favorite guitarist?


Fretmeister
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Fretmeister
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07/11/2000 8:56 pm
maybe i missed it but did anyone mention CARLOS SANTANA????

at any rate, here is my list of a few:

Carlos Santana
Slash
Tim Reynolds (Tours with DMB)
Tom Morello
Mike McCready
Randy Rhoades

I'm definitely not a 'metalhead'...

I also have to defend Tom Morello.. alot of people will claim that he just makes a lot of noise with his guitar. True, he does make noise, but the guy can FREAKIN SHRED TOO!! Tom has some of the most melodic solos i've heard, and he has some great rhythm parts, so please don't sell him short.

jason
# 1
zepo
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zepo
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07/12/2000 12:45 am
still going with Jimmy Page here
"I need a girl who's as hot as my guitar."
# 2
LuigiCabrini
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LuigiCabrini
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07/12/2000 1:33 am
Trust me man i'm a big blues fan. I tend to like it more when you jazz it up a bit tho. Instead of just the 1 4 5, throwing in some kind of 6 2 5 1 somewhere, not that its not done in traditional blues, that's what the turnaround is in blues, but i mean playing it harmonically, not only in the form of turnaround riffs.
Thing is, blues and jazz are closely related. Try and find a great jazz musician who has never played some kind of blues form, and, well, you'll have to look pretty damn hard. In my jazz camp we're playing a coltrane tune tommorow, but its really a 12 bar, but with a few passing chords, and the soloing isn't only from the blues scale (I like to use a lot of dorian licks for this one, Mr. P.C.)
The reason i didn't talk about blues is because its harder to talk about blues in absolutes, and thus harder to make arguments with it. You and I can dig it, but we can never objectively say, "that guy plays with more feeling than that guy," its not a concrete thing. Dont get me wrong tho, I think SRV was great at what he did, and BB King is too. I do, however, tend to get tired of listening to too much straight 12 bar stuff, cause face it, it can get repetetitve. That's why its more intersting with chord substitutions, and soloing instruments other than the guitar, as well as having a piano to help out the guitar with comping.

# 3
BarryS
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BarryS
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07/13/2000 1:25 am
Yes, I mentioned Carlos Santana, Fretmeister. His latest album may be sort of a sell-out, but still it's great to see him getting the recognition that he deserves. What's unfortunate is that he should have won Grammies for Abraxas or Santana III thirty years ago instead of Supernatural.

Yes, Luigi, I know what you mean about 12 bar blues getting repetitive. I'm sure you can only hear "My baby done left me now I ain't got no one to love" so many times without getting bored. I don't get bored with it too easily though. There's almost always something in a blues tune to entertain and inspire. Whether it's the guitar playing, the lyrics (not very often), the harp playing, or just those amazing voices (Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters are two of my favorite blues voices). It's just amazing to listen to the music which spawned rock and roll as we know it. Have you heard B.B. King's Live At The Regal album? Probably a dumb question, but that's some very jazzy blues.

[This message has been edited by BarryS (edited 07-12-2000).]
# 4
Unholy
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Unholy
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07/13/2000 2:55 am
IĀ“m new here, but the first thing i want to say is that the best guitarist i have heard are:
David Gilmour (pink floyd)
Ace Freheley (KISS)
# 5
LuigiCabrini
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LuigiCabrini
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07/13/2000 9:48 pm
I think live at the regal is the quintisential blues album. In that style, I've heard nothing better. BB is interesting, and he makes good use of the major interval additions like the major third and major sixth (major sixth automatically gives it a jazzy dorian vibe.)
Thing is, I can't listen to too much stuff of that style straight. I like it, but its like anything, you get tired of it. That's why sometimes i'll like to listen to some bossa nova type stuff, sometimes maybe i'd like to hear some modal stuff like herbie han**** or miles davis.
Do me a favor and check out the coltrane song Mr. P.C. It's a blues form, but he does so much with it, and the solos are jazzy. I think you'll really like it, cause not only are the solos great, but the riff is one of the catchiest riffs I've heard. I'm not saying that this stuff is better than straight blues, i'm saying its a refreshing alternative.
# 6
LuigiCabrini
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LuigiCabrini
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07/14/2000 12:57 am
Ohmigod, that's so stupid. They put asterisks just cause I put the name Herbie Hancok (there should be a C between the o and the k, but they wont let you say ****, even if its in the middle of a word.) What if the jazz/fusion/funk master came on the board, and tried to say who he was--Herbie Han****--and nobody could know. They'd just think it was some guy named herb. Jon, is this your doing? Sure this is smart?


# 7
dumb00footer
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dumb00footer
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07/14/2000 10:02 am
Ok, if you ask me these are the best guitarists that ever lived or live!
1)Billie Joe (Green Day)
2)Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails)

and finally a great man
3)Kurt Cobain (nirvana)


# 8
BarryS
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BarryS
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07/14/2000 5:06 pm
dumb00footer, you're joking right? Tell me you're not serious, man....

I respect your opinions, I really do, but seriously if you think those guys are the greatest guitarists ever then you really need to be exposed to more music than what you see on MTV. There are guitar players out there who are so amazing, it will blow your mind. Check out my list of favorites to see who some of them are. Just trying to help you out, I don't mean to sound egotistical or anything.

[This message has been edited by BarryS (edited 07-14-2000).]
# 9
loner92
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loner92
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07/14/2000 9:13 pm
quote:
Originally posted by dumb00footer:
Ok, if you ask me these are the best guitarists that ever lived or live!
1)Billie Joe (Green Day)
2)Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails)

and finally a great man
3)Kurt Cobain (nirvana)




WTF?? Do you even play guitar? Those guys are terrible guitarists. You can learn their stuuf in less than a week (and that's assuming you've never picked up a guitar before). If you want to hear some real guitar music, turn off eMpTytV and go listen to some Metallica (...And Justice or All, in particuar), Steve Vai, Ozzy, ANY JAZZ OR BLUES PLAYER, etc.



[This message has been edited by loner92 (edited 07-15-2000).]

# 10
LuigiCabrini
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LuigiCabrini
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07/14/2000 9:51 pm
I'm going to go on my same old rant. THERES MORE TO LIFE THAN METAL!!! If you wanna hear serious guitar playing, sure listen to vai, randy rhoads, but then listen to Pat Metheny, Allan Holdsworth, Mike Stern, Django Rheinhardt, JIMMY BRUNO, urgh, am I getting through to anybody?
# 11
ekstasis16
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ekstasis16
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07/15/2000 12:35 am
Assuming that dumb00footer was serious, you guys shouldn't trash what others like. Personally, I don't like their music either, but I don't hate it. Kurt Cobain was a great songwriter and brought forth a whole new style. He may not be a fantastic 'shredder', but making a new style popular is difficult.

I think BadHorsie once said that people sometimes quote their favorite ones as the best. Hell, I've been guilty of it. When stating your opinion on who is the best, are you really considering all the guitarists out there, or just the ones you like. I think it would do us a lot of good to explore some other styles than metal, even if it's just a little.

I'm not saying the guitarists posted here aren't great - just that there are others out there just as good that we've never heard of.

So at least show a little respect and try to find the good in all musicians.

(I hope this didn't sound too cheesy )
"When you're a young, long-haired guitarist, no one takes you seriously." - John Petrucci

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# 12
BarryS
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BarryS
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07/15/2000 5:27 am
I don't think Cobain was that great of a songwriter. He did come up with some catchy tunes, but John Lennon he ain't. His songs consist mostly of absurdly grotesque images like eating cancer, references to fetuses, hymens, etc or just that annoying grunge whining. "We have the number one record in the world, we're making tons of money and have millions of adoring fans! And we're PISSED!!" Blah... I don't think much of Cobain or Nirvana, no. He was a moderately talented (at best) wannabe who was unjustly elevated to godly status just because he killed himself at the height of his popularity. Not trying to convince anyone, just voicing my opinion.
# 13
ekstasis16
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ekstasis16
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07/15/2000 5:30 am
I didn't mean to make him sound excellent, only as compared to the other stuff back in the day. He did have his share of problems.
"When you're a young, long-haired guitarist, no one takes you seriously." - John Petrucci

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# 14
AtomicMassUnit
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AtomicMassUnit
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07/15/2000 10:45 pm
Is there anyone on here who doesn't like shredders? I am into every style of music out there, and there are amazing musicians of every genre, but I am so sick to death of people like Steve Vai. And, before you go there, I was a shredder. I still have the technical ability to play picture perfect 32nd notes, or wank Aolian runs all night, but music is about melody and rhythm, it's about the hook, it's about the emotion.
I've been moved to tears by music, listen to a good ballad, a heartfelt country song, a decent classical piece, an emotive blues or jazz song. How many of you can say that shredding has ever made you feel anything other than an urge to play guitar really really fast and OOH and AAAH at someone's technique?
On the other hand, im not advocating these idiots who don't know how to play guitar and brandish their ignorance like it's a flag. What ever happened to cool riffs or licks that make you listen to them over and over? what happened to solos you could sing with your voice to learn them? I'm just so sick off all these shredders... Surely you guys know what i mean. I just wish more people made music with substance.

Atomic

[This message has been edited by AtomicMassUnit (edited 07-15-2000).]
# 15
dumb00footer
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dumb00footer
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07/16/2000 2:31 am
thanks ekstasis16 for defending me , and by the way yes i do play guitar! i have been exposed to alot of other music, i know that the stuff i like is not as complicated as others, but like i said in my opinion they are the best, and its becouse of there originality, each and every artist i mentioned has brought something to the industry that has either changed in a good way or a bad, but they are original, and i know several other artists have there own feel or there own originality. but again like i said it's my opinion!

ps...
i do not watch mtv, mtv is the impidemy of all evil, (thats for who ever said that i only like what i watch on mtv) and i don't mean its evil from any religious stand point. i mean its evil becouse they play "music" that shouldn't be considered music in any way shape or form! some, and i mean vary few times is there something worth even turning on the tv for, but that is vary rare.
-dumb00footer
# 16
loner92
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loner92
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07/16/2000 6:54 am
I'll lisen to whatever stirs my emotions, shredding or otherwise.



[This message has been edited by loner92 (edited 07-16-2000).]

# 17
LuigiCabrini
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LuigiCabrini
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07/16/2000 6:57 pm
"How many of you can say that shredding has ever made you feel anything other than an urge to play guitar really really fast and OOH and AAAH at someone's technique?"
So right man. When I talk to people who love to death people like Yngwie, Vai, Petrucci, they usually say stuff like "I like this song because its insane what he's doing over here," or "Can you believe he's playing sweep arpeggios THAT fast!"
As for having the technique, i think its useful, but only as one aspect out of many that makes up a good guitarrist. Most shredders I've met who have much better technique than I do would suck comping for a soloist because they never bothered to learn the sets of voicings up the fretboard. That's JUST AS IMPORTANT a technical skill on the guitar, to be able to switch betwen memorized chords and use voice leading over any progression. It's one thing to pick 32nd notes cleanly, but that's got a very, very limited application in tasteful good music. In guitar wank music you hear it all the time, but try to find somebody who's not a guitarrist who can listen to that stuff and say they think its fun to listen to, and you'll have quite a task on your hands.
In my opinion, if you have somebody who's primary audience is guitarrists, they're very likely not worth listening to. There's no point in listening to a guitarrist who's showing all the other guitarrists out there how fast he can play.
A. It's been done before.
B. There's nothing musical about it.
# 18
Willdridge
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Willdridge
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07/16/2000 8:39 pm
Bravo! My sentiments exactly!...I mean, yes, I'd love to be as fast, clean and accurate as Yngwie, Gamable, Vai...but to be perfectly honest, if I could make a song that would get people dancing, clapping, singing, smiling by simply using C F G every time, I'd prefer to do that (A little exaturated, but I think my points clear)...It's great that these guys can do this...but they never know when NOT to do it. I've listened the Yngwie "Odysey Rising Force" many a time and thought...man this isn't a bad song!...Oh, wait, solo....man, it's so f*ckin' predictable!"....Yeah, as a budding guitarist, I'm impressed, I'm awe-struck, I'm inspired to play fast...BUT THAT'S IT!...As a young and inexperienced musican, it doesn't do anything for me...Sure, that's a few good ideas, pedal notes, string skipping, dimished runs...but look at classical guitar studies, rock, country, you name...I'll find this stuff elsewhere!...I'm not saying that shredding is a waste of time, It's your opinion, if you can see a deep and beauty meaning hidden behind the 3000 notes, well done!...But, be aware that the typical guitarist and, more importantly, the typical music listener simply isn't "turned on" by it...
Just an opinion....Sorry!
Don't worry too much about me, ignore me long enough and I'll go away.
# 19
LuigiCabrini
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LuigiCabrini
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07/17/2000 2:16 am
What the heck are you apologizing for? You're totally right man. Shredding for the sake of shredding is pointless. If you're playing something hard for the sole point that its hard, then you're not playing music you're playing excercises.
As for seeing interesting ideas such as pedal licks, string skipping, and diminished runs in yngwie's solos, those are techniques that can be applied in a musical manner, and in a non musical manner. When they are recited verbatim from clasical guitar etudes, that's a non musical manner.
I think that it's near impossible to construct an interesting solo consisting entirely of 16th and 32nd notes. You give the listener no chance to absorb, and there's no intensity in playing fast if you do it all the time. When all your solos are played constantly ultra fast, and always in the same cliched harmonic minor scale with the same predictable runs and licks, just because its tough as hell doesn't justify it musically.
Technique is not musical. It is a means to an end, and when it becomes the end, that corrupts the purpose of music.
Please nobody tell me I'm just jealous. I listen to lots of virtuosos, guitar and other instruments, but the best aren't just mechanical. They are sensitive to dynamics, phrasing, tone, everything.
It can be entertaining to listen to guitar acrobatics, but its entertaining in the same way that seeing micheal jordan do some impressive slam dunk is, not in the same way that being moved by a piece of music or a painting is. When people play guitar to impress other guitarrists, that's athletic, not musical.
# 20

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