Favorite Guitarist and the reason why.... (2 Viewers)

[sfidc3]

Cobain wasn't that good a guitar player. I don't see how he could've influenced anyone as a guitar player.

I agree, he had a style that was his for sure, but it was nothing new or original. I think his songwriting was what made him great/famous more than anything else....

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

Cobain wasn't that good a guitar player. I don't see how he could've influenced anyone as a guitar player.

He wasn't, this is correct. And his "grunge" style wasn't really that innovative It was largely borrowed from The Melvins and The Pixies among others. Nirvana just popularized it.

But you cannot deny how much of an influence Nirvana/Cobain had on guitarists in the early to mid 90s. Just listen to the Stone Temple Pilots, Live, Bush, Candlebox, Silverchair Even bands like The Cranberries (e.g Zombie), and I would heavily argue The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day to an extend(but they were mostly copies of The Clash). Also their Seattle contemporaries Pearl Jam and Soundgarden ventured into the "grunge" sound a bit in their later albums. (Vitalogy and Superunknown, respectively)

 

[CoolBrees]

Since this is favorite guitarist, I am going with Jerry Garcia.

Jerry certainly isn’t the most technically sound guitarist ever, but he has one of the most recognizable and unique sounds ever.

Moreover, his ability to cross genres seamlessly - even in the same song at times - while being completely improvisational on stage. The Dead would only know the first song and the last for each two set show and the rest they made up as they went). For 30 years.

His ability to change the mood, tempo and style of a song on the fly; while “talking” to the rest of the band. Communicating musically through progression cues what seemed like endless, meandering noodling (they were that too) were discussions as to which song to play next.

All while singing the lyrics to a catalogue of songs that reached over 2000 originals and covers without practicing the set each night.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Add jack white into this.

 

[Dallas_Saint73]

Lots of great ones mentioned here.

I personally dig Johnny Marr from The Smiths.

I don't think he's the greatest, but he sure did shape the early alternative sound that many still follow today. Talent-wise he isn't up there with a Stevie Ray, Clapton, Hendrix, or BB, but his songwriting ability is second-to-none.

He's crafted a lot of memorable and timeless melodies. How Soon Is Now is pretty much one of the most recognizes songs of the 80's and it's because of his guitar work mostly.

 

[SystemShock]

He wasn't, this is correct. And his "grunge" style wasn't really that innovative It was largely borrowed from The Melvins and The Pixies among others. Nirvana just popularized it.

But you cannot deny how much of an influence Nirvana/Cobain had on guitarists in the early to mid 90s. Just listen to the Stone Temple Pilots, Live, Bush, Candlebox, Silverchair Even bands like The Cranberries (e.g Zombie), and I would heavily argue The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day to an extend(but they were mostly copies of The Clash). Also their Seattle contemporaries Pearl Jam and Soundgarden ventured into the "grunge" sound a bit in their later albums. (Vitalogy and Superunknown, respectively)

Yes, I can deny it.

It's not like Cobain invented that sound.

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

Yes, I can deny it.

It's not like Cobain invented that sound.

Without Nirvana/Cobain, it may have never reached the levels of popularity and cultural transformation that it did.

The rule of thumb is that when chicks ("normal" ones, not just fringe/weird chicks who wear ripped jeans, have piercings besides their ears and die their hair purple) listen to hard rock band, you know they are something special. The Beatles, Van Halen and Nirvana all fit this category.

 

[DaveXA]

I an a big fan of EVH. Always loved his sound and style on the guitar. A player who doesn't get much credit, but deserves a lot is Stryper's Oz Fox. That guy was an animal on the guitar. They were in the mold of a glam metal band of the 80s, but with a Christian centric message. Loved them for a long time. Still listen every now and again to this day.

 

[sonicboom]

Without Nirvana/Cobain, it may have never reached the levels of popularity and cultural transformation that it did.

The rule of thumb is that when chicks ("normal" ones, not just fringe/weird chicks who wear ripped jeans, have piercings besides their ears and die their hair purple) listen to hard rock band, you know they are something special. The Beatles, Van Halen and Nirvana all fit this category.

Nirvana!?!?



Kurt's riffs are so heavy and vocals just to much to compare to. I think being Irish automatically makes you a good singer, but who knows?!?!





Donita Sparks anyone? Bueller?

 

[Scorpius the Allfather]

EVH isn't even on my list of Top 10 favorite players but I firmly disagree with above, anyone can't sound like EVH, he isn't what I would call a "shredder" but he is plenty technically proficient and there aren't many guys that can play his stuff just like he does.....

Gilmour is a great player, because style and tone matter. Most of his solos though not a cascade of notes are typically very tricksy......I saw an interview that said almost every note in the Time solo was a bent note.....that is not easy.....

That explains why that's my favorite solo! Desert island, one album. Give me Darkside of the Moon in SACD 5.1 in an Imax theater. Go big or go home.

 

[faceman]

That explains why that's my favorite solo! Desert island, one album. Give me Darkside of the Moon in SACD 5.1 in an Imax theater. Go big or go home.

Still my favorite from that albumn

 

[IceHot]

My favorites include...

Jimmy Page - I like his choices of full step bends
Prince - When he played my guitar gently weeps it really opened my eyes.
Joe Satriani - Surfin with the Alien has some great riffs
Carlos Santana - My dad would cover him a lot on piano/accordion so I didnt really appreciate him until "Smooth"
Steve Vai - I love the metal/orchestral feel
Eric Johnson - love his use of octaves and falling scales
Brian May - Great layered harmonies that creates a brightness in my musical soul
Phil Keagy - Soul somber grooves
Tuck Andreas - my first introduction to jazzy fingerstylin
Randy Jackson - got to see him live when I lived in Long Island at a bar where I could walk right up to the stage

 

[Scorpius the Allfather]

Still my favorite from that albumn

They are all gems. Probably my second favorite is Us And Them.

 

[Saintman2884]

EVH isn't even on my list of Top 10 favorite players but I firmly disagree with above, anyone can't sound like EVH, he isn't what I would call a "shredder" but he is plenty technically proficient and there aren't many guys that can play his stuff just like he does.....

Gilmour is a great player, because style and tone matter. Most of his solos though not a cascade of notes are typically very tricksy......I saw an interview that said almost every note in the Time solo was a bent note.....that is not easy.....

Gilmour had more of a controlled sound, guitar tone, and style that took PF's very weird, proto-techno, acid-rock bluesy that tended to be very chaotic and a bit disorganized when you listen to Syd Barrett's style of playing in "Astronomy Domine", " Interstellar Overdrive". "Interstellar Overdrive", IMHO, is the quintessential psychedelic long-form jam song. There are so many different ways, tempos, styles one can play that song. Some bands can play it longer, louder, make it sound extreme, add in some jazz fusion elements, add in some quirky Sythn-TA modular sounds. Syd Barrett was actually a musical anarchist, he had a " whatever goes" philosophy, that is why so many of Floyd's bootlegs with him sound like the rest of the band aren't sure at what part or place in whatever song their playing he's going off into some manic freak-out. Of course, Syd's mental state at and around August 1967 was deteriorating regularly. It got so bad the band tried to set up an appointment with renown behavioral psychiatrist R.D. Liang for a session but they only got as far as the door to his office. Later on, the band played a audio recording of Syd engaged in a conversation to Liang and Laing told the band that Barrett's mental state was so bad he was "incurable".

As controversial and divisive of a public persona he's become in recent years, a lot of Floyd's success clearly rests of Roger Waters shoulders and not just with the lyrics, Waters was a strict materialist, he liked having his songs and music to be very well-organized, and tightly-structured. He had studied as an architect at Regent Street Poly in London and Ive always believed he'd been a famous architect if he hadn't made in rock and roll. Waters tight structures, formation of songs and how lyrics meshed in with the emotion and tempo of the song influenced Gilmour's guitar-playing. Thats one major reason why David Gilmour famous guitar solos don't sound like a guy playing a million notes like his hands are on fire like Page, Hendrix, or Clapton, he's a great guitarist because he's made the guitar solo notes he had work so well.

 

[sfidc3]

ut you cannot deny how much of an influence Nirvana/Cobain had on guitarists in the early to mid 90s. Just listen to the Stone Temple Pilots

Sure I can deny it.....Dean DeLeo was not influenced....at all....by Kurt Cobain.....First off, he is a way more accomplished, technically gifted and dynamic guitarist than Cobain could ever dream of being.....I've seen and read multiple interviews with him, his #1 influence is also EVH's.....Allan Holdsworth....then Steve Howe, then Wes Montgomery, then Jerry Reed/Glen Campbell/Roy Clark.....all different genres of music....all super dynamic players....your statement is just....false.....

My favorites include...

Jimmy Page - I like his choices of full step bends
Prince - When he played my guitar gently weeps it really opened my eyes.
Joe Satriani - Surfin with the Alien has some great riffs
Carlos Santana - My dad would cover him a lot on piano/accordion so I didnt really appreciate him until "Smooth"
Steve Vai - I love the metal/orchestral feel
Eric Johnson - love his use of octaves and falling scales
Brian May - Great layered harmonies that creates a brightness in my musical soul
Phil Keagy - Soul somber grooves
Tuck Andreas - my first introduction to jazzy fingerstylin
Randy Jackson - got to see him live when I lived in Long Island at a bar where I could walk right up to the stage

Well done sir!!!!