1988RedT2 said:In reply to carbidetooth :
Are those the C-notes? Nice work! I really like how you chamfered the edges.
Put me in the "EVH definitely one of the greats" camp.
GR Research X-LS Encore. Mo betta, but I'm biased!
1988RedT2 said:In reply to carbidetooth :
Are those the C-notes? Nice work! I really like how you chamfered the edges.
Put me in the "EVH definitely one of the greats" camp.
GR Research X-LS Encore. Mo betta, but I'm biased!
In reply to carbidetooth :
Very nice! I had a hunch they were something else, but the way the woofer overlapped the waveguide on the tweeter, I had to ask. 
Don't mean to muck up this thread, but they do resemble one another, though the C-notes are a bit smaller, and almost certainly not as sweet-sounding.
Antihero said:Another guitarists that is hugely underrated is Iommi. Literally started heavy metal and doesn't even have full fingers on his fretting hand . Literally created an entire genre with melted down soap bottles instead of fingers playing his guitar. He's so good at it that people aren't really astonished by that fact.
I recently read an interview where he feels that current guitarists are going too much for quantity of notes than quality. It's amazing what Iommi could do with his handicap, and in a way I think it forced him to create those amazing, pared down yet powerful riffs that defined early Black Sabbath.
Like a lot of things, it's easy to do a lot with a lot, but it takes real skill to do a lot with little.
Beer Baron 🍺 said:And for a crazy wild card in the debate around playing Rhythm and Lead....
It gets extra crazy at around the 3:50 mark...
I don't even know what is happening at 4:50...
I'll leave this here. It's a great piece in the "simple is better" vein.
The thing with Cliff isn't just that he was doing crazy things with a bass, it was the way he brought harmonizing and counterpoint to the music. You can really tell which early Metallica songs were written with Cliff and the ones written with (gack) Mustaine.
Listen to Cliff Burton on Anastasia (Pulling Teeth) and tell me he isn't one of the top few bassists ever to plug in.
BB King gets my vote. Stevie Ray Vaughan is a close second. My measuring stick is goosebumps on my arm while hearing it. SRV does that.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Antihero said:Another guitarists that is hugely underrated is Iommi. Literally started heavy metal and doesn't even have full fingers on his fretting hand . Literally created an entire genre with melted down soap bottles instead of fingers playing his guitar. He's so good at it that people aren't really astonished by that fact.
I recently read an interview where he feels that current guitarists are going too much for quantity of notes than quality. It's amazing what Iommi could do with his handicap, and in a way I think it forced him to create those amazing, pared down yet powerful riffs that defined early Black Sabbath.
Like a lot of things, it's easy to do a lot with a lot, but it takes real skill to do a lot with little.
I think it probably did but he also has some faster stuff he played too so maybe less than you'd think?
One thing that a lot of people miss about his playing is that he's constantly using vibrato, which is probably helped by his use of incredibly thin strings.
So to me it's also amazing that he does constant subtle vibrato on soap bottles stuck to his fingers
So, who is the best guitarist? I have asked my guitar teacher. He’s been doing this a long time and hears things I never will. He’ll note who’s sloppy, who’s lazy, and who can’t play anything other than their own material.
What makes a guitarist better than best? The ability to master so many genres, he says. His example: Steve Morse.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Steve Morse is good definitely.
I think "best" is hard because there is a lot of talent. It's like trying to say who is the best QB to play, there's no cut and dry answer.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
I saw a guy on YT break down Prince's solo. He pointed out how many different styles he goes through, basically using the guitar to say, "I can play like all you MF'rs."
I guess he was irritated that he wasn't included on some list of great guitarists that year.
Prince was sort of a freak of nature, he was known for his guitar playing but he could pick up any number of other instruments and play them equally well (he was famously known for playing all the instruments plus doing all the recording and mixing himself on his debut album.)
Pete said this in an earlier post: "I recently read an interview where he feels that current guitarists are going too much for quantity of notes than quality." It reminds me of my college band director, who was an old school jazz sax player. He often complained about how many current jazz performers were basically running up and down scales as fast as they could, without a lot of actual substance in their playing.
dxman92 said:Listen to Cliff Burton on Anastasia (Pulling Teeth) and tell me he isn't one of the top few bassists ever to plug in.
Great, sure. He wouldn't crack my top 5 bassists. Probably not my top 10.
Now go listen to "Rio" by Duran Duran. Very similar chord arpeggiation, but syncopated with a whole host of ghost notes, and maintaining impeccable timing even at about 50% faster tempo.
For "quality of notes rather than quantity" in terms of bassists... since I've taken up bass, the artist who jumped into my list of favorites unexpectedly - is Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads. I'd been aware of her, but listening closely, her feel and the clearly intentional subtle variation she puts into simple lines really impresses me. I wouldn't call her the "Best" or "Greatest" though. She lacks the blazing technical prowess of other players.
Tony Levin would probably be my pick for all time greatest bassist. Not even sure where to start with his playing. The list of iconic and memorable lines he's created, from "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time", to "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", to his work with King Crimson and Yes...
Here's a goofy example of how fun, experimental, innovative, and technically proficient he has been...
Keith Tanner said:lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:SRV? Guitar and vocals! My choice.
SRV can move between rhythm and soloing so effortlessly. It's amazing. But when I started to study him, I realized his weakness is phrasing. His solos don't flow the way they could, there's no space. The exact opposite of Gilmour, who is nothing but space.
I agree 100% on Gilmour. He's the gold standard for saying the most with the least.
But I heavily disagree about Stevie. This is the guy who audibly sushed the crowd during the live version of 'Tin Pan Alley' so they could hear the quiet parts. Go listen to his version of 'Little Wing'. Plenty of space in the first half.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
On this we agree. When you look at the sheer volume of work he's done and how complex some of it is, it's pretty impressive. He's definitely one of my favourites, Percy Jones and John Pattituci not far behind. But they all bring something different, and in Percy Jones case something really unique.
To me SRV's Hendrix copies are not great. All the notes are there, and the playing is great, but the best part of what made that stuff is so good is missing.
Duke said:Keith Tanner said:lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:SRV? Guitar and vocals! My choice.
SRV can move between rhythm and soloing so effortlessly. It's amazing. But when I started to study him, I realized his weakness is phrasing. His solos don't flow the way they could, there's no space. The exact opposite of Gilmour, who is nothing but space.
I agree 100% on Gilmour. He's the gold standard for saying the most with the least.
But I heavily disagree about Stevie. This is the guy who audibly sushed the crowd during the live version of 'Tin Pan Alley' so they could hear the quiet parts. Go listen to his version of 'Little Wing'. Plenty of space in the first half.
It's not dynamics. He rarely lets a phrase sit so you can savor it. There are times when just letting it ring for a beat or a bar would give us a break from the fireworks and add a little more interest.
Little Wing is definitely one of his more delicate works and a fantastic cover. I'm also a big fan of Texas Flood, which shows that he very much can leave space when he wants - the intro to the solo is exactly what I'm talking about along with the guitar lines between vocal lines.
If it's not clear, I'm more of a blues guy than a rock guy and so my preferences are showing :)
Beer Baron 🍺 said:For "quality of notes rather than quantity" in terms of bassists... since I've taken up bass, the artist who jumped into my list of favorites unexpectedly - is Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads. I'd been aware of her, but listening closely, her feel and the clearly intentional subtle variation she puts into simple lines really impresses me. I wouldn't call her the "Best" or "Greatest" though. She lacks the blazing technical prowess of other players.
If I remember the story correctly, she didn't know how to play the bass guitar when she joined the Talking Heads but I still liked her work.
Kinda agree with Garcia on this one. I hear the notes EVH is playing, but they don't say much to me.
I think the answer to "Who is the best guitarist" is just Hendrix and then everybody else.
Jerry Garcia's opinion on Eddie Van Halen…….
Do you listen to Eddie Van Halen?
- Jerry: “Not seriously, no. Because I can hear what’s happening in there. There isn’t much there that interests me. It isn’t played with enough deliberateness. It lacks a certain kind of rhythmic elegance that I like music to have, that I like notes to have. There’s a lot of notes and stuff. But the notes aren’t saying much, you know. They’re like little clusters. It’s a certain kind of music which I understand on one level. But it isn’t attractive to me,”
Frets Magazine Interview 1985
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Out of curiosity, what is your top 5/10?
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
I came here to post that Prince solo. I don't think many people know how great of a player he was.
Has Jeff Beck entered the chat yet? If not, why not?
Anybody who studies and practices enough can learn how to play like Eddie.
Nobody has learned how to play like Jeff Beck. And it's not the hardware, because I've seen videos of him switching rigs with other guitarists, and Jeff still sounds like Beck on somebody else's guitar.
Antihero said:In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Out of curiosity, what is your top 5/10?
Greatest or Favorite? Because they're different.
Greatest...
Here's where it gets fuzzy, so I'll just throw out names but no order of primacy...
Personal Favorites:
Duke said:Has Jeff Beck entered the chat yet? If not, why not?
Yeah. I brought him up on page 1, with a clip of Alice Cooper talking about the absurd skill he had.
Nobody has learned how to play like Jeff Beck. And it's not the hardware, because I've seen videos of him switching rigs with other guitarists, and Jeff still sounds like Beck on somebody else's guitar.
Yup. That was my argument for why Jeff Beck, BB King, David Gilmore, and Mark Knopfler are all superior.
And that's why it's not possible to make a list like that. I wouldn't put any of those in the top ten.
Would I rate them higher than Hendrix, John Mclaughlin, Robert Fripp, Al DiMeola, or Alan Holdsworth? I would not, and was really surprised anybody would put BB King in there. I saw him several times and was very much underwhelmed.
Peabody said:And that's why it's not possible to make a list like that. I wouldn't put any of those in the top ten.
Would I rate them higher than Hendrix, John Mclaughlin, Robert Fripp, Al DiMeola, or Alan Holdsworth? I would not, and was really surprised anybody would put BB King in there. I saw him several times and was very much underwhelmed.
To be fair, Beer Baron was apparently naming his Top 10 bass players, not guitarists... but I would put all the six-stringers you mention high on my list too.
I like BB King, but he's kind of like John Wayne: he's the best at being himself; not so good at being anything else.
Have we mentioned Alex Skolnick yet? I love both his jazz and metal work.
I’ve seen him with Testament and Stu Hamm several times and, this spring, I finally saw his jazz trio. The venue was small club beneath Main Drag Music in Brooklyn.
While one of the openers was playing, I heard someone playing guitar in the shop–so I checked it out. It was Alex! They told him to not bring an amp and, instead, just grab one from the floor. So he was A/B-ing amps prior to going on. It was just like three of us there: me, Alex and another fan.
Mind if I take any photos?
No, not at all.
By the time his band went on, the crowd was pretty thin. Well, I guess it was late-night jazz on a school night.
His band crushed it. I was right there up front. Eyes closed and you could taste the passion coming from before me.
After the show, his bassist called me out from the stage: Get any good photos of me?
So we started chatting. Turns out he’s also into cars. Alex and I have bumped into each other before, and we talked cameras for a minute.
I recently saw Testament in Orlando. I was up in the balcony. There’s something special about seeing someone perform in such an intimate setting.
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