Great players, shame about the music

There are many top guitar players who I like and respect for their skill but whose musical output, on their own records and others, pretty much sucks in my book. Shame. Which players do you like but wouldn't want to buy albums they feature in. I include

John Petrucci - fine player, esp with G3, but I cant get into Dream Theater. Not one bit.

Dave Gilmour - the man's got beautiful tone and phrasing but Floyd were always too damn depressing for me.

Johnny Marr - fine stylist but The Smiths were generally quite dreary, mainly because of Morrissey's voice and lyrics

Jeff Beck - no doubt he's a top axeman but i like little of his stuff.

Brian May - top man on the faster numbers but the anthemic/cod opera stuff drives me bananas.

Hmm.... EVH. Van Halen are good.. but I think they have a lot crap songs. And my favourite thing he ever did was with Michael Jackson - Beat it! That type or song best suits his soloing styles to me.

Yeah, I think most of the "guitar virtuosos" albums aren't good. Michael Romeo for instance, good player. Heard a few of his songs with symphony X, but very boring. Weak personality. Gilmour is good in my opinion. Alot of personality and it's done without playing extremely fast for 5 minutes. Yes sad and depressing, but then again it's stoner rock. Dream theatre is cool because there are alot of really good musicians in that band. As for albums I wouldn't buy, albums when the guitarist is the only good player in the band, or at least it's more about the guitarist. I like to hear how things blend together, more than how great one person is over everyone else.

Affirmative!

Well, to appreciate metal...

I guess you guys just have to be metal fans!

Dream Theater, Symphony X.. when it comes down to it is just metal.

But if you're going to complain about Dream Theater.. I mean.

I just don't think I've ever heard anyone say they're not musical enough. I mean... damn.

Hell, John Petrucci really isn't a solo guitarist. He's been in Dream Theater (and spending a lot of time with them) all throughout his entire career.

Composition is an essential part of being a musician. How can you say Jeff Beck is a top axeman..but not like his music? Playing the right notes is every bit (in many ways moreso) important than playing them well.

Yeah... there are a lot of fine guitar players and their cd's suck. I lost a lot of money during the 80's on the flash player days. I couldn't believe these albums were full of shred and crappy music. That's why when Eric Johnson came out, I thought I got the best of both worlds. Great music, guitar, phrasing, and tone... and he said something with his music.

If theyre great players, then the music has to be great too... or else theyre not as great as you suspected.

Not always. Just because you can play the guitar great, and be the most technical player doesn't mean you can write beautiful music. I know quite a few guitarists who can play the hardest and most technical music, but when it comes to making up something original they're lost. Nothing wrong with this because everybody takes a different path. Writting music is a skill in itself. I think that's the point behind this post.

Hold on a minute!Pay attention to this please..

There is a thing called musical taste.For example when i hear Paganini playing these crazy violin solos and staff i get excited.I dig into every note.Many people find that kind of playing (neoclassical players,Malmsteen,Jason Becker e.t.c) boring.For them to hear complex solos played fast is boring,they dont think it is melodical.My taste in music say it is melodical because it brings me an excitement and i like it.Take for example the harmonized solos and sweeps in speed metal symphony by Cacophony, the hair on my arms stand up from excitement every time i hear them.
Other people get this when they hear a slow nice melody.Everyone has his own taste in music.So you just cant say that this guitar player is really good but his compositions arent good.You just dont like that kind of music.
For example Dream Theater, some people like them some not,and it is natural,but you cant say that Petrucci is a great musician but his songs in DT suck..
I hope you get the point.It is all about what a particular music does to you.Mabey it does nothing to you but it sure does to someone else..

Very good point, paladin. Your right that does influence a decision, but without an opinion and people expressing them. What fun would the forum be? :) It may be a question of what particular music you like, but I like metal. There's guitarists that are awesome, but I don't like there music. My point is you can have a guitarist who can play 16th notes are 300 bpm, but when it comes to putting a full composition together they struggle. The skills of playing guitar and the skills of composing music are different. One can learn to be a great guitarist by practicing other's music, but becoming good at composing is only done by composing your own original music. Each person will have varied skills in those areas, thus great guitarist but I don't like his/her music. Or the opposite, great songwritter but not the greatest guitarist.

Originally posted by noticingthemistake
Not always. Just because you can play the guitar great, and be the most technical player doesn't mean you can write beautiful music. I know quite a few guitarists who can play the hardest and most technical music, but when it comes to making up something original they're lost. Nothing wrong with this because everybody takes a different path. Writting music is a skill in itself. I think that's the point behind this post.

Well put. To these ears, in MY opinion etc Malmsteen epitomises my point. I admire his technical skills, tone and speed but boy does his music bore the arse of me or what?

I agree with paladin... if you think people are greta guitarists than how can there msuic suck... i mena a good part of it is actually composing the music as well.

For some reason bass players always seem to put out sucky solo albums...even some of my favorite players like Jaco and Stanely Clarke fall guilty of this. Victor Wooten is the king of this...amazing player but his solo stuff outside of Bela Fleck sucks.