Who here has tried playing guitar like Billie Joe from the Dookie tour?

[Ash-517]

You know, the whole "arm pumping, string abusing, power stance" kinda thing. I only really play this style on my old Squier Bullet Strat I got when I was 11. My Les Paul is too pricey to risk damaging . It is fun, but very tiring, and somewhat inaccurate (easy to miss strings or the whole guitar altogether). Does anyone else here play like this occasionally? Regularly?

[Todd]

I only play guitar sitting down, so no  

Oh god, is it weird that I do that? Now I'm a little self-conscious 

[Emilie]

1 hour ago, Todd said:

I only play guitar sitting down, so no  

Oh god, is it weird that I do that? Now I'm a little self-conscious 

 

Haha I could only ever play sitting down too. Tried standing up a few times but it felt weird!

[greendepent]

Just sometimes. Is a very energy demanding stance. I don't deny that powerchords feel awesome, but making solos gets harder. Also, my back doesn't help too much on it

[KGLWW]

2 hours ago, Todd said:

I only play guitar sitting down, so no  

Oh god, is it weird that I do that? Now I'm a little self-conscious 

Yes, you're the only one  

[Grinch]

4 hours ago, Todd said:

I only play guitar sitting down, so no  

Oh god, is it weird that I do that? Now I'm a little self-conscious 

I don't have any space in my house to stand and play guitar so I play best sitting at my computer desk which is like 99.9% of the time

[Beerjeezus]

I usually play sitting down too

I am convinced he must be using magic to play like this.

[Clean Cut Asshole]

8 hours ago, Todd said:

I only play guitar sitting down, so no  

Oh god, is it weird that I do that? Now I'm a little self-conscious 

No need to feel self-conscious, man! I started out playing sitting down exclusively, but I started practicing playing while standing up a little later and now I do just fine with that! I'm at a point now where I feel like I play a bit more accurately if I'm sitting down, but I put much more energy into it if I'm standing up! So, yeah... lol

In regards to the actual topic, I'm not sure. When I'm standing up and playing, I don't really think about what stance I'm in and how hard I hit the strings and what not.  I just do what comes natural, I guess, whatever that is. lol

[Joe.]

10 hours ago, Todd said:

I only play guitar sitting down, so no  

Oh god, is it weird that I do that? Now I'm a little self-conscious 

If you set you strap so the guitars at the same height as when you're sat down, so your arms are at the same position as when sat, that should help.

[MillenniumFan]

I usually practice guitar when sat down. However, when I play with my band, I obviously play standing. So, I've started to practice guitar standing from time to time too, simply because that makes adjusting to a standing position for concert appearances less awkward 

[TimmyChunks]

Yeah, of course!!! This is how I learned how to play guitar 25 years ago- emulating his style and trying to be him at the time. It's a really therapeutic way to play...I got really into music thanks to these guys and while my equipment and style evolved into a more traditional approach over time (now my main setup is a Les Paul though Marshall) I still have my own version of Blue (Squier strat with stickers all over, pick marks all over the body) readily available and play the hell out of it on occasion. There's nothing like occasionally picking up a guitar and chainsawing it...what an incredible style had at the time. Another example of Billie innovating....

[tomdsjames]

I nearly always play in that stance 😂 It's much more fun!  Unless it's late and I'm trying to be quiet then I'll just play sitting down without an amp.  But if I'm playing during the day I'll really go for it, especially anything pre-Warning.

Saying that I've been playing since I was in school and started as a bass player so don't think I always played like that, though it's been that long I can't really remember when I started (I'm making myself feel old trying to remember)

[pieterv]

I'm slowly working on being able to play like that because it's just to much fun to throw that much energy into it.

It is harder to play like that though.

[TimmyChunks]

17 hours ago, pieterv said:

I'm slowly working on being able to play like that because it's just to much fun to throw that much energy into it.

It is harder to play like that though.

Totally harder! But when done right (with the thumb striking to strings along with the pick like Billie does too) the sound it generates is unmistakable- definitely a unique and great way to play rhythm guitar, and the only way to do it when trying to capture the Dookie/ Insomniac/ Kerplunk sound. You can never do those albums true justice without playing them with this style.

[GDRemastered]

Me hahaha. And my neck hurts after I do it

[Joe.]

3 hours ago, TimmyChunks said:

Totally harder! But when done right (with the thumb striking to strings along with the pick like Billie does too) the sound it generates is unmistakable- definitely a unique and great way to play rhythm guitar, and the only way to do it when trying to capture the Dookie/ Insomniac/ Kerplunk sound. You can never do those albums true justice without playing them with this style.

Did Billie-Joe record them playing like this? I think the same sound can be achieved by striking the strings hard in any way, but this is a fun way to play.

[TimmyChunks]

19 hours ago, JoeFrusciante said:

Did Billie-Joe record them playing like this? I think the same sound can be achieved by striking the strings hard in any way, but this is a fun way to play.

That is a great question. I would love it if an interviewer or fan asked this at some point! I don't know the answer- I'd guess he probably didn't record in exactly the same manic style that he used to play live, but like you said, he was likely striking the strings with somewhat similar force with the same pick grip. He probably wasn't standing with Blue slung around mid thigh and thrashing away, but he definitely was playing pretty aggressively during the Dookie recordings.

Another question that I wish I had asked at one point and never did- where else/ how much has he recorded with Blue? As in, was this the only guitar on Dookie/ Insomniac and the earlier albums, and was it ever used on any later recordings (I don't think it was ever used in recording Nimrod or any of the more recent albums, but this is just what I've picked up from interviews here and there and isn't completely definitive. Perhaps someone else on the board knows).

[WhiteTim]

1 hour ago, TimmyChunks said:

That is a great question. I would love it if an interviewer or fan asked this at some point! I don't know the answer- I'd guess he probably didn't record in exactly the same manic style that he used to play live, but like you said, he was likely striking the strings with somewhat similar force with the same pick grip. He probably wasn't standing with Blue slung around mid thigh and thrashing away, but he definitely was playing pretty aggressively during the Dookie recordings.

Another question that I wish I had asked at one point and never did- where else/ how much has he recorded with Blue? As in, was this the only guitar on Dookie/ Insomniac and the earlier albums, and was it ever used on any later recordings (I don't think it was ever used in recording Nimrod or any of the more recent albums, but this is just what I've picked up from interviews here and there and isn't completely definitive. Perhaps someone else on the board knows).

The last recording of blue in studio was 21st CB in GW He mentioned using Blue and several others for layering useage 

Nimrod would be the last to be an all Blue album as he mentioned it was during the Nimrod tour he started using the Juniors 

Minority may have been done on Blue since he uses Blue in the video as opposed to the Juniors being used in the other videos 

[St. Jonny]

I always do that when playing old school pre American Idiot Green Day with the band. I find it does help to get that proper striking sound once it's nicely perfected. It's a one of a kind style, Billie is amazing.

[Ash-517]

On 5/23/2017 at 3:18 AM, crock6000 said:

Do you mean how he still plays? Granted he emphasized it more in the earlier days but he still plays the power chord down and up strum method with the head nods.

The KYE video isn't the best one to compare but the style is basically the same.

Here. Pretty much exact same style as above.

 

 

I noticed he seems to play less violently in the music videos. I was more referring to Jaded In Chicago and Woodstock '94, where he was absolutely destroying Blue with his play style (probably because he was on meth).

[TimmyChunks]

3 hours ago, Ash-517 said:

I noticed he seems to play less violently in the music videos. I was more referring to Jaded In Chicago and Woodstock '94, where he was absolutely destroying Blue with his play style (probably because he was on meth).

I very much remember seeing video of the show but had forgotten about the context- I've never taken meth myself, and I can't imagine the mindset of being 22 years old, a huge rock star, and playing a show while on meth. What a brain explosion that must have been. I say this a lot but wow...how lucky are we they're still around? That was just a recipe for disaster. Somehow they went on to create more great music (Insomniac) while still in that phase and then we all saw what happened after that....wow.

[Shtrudel]

Overall it works for me well enough. I actually struggle to keep up with down-strokes palm-muting. Damn I'm a scrub.

[TimmyChunks]

10 hours ago, crock6000 said:

Certainly crosstops (amphetamines) which was his drug of choice back in the day, not meth had a lot to do with his style. I do agree but he hasn't removed the style he's played his whole life when he went sober.

Im not saying he's never done meth but amphetamines is not meth and was his drug. It's what he's talking about in Brain Stew.

Good insight.  I just took the Geek Stink Breath lyrics at face value and had never thought too much about their early day craziness...so it wasn't a big deal to me, but that's definitely a good clarifier for the record and the forum. I always took the lyrics of Ashley and GSB at face value and assumed the early day drug of preference was meth related but then again I don't know the difference between regular amphetamines and meth nor did I really care, but I'm glad you clarified since I don't want to be inaccurate either! Thanks.

[Clean Cut Asshole]

On 5/22/2017 at 6:54 PM, TimmyChunks said:

That is a great question. I would love it if an interviewer or fan asked this at some point! I don't know the answer- I'd guess he probably didn't record in exactly the same manic style that he used to play live, but like you said, he was likely striking the strings with somewhat similar force with the same pick grip. He probably wasn't standing with Blue slung around mid thigh and thrashing away, but he definitely was playing pretty aggressively during the Dookie recordings.

Another question that I wish I had asked at one point and never did- where else/ how much has he recorded with Blue? As in, was this the only guitar on Dookie/ Insomniac and the earlier albums, and was it ever used on any later recordings (I don't think it was ever used in recording Nimrod or any of the more recent albums, but this is just what I've picked up from interviews here and there and isn't completely definitive. Perhaps someone else on the board knows).

I'm pretty sure Castaway was recorded with Blue! That's my guess, at least, since Billie has pretty much always kept the original Blue down a half step and Castaway is a half-step down.

[TimmyChunks]

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 11:27 PM, Big Cheese said:

I'm pretty sure Castaway was recorded with Blue! That's my guess, at least, since Billie has pretty much always kept the original Blue down a half step and Castaway is a half-step down.

I like it- great post! For the last ten minutes I've been listening to those opening chords (that awesome clean/ dirty mix) and trying to figure out whether it could be Blue or a Les Paul Jr. run through a Marshall stack. I don't have a definitive answer but thanks for making the mentally listen to it and think about it- great question!

The guitar mix on Warning is beautiful, and those 3 chords 2x through at the beginning of Castaway have always been amongst my favorite GD guitar riffs.