When you’re feeling angry, anxious, or just need to release something, how do you use your guitar? Do you go for loud and fast distorted power chords, or do you shred on the lead guitar? Or maybe you use the guitar to calm yourself down?
I usually just chug on the low E until all the bad feelings turn into good feelings
Teal said:
I usually just chug on the low E until all the bad feelings turn into good feelings
This, but tuned down to drop C
Teal said:
I usually just chug on the low E until all the bad feelings turn into good feelings
This, but tuned down to drop C
I call this “Black SabbaTherapy”! lol
Teal said:
I usually just chug on the low E until all the bad feelings turn into good feelings
This might be the best mental health advice I’ve ever heard, and I’m a psychotherapist.
@Lennon
*metal health
Vesper said:
@Lennon
*metal health
Nice
Bluegrass flatpicking
Laine said:
Bluegrass flatpicking
I agree. That style of playing is very physical. A lot of just muscle-ing shit out. Unfortunately it usually means more anger and frustration because I play sloppy as hell the faster I go.
Distorted power chords with the highest output pickups I have. Because I don’t have skills to shred.
Peyton said:
Distorted power chords with the highest output pickups I have. Because I don’t have skills to shred.
It’s funny how people often equate “aggressive” lead playing to shredding, but I don’t often get the feeling of “aggression” from most shredders. Fast lead playing can express energy but pales at conveying aggressive emotions like loud chunky / riffs or chords.
Depends on if it’s more anger or sadness. If I’m angry I’m gonna play fast, loud and hard. If I’m sad I’m gonna grab the acoustic and just let the music flow
Adley said:
Depends on if it’s more anger or sadness. If I’m angry I’m gonna play fast, loud and hard. If I’m sad I’m gonna grab the acoustic and just let the music flow
Me too - funny though how sadness and anger sometimes overlap. In that case, that’s where electric blues works best for me.
Angry metal riffs all the way! My experience is that when I have a specific emotion, it’s better to do something that expresses that emotion. So when I’m angry, happy music makes me even more angry, but angry music that expresses my feelings actually helps me. If I’m sad, happy music makes me also angry, I really need something sad.
I think this is a basic thing in life, we shouldn’t ignore our feelings with contrary emotions. We should let them out, in a controlled way (if you’re angry, trashing your stuff or even worse other people in general is a terrible idea 
) that also acknowledges that.
I like that scene from Inside Out, where one of the characters is really sad (I think it was Bing Bong) and the happy emotion character tries to cheer him up. Obviously that doesn’t work because the sadness isn’t acknowledged. Then the sad emotion character sits and listens to Bing Bong (if I’m not mistaken) and acknowledges the pain. That actually helps.
@Aspen
Well said and something that some people don’t appreciate. Like with Blues, some people say ‘why listen / play to blues when you’re sad - it’s only going to make you more sad’. When you listen to blues (or similar visceral music), it feels like the guy / gal who’s playing understands my pain and if they can work through it so can I! Playing blues is similar. For anger though riffs and power chords work best for me over “aggressive” lead playing.
@Arin
Yeah, same here, even made a melancholy playlist on Spotify (no blues though, think more along the lines of Tori Amos, Neil Young, Sting, Tears for Fears). For angry I just grab some Slayer
I used to play fast thrash and rock n roll riffs and shred and stuff to get it out. Now I doom out or play a few bluesy notes over and over again.
Blues lead. Nothing quite like it!
Play the blues, it’s got a song for everything
For some reason emotional me venting plays Gilmouresque stuff