favorite guitarist?

Some of my favorites (in no particular order):

-Brent Mason (the guy plays things off the top of his head 10 times better than almost everyone I've ever heard!)
-Eric Johnson
-Joe Satriani
-Wes Montgomery
-Trey Anastasio (this guy gets nowhere near enough recognition... he is a top-notch player in my opinion)
-Tom Morello
-Mark Tremonti
-and of course, Mr. Yngwie J Malmsteen (if he improvised his solos, he'd be a lot better... i swear)

Yngwie does improvise his solos. The reason it sounds like he doesn't is because they are all basically the same cliched harmonic minor wanking and sweep arpeggios. He's got good technique but dont get me started on the utter lack of musical taste this guy has, I mean his solos are guitar masturbation, not music.

I agree.
The first shredder I saw was Yngwie, and he blew my mind.

He was so frikkin fast and used All the fretboard, then I started to listen to Vai and others.

After listening to them for a while I listened to Yngwie again and your right, he does use alot of the same scales over and over again.

He's a good guitarist, he made alot of people take guitar playing seriously, but he isn't the best I've heard.

And that's not my OPINION, it's a fact.

There are to many guitarists out there to pick just one.

One has to hear them all in order to say who is the best.

But in terms of who I like as a guitarist(and I'm not saying their the best of the best), I got to go with
Vai
Allan Holdsworth
and Bireli Lagrene.

And you can go ahead and call me blind AtomicMassUnit, cause I can't see a thing about Nirvana that is influencing.

They used about four chords in every song, and don't even get me started on the "lyrics".

[This message has been edited by Luke (edited 08-07-2000).]

Quite true. So What by Miles Davis has only 2 chords, and it's one of the all time masterpieces of jazz. As for stairway though, the intro section has more than three chords, even if some only last for a measure, but the end only has 3 chords. Whatever, its a cool song.
However, I also sometimes get tired of the same kind of three chord rock you hear so much. I listen mostly to jazz, which (in modal jazz) sometimes doesn't have many chords, but sometimes (in bebop) it does. I think having interesting harmony elevates solos to a new level, because notes can take on so many different meanings in relation to whatever chord you're playing, and stuff can sound so cool that wouldn't sound nearly as interesting without complex chords behind it.

in reply to Luke regarding the number of chords in a song: most of the best songs ever recorded used only three chords. i've had many arguments with my friend, a classical pianist, on this very subject. he has set me back in my place when he broke down "Stairway to Heaven" and told me which three chords Page used. from a strict theory perspective, most songs use just a few chords, and the other chords are just "in between" or transition chords (they have some fancy italian name which i can't remember).

just cause a song or a band uses a small number of chords does not make them unimaginative or uncreative, and certainly does not make their music bad.

------------------
ok, i'm not really the eggman

actually, luigi, my friend explained the coplex theory behind the intro to stairway. there was some italian term he used for some of the chords that are picked in the intro, which meant that these chords actually were not part of the progression other than to lead to another chord. they apparently do not qualify in the count of chords. perhaps some theory expert knows the term i am looking for.

------------------
ok, i'm not really the eggman

I agree.
If a song has three chords in it, it doesn't make it bad.

I like music that takes a lot of talent to pulloff, you can't honestly say that a song that has three chords in it is a masterpiece.

THe melody of the vocals and music together might "sound good", but it hardly qualifies as something to be in awe of.

It depends on how you want to look at it really. You could look at them as passing chords, but I dont think that's fair, since they are all treated equally in terms of duration. Harmonically it's one of their more complex songs, at least in my opinion. Some parts of it imply a harmonic minor sound (2nd chord has the maj7 of the A min scale) some imply dorian (the D/Gb chord has the major 6th of the A min scale,) and while you could look at these as passing chords, the very fact that the song is using passing chords makes it a bit more complex than a lot of their other songs (take straight up rock stuff like communication breakdown.) Whatever, it's not important, we agree on the main issue here, whichi s that stuff that lacks in complexity can be interesting.

I dunno luke, I'm quite in Awe of Miles Davis' performance on So What, and that song only has two chords. Well, actually, we're both right. You're talking about composition, and So What isn't an awe inspiring composition. However, the solos on it, particularly Davis' are incredibly melodic and beautiful, in a way that not many people were doing at that time (it was all bop with lots of hip chord changes.) For that reason I'm in awe of the performance, if not the composition.

My favs are, in no real order
SRV-the reason I started playing, but my
first love is Southern Rock
Allen Collins
Gary Rossington
Steve Gaines
Don Barnes

Well for me the best guitar players are

Blackmore
Page
Brian May
Young (the guy from acdc)
Tom Morrelo

In No Perticular Order

Vai
Satch
Hammet
Srv
Mustiane
Freidman
Hetfield
The Guy From Motley Crue
Slash
Dimebag Darral
Randy Rhoades
Zakk Wylde
Alex From Rush
The Guy From Cinderilla
The Guy From Def Leppard

------------------
Life is Hard......
BUT ITS EVEN HARDER IF YOUR STUPID
-------------------------

A Tout Le Monde
A Tout Mes Amis
Je Vous Aime
Je Dois Partir
(To All The World)
(To All My Friends)
(I Love You All)
(I Must Leave)

oh and

angus Young
Maclom Young
Yngwie


------------------
Life is Hard......
BUT ITS EVEN HARDER IF YOUR STUPID
-------------------------

A Tout Le Monde
A Tout Mes Amis
Je Vous Aime
Je Dois Partir
(To All The World)
(To All My Friends)
(I Love You All)
(I Must Leave)

ok here goes..

Adrian Belew
Bill frisell
Billy Gibbons
Vernon Reid
Jimi hendrix
Muddy waters
Mark Ribot
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
Alex Lifeson
Frank Zappa
Jeff beck
Robert Fripp
Eddie VanHalen
Larry LaLoude
East Bay Ray
Ace Frehley - lead guitar!!!!!! sorry old KISS joke
Sonny Sharrock
Buckethead

I think that list covers about everyone I've tried to emulate/soundlike and failed miserabley

[This message has been edited by SJ (edited 08-29-2000).]

[This message has been edited by SJ (edited 08-30-2000).]

how can any of you say that kurt cobain is not talented or isnt that great of a song writer. have you ever even listened to his music. (not just smells like teen spirt) just because his music is easy to play doesnt mean he's crap. stairway to heaven is very easy to play and thats not crap. every musician is talented. there is no other band, i think, that sounds like nirvana. kurt cobain is awesome. but anyways....

jimmy page (led zepp)
randy rhoads (ozzy osbourne)
jimi hendrix
david gilmour (pink floyd)

Often shred fans ignore musical sensibility and focus more on technique and speed. I think that's what you're seeing here. I personally don't like much of Cobain's music, but not because its easy, just because its not the kind of stuff that speaks to me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to say its bad.
I'd rather listen to a good piece of music (I'm not specifying style) than a piece that requires a lot of speed and technique but really doesn't have much content in terms of melody. It's the equivalent of speaking very fast because you don't really have anything meaningful to say. This goes mostly for shred music, but theres some jazz and I suppose classical where this is the case also.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by guitar_chick:
[B]how can any of you say that kurt cobain is not talented or isnt that great of a song writer. have you ever even listened to his music. (not just smells like teen spirt) just because his music is easy to play doesnt mean he's crap. stairway to heaven is very easy to play and thats not crap.

That is where you get it wrong:
stairway to heaven's solo is a perfect harmony altough it is a 3 chords song, while in grunge (and mainly in metal and funk metal) the main idea is just to turn the distortion on and make noise... pearl jam, nirvana, limp bizkit , korn - i know all this are different styles but to me it's the same - bunch of guitarists without even good technique and knowledge in theory turns on the distortion and plays something....

the top few are,

Eric Clapton
Matt (Guitar) Murphy - Blue Brothers
Any solo jazz guitarists

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zeppelin:


That is where you get it wrong:
stairway to heaven's solo is a perfect harmony altough it is a 3 chords song, while in grunge (and mainly in metal and funk metal) the main idea is just to turn the distortion on and make noise... pearl jam, nirvana, limp bizkit , korn - i know all this are different styles but to me it's the same - bunch of guitarists without even good technique and knowledge in theory turns on the distortion and plays something....[/B]

---

You're just stating your opinion man. Imho, you just perfectly described page, he doesn't have good technique or good knowledge of theory and he plays with distortion. I like his music, but don't get on some high horse because you think the music you like is better than the music she likes. Nobody goes around calling people idiots for liking red instead of blue. Btw, what do you mean the stairway solo is a perfect harmony? First of all, the solo is a melody, not harmony. As far as I can remember there is no harmony during the solo except the chords being outlined by the bass, but I haven't listened to the song in awhile. Second of all, do you mean that you like it? That it is pretty? These may both be true, but they are not concrete as you seem to imply.
Wouldn't you be annoyed if I started telling you that you should listen to beethoven instead of your kiddie rock music? You'd say that I just don't understand, that I can't appreciate your music even though its not as complex. Well that's exactly the position you're putting guitar chick in. While I may not like the styles you put down (metal, funk metal, grunge) I don't say that they are just about distortion and noise, I live and let live, and everybody is happier that way.

I have heard almost all of Cobain's music, I just don't like it. That may have something to do with Nirvana being the most overrated band of all time (I got sick of hearing everyone talk about how "great" Nirvana was). The only credit I can give Cobain is that some of his meledy lines were decent (Heart Shaped box).

Anyways, my favorites list has changed a bit. My favorite guitarists are:
Dave Mustaine
Marty Friedman
Chris Polland
Jerry Cantrell
James Hetfield
Kirk Hammet (although Mustaine & Friedman are better than those two)
Bruce Kulick
and of course, Steve Vai