Kevin's Watch

Listen to Henley's "Dirty Laundry". The 1st solo is Walsh, and it just jumps at you.

Oh come on! There is no Hotel California without Walsh!

Undoubtedly, and there's no question which part is his.

joe vs robert? you must be joking?

apples and oranges boys. apples and oranges.

joe good for one thing, fripp another.

oh and by the by, new mexico, clapton didn't write that little ditty you know.

I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please
Standin' at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
Whee-hee, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by
Standin' at the crossroads, risin' sun goin' down
Standin' at the crossroads baby, the risin' sun goin' down
I believe to my soul now, po' Bob is sinkin' down
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
That I got the crossroad blues this mornin', Lord, baby I'm sinkin' down
I went to the crossroad, mama, I looked east and west
I went to the crossroad, babe, I looked east and west
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman, ooh well, babe, in my distress

Apples and oranges maybe, but they both make juice.

Cail wrote:Apples and oranges maybe, but they both make juice.

uh.... ....okay.

I never said he did. Rockers from the Yardbirds to Stevie Ray Vaughn borrow freely from the ancient Blues Masters. Mannish Boy, I'm a Man, Ain't Superstitious, Houslin' Blues, Red House, Little Sister...the list goes on and on. With authors such as your Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon...

dANdeLION wrote:Nice video. That's really the best sounding live Cream I've ever heard, too. But, Chris Squire is a totally different player; his use of space and dynamics are second to none, and all his bass lines are carefully crafted, while all Jack's really doing here is flailing away on a short scale bass. I really think a better comparison would be to John Entwhistle, but honestly, John's compositions are also better than Jacks.

If you can expand your musical horizons a bit, try Stanley Clarke. The song Hello Jeff (it's on Journey to Love, c.1976) is an excellent intro to what he could do. He wasn't a rocker, but I did see him play on the New Barbarians tour with Ron Wood, Ian McLagan and Bobby Keys, and he blew the crowd away with a brief solo part way through the show. I mean just totally blew them out... that was amazing. I had already seen him in LA at the Roxy Theatre two years so I knew what to expect, but even I was surprised how well he was received.

Killer! Everyone is forced to meet with everyone else at the exact same time. I rest my case...

Cail wrote:I'm not dissing Clapton at all. He's 3rd best, behind Beck and Page.

Gilmour? Hendrix?

SATRIANI!!!!1

PETRUCCI!

I always feel like Howe gets thrown under the bus too. Whatever you think of Yes, Howe in breathtaking.

Adrien Smith and Dave Murray? (They are two halves of one Voltron-like mega guitarists) Whatever you think of Iron Maiden, no band has ever used twin guitarists to such glorious effect. (Radiohead uses three very well, but without the blistering technical skills of the IM duo)

(and, whatever you think of the Eagles, Walsh is definately a fantastic guitarist)

Gilmour also never seems to get enough credit for his playing. No one makes a Strat sing the way he can.

i prefer Roy Buchanon over Eric Clapton any day of the week.

Hey Joe
www.youtube.com/watch?v=koBJ7AR_7Fo

peter gunn
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToFoHHXdBoM

Walk Dont Run
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc6ePrq-7Ts

Roy Buchanon!? Gods sarge! You rock! I don't even have to look at your vids to know how great that bastard is/was...

(I was talking about Cream's timing above, btw, their timing just does it for me)

Real Roy: Misty (destroys the blues! )

The Dreaming wrote:Adrien Smith and Dave Murray? (They are two halves of one Voltron-like mega guitarists) Whatever you think of Iron Maiden, no band has ever used twin guitarists to such glorious effect. (Radiohead uses three very well, but without the blistering technical skills of the IM duo)

Radiohead? Meh, don't get them at all. You wanna talk great twin guitarists, there's KK Downing and Glen Tipton from Judas Priest.

The Dreaming wrote:Gilmour also never seems to get enough credit for his playing. No one makes a Strat sing the way he can.

I love David Gilmour, but he's never the first guy I think of when I'm talking about guitar players. I can't explain why, 'cause I think his stuff is amazing.

I don't think I've seen a guitarist listed here that I don't like. That said two that really impressed me live are Lindsey Buckingham and Pete Townsend. After seeing them in concert I realized how much they sacrifice their playing on the studio albums for the sake of a better sound. But in concert they let it rip.

Townsend has never impressed me.

Buckingham is just silly-good. Totally underrated too.

Townsend is probably the worlds greatest *rhythm* guitarist. He's also a fantastic songwriter, which at the end of the day, is probably the most important skill to have.

Page and Hendrix were some of the sloppiest players out there. Sure, lots of feeling. But pure slop. There has got to be some kind of balance. I don't want to hear music made by a robot (or the human approximation of a machine), but at the same time, I can't connect emotionally with someone who sounds like they are drunk with every single note they play. I want to *hear* their notes, not a "slurred" flurry of imprecise sounds. And I'm not talking about intentional stuff--feed back, note bending, crazy sounds, etc.--these are all intentional for effect. I'm talking about Page desperately trying to hit notes and missing it. He doesn't do it for emotional impact. He does it because his technical skills just aren't up to par with his intentions. It may have something to do with playing his guitar down around his knees. But still, it's damn sloppy. (Think: Heartbreaker solo.)

I'd probably put him in the top 20, but that's only because of his innovation, song-writing, and range of stylistic choices.

My favorite guitarist is Allan Holdworth. That man works magic. Liquid smooth, lightning fast, no "showy" stuff like EVH finger-tapping. Just pure technical prowess filtered through jazz fusion improvisation that leads to unprecedented levels of emotionality. Now granted, jazz leaves some people cold. But you've got to give it some time. It's a foreign language. Like any language, once you learn to understand it, you can hear the emotion in it.

Probably my second favorite is Alex Lifeson. A man who is more than content to sit in the background, providing a "wall of sound," for the bass and drums to take the foreground. But when it's time for a solo, dear lord, strap yourselves in. An Alex Lifeson solo moves me more than the solos of any other guitarist. We're talking about a man who has probably recorded more solos than any other rock guitarist out there: 19 studio albums, 7 live albums, 1 solo album. And not a single solo sounds the same. There's only so many times you can listen to the same blues scales (played in a sloppy manner). That stuff bores me to tears really, really fast.

Listen to the "outro" solo to Mission. Wait for it to load, and skip up to 4:52. If you want to hear all three "solo" (bass, drum, guitar) listen at 3:08.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVXMTNKIEak

Or, for a full solo, skip ahead on Marathon to the 3:00 mark. Give it some time . . . it builds up to 3:45, when he really takes off.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP58U_R3gK0&feature=related

And one of the classic "band solos" is Freewill, 2:50:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpCASVFyQoE

Or, if you simply must have something bluesy, how about Rush doing Crossroads? Solo at 2:08 (2nd solo).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZJmo1RRMb8&feature=related

Here's the live version from the R30 DVD. You'll have to turn it up. Solo at 2:08 (how's that for consistency?).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b9oddxm3aA

And Allan Holdsworth:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySWS6i9kL4s&feature=related

AH, solo start at 4:00 (well, the guitar solo at least), and goes for two minutes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Z2kdBjuIs&feature=related

AH with Bill Bruford's band, solo at 2:18:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWG8uKaFyfA&feature=related

My favorite guitarist is Allan Holdworth. That man works magic. Liquid smooth,

totally agree. A relatively unheard of genius. His work on the first UK album is awe-inspiring.

I love his work with Bill Bruford. His work with Gong (Expresso II) is amazing!

I haven't heard him with UK. I'll have to look that up.

This guy's not a bad jazz guitarist, John McLaughlin Paco, ain't too shabby either...