician" vs. "guitarist" thing. I suppose the first step is if a given guitarist can listen to other instruments and draw inspiration from those.

[KasperT]

I tend to think of myself as a guitarist that plays music but my gf says I'm the opposite.

[rgregg48]

WHEN YOU LEARN HOW TO SIGHT READ.
END OF STORY.
(Like the misnomer "I play rhythm guitar" aka chord banger!
Guitar is the instrument singers hold to look like they
do more with their hands.

[Psyclone]

Why, just this morning, since you've asked.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by devellis

Mostly, to be honest, I really don't distinguish between a guitarist and a musician unless someone brings it up (as the OP did) and asks me to focus on how I'd differentiate the two. Spontaneously, I just don't make the distinction.

I agree with this, Bob. Plus there are too many ways of perceiving/interpreting the question.

One dimension that isn't addressed is that most of us probably play songs that were written for guitar, written with a guitar, or are mostly likely to be played with a guitar, even if they could be played with another instruments. For example, all the 60s-70s folk groups that used guitars.

You could play Merle Travis music on another instrument, but what's the point?

The point being that some of us are locked into music played on a guitar. So does that mean we're guitarists?

There are guitarists (very few) who do an excellent playing "non-guitar" music on a guitar -- like Scott Joplin rags. Most make it appear more an athletic feat rather than music (Pat Donohue is an except IMO). I do not want to see "Stars and stripes forever" played on a guitar ever again -- not even Chet. And if I want to play Joplin, I'll find a piano.

In the strictest sense, a musician is someone who either plays a range of instruments, or writes for a range of instruments, and plays/writes for guitar when the sound of a guitar best fits the composition.

A guitarist uses a guitar for playing/writing, and could be termed a musician if there is sufficient skill, soul, expression, whatever you want to add to the mix -- but it's an another one of those messy continuums -- don't feel a need to go there.

[handers]

Originally Posted by RustyZombie

The best answer I can come up with is when you're more excited by getting another song down perfectly than you are by a new guitar.

Doing either of these well is the goal. Worrying about this too much gets in the way of the goal.

hans

[shadow714]

If you play in front of people, and they applaud,....call yourself what you will. Take arrogance out of the picture and it does not matter what you call yourself. Regardless of your age, if a woman hands you a folded paper with her number on it after you play.....you did good!

Never. Ever. I've done studio work and even then, it's only because I was called in due to the artist hearing my playing style and wanting that sound. I've turned work away because they wanted me to do something that didn't sound like me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm always in the process of learning and growing as a player, writer, and performer, but I also know that I can only do what I do...and anything else that's not musical to my heart, I just can't get behind.