I agree that emulating a player often is fruitless for one's own creativity, but not necessarily. I chose my main guitar, an SG, because I loved Tony Iommi, the clean sound of a Gibson (Inadvertent because my love for clean tone came from Peter Buck), and because it's not commonly used as a Strat or LP. If I had gotten my way in the beginning, I would be playing a Rickenbacker 360 with a Vox or Fender amp. I didn't plan on emulating Peter's playing; just his sound for my own purposes. I'm not sure if I would have written the same songs I had I gotten the Ric.indianation65 wrote:Let's see, how can I put this without evoking a bit of revolt...there isn't a way, so I'll just quick draw. To continually try to "sound" like another player, a famous player is complimentary to that player, but not oneself. Find your sound and write your own songs. That is the key, unless playing covers is the goal; and I'm not knocking playing covers. I loved singing Driver 8, Blood and Roses and Born to be Wild while back in college.
Addendum: I hope Mr. Buck does not continue to be a hired gun in other buddy's bands. I hope he starts his own, possibly joining forces with J. Marr, who has a habit of doing the same thing. They are my faves. Besides, I know someone who'd love to offer vocals.
Addendum II: I don't remember the year of comment, but I believe it was Andy Summers who mentioned no taste for alternate tuning. He said there is enough to learn and use in standard; pretty decent thinking...for some.
...wisdom
The fact that I lusted after a Ric like Peter's, and then sold it not even a year later, definitely makes people around here raise their eye-brows. The thing that I discovered while spending over two years trying to crack open Richard Thompson's style not only included the death of THREE Strats, but also the knowledge that I and no one else can sound just like Richard. When I got the Ric, I expected to sound in the ball-park of Peter Buck. No dice. Not only do I play REM songs in my own way, but I play guitar in general my own way. After seven or so years, there's no way to escape that.
But, if I could buy all the things I needed to emulate Peter, I WOULD. Why? Because when I'm behind closed doors, I can be any player I want to be.
The same goes for anyone else. When Peter is at home, do you think he plays like he's in REM? I doubt it. 
) I won't be upset, because I don't try to sound like Peter. As I stated I ended up with .011 because it's comfy playing. When I play a song I tweak around until I have found a sound I like, which might not be close to the original at all. Still, it is beneficial to search for the same sound as Peter, as one does find other sounds one might like which you wouldn't have found otherwise. 
