The Guitar Look

[Eric]

Over the weekend, I went camping in central PA. At the campground, there were some people hanging out and having lunch. One of the guys was wearing a Marshall t-shirt and had really long hair. I think I made some uninformed comment to my wife about how he must play guitar as we passed by, supposing that he's probably pretty good.

This got me thinking. Do you think that someone's look influences how good you think they are on the guitar? I think that at least for me, someone who looks the part of a guitar-head would have to do more to prove they suck than someone who looks like an accountant. I/we just give the rocker the benefit of the doubt.

I personally like to challenge this by being a giant nerd (which I am) and still being able to throw out some tunes on guitar, but it was worth thinking about.

How about you? Do you think that someone's look influences what you think about their playing? Do you dress differently because you play the guitar? Thoughts? Anyone? Bueller?

 

[R_of_G]

I think that at least for me, someone who looks the part of a guitar-head would have to do more to prove they suck than someone who looks like an accountant. I/we just give the rocker the benefit of the doubt

There's a guy in my neighborhood who takes his kid to the same park we take my daughter to and from his hair to his shirts to his tight jeans and boots he looks like he stepped right out a 1980's hair band video. I've not talked to him, but right or wrong, I assume he's a musician just from the look, but if correct, and I ever hear him play, I think I'd probably be more critical of his playing because if he's rocking the look, he'd better be able to rock the music too. I only expect people who look like accountants to be able to do math.

Oh, and no, I don't dress any differently because I play than I would otherwise. Though to be fair, I don't play out or in a band or anything, just at home or at the homes of friends. Still, I doubt I'd dress any differently.

 

[NWBasser]

I'm a bass player so there are no image expectations there.

If I see a guy with long hair, tight jeans, bracelets and whatnot; I expect a guitarist. In my mind, one who probably plays too many notes to make any sense. Probably a bad stereotype on my part, but there it is.

 

[Katastrophe]

Ultimately, it all comes down to playing. Sometimes people wear "guitar" clothing to overcompensate for lack of ability...

I do have a couple of Fender T shirts that my wife bought me, but otherwise I look like your average slightly pudgy, balding 38 year old.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I have a couple of guitar or music related t-shirts I wear, due to my enthusiasm. I am a little careful though, because I don't want to give the appearance that I think I am a hot player or anything, as I am not.

After I started playing, I once wore a Zildjian T-shirt I was given back before I was playing. A guy I knew said that I must be a real musician because only musicians would know what the Zildjian company was. Kinda made me laugh. I had always worn that T-shirt, because it was a comfortable black t-shirt that I liked.

Bottom line, yes, I sometimes make presumptions. Sometimes guys just look like they are in bands. But I also know looks often deceive.

I also try to watch the presumptions I may promote. I still wear my music t-shirts sometimes (like my free Fender shirt I got for trying out an amph), because I am enthusiastic and it makes me happy. Kinda like wearing a ski or cycling related t-shirt or something.

P.S. I still need to get a Fret.net shirt. Now there is an enthusiast's shirt! :rockya

 

[Jx2]

Ive wear alot band or gear t-shirts, camo jeans, and chuck's for years. I also enjoy braclets, rings, chains(wallet or neck) and anything from a bandana to a cowboy hat. Beanies are my favorite though. I probably due tend to dress "rock style". But most of the time I just grab something and throw it on without alot of thought. I also have alot of Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Reds t's. Now even with that said, Ive always been a jeans and tee shirt kinda of guy. I think I only have like 5 shirts with sleeves in them. But I work in factorys, most of the time driving a forklift. But Im sure if I passed you guys on the street you'r likely to make a assumption about me. And thats ok, Id probably make a assumption about you two. I beleive its human nature. Now most of the time I dont think just cos a guy is sporting a Fender shirt they play guitar. They might just be a big music fan and like the design of the shirt. Sometimes I'll ask sometimes I dont depends on the vibe from the dude. A buddy of mine dated a chick that looked like the stero-typical girly girl. She was hot, wore pink all the time carried a purse had her nails done hair entire ordeal. But through a bass guitar in her hands and she instantly morphed into this freak. She was insane on that thing and if you asked her to just play you something it was normaly Pantera or Slayer. So dont let appearances have the final say. If you do you'll be surprised.

 

[t_ross33]

But through a bass guitar in her hands and she instantly morphed into this freak. She was insane on that thing and if you asked her to just play you something it was normaly Pantera or Slayer. So dont let appearances have the final say. If you do you'll be surprised.

Reminds me of some of the girls I used to train martial arts with... all sweet and charming until you are facing them in the ring... then wachhout! unch: :spank :ninja :spank: :messedup:

 

[FrankenFretter]

Now I'm going to be more self-conscious about all the music gear T-shirts I wear. Like Steve, I wear mine out of enthusiasm for music and guitars, not because I think I'm any good (I'm not), or because I want people to think I'm in a band (also not).

I will say that sometimes wearing a shirt that declares your love of guitars can start interesting conversations, and often does, most of the time with other guitarists or bassists. When I was really into mountain biking, I wore a lot of Cannondale shirts, along with a few other assorted shirts that declared me to be a part of that alternative lifestyle. It wasn't out of pride, but out of love of the bike. Well, maybe a little pride; I didn't ride a Huffy or a department store bike.

I don't have long hair anymore. I haven't since the 80s...or 1990 anyway. I don't wear tight jeans because I like to be comfortable, and I don't wear bracelets because having stuff on my wrists bothers me (I don't even wear a watch very often anymore), but I do wear a few rings now and then. Does that make me a poseur, guys? I hope not. I just like rings.

Eric, you sure know how to provoke thought and conversation, I'll give ya that!

 

[Eric]

No need to feel self-conscious, guys. I was mainly wondering if someone's appearance would change how you take in their performance.

I ever hear him play, I think I'd probably be more critical of his playing because if he's rocking the look, he'd better be able to rock the music too.

I find that I'm this way with gear, so if a guy has a full stack and is playing a PRS, I expect a certain level of proficiency and would be waiting for him to wow me. With a certain look, I don't think I'd be quite as critical.

I really don't know why that is, but it might have something to do with being able to relate. I mean, I'd like to have a high-end guitar and a massive amp setup, but I can't justify it. The rock look, however, isn't something I've been tempted by, really. I am growing my hair out a little bit, but that's about it.

 

[Spudman]

If I see someone with "the look" I do get a bit of a question going on in my head; Do they play? Are they any good? Then I let it go because I have no way of knowing until I hear them or talk with them. Still, I certainly think that maybe...hmmm.

Lately I've discovered these amazing players that look like accountants. They are in Prog bands. A lot of these bands don't look like musicians at all, but boy do they put out some amazing music. Just goes to show that you don't HAVE to have the look to put out the stuff.

 

[syo]

For years I was often mistaken for a professional musician during my longhaired/multipierced days. People would even name bands they thought I was in. During this period I could barely play a lick. Now that I actually can play (but I look more like my father did when I was a longhair) people think I'm an English teacher...
From that personal experience I take little stock in peoples' appearance reflecting in anyway their actual ability.

 

[Ch0jin]

For years I was often mistaken for a professional musician during my longhaired/multipierced days. People would even name bands they thought I was in. During this period I could barely play a lick. Now that I actually can play (but I look more like my father did when I was a longhair) people think I'm an English teacher...
From that personal experience I take little stock in peoples' appearance reflecting in anyway their actual ability.

HAHAHAHA Thats me exactly right there. I had a Mohawk for a while and grew that into dyed black hair all down my back. Goatee, piercings, all black wardrobe, had a guitar but couldn't play it to save myself. Yet I was very regularly asked "hey are you in a band?"

Nowadays, well I look much more everyman but can play better

 

[deeaa]

LOL that cracks me up, I'm an English teacher in my forties, and most of the time students mistake me for another student here if not in class, 'cause I'm often wearing Foo Fighters etc. T-shirts and army boots etc, sometimes an earring or my tattoos showing if it's summer

But funny as it is, in my teens, like 13 to 16 or so, I wore only denim & leather & boots and had these studded belts and wrist bracelets and a dozen or so band emblems on my wear, plus a long raggedy hair...looked like an escapee from Motörhead basically...and that was before I started playing in a band. When I did finally in my late teens, I was usually clad in a simple T-shirt and hair tied up, kinda 'art-school' look more like.

These days, I just wear army boots and simple blue jeans and whatever T-shirt happens accross, mostly they're plain black, sometimes white, some band tees, and sometimes I wear an earring for a few days or so, but no other apparel etc. Well this silver snake ring I have barely ever taken off my finger in the past 20 years or so. I guess I look sort of 'rock', but not as much as to be thought of being in a band.

 

[oldguy]

If someone looks like a rocker and dresses like a rocker, wearing a Marshall or Les Paul, Strat, etc. T-shirt, I'd probably assume they play, or know someone who does. I'd ask, just to strike up a conversation.
I know a lot of people who look nothing like the stereotypical guitarist (if there is such a thing), however...........and they really know their way around a fretboard!:dude

 

[omegadot]

In highschool/part of college I dressed fairly punk with 8"+ liberty spikes or a bi-hawk since I went to the shows for years and just slowly assimilated. Back then then I just played Trombone. Now that I play a more badass instrument in the guitar(although I still prefer to play acoustic) I mostly just wear the geeky t-shirts I've collected over the years and either my pair or shorts or my pair of jeans. I like to go into music shops with a Rock Band T I got from an old co-worker during some promo at his other job. I usually get a dirty look or two that way and I think it's cute.

I did once ask a buddy if he thought more hair walked into a Guitar Center or a salon. He was undecided.

The wife also thinks it's hilarious when I'm in uniform playing Baby I'm an Anarchist by Against Me!(old favorite)

 

[Brian Krashpad]

I think the tendency to pick someone out as a musician or probable musician is natural. I don't think that someone with the look is necessarily a decent musician though. No real correlation there, sfaict. (Nor, for that matter, is there any correlation, for me at least, between a musician's technical skill and whether I actually like what they play. I've heard some technically great musicians playing awful music. But I digress.)

I have a fair number of local band t-shirts, because I like to "support my scene," as the kids say. I have a one or two ~major band shirts (the one I think of first is a Damned concert T, I also have a 999 shirt, but very few here in North America have heard of that UK band), and a number of gear-related or other music-related shirts (black and white Gretsch T-logo shirts, a shirt for a guitar store a bud of mine owns up in Georgia, punkrock.com shirt, etc.) and have owned others in the past that have bitten the dust (Marshall, Fender, Ampeg, Sunn).

I don't really think about wearing that stuff as identifying me as a musician, although I suppose it does. It's just stuff I like and that's a part of me. I also wear Boy Scout and Cub Scout t's from when my son was in those, funky t-shirts I find in Goodwill (have one for a local foundry, another for a YMCA softball or baseball team that says "White Sox" and the local restaurant sponsor on the back, which happens to have my high school soccer jersey number of 3 on it), etc.

I've been wearing jeans or cargos, and Converse or boots, with t-shirts since my undergrad and law school days in the late '70's/early '80's:

I was lucky enough to get a job out of law school where I didn't have to stop dressing like I wanted, so I haven't.

I never did have really cool musician hair though. For a short time around '79 or so it was fairly long, down to the bottom of my back collar, but never to my shoulders or down my back. Never had a hawk either, though I did dye it a bright orangeish blonde one summer in law school.

Fun times.

 

[Tig]

I wouldn't wanna look like something I couldn't live up to...

However, I don't have the chops to be a "sleeper", either...

 

[NWBasser]

Hoo boy, talk about images and stereotypes....

If I see a band set up to play and the guitarist is using a full-stack, I immediately suspect that he may be compensating for something....like a lack of skill or talent. I know lots of very good guitarists that use half-stacks and so have no suspicions when I see one.

The obverse on that, is that if he's got a combo, I expect some nice playing.

However, I'll give a pass to bass players using an 8x10 fridge. Oh the descrimination!

FWIW, I do have a shirt with a bass clef and the sleeve says Ugly Bass Player. That one never starts any conversations.

 

[Ch0jin]

Oh and something Tig's pic reminded me of (is that a twin supercharged 13B rotary maybe?)

The middle aged guy with the Ferrari cap, t-shirt and key fob.

I'd put better odds on the guy with the Marshall t-shirt and cap owning a guitar than the former owning an Italian masterpiece...

Oh and I'm wearing a Tom Petty t-shirt today, but not because I'm a big fan, mostly just because it says "Sell your computer and buy a guitar" on the front

 

[Tig]

Oh and something Tig's pic reminded me of (is that a twin supercharged 13B rotary maybe?)

That's likely a Chevy 350 small block since it is in a 1972 Nova.

I get a kick out of seeing a "West Coast Choppers" sticker on the back of a car. You know they don't own a $100,000+ motorcycle, so why put the sticker on?

 

[hubberjub]

I don't think anyone would guess that I'm a musician if they saw me. I dress pretty much the same whether I'm at work or on stage. I'm usually wearing a polo shirt and jeans. My band mates refer to me as the yuppie (the Saab convertible doesn't help my image either). I am currently rocking a pretty righteous white guy fro, but that's mostly to annoy my wife.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

However, I'll give a pass to bass players using an 8x10 fridge. Oh the discrimination!

Oh man, I played my '70's SVT (if ONLY I had the matching head!) last night at practice, and it can make even my little 200W Crate head sound good.

I freaking lurve that cab.

 

[NWBasser]

Oh man, I played my '70's SVT (if ONLY I had the matching head!) last night at practice, and it can make even my little 200W Crate head sound good.

I freaking lurve that cab.

Oh sweet cab!

That jazz though! Details??

 

[jpfeifer]

Hi Eric,

To your original post, this is a very interesting topic. I've battled this al ot myself over the years because I've never really had this "guitar" look and I think that it has worked against me to some extent.

I can recall going into music stores during the 80's, when the big hair look was in, I seemed to get ignored due the lack of long hair, etc. People didn't think that I was a serious musician since I didn't have the "look". I've also been with friends watching a band and seen how they react to someone with long hair, making all the right guitar faces, but playing very boring guitar parts, and noticed how the player's look influenced the audience's impression of how well they were playing. Sometimes people listen more with their eyes than with the ears

--Jim

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Oh sweet cab!

That jazz though! Details??

Just a li'l '93 MIM. I picked it up in the late '90's for $250 w/ohsc. Previously owned by a member of the local band 11 Septembers, whom I knew at the time as Crazy Ryan. In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone knew him as that. He lived in a house with Corey from No More, who may also have been in 11 Septembers, which house also doubled, at the time, as Redbeard Studios, as it's third resident was one Rob Van Hoos, who everyone knew as Rob Baker, because he'd been in the band Baker Act (which is a Florida statute for institutionalizing people), and Rob turned the porch into a control room and set up shop there.

It turned out that the name of Rob's former band proved somewhat prophetic for his roommate Ryan. Ryan reportedly went off his meds one weekend and decided late one night to call up the President and say some not very nice things.

The next thing the residents of Redbeard Studio knew, the feds were announcing a search warrant and busting in, leading Ryan away in handcuffs. Although Ryan clearly had not been in his right mind during the initial incident, he ended up incarcerated, reportedly, for a goodly length of time. Probably not convicted of anything due to his mental state, but "under observation for his own good" or something like that, though I'm necessarily guessing.

At any rate during that period some of his friends sold off some of Crazy Ryan's stuff, and the Jazz bass was one of the items they sold. The pickguard is a replacement that is slightly the wrong size, possibly meant for a USA Jazz, as there is a tiny space between it's edge and the chrome control plate. I put a little piece of black paper under it to cover the space and keep dust out.

And that is the story of Crazy Ryan's Jazz Bass.

 

[Ch0jin]

What a great story!