Steve's addiction
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Guitarists everyone else loves, but you think, "meh."
- Thread starter dcm_guitar
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D
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jxe
babe en der wood
i didn’t live in the 1960s and all of these players use way too much wah.
Steve's addiction
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Every generation has a "Jimi " Someone who takes playing to a whole new level. I think we all appreciate that. Most people I think of as meh isn't because they aren't great or talented but because I feel they evolutionized "Jimi " not revolutionized what that person did. I know it's really what we all do, but that player who completely
blows the doors of the norm is what gets my attention. Just my opinion.
blows the doors of the norm is what gets my attention. Just my opinion.
Mozzi
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Its not surprising really. Jimi was 27 when he died for example but he inspired people who learned to play his music by the time they were 16 or so and were able to take playing 'beyond' that point - either by developing 'new' things from that or combining it with other guitarists inspirational playing. Its not like Jimi could keep evolving himself. Then the next gen of guitarists learn to play Satriani/Vai tracks that they recorded in their late 20's/30's at a young age so can then add their 'spin' - again maybe by combining some of those 'tricks' with other licks and inspirational guitarists (like Van Halen) and create something new, which then the next gen learns 'early' in their musical development and so it continues.
In a lot of ways, those at the forefront of their 'generation' - like Jimi set the bar for the 'new' generation. The new Gen learn these tracks at an early age so by the time they are 'Adults', they have reached that level and then can experiment and push beyond those that inspire them. If you are blown away by say Van Halens Eruption, Vai's Paganini Caprice 5 and/or Satch's boogie - so much so that you want to pick up a guitar and learn to play it, you may have that mastered before you are an adult and then use those 'skills' to create your own music which then inspires the 'next' gen to learn your music - something that took you years of practice, development etc to come up with your ideas, the next gen learn from your 'grafting', your experimentation, your efforts at combining inspiration and knowledge from playing the music of the generation that inspired you, doing all the work so to speak, and learn your music so by the time they are 'adult', they are virtually at the same point as you and then 'experiment' to move things on yet again.
You also have 'new' tech that may help - different pedals - Jimi probably never had a Harmonizer and certainly not Whammy bars that could change the Pitch 'up' like a Floyd Rose, didn't have baritone, 7,8 or 9 string guitars, Fan Frets or Sustainiac pick-ups - all things that are in a modern guitarists arsenal now to experiment with and do things that older generations couldn't. This experimentation, learning what works and what doesn't leads the next gen to by-pass all that experimentation because they learn the stuff that 'worked'.
You also have to remember that when People like Jimi were growing up, there wasn't 'teachers' around that taught 'rock' guitar and all the things we associate with playing Rock music. Kids today go to there teachers or watch youtube video's on how to play Eruption or whatever track(s) inspired them and so have those skills in their arsenal and learn from the 'experiments' of the greats like Jimi and Eddie. Hence we see an evolution and why maybe 'older' guitarists are not so influential anymore because they were superceded by 'newer' guitarists but you can still hear some of those influences in some guitarists today.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
I'd posit that Buddy Guy was Hendrix before Hendrix was.
merciful-evans
Portsmouth uk
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
So true.
Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
Paul cites Stradivari as an influence!
Can't stand Edge, Bonnamassa.. Meh, like Mayer, Clapton, so-so. Hammett is good but comes across really feminine when talking.
11top
Cousin Eddie's cousin
I’m surprised at the number of Bonnamassa responses. I think he’s a really talented player, but I’ve never been a big fan of his solo tone.
Edit: After reading what I posted, I don’t think I was very clear. I’m a big fan in spite of the fact that I don’t always like his tone. Some of his solo stuff is killer like Mountain climbing:
And a lot of his stuff in Black Country Communion is really good, too.
Edit: After reading what I posted, I don’t think I was very clear. I’m a big fan in spite of the fact that I don’t always like his tone. Some of his solo stuff is killer like Mountain climbing:
And a lot of his stuff in Black Country Communion is really good, too.
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To be fair, I’d love to catch one of Joe’s live shows, and I like a lot of the music I’ve heard from him. I just feel like he doesn’t have his own distinctive sound where I can ID his playing without accompanying video.
I really dig Jonny Lang out of that late 90s crop of young blues guys, and he’s fantastic live, too. He’s not as flashy as Bonamassa or KWS, but he has one of “those” vibrato techniques- I feel his Tele lines in my gut.
Birdsofprey
All Birds that Fly.
SRV
Antmax
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I get it. I love bits of Hendrix, some brilliant signature moments that jump out. I heard his playing a lot at college as background music in people digs while we talked about student stuff and often it was great. But if I sit down on my own and listen it's tough for me to sit through an entire song, let alone an album. I do appreciate his place in guitar history and get it. I'd much rather listen to later stuff I grew up with like Deep Purple, some of Led Zeppelin, love Iron Maiden etc lol.
Similar response to Clapton as Hendrix. I guess it is a generational thing, Maybe not though, I don't care for Malsteen or super shred stuff despite loving classical music and melody. I actually love playing classical with high gain, stuff like Prokofiev dance of the knights, so I don't know why I don't listen to his stuff. I've never been a huge guitar player guy, don't actually know many by name, it's usually the band as a whole that I love, and the guitar parts are just a part that fits into the overall music. I don't really have any guitar gods or heroes.
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jxe
babe en der wood
dude from klaatu was on point. oh wait wrong thread.
D
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More or less, this is the case for me also. My take-away from hearing any of it from a musical standpoint is that it's pretty forgettable as a whole. There are other musicians, bands, albums, acts, whatever you may call them that I believe have directly been more impactful to how I evolved as a guitarist, musician, songwriter, etc. (or devolved, lol)
I'm actually one foot in, one foot out. My parents passed down the music were exposed to a lot of music from the 60's and 70's, just not Hendrix or Pink Floyd for example. That wasn't their thing, I guess they just weren't really exposed to that as they grew up overseas. So, I had an appreciation to some extent for some of the music from yesteryear, but I eventually felt a desire to break away and find something else. I eventually stumbled into heavier styles and those have been what I've gravitated towards, more often. I still venture into other things such as classical, jazz, or even some reversion to an extent towards some of the acoustic/folk stuff my parents would've left on the radio/tape player during my much younger years, just because.
Same. I've had a heavy dose of acts like Symphony X when I transitioned further into metal as I was leaving high school into undergrad. On top of that, I was brought into a fair amount of classical guitar during my stint in high school. I've taken a liking to works from South America like Antonio Lauro, Augustin Barrios, Heitor Villa-Lobos for example. I guess somehow somewhere, some of those things as a whole crept in with shaping my style, even if it's not in a super obvious way.
This has been increasingly the case for me over the last few years, especially as I've been breaking ground into trying to find my own style and trying to write my own music which I eventually have done and released. I quickly learned that songs/albums are only as good as their weakest link. I'm not above the occasional showboating with flashy solos or shreds, but if that rhythm section for example isn't at its A-game, it's set to fail.
Mozzi
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I wasn't born until after Hendrix had died and my parents listened to Presley, Beatles, Abba, Motown, disco etc and anything approaching 'rock' was just noise. The first 'rock' track I recall was 'Another Brick in the Wall pt 2' because of the video and the fact that was number 1 and Punk soon followed when on some school or cub scout trip as some friends had it. After that 'brief' exposure, it was very difficult for me to find more in my environment - the odd bit on the radio or top of the pops but most of my 'school' friends were trying to decide whether Duran Duran were better than Spandau Ballet or not Around '84, I was actually able to start buying my own music - being the oldest child, I didn't have big brothers/sisters that had broken out from under their parents so I was able to start my own collection, mostly contemporary to that time and the music I wanted from the 'brief' moments - like seeing Maiden on Top of Pops and getting their Albums, Def Leppard too and discovering Kerrang and Metal Hammer too. It wasn't until I heard Appetite for Destruction that a friend had on import (around 87) that I wanted to actually 'play' guitar and it wasn't until 2/3yrs later that I had enough money to go and buy one. At that time though, I was firmly routed in 80's rock (GNR, Metallica, Motley Crue, Skid Row etc as well as the NWOBHM scene and whilst I had albums by Vai and Satriani, they were almost putting me off of playing - So good that I could NEVER play like that.
Whilst I was really into these, I also read a lot of interviews - especially in Guitarist magazine - trying to learn guitar, what inspired them etc and one name kept cropping up over and over and over again - Jimi. My knowledge of Jimi's music really extended to just the Woodstock Star Spangled Banner which degenerates into a discordant noise - a real 'mess'. Not being American either or around to appreciate the sentimentality of Jimi's rendition with things like Vietnam and Race issues going on, I too couldn't understand why his name kept coming up - especially with guitarist like Satch and Vai who to me blew anyone else away at the time and light years ahead of Jimi. I bought a compilation album never the less and that led to buying the 3 Albums and then I heard 'Jimi' in others or more that a lot of what I heard from Jimi felt familiar because I heard bits in others. You can almost hear the songs that my favourite musicians had been inspired and learned to play that was then incorporated and experimented with to form their songs - it maybe just a simple phrase with a different note or two, different accents or different phrasing but the core was there - that with the distortion, fuzz etc. I discovered bands like Led Zepplin too of course late because of Jimmy Page as a big inspiration.
I guess its like Modern day gamers finding games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong or Space Invaders very boring and can't understand why these quite 'static' games (in that you repeat the same Level (or 3) over and over and over again with slightly increased difficulty assuming you don't lose your lives compared to these 3D story driven, beautifully realised worlds with great audio can be inspirational. Yet the devs grew up playing these, then were inspired to make their own games and push beyond these, which then inspired the next gen etc. Games like Mario64 may not be 'great' by todays standards - poor camera angle, quite repetitive with no 'story' but games like Uncharted or Assassins Creed still has that at its core. Granted the collectathon (all the treasures/feathers etc) is now an optional aspect, the Platforming is more minor too but still a part of these games and a narrative has been added which brings in cut-scenes and dialogue. Combat too has been added so it may seem such a long way from Mario64 that it may not seem to have anything in common. Its evolved because the devs were 'inspired' by the games they grew up playing. You can trace it back to the very early days and whether the devs played these games, or the games that the devs that were inspired by these played etc - there is still a path back to those games.
I know that Jimi had inspiration from Blues for example and can keep going back and find the music that inspired the music that inspired the music etc that inspired Jimi but I do think that when someone is cited by so many professionals as a massive influence, whether you like their music or not, you just have to accept that they are something special. Like I said, a lot of modern gamers may find Mario64 to be quite 'average' and a LOT of more modern games - inc 3D platformers were better in so many ways but there is a reason that game often pops up as one of the most influential games ever - It inspired others to make games, push beyond what that offered, improve things like the camera angles etc - analyse the things that they got right and build on that. The control scheme with analogue movement changed the gaming landscape and Jimi changed music too. Whether you like it or not, whether others have refined and pushed beyond that now, I still think people should recognise his influence and accept that.
I know Jimi is not going to be everyones taste, but I see this thread as more about guitarists that are less influential but still liked by some. Kirk Hammet, for example, isn't the most influential guitarist (not saying he didn't inspire people to play) but a lot of people may 'like' whilst others may find his style to be 'meh'. I think there is a difference between an influential guitarist - someone that changes music and a well known guitarist within a genre that doesn't really change or bring something new to the table. Eddie Van Halen for example brought tapping to the masses and you can hear his influence on others. Whether you like Van Halen or not, you can still accept that he was a big influence on many musicians where as Kirk Hammett, Ce Ce Deville or even Mick Mars are not so much - famous for being guitarists within bands rather than famous as for their influence if that makes sense. Again I know Van Halen is famous for being in Van Halen too but he also is famous for what he brought to music. Cliff Burton or Flea are famous for what they brought to Bass guitar playing as much, if not more than being in Metallica or RHCP. If this was asked with regards to Bass guitar, I wouldn't even consider Cliff or Flea as 'Meh' (even if I didn't like their music) because I recognise what they brought to Bass playing but Nikki Sixx (for example) could be considered because he is known more for being in Motley Crue than for what he brought to Bass playing.
Maybe I am over analysing this but personally I couldn't consider any musician who has had such a massive impact - whether I like the music or not. I am not a fan of Albert King but I still wouldn't say he was 'Meh' because I recognise the impact and influence he had.
D
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Perhaps so, perhaps not. For me, I stood by what I said because none of those move me as a guitarist, as a musician, if I were to be honest. That is separate from whatever legacy has been left behind, whatever impact or influence has been left behind for others- I understand those are very much a thing, but despite that it's just not something particularly moving to me.
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Mozzi
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I guess you could say that about any 'art' form. Picasso's art may not be the most 'technical', most moving etc but he was incredibly innovative and is widely regarded as the most influential artist of the 20th Century. I personally don't like a lot of his work and a lot of other artists work impresses and/or moves me more. I much prefer Dali and Escher as far as 20th Century artists go and find their work to be more 'moving' but I wouldn't say Picasso was 'Meh' because of the massive influence he had on the Art world. You could also say the same about Movies too, that you find Ray Harryhausen's effects to be 'Meh', over-rated and take you out of the immersion with the very obvious 'stop-motion' effect - especially compared to the digital effects we see today but he too was incredibly innovative and inspirational to many.
I prefer Satriani to Hendrix musically for example but without Hendrix, we probably wouldn't have had Satch as it was Hendrix that made Joe want to play Guitar. Its possible of course that someone else could have changed music the way Jimi did but the fact is, Jimi did. You could say the Model T Ford wasn't great and its shape doesn't move you like a modern day Ford GT does but you can't deny the impact that car had, the way it changed personal transport and the world as we know it. Its not as if cars weren't around before that but it had a massive impact on the Automotive industry and the lives of people in that era.
Personally, I think there comes a point where you have to recognize the importance of things on a 'global' scale rather than just their impact on yourself or the world as it stands today. Like I said, I can understand why you may not be moved by Jimi because you grew up after his death and music has evolved from that point. Like going back to play Donkey Kong after growing up in the PS3/XB360 era, its perhaps difficult to see what all the fuss was about, I can understand that modern day musicians maybe more inspired by the musicians they grew up with, not necessarily the musicians that inspired the musicians that inspired you. I still think its important to recognise those that changed the landscape though, appreciate what they did even if that style now has been surpassed, expanded on and/or refined beyond that point now. Its more about having 'respect' for what Jimi did and the legacy for all electric guitarists that followed.
