Ever hear someone play your rig. And it sounds better??

[Monkey Man]

Whilst playing, one's attention is focussed on physical actions and the necessary coordination in response to what one hears.
Whilst listening, your attention is focussed solely on sound / music.

Big difference. That energy that was "wasted" on the physical challenges of playing is thus diverted and added to the appreciation-of-detail side of things when one switches to listening.

It's no different from the differences you notice during conversation - fidgeting or allowing one's self to become distracted as opposed to paying full attention to what's being said by another.

All that said, when anyone else has played any of my rigs through the years, he or she has always sounded better than I, but that's got nothing to do with this perceptual phenomenon and everything to do with the fact that I can't play for shit.

I believe this is the case. More focused on my hands and chord changes I ‘hear’ the song. But more focused on playing it.
Also when my bud played it. We had a drummer and it was kinda nice to hear the rig from a stand by point of view.

And yes. I play like shit as well.

 

[ClintN667]

Its funny you guys talking about recording yourself to see an accurate representation of your playing. For me I've recorded myself and been utterly embarassed then record a video of myself a couple hours later and been actually impressed. I have a ton of weak areas from years of not using a metronome and no theory knowledge but I have been a little more structured lately with practicing(turning down the gain to a light crunch, using the metronome, and actually learning the what and why of the notes I'm playing). Sometimes it sounds great sometimes it sounds like trash.

I've had people who I have enjoyed their playing but when they played on my rig it sounded awful then I have had people who have played my rig that made it sound better than I ever could have. We tailor our gear around our playing strengths and weakness. Some guys just have it no matter what they play on.. I am not one of those guys. I typically enjoy hearing my rig in other peoples hands though. It either highlights what I need to change in my setup or what I need to change in my playing but every now and then the planets line up to just make you proud of your rig.

 

[Giga.Blast]

Just wondering if anyone else experienced this?

Yup, right here.

When I go to my cousin's house where my Father's sister lives, and my Aunt makes me my favorite baloney and cheese sandwich, it always tastes way better than when I personally make it for myself at my home.

 

[rottingcorpse]

Just wondering if anyone else experienced this?

Yup, right here.

When I go to my cousin's house where my Father's sister lives, and my Aunt makes me my favorite baloney and cheese sandwich, it always tastes way better than when I personally make it for myself at my home.

That's because your aunt makes that sandwich with love. You're just slapping one together to eat something.

Nobody drives my truck better than me. Nobody sound better than me on my guitar rig. And nobody has EVER given me a better hand job than me. NOBODY!!!!

 

[Monkey Man]

... except Dan, of course.

 

[sytharnia1560]

EVERY SINGLE TIME ANYONE PLAYS MY RIG

the worst one is I was jamming with a guy who had a mesa V30 cab and he told me to plug my EVH into it. I then told him how much I hate V30 but why not give it a go ...... after I had picked my jaw up off the ground at how GREAT it sounded all I could say was "shit"

I later found out the Mesa use "special" V30 in their cabs so I didn't feel so bad

 

[Monkey Man]

 

[Mailman1971]

Marty does give the best hand Jobs.
Truckers across the USA will contest.
I’ve got close. But Magic Fingers Martin...
Best there is.
Won the nationals the last 8 years.

 

[Monkey Man]