Need help for an upcoming competition (just your opinion)

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I’m gonna participate in a really big cultural fest.

They have a ton of competitions and one of them is for instrumentals.

First round is eliminations. It’s of 3 minutes at most. I’ve to record a video and upload it on their site.

Now, my plan was to open with Staiway to Heaven solo, followed by a really clean tone opening of Ramble on, then the clean pre-chorus and distorted chorus of Ramble On (luckily, the variation of tone on my pickups allow the tone shift to be smooth enough and the tone is right for stairway on the humbucker, clean for the acoustic part of ramble on (it sounds like glitter), and if I play hard enough, it sounds just distorted enough.

I’ve a strat style guitar with HSS setup.

Now the reason I’m asking y’all if this is a solid plan to clear round one is today, my roommate (also an acoustic player (doesn’t like rock much)) says the solo sounds generic and that he can learn it in 3 days time (I tried to teach him to play with a metronome once and it was hell). He wanted me to do something “special”. I asked him over and over what he meant by “special” but he couldn’t clarify. Then he told me that it would impress the judges if I do some flashy stuff like tapping, pinch harmonics, sweep picking (I literally picked up guitar 1.5 years ago and in grade 4 right now).

I kinda have a bias that he’s saying that cuz he’s heard the solo almost everyday in the room and is bored with it and he doesn’t like rock stuff or blues in general (my bro likes jrock) and can only share vibes.

But I don’t wanna be stupid and just let my ego have some part in the decision making process. I should use my brain my mother gave me and think about the things that are right about what he said.

But I feel like my plan is solid since it’s got the rhythm, dynamics, energy, room for breathing and it’s all smooth.

So I’m here for some extra opinions on this.

Thank you,
Shreezn.

2

Well I don’t have any experience of competitions and without knowing more about what sort of thing the judges might be looking for or what sort of music they might prefer it would be difficult to give advice.

However, my gut feeling would be to play what you enjoy and what you feel most comfortable with. So if that’s what you like, why not. You can feel it when people are playing music they love.

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For me something simple played really well is much better than something difficult played badly. Also the stairway solo isn’t that simple - it uses a lot of different techniques, there’s a lot of bends that need to be in tune, vibrato, a lot of muting etc. Play that cleanly and well and you should be proud of yourself.

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All of those techniques you mention can be impressive and fun but if they don’t add up to a cohesive whole then what have you got?

As has been mentioned, I don’t know what the judges are looking for but when you say it’s an instrumental section, aren’t they looking for a tune of some kind, rather than just look at all of these crazy noises my guitar can make? I do think you should do something that you’ve practiced and can play well.

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Srijan

It may be better if you played a complete piece: your current proposed performance is going to sound quite disjointed. As others have said play something that you can play well: far better a good, simple piece than a poor, over-complicated one.

Whatever you decide, good luck and enjoy it!

Brian

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Personally I find the whole idea of music as a competition is nuts. But if it gets you playing and having fun then that’s a win.