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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: The Joker on 15 Apr 2009, 11:40
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Pretty straightforward - who is your absolute favourite guitarist? Please include the song you think best showcases their skills.
Mine is Jeff Healey - See The Light.
Edit: I just realized I can't pick just one. So I'll limit it to three guitarists. Same goes for songs.
So also: Slash - Sweet Child O' Mine
and Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze and Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
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George Lynch- the song that probably best showcases his skill is "Mr. Scary," but I think his best attribute is his tone.
Nuno Bettencourt- "It (s a Monster), great sense of rhythm, plus the fact that he's all over the place on all their songs. It sounds like he's got four hands. Oh, and the crazy string skipping run at the end of the solo.
Andy Timmons- Can play literally EVERY style as good as the best in that genre. I like his "ballad" pieces, in that he gets literally every amount of emotion out of every note. Best song would either be "Cry for You," or "Resolution."
It was really harder for me to choose a particular SONG, rather than guitarist. I've always kinda found that I like a particular guitarist for the sum of their work, not a singular "best" song.
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Mark Ribot. Basically the king guitarist of the downtown New York scene. Free jazz to lounge to klezmer to hardcore? Yes, please.
Agata (Melt-Banana). Dude sounds like Robert Fripp conducting a battalion of Tom Morellos.
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Jimi Hendrix- Little Wing
J.D. Chronise- The Black River
Eric Clapton WITH George Harrison: BADGE (Them together is superior than either apart)
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Steve Howe. There isn't any one song I think that displays him at his best, because there is simply *so much* he can do. Basically, listen to all of the Fragile album, and you'll have some idea I guess? He cuts loose more on the live stuff though. The guy is incredible.
John McLaughlin - Dawn. Basically the guy just had insane chops, he was ahead of his time in terms of sheer technical ability. And he knew how to craft a bitchin' guitar solo. Also, he wrote some pretty awesome music in general.
Neil Young. I can't think of any song in particular for why I love Neil Young's guitarwork, maybe Cortez the Killer? Basically, the guy is just the master of the simple song. Sloppy, ugly, simplistic guitar work, but goddamn he makes it sound so good.
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Jason Becker - Altitudes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGzGPSN_9cU). Incredible talent, feeling. Even more incredible composer.
Derek Trucks - Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N65cP52NC8s) - is keeping slide guitar as alive and awesome as it was when Duane was playing, while adding some extra spice (curry?)
Anders Björler (At the Gates) - Cold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzLhT39DSE0). Melodic death metal perfection.
and more recently:
Misha Mansoor (Bulb/Periphery) (listen) (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=147108&songID=7044899) - one of the first guys I heard that incorporated the addictive elements of polyrythmic metal a la Meshuggah, and added much more melody, coherence, and ambience with his own style. The result is incredibly rich, complex, and beautiful music.
Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders) (listen) (http://www.myspace.com/animalsasleaders) - along the same lines as Misha, except more jazz influenced, and with more eight-string guitar
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Jason Becker - Altitudes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGzGPSN_9cU). Incredible talent, feeling. Even more incredible composer.
Amen, I should have put him in there. The fact that he still composes amazing music with only the use of his eyes makes me feel like I should try and get as much as I can out of life. Truly amazing.
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Derek Trucks
Agreed. I'm going to see him in Winnipeg and damn I am excited.
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I am a fan of Victor Villareal
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and Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
Whenever I see this song title, I picture Augusto Pinochet making potions out of chicken blood and sticking pins into dolls of Karl Marx.
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If I have to limit it to three:
Andres Segovia
Liona Boyd
Alirio Diaz
Then there are the Romeros, and others...
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Limiting it to three is really shitkicking me, but after giving it some thought:
1. Brent Mason, Nashville session guitarist
2. Whoever the fuck was axe-slinging for CAKE when they recorded Nugget
3. Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse
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Victor Villareal
Sir Richard Bishop (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEBCpzT-VUQ) and Andy Cohen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdUJioYWcqg#t=2m48s)
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A lot of my favorite guitarists acted in two, so I'll do my favorite three pairs of guitarists and three individual guitarists:
Teams
1. Ian MacKaye/Guy Picciotto (Fugazi)
2. Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth)
3. Jeff Mueller/Sean Meadows (June of 44)
Individuals
1. Andy Cohen (SKWM)
2. Payam Bavafa (Sholi)
3. Justin Trosper (Unwound)
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Joe Satriani defnitely... can't think of a definitive song though. Summer Song, If I Could Fly, House of Bullets, perhaps
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A lot of my favorite guitarists acted in two, so I'll do my favorite three pairs of guitarists and three individual guitarists:
Teams
1. Ian MacKaye/Guy Picciotto (Fugazi)
2. Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth)
3. Jeff Mueller/Sean Meadows (June of 44)
Yup. Most bands I listen to specifically because I like the guitar sound have at least two guitarists.
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Yeah I probably should've mentioned Sam Zurick along with Villareal
Oh I forgot to mention Spencer Seim from Hella
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Jimi Hendrix. I don't care if he's most people or if stupid magazines like Rolling Stone all him the best, I've loved the man since I first heard "Voodoo Child" when I was 12. He just wrote some awesome songs and sang them passionately, all while playing some pretty kick-ass guitar. That's good enough for me.
A more recent one would probabl be Johnny Greenwood. He manages to do a bunch of cool shit with the instrument, even if a lot of is is through effects.
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Taka Goto.
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Andy Cohen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdUJioYWcqg#t=2m48s), Sir Richard Bishop (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEBCpzT-VUQ), and Victor Villareal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCYHPAPso7A).
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Copycat :P
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Hmmm, 3 ehh
Lindsey Buckingham - I'm so afraid
Neil Young - Down by the River
David Gilmour - Um, I can't really pick a song. Maybe "Dogs" or "shine on you crazy diamond"
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Copycat :P
Perhaps there is an "obvious three" answer to this question we can use universally. ;)
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In no particular order
Marty Friedman - Devil Take Tomorrow, or Tornado Of Souls. Both pieces of music display him at his best.
Jason Becker- Let me second Altitudes. Fuck yeah.
Arkadius (and Marcel, although he left) of SuidAkrA - Dead Man's Reel. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3SXa0hnJrE) Celtic melody. <3
Syu - The Awakening. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znsw9e2qUfU) This guy is a god amongst shredders. Melodious, interesting and lightning-quick.
Also, this thread is a horrible idea.
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this thread is a horrible idea.
Thanks for supporting it anyway!
Joe Satriani defnitely... can't think of a definitive song though. Summer Song, If I Could Fly, House of Bullets, perhaps
YES. Saw him in late 2008 and was blown away. And Mountain was opening, so for the final encore, Leslie West and him did an epic guitar duel.
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Johnny Ramone.
And Wata.
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Mikael Åkerfeldt - Bleak OR Blackwater Park live at the Roundhouse.
John Petrucci - The Instrumedley.
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Limiting it to three is really shitkicking me, but after giving it some thought:
1. Brent Mason, Nashville session guitarist
2. Whoever the fuck was axe-slinging for CAKE when they recorded Nugget
3. Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse
I like Cake, but Axe-slinging with Cake is like mixing an acid and base.
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YES. Saw him in late 2008 and was blown away. And Mountain was opening, so for the final encore, Leslie West and him did an epic guitar duel.
That sounds amazing
I must find a way to watch that
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i can pick three (in no order, as I'd probably place them as equals), but it's more due to their strengths as songwriters rather than plain showboating...
1. J. Robbins (Jawbox/Rollkicker Laydown/Burning Airlines/Channels)
Dude kinda plays somewhere between rhythm and lead, but always goes with strange kinda lines that really work well but always make you think "well, shit, i'd NEVER have thought to do THAT!" i guess i'll choose the song that got me into his work, "Outside the Aviary" by Burning Airlines. Nothing spectacular, I just like how he takes what could have been a straight forward poppy punk song and puts that post-hardcore twist on it, doing riffs that kinda start off as rhythmic chords and then go off on tangents. And you could pretty much sing along to the guitar lines in this song.
2. Devin Townsend (The Devin Townsend Band/Strapping Young Lad)
I'd say Devin is the definitive metal guitarist if you're looking for an all-rounder. Knuckle tight rhythms, brilliant solos (but not overdone), and in his solo stuff he's able to create massive walls of beautiful atmosphere with just a guitar. And as a producer, he's got a great mind for layering guitars for ultimate effect, whilst retaining the ability to pull it off live. For the best example of all his abilities, try "Wrong Side" by Strapping Young Lad.
3. Ginger (The Wildhearts/solo stuff)
When somebody first described Guns N Roses to me, they said they were a combination of 80s metal, proper metal, and punk rock with a bit of a glam twist. I felt VERY let down when I finally did hear them. However, The Wildhearts (who I discovered much later) were making the exact sound I had in my head upon hearing that description. Ginger has always been the main songwriter, and his mind for riffs and melodies, as well as slightly odd rhythms, is second to none. Nobody writes huge chunky-yet-melodic riffs like this guy, and his occasional forays into solos are pretty impressive too. His solo stuff is often a little less guitar-centric, but even the less in-yer-face guitar parts are still remarkably well written. For the best examples of his work, I'd go with "Sky Babies" (a 11+ minutes Wildhearts song about aliens (in a non-cheesy-sci-fi-nerd way) packed with giant riffs and guitar melodies), and his solo track "Black Windows" which somehow marries Police-style guitar parts with a strangely mid-peroid-Megadeth-esque instrumental section.
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I defiantly agree with Neil Young.
Jimi Hendrix is also up there, along with Tom. S. Englund from the Evergrey.
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Tom. S. Englund from the Evergrey.
Tom is amazing, but I think the duo of him and Henrik Danhage is much stronger.
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Tommy Emmanuel
Angelina
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David Gilmour is the biggest influence on me, mainly because he taught me that you don't need to play fast to play well and that melody is important.
Graham Coxon does some crazy things with his guitars and so is a large influence. Also one of the first I saw playing a black Telecaster, which I wanted since then.
Larry Hibbitt, the second Telecaster Messiah, fucks around with his tunings so much and his interplay with the other guitarist in Hundred Reasons is an example of a guitarist who plays what is necessary for the song, not what is necessary for their own ego.
Sonic Youth also fuck about with their guitars and effects and a LOT of feedback, which I like.
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Ah, I remembered a local guy who impresses the hell out of me: Rob Hinkal of ilyAIMY. He does some amazingly fast stuff with acoustic guitars. If you're in the Baltimore/DC area, ilyAIMY's probably playing an open mic or small venue near you in the next few months. Check 'em out, they're well worth it.
Some amateur video of live shows:
"Storm" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9vo2hmVrtg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9vo2hmVrtg)
"We Can Work It Out" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KB3rQ3ArvE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KB3rQ3ArvE)
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Limiting it to three is really shitkicking me, but after giving it some thought:
1. Brent Mason, Nashville session guitarist
2. Whoever the fuck was axe-slinging for CAKE when they recorded Nugget
3. Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse
I like Cake, but Axe-slinging with Cake is like mixing an acid and base.
Mixing acids and bases is awesome dude so I hope you were comparing and not contrasting.
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Jack Rose
Josh Homme
Tony Iommi
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I'll pick Mark Knopfler, because I think he's the most complete guitarist to whom I regularly listen. I don't think I can pick a single song that "showcases" his skills. They all do!
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Stefan Koglek -- cuz I sing along to his melodies and don't really do that for any other band
Matthieu Marcotte -- cuz he dares to dream (of conspiracy theories).
Kyle Gass -- cuz fuck you.
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Allan Holdsworth >>>>>>>>>>> Everything
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I enjoy the work of J Mascis.
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Limiting it to three is really shitkicking me, but after giving it some thought:
1. Brent Mason, Nashville session guitarist
2. Whoever the fuck was axe-slinging for CAKE when they recorded Nugget
3. Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse
I like Cake, but Axe-slinging with Cake is like mixing an acid and base.
Mixing acids and bases is awesome dude so I hope you were comparing and not contrasting.
I'm just saying your figure of speech doesn't really match the style of the band in question.
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Tom. S. Englund from the Evergrey.
Tom is amazing, but I think the duo of him and Henrik Danhage is much stronger.
I totally agree with this post.
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Steve Howe-Really, anything. The guy is amazing.
David Gilmour-Comfortably Numb, Dogs, or SOYCD
Alex Lifeson-Limelight or Freewill
Steve Rothery-Sugar Mice
John Petrucci-Under a Glass Moon
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My opinions on anything music related will change with the week, but lately if I had to pick a few...
John Petrucci - Acid Rain, or most of Scenes From A Memory (particularly Home)
Tom Morello - anything from Rage's s/t or Battle of Los Angeles
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Stefan Koglek
This
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I enjoy the work of J Mascis.
Seconded.
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Top Three:
1. Jonny Greenwood - Radiohead
2. Joey Santiago - Pixies
3. John Dietrich - Deerhoof
Reverb-minimalist-oddguys!
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1. J. Robbins (Jawbox/Rollkicker Laydown/Burning Airlines/Channels)
Dude kinda plays somewhere between rhythm and lead, but always goes with strange kinda lines that really work well but always make you think "well, shit, i'd NEVER have thought to do THAT!" i guess i'll choose the song that got me into his work, "Outside the Aviary" by Burning Airlines. Nothing spectacular, I just like how he takes what could have been a straight forward poppy punk song and puts that post-hardcore twist on it, doing riffs that kinda start off as rhythmic chords and then go off on tangents. And you could pretty much sing along to the guitar lines in this song.
Totally agreed. Also, Allen Epley from Shiner/The Life and Times for similar reasons.
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Allan Holdsworth >>>>>>>>>>> Everything
He's a great guitarist, but he's not the best, hands-down. He's certainly up there, though.
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Steve Howe. There isn't any one song I think that displays him at his best, because there is simply *so much* he can do. Basically, listen to all of the Fragile album, and you'll have some idea I guess? He cuts loose more on the live stuff though. The guy is incredible.
Relayer and Close to the Edge are both pretty good exhibitions of his work, methinks. Even if The Gates of Delirium just will not fucking end ever
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My two all-time favorites have to be Isaac Brock and Ronald Jones.
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Top Three:
1. Jonny Greenwood - Radiohead
2. Joey Santiago - Pixies
3. John Dietrich - Deerhoof
Reverb-minimalist-oddguys!
Hi thank you for making my post for me
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Robert Pollard
Jason Pierce
Anton Newcombe (not kidding)
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bump for Paul Masvidal
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I've been giving this a lot of thought lately, and I can't peg one. I like such WIDE varieties of music, and no one seems to do them all. Karl Sanders is great at what he does, and Stevie Ray Vaughan was great at what he did, but the two aren't really comparable.
Thinking about it, the only guitarist I can think of that has enough variety (bluegrass; hard rock; blues; Eastern) for me would probably be Jimmy Page, but he has many issues with timing as I've heard.
So I will ponder this further. Constantly. I will lie on my deathbed, surrounded by my loved ones, my insides rotting out, listening to an iPod going, "Dammit, this guy sucks, too!" and my wife will be telling me she loves me and I'll tell her not now, I'm busy, and then I'll die, still unsatisfied with my lack of knowledge...
Or not.
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Page can have perfect timing if he feels like it. But during his ridiculously fast solos, he just doesn't give a shit. See also: Hendrix.
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That's the problem. During his ridiculously fast solos, he doesn't have the same structure. It sounds good at times, but sometimes (See: Heartbreaker) it just feels sloppy.
As for Hendrix...I have a best of and Band of Gypsys, and that's pretty much all I need. Most of his other stuff can get sort of 'eh' at times.
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(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9764/dicklls.jpg)
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An old dude that looks kickass, so what?
(Who is that?)
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bump for Paul Masvidal
The world needs more Cynic fans.
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That's Dick Dale. The speed-picking surf rock guy. He's pretty good I guess.
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Okay, which one is this guy?
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Cynic is a great band, but Paul Masvidal is not my favorite guitarist. Actually, since Kyle Gass was more of a joke than anything else, Paul is my third pick. Even if only for Focus.
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I like Kyle Gass. :|
I just think Jack Black annoying.
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I think Jack Black awesome.
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Robert Pollard
What? Pollard's a fantastic songwriter but I don't think you could say he's a great guitarist. He hardly even plays it.
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bump for Paul Masvidal
Yeah, pretty much an amazing guitarist, but I've never listened to the Æon Spoke albums, do you know if those are any good?
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I think Jack Black awesome.
Guys, I just accidentally the whole sentence.
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FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
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-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
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-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK Dick Dale is awesome. He basically took a Lebanese wedding song and turned it into an American rock classic.
And he did this several times.
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'some old guy'
(http://majorlyenglish.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/seagal8.jpg)
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This thread is now about:
(http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/b9vfl4b63jg315kpycprpLfRo1_401.gif)
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'some old guy'
(http://majorlyenglish.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/seagal8.jpg)
Man, I never really realized how much he looks like Steven Seagal. Maybe it's just this picture...
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Darcy Hancock!
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Dick Dale, Mark Knopfler, J. Mascis, and Jason Pierce have all been mentioned and have all had an amazing influence on me.
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That's the problem. During his ridiculously fast solos, he doesn't have the same structure. It sounds good at times, but sometimes (See: Heartbreaker) it just feels sloppy.
The album version of "Heartbreaker" was done in one take. Listen to it live, the timing is much better (say, on "How the West Was Won").
Page- Achilles Last Stand
J Mascis- Feel the Pain
Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys)- My Mind Is Ramblin', Stack Shot Billy, Heavy Soul
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I'm glad people are saying Jimi Hendrix. Normally it's all "He's so overrated blah blah blah"
I'd go for Jimi Hendrix-Little Wing
My favourite song and the guitar playing is just amazing.
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Yeah, my brother is like that about a lot of stuff that - in my opinion - isn't overrated, it's actually just that good. Including Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin.
To be honest, I have no idea what kind of music he actually likes, now that I think about it. (Eric Clapton but not Jimi Hendrix? What the hell?)
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I'm glad people are saying Jimi Hendrix. Normally it's all "He's so overrated blah blah blah"
He is overrated.
It doesn't stop him from being an awesome musician at all, but the sheer amount of worship that goes on is ludicrous. Especially when people worship his lead work when it was his rhythm work that was more innovative and interesting. I'd argue that contemporaries like Page, Blackmore and Iommi were better lead players.
Mmm. It was definitely Hendrix's rhythms that made him great.
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Django Reinhardt - His rhythms and counterpoint would stump most guitarists these days to no end.
Robbie Krieger - Easily the most underrated guitarist of the sixties; He was so varied and excellent on every Doors cut.
Robert Fripp - Sheer innovation = win
Johnny Marr - Amazing pop music.
Honorary mention to Mikael Akerfeldt, who is a damn good guitarist, and a lot better of a composer.
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I'm glad people are saying Jimi Hendrix. Normally it's all "He's so overrated blah blah blah"
He is overrated.
It doesn't stop him from being an awesome musician at all, but the sheer amount of worship that goes on is ludicrous. Especially when people worship his lead work when it was his rhythm work that was more innovative and interesting. I'd argue that contemporaries like Page, Blackmore and Iommi were better lead players.
Mmm. It was definitely Hendrix's rhythms that made him great.
And you are now one of the people ledhendrix is talking about. Congratulations.
Try the solo from "The Wind Cries Mary" if you want innovative and interesting lead work. For a while near the end he goes off on these other chords never heard in the song before or after that little solo bit. Also, he broke new ground in recording technique, effects, etc.
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Try the solo from "The Wind Cries Mary" if you want innovative and interesting lead work. For a while near the end he goes off on these other chords never heard in the song before or after that little solo bit.
Ooh yay, somebody doing what Mozart already did centuries before. I'm with Alex, Hendrix's rhythms made him a genius. His effects were stunning, but he revolutionized rhythm guitar from going "strum strum strum strum" to, well, "Little Wing".
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Hendrix's rhythms made him a genius. His effects were stunning, but he revolutionized rhythm guitar from going "strum strum strum strum" to, well, "Little Wing".
QFT.
See also Castles Made of Sand.
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And you are now one of the people ledhendrix is talking about. Congratulations.
Which is fine, because he didn't say anything negative about them, as such.
Try the solo from "The Wind Cries Mary" if you want innovative and interesting lead work. For a while near the end he goes off on these other chords never heard in the song before or after that little solo bit. Also, he broke new ground in recording technique, effects, etc.
Fun fact: Some of his effects innovations were borrowed from Frank Zappa. Hendrix never claimed otherwise, but the "LOL BEST GIITAREST EVAR" hype ensures that Hendrix is generally credited.
Hell, while we're talking about Hendrix's flaws as a musician, he consistently lamented the fact that he couldn't make the music in his head come out on guitar, so what you hear is a compromise between his ideas and what his experience with guitar allowed him to do.
I say all this as someone who has studied Hendrix's music and has great love for much of it. Hendrix is overrated as hell. So is Page. And Clapton. And Slash. In fact, reaching that level of fame almost ensures, by default, that one is overrated. It's because a musician can only be overrated in comparison to the ratings of other musicians. So, while there is a quantity of unknown guitarists that match or surpass any of these players, they remain overrated.
A common argument goes along the lines of "If they were really that good, they'd be well-known", which is crock because the music industry hasn't been meritocratic for decades. Given, when these guitarists rose to fame, they were almost peerless. Times have changed, however. Give a passionate teenager a half-decent guitar, a broadband internet connection and five years. They very well might have a similar amount of technical skill as any of those guitarists and lack only in experience and (arguable) amounts of musicality.
And that's a part of what I love about the guitar community these days. There are arrogant fools who place all their ego in the instrument and belittle the playing of others whenever possible, but there's an army of kids out there that don't care about anything but rocking as hard and as skillfully as possible. When the current teenage generation hits their late 20s-40s, we are going to see some amazing shit hitting the fan.
Hendrix is just one of the action potentials that set this off. With free music on the rise and renewed interest in highly technical and innovative playing, we have a lot to look forward to. There just has to be a difference between appreciation and the old school and worshipping it.
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Yeah I'd agree with that. I do agree that all these classic guitarists are pretty overrated, they are excellent but the worshipping thing does get annoying. I think I was more trying to say that I don't like it when people completely disregard these people as waaaaay overrated and don't even give them a chance, saying there are much better guitarists today. Those guys were innovators rather than just being purely technically brilliant. I think MadassAlex has pretty much hit the nail on the head with what he's said.
I also agree with they rhythm thing, Hendrix's lead, whilst fantastic a lot of the time, can be pretty wank. His rhythm is what really makes me go "Oooooh". Although saying that some of his solo's do the same thing.
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Marty McFly!
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I can certainly share sentiments that certain old guitarists are overrated.
That said, favorite guitarists:
J Mascis
Doug Martsch
Tom Verlaine
Andy Cohen
Thurston Moore/Lee Renaldo
Joey Santiago
Ira Kaplan
I think that's most of them.
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Fun fact: Some of his effects innovations were borrowed from Frank Zappa. Hendrix never claimed otherwise, but the "LOL BEST GIITAREST EVAR" hype ensures that Hendrix is generally credited.
Hell, while we're talking about Hendrix's flaws as a musician, he consistently lamented the fact that he couldn't make the music in his head come out on guitar, so what you hear is a compromise between his ideas and what his experience with guitar allowed him to do.
...
A common argument goes along the lines of "If they were really that good, they'd be well-known", which is crock because the music industry hasn't been meritocratic for decades. Given, when these guitarists rose to fame, they were almost peerless. Times have changed, however. Give a passionate teenager a half-decent guitar, a broadband internet connection and five years. They very well might have a similar amount of technical skill as any of those guitarists and lack only in experience and (arguable) amounts of musicality.
You do have a very valid point that guitarists exist in great number with technical skill comparable to the old legends. However, I think what sets Hendrix apart is his creativity. There are no good Hendrix cover bands, nor any guitarists who have replicated his sound. His creativity with the instrument was what made him a legend. I don't see the same for Clapton or Page myself, but I'm sure that their fans will come up with similar arguments.
A better way to describe my reverence for Hendrix is that I idolize him as a musician, not as a guitarist.
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But covering Hendrix doesn't require creativity, because you're simply replicating what's come before (unless you're doing a cross-genre cover. Celtic Hendrix, anyone?).
I think what you're trying to say is that Hendrix had a very unique style of note articulation, which is true. He was a batshit insane guitarist and that's not up for debate. He'd constantly switch between pick and fingerstyle, bend the neck of his guitar (despite having a whammy bar) and disregard being out of tune ("Only prissy boys play in tune", he once said).
Fun tidbit:
Interviewer: I wouldn't exactly call you a country guitarist.
Hendrix: Thank you.
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So, while there is a quantity of unknown guitarists that match or surpass any of these players, they remain overrated.
Perhaps I am misinterpreting your point but surely some credit has to be given based on primacy of arrival? Sure, there are plenty of guitarists out there today who match or better Hendrix and other innovative guitarists but only because there were guys like Jimi back in the day to blaze the path first. Much in the same way that an album like Sgt. Pepper's... sounds rather tame these days. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that stuff.
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In some aspects, that is certainly correct. In others, not so much.
Technical skill is something that isn't as defined by other musical aspects, for instance. A certain level of technical skill is impressive, no matter where in the history of a genre one is placed.
Let's also consider that Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Iommi, Blackmore and co. also based their phrasing off other musicians, so the same question stands against them. The primary difference is that, during the time period, musical technology was progressing very fast and allowed more phrasing options. Power chords no longer sounded hollow and meek like they did with a clean tone. Solos didn't sing anymore; they wailed.
Circumstance dictates that young contemporary guitarists don't have the massive technology boom to aid their creativity.
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And that's a part of what I love about the guitar community these days. There are arrogant fools who place all their ego in the instrument and belittle the playing of others whenever possible, but there's an army of kids out there that don't care about anything but rocking as hard and as skillfully as possible. When the current teenage generation hits their late 20s-40s, we are going to see some amazing shit hitting the fan.
Agreed. I feel, in some part that this happened in the 80's. I always felt that the 60's and the 80's showcased the most talent that guitar had to offer. It seems like there's about a 20 year span where everyone canonizes the previous generations work to the point where no one can improve on it, and thus stagnates themselves, while the young creative individuals who don't buy into the worship that their older peers have sneak in and do something completely different and innovate which completely dumbfounds the older generation, because their too hung up on their past generation's work. I hope that's the case, and I'm looking forward to hearing the next Hendrix/Page/VanHalen.
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Interviewer: I wouldn't exactly call you a country guitarist.
Hendrix: Thank you.
Brent Mason and Albert Lee are crying themselves to sleep right now. Fortunately, Brent Mason's such a fucking badass that he's the most-recorded guitarist in the history of music, ever. Strat Boy can suck on that for a while.
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Ooh yay, somebody doing what Mozart already did centuries before.
If we're going to do that, then we may as well look at every rock and roll song since the 30s and say "Oh look, they're just doing what Robert Johnson did seventy years before."
Brent Mason and Albert Lee are crying themselves to sleep right now. Fortunately, Brent Mason's such a fucking badass that he's the most-recorded guitarist in the history of music, ever. Strat Boy can suck on that for a while.
Nickelback has recorded more albums than Ted Leo
Trivia: The Funk Brothers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funk_Brothers) played on more number one records than the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and the Beach Boys combined.
Also, Nickelback sucks.
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Brent Mason and Albert Lee are crying themselves to sleep right now. Fortunately, Brent Mason's such a fucking badass that he's the most-recorded guitarist in the history of music, ever. Strat Boy can suck on that for a while.
Nickelback has recorded more albums than Ted Leo
By request?
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Ooh yay, somebody doing what Mozart already did centuries before.
Putting it into perspective like that actually made it sound a lot more badass than I think you intended.
And I think anybody who can be considered the greatest rock guitarist of all time is automatically overrated. Since a title like that is so monumental, yet so vague, nobody can unanimously agree on one person as the best because the second somebody considers somebody else to be the greatest, the first guy is demoted to the status of contender. A cat in a box is dead, no it's not, you understand?
I, for one, found "May This Be Love" by Hendrix to be pretty impressive. He's all over the fretboard throughout the entire song, and that's just the rhythm guitar.
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You know, since he was the only guitarist in the band, and because he was such a genius, he blurs the line between rhythm and lead guitar, and I think that's one of the main reasons he's held in such high regard.
Oh, and because of his keen fashion sense (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b2/HendrixWoodstockSSB.JPG).
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I'm glad people are saying Jimi Hendrix. Normally it's all "He's so overrated blah blah blah"
He is overrated.
It doesn't stop him from being an awesome musician at all, but the sheer amount of worship that goes on is ludicrous. Especially when people worship his lead work when it was his rhythm work that was more innovative and interesting. I'd argue that contemporaries like Page, Blackmore and Iommi were better lead players.
Mmm. It was definitely Hendrix's rhythms that made him great.
I think we can inject a little more clarity into this conversation: Hendrix, Page, et al, are generally a bit overrated by a particular segment of the music consuming population- the ones who are serious enough fans to recognize technical ability and have an awareness of rock history. Among the absolute bottom-level completely uninformed segment, they are not, because those people will just say that the best guitarist is the guitarist in their favorite band. However, the people in hipster or near-hipster segments of music fan-ship (i.e., most of the people here) tend to underrate those musicians, because they seem mundane and too popular. Thus, we enter the overrated-underrated paradox, whereby a musician (or athlete, actor, whatever) can become overrated because so many people say they are underrated (such as NBA big man Ben Wallace) or underrated because they are constantly called overrated (a la Hendrix, Page, Blackmore, etc.). I don't think someone like Hendrix can be flatly called over-or-underrated, because that varies with the circle you deal with.
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I've heard Pete Townshend say in several interviews that you have to put Hendrix in context. Here's the Billboard Top 100 from 1965- http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php?year=1965 . Bands like Herman's Hermits, and Petula Clark are topping the charts; the wildest thing on there is the Rolling Stones. Now imagine after thinking the Stones were a dangerous band seeing Jimi Hendrix in 1966 with the afro, and the scarves - a guy who actually uses that distortion that some bands are just slightly experimenting with to get their guitar tone to break up, cranking it up until it shakes an auditorium, and actively controlling the feedback until the guitar screams and wails. And then, when you think you've seen and heard everything, he destroys his guitar on stage and LIGHTS IT ON FUCKING FIRE after acting like he's been having sex with it for the last hour. Forget about it; no matter how revolutionary you thought your little blues based band was up to that point with its light sexual innuendos a la "I can't get no satisfaction" and its horribly copped Robert Johnson licks, you are nothing.
Townshend claims he turned to Paul McCartney in the late 60's after seeing Hendrix and said they were finished. Clapton reportedly cried after seeing him, and tried to make emulations of his style for years afterward. I imagine those are exaggerations, but the point is the same-the guy was beyond visionary for his time.
(Ed. Note: For the record, I onn all of 2 Hendrix cds and rarely listen to him as I find it a little dated. Point still stands, the guy's a genius).
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J Mascis, Doug Martsch, David Gilmour, George Harrison, Bob Mould, The dude from Television who's name I don't feel like looking up, The Johnnies Marr and Greenwood, basically people I sound like when I solo.
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Guys you remember how I was talking about Brent Mason
this will melt your brain (http://www.myspace.com/thebrentmason)
Yeah I wanna see any motherfucker even try to match this guy's style. Closest anybody has ever come was Albert Lee. How'd that happen? Because Brent Mason is IMITATING ALBERT LEE, but being better at it than him.
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I hope nobody tries to match his style. I have much more respect for a musician if they have their own style than if they imitate (even if they are "better at it").
Same goes for writing your own songs instead of covering.
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It all depends on talent, to be honest.
I could write an original song composed of only two power chords and lots of screaming, or do covers of songs and do a good job at it.
Or speaking in a broader sense than songs, and the actual sound - once more it goes back to talent. What did Stevie Ray Vaughan do? The blues. Yep. That's about it. He really didn't come up with new ideas, he just did what's been around forever, he just did it insanely well.
Meanwhile, the Beatles really broke new ground with Revolution #9, but it's not like I'm ever going ot listen to it.
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You make a good point, monsieur.