Guitarists here...

[Brock Samson]

good detective work Cody...

none knows these guys here in the US like Jimi they had to go to the U.K. to find a market..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eQVKodTQz1Q&mode=related&search=

[Ponch ®]

Cody -

One thing that (hopefully) you'll get as you get older and mature (again, hopefully), is that playing fast sweep arpeggios and doing 32nd double tapping runs does not make a great guitar player. It's about how creative and innovative one is. In other words, whoever does the most with the least. You listed Brian May as an influence - he wasn't the flashiest or the fastest player, but he was great at taking advantage of recording and effects technology  (take a listen to a live version of "Brighton Rock").

Any assclown can practice 8 hours a day , learn every Lydian and Mixolyidian mode, and ape every Eddie Van Halen lick without thinking about it, but in the end, they just sound like guys who practice a lot, with no heart behind it. Then you have guys like Johnny Ramone who only played two-note fifth chords or E-shape barre chords at most; or Johnny Thunders who could hardly play a note on the right beat; or Keith Richards, who was never in tune; Angus Young, who never met a pentatonic scale he didn't like - yet a single 2 chord, 2 minute song by any of those guys has more substance than the entire Rush, Yes, and Eagles back catalogs.

[JimShine]

Ghoste, that is an amazing pic. As you know, that guitar is worth some serious bucks today.

My inspiration is mainly Zappa, Gilmour, early Clapton, and Hendrix.

[dodgecharger-fan]

Cody -

One thing that (hopefully) you'll get as you get older and mature (again, hopefully), is that playing fast sweep arpeggios and doing 32nd double tapping runs does not make a great guitar player. It's about how creative and innovative one is. In other words, whoever does the most with the least. You listed Brian May as an influence - he wasn't the flashiest or the fastest player, but he was great at taking advantage of recording and effects technology  (take a listen to a live version of "Brighton Rock").

Any assclown can practice 8 hours a day , learn every Lydian and Mixolyidian mode, and ape every Eddie Van Halen lick without thinking about it, but in the end, they just sound like guys who practice a lot, with no heart behind it. Then you have guys like Johnny Ramone who only played two-note fifth chords or E-shape barre chords at most; or Johnny Thunders who could hardly play a note on the right beat; or Keith Richards, who was never in tune; Angus Young, who never met a pentatonic scale he didn't like - yet a single 2 chord, 2 minute song by any of those guys has more substance than the entire Rush, Yes, and Eagles back catalogs.

I'll agree on everything but the RUSH and Yes comment....

Alex Lifeson plays with feeling and not really that fast most of the time. He gets a lot out of his sound for the little work that he does.
I just saw them in Vegas on Saturday - I don't think he really broke a sweat.
Switching off to a 12-string acoustic or a Mandolin in the middle of a song ain't exactly shredding either....

As for YES - very complex music but with such a classical background, it's not your typical practice 8 hours a day monkey flash in the pan type of music.

I know exactly what you're saying and I agree. I just don't agree with RUSH and Yes as examples..


Eagles?   Yawn....

[70charger_boy]

Cody -

One thing that (hopefully) you'll get as you get older and mature (again, hopefully), is that playing fast sweep arpeggios and doing 32nd double tapping runs does not make a great guitar player. It's about how creative and innovative one is. In other words, whoever does the most with the least. You listed Brian May as an influence - he wasn't the flashiest or the fastest player, but he was great at taking advantage of recording and effects technology  (take a listen to a live version of "Brighton Rock").

Any assclown can practice 8 hours a day , learn every Lydian and Mixolyidian mode, and ape every Eddie Van Halen lick without thinking about it, but in the end, they just sound like guys who practice a lot, with no heart behind it. Then you have guys like Johnny Ramone who only played two-note fifth chords or E-shape barre chords at most; or Johnny Thunders who could hardly play a note on the right beat; or Keith Richards, who was never in tune; Angus Young, who never met a pentatonic scale he didn't like - yet a single 2 chord, 2 minute song by any of those guys has more substance than the entire Rush, Yes, and Eagles back catalogs.

I'll agree on everything but the RUSH and Yes comment....

Alex Lifeson plays with feeling and not really that fast most of the time. He gets a lot out of his sound for the little work that he does.
I just saw them in Vegas on Saturday - I don't think he really broke a sweat.
Switching off to a 12-string acoustic or a Mandolin in the middle of a song ain't exactly shredding either....

As for YES - very complex music but with such a classical background, it's not your typical practice 8 hours a day monkey flash in the pan type of music.

I know exactly what you're saying and I agree. I just don't agree with RUSH and Yes as examples..


Eagles?   Yawn....

You took the words right out of my mouth.. Alex Lifeson is brilliant.
Ponch-I also agree with you to a certain degree.  Randy Rhoads wasn't just a flashy guitar player who just played archapagio's(spelling?) When he was on the road touring with Ozzy rather than go out and drink and get laid he would get lessons from various guitar teachers.  He had a vision to play bach, mozart and bethoven on his guitar.  At least, that was the direction he was going in when he tragically died.
As far as Angus Young, you can make fun of him all you want he was and still is god to me, well besides Hendrix.  I worship Hendrix and he is the reason why I picked up the guitar.
I'm surprised there was no mention of Chuck Berry.  He was the king of the 3 chord progression
then there was Bo Diddley

Of course, it all blew up when 4 guys from Liverpool came to the scene.  Their use of the augmented B chord put most of the 50's guys out of business

[69CoronetRT]

Cody -

One thing that (hopefully) you'll get as you get older and mature (again, hopefully), is that playing fast sweep arpeggios and doing 32nd double tapping runs does not make a great guitar player. It's about how creative and innovative one is. In other words, whoever does the most with the least. You listed Brian May as an influence - he wasn't the flashiest or the fastest player, but he was great at taking advantage of recording and effects technology  (take a listen to a live version of "Brighton Rock").

Any assclown can practice 8 hours a day , learn every Lydian and Mixolyidian mode, and ape every Eddie Van Halen lick without thinking about it, but in the end, they just sound like guys who practice a lot, with no heart behind it. Then you have guys like Johnny Ramone who only played two-note fifth chords or E-shape barre chords at most; or Johnny Thunders who could hardly play a note on the right beat; or Keith Richards, who was never in tune; Angus Young, who never met a pentatonic scale he didn't like - yet a single 2 chord, 2 minute song by any of those guys has more substance than the entire Rush, Yes, and Eagles back catalogs.

Nice post and good insight...

add to the list of minimalists:

Dave "Tuning? Who needs tuning?" Davies of the Kinks - classic killer timeless riffs

Neil Young with one note solos

Passion will always overcome tallent and you can't really play rock and roll unless you're pissed off.

I have to agree with the comment above about Rush and Yes. Not bands or players to be taken lightly.

[Ponch ®]

Sorry to the Yes and Rush fans I might have offended with my comments. I don't necessarily have anything against those bands, but they were the first that popped into my head when looking for examples of groups that epitomized the whole dinosaur/corporate/self-indulgent/playing-with-their-backs-to-the-audience rock scene of the 70's. If y'all want, I can change it to Emerson Lake and Palmer, REO Speedwagon, or Pink Floyd.

By the same token, I was pleasantly surprised to see that no one jumped in to defend the Eagles.

[dodgecharger-fan]

LOL!

You don't know RUSH at all, do you?

Still, I get what you mean and I agree completely. There were a bunch of "Oh my God! Look at this kid play!" youtube videos flying around a couple of months ago and they were just scales at lightning speed. Impressive skills, but interesting for about 5 seconds. If these kids ever learn how to really feel, they'll be killer players.

(Note: After writing everything below, I realize that I'm comng off as a rabid fan that will defend them against anything said about them. That's not really the case. I AM a little excited because I just saw them this past Saturday. I DO know a lot about the band because I've been a fan since before Moving Pictures. My sister's highschool boyfriend was in a band that beat RUSH in a battle of the bands. The same sister lived across the hall from Geddy Lee in Toronto. I actually bumped into him in the hall while visiting but I was young, hadn't really heard of RUSH and didn't know who the heck he was. My sister was into Bob Marley at the time so Geddy was just that "long-haired rock guy." I live in St. Catharines which is where THE Lakeside Park is located......   hmmmm.. Maybe I am just a rabid fan. Now back to my regularly scheduled rant.)

But RUSH? These guys have nothing but fun on stage. They are not real flashy in terms of showmanship though.
Hell, they're Canadian! They're polite! Getting all "Mick Jagger" would embarass them! 

With concept albums that didn't get much radio play, it's difficult to think of them as "corporate."
With a song like Spirit of Radio where they take a direct shot at music industry corruption and "payola", it's hard to call them "corporate."
They produce their own stuff but bring in a co-producer because they recognize that other people have good ideas, too. They write music in their own home studios and share them with each other in the driveway while washing cars. (That's where Neil first heard the drums for Witch Hunt.)

They used to open their shows with the Three Stooges theme... now Bob & Doug MacKenzie do a skit to introduce one of the songs.
Geddy used to have clothes dryers for amps. Now he has gourmet food vending machines. That's just funny!

There's some pyro when the "Rio" dragon is on the video screens, but the whole scene has a humorous tilt to it.
There's one big explosion in the song right after intermission - I forget what it was but I was just sitting down and not really paying attention - scared the crap outta me.

Sure, these guys don't prance around and strut for the crowd like some, but they're not locked behind their gear while on stage either. They move out to the edge and interact. They chuck free stuff into the crowd at the start of the encore. They play. They run. They jump around a bit.

Do they show off? I guess. But it's effortless for them and it's the music.
It's their musicianship that is their show. Pulling that much sound out of 3 guys and doing it live is amazing. Bass and keyboards at the same time? Look at their feet - they're playing foot pedals - and singing at the same time..
Side note for Neil: He did a killer drum solo and the last section of it was all jazz - a la Buddy Rich - laying to rest the old saying, "He's good, but he can't hold a candle to any jazz drummer." It was damn good, too.

A lot of their "prog" stuff from the 70's doesn't play well live because it was more concept albums than individual songs. However, stuff like Trees, Natural Science, and stuff from Hemishperes and 2112 stand up very well on their own and they do play them live. Natural Science is the drum solo song on this tour.

There was lots of close ups on the video screens of Alex playing. I was scratching my head trying to figure out how he gets all of that sound out of such little effort. One thing that is missing from the tour program is a list of his gear...

The "flashy" intro to Spirit of Radio is a lot of open string notes - it sounds fast and complicated but it's fairly easy to play. A good example of a lot of sound out of little effort.

Okay, I'll shut up now.   

[deputycrawford]

I have the usual hero's, but my hero lives in town with me and you have all heard him. His name is Chuck Stohl. He was the lead in "Damien." They had three national albums and multiple videos on MTV when they were big. He now heads his own band called "Stohl'n." The album is called Let It Rain.
     I am friends with most of the band members. You should Youtube some of the songs. Chuck is blazing fast. Melodic as hell, and can rip up the blues and even jazz when need be. You guys are right. Its not just about being fast. Its about feeling it.
     I was just listening to Wolf Huffman last night. He was from the late 70's band called Accept. He is really good. I am stuck on him right now. Especially the song "The Beast Inside."

[Brock Samson]

 i have heard some rush songs that usually start off pretty well,.. then the singer starts yowlling like a cat being ripped in half... nails on a chalkboard,..  i've never gotten thru ONE of their songs,..  do they have any instermentals?..
any you tube links?.. 

i'm often suprised at how many tracks are absolutly ruined by the so-called "singer"... or whatever..

[Ponch ®]

i have heard some rush songs that usually start off pretty well,.. then the singer starts yowlling like a cat being ripped in half... nails on a chalkboard,..   

Haha...really that's why I don't like Rush that much. The music is good, but I can't stand Geddy Lee's voice.

[dodgecharger-fan]

heh.. Geddy's voice is an acquired taste...

he's done a lot of stuff later on in life that's a few hundred octaves lower than what you'd normally hear..

They do have some instrumentals - the first to come to mind are YYZ and La Villa Strangiato

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONLKn5VHY4
just so ya know, the opening lick to YYZ is the beacon sent out by the Toronto airport... or used to when they used to do that or still do .. I don't know. YYZ is the airport code for Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78D00dYOBrM

here's a wikipedia article...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_instrumentals

[69bronzeT5]

I think the only Rush songs I actually like is Closer To The Heart, Limelight and Tom Saywer

[70charger_boy]

I think the only Rush songs I actually like is Closer To The Heart, Limelight and Tom Saywer

C'mon there is working man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yidi3KiCIiw&mode=related&search=


then there is subdivisions.  A song about high school cast out's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBlqMHpeErg

[68ChargerJMP]

Zakk Wylde
Billy Gibbons
Stevie Ray
James Hetfield
Dime
Mike Clark
Jimmy Page
...and many more. Anyone have vids on youtube of them playing,jamming,etc...
Ive been thinking of trying to put one on there myself.

[Manfred318]

Zakk Wylde
Billy Gibbons
Stevie Ray
James Hetfield
Dime
Mike Clark
Jimmy Page
...and many more. Anyone have vids on youtube of them playing,jamming,etc...
Ive been thinking of trying to put one on there myself.

I dont my self but a friend of mine has like 20 videos up if you want to check them out. Hes playing various solos and such.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Residual2427

[69bronzeT5]

James Hetfield

...and many more. Anyone have vids on youtube of them playing,jamming,etc...
Ive been thinking of trying to put one on there myself.

Yea, MIGHTY HETFIELD!!! Im getting a Gibson Explorer exactly like James used!! Oh and I have a bunch of videos....

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=motleycruevancouver

[69bronzeT5]

I dont my self but a friend of mine has like 20 videos up if you want to check them out. Hes playing various solos and such.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Residual2427

Hes really good

[Manfred318]

I dont my self but a friend of mine has like 20 videos up if you want to check them out. Hes playing various solos and such.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Residual2427

Hes really good

Hes been playing for about 10 years now. I think hes working on learning classical guitar now.

[70charger_boy]

I dont my self but a friend of mine has like 20 videos up if you want to check them out. Hes playing various solos and such.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Residual2427

Hes really good

Hes been playing for about 10 years now. I think hes working on learning classical guitar now.

Dude, he sounds great.  I love the reverse fingering too

[1968 Charger B5]

Obvisouly we have no shredder's here.   Joe Stump, Micheal Angelo Batio, Yngwie Malmsteen, George Lynch.   Those are some real players.      Hendrix was a bit over rated, just good for his time.  SRV  was def amazing. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG74eVb6V10

Check out Speed Kills by Micheal Angelo Batio 
Now that is some guitar playing.

[Brock Samson]

In your opinion which sucks BTW.. 

[1968 Charger B5]

Wow i didn't know sweeping was so easy.  When you can show me a video of you sweeping some arpeggio's in a harmonic minor as does most people do, i may take your word for it.  By the way when I was studying and taking some classes at Berklee Music College, about only 10% of the players could do so.  It's amazing how many people think they can play a good guitar and they only play fucking pentatonic solos', usually like kirk hammet, who is far overrated.

[70charger_boy]

Obvisouly we have no shredder's here. Joe Stump, Micheal Angelo Batio, Yngwie Malmsteen, George Lynch. Those are some real players. Hendrix was a bit over rated, just good for his time. SRV was def amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG74eVb6V10

Check out Speed Kills by Micheal Angelo Batio
Now that is some guitar playing.

Wow i didn't know sweeping was so easy.  When you can show me a video of you sweeping some arpeggio's in a harmonic minor as does most people do, i may take your word for it.  By the way when I was studying and taking some classes at Berklee Music College, about only 10% of the players could do so.  It's amazing how many people think they can play a good guitar and they only play fucking pentatonic solos', usually like kirk hammet, who is far overrated.

You're the second person on this site that makes me look good.

[Musicman]

Those are some real players.   Hendrix was a bit over rated, just good for his time.  SRV  was def amazing. 

I could be way off base here, but I'm 99 percent certain that if you asked Steve Vai,Yngwie Malmsteen, or any of the other extraordinary players out there, how they feel about players like Hendrix & SRV, they would have nothing but praise for them. In fact most of them would probably give their left nut just to be able to play any 2 notes with the same intensity and emotion that these guys played with.