[quote]swivel wrote:
don’t underestimate guys because what they play is “simple”. ac/dc created hit songs again and again using very basic elements and refining them with real rhythmic precision. they are tight. they are solid. and their hits aren’t a flash in a pan or tied to a stylistic era… THEY ENDURE !
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Being popular doesn’t make you good any more than not being popular means you can’t play. You proved that yourself by introducing Morse to this discussion who by that standard would be a worthless non musician.
AC-DC is tight, but who couldn’t be with music that simple. What they were masters of was writing songs that are fun to listen to which gives them a certain quality that isn’t necessarily defined by raw musicianship. They also give you a good time live despite the fact any kid could play anything they ever wrote after about their 4th lesson.
One thing my father taught me was that my liking or not liking somebody has nothing necessarily to do with how good they are as musicians.
I loved the Scorpions, simple metal with some decent leads from Micheal Schenker through Ulrich Roth and then Matthias Jabs. I couldn’t stand YES for the most part who had undeniably 100 times more musical ability than the Scorpions ever had.
How bout Robert Fripp, Adrien Belew, Allan Holdsworth or even Akira Takasaki from Loudness among many others who most people never even heard of, but were world class musicians.
However my all time favorite band is still RUSH who I’ve had tatooed across the knuckles of my left hand for the last 20 + years. Those guys are better now than they were when they were younger. Even Lifeson who is sometimes considered the weak link is amazing despite his lack of flashy trickery. Talk about tight.
[quote]Marshallman wrote:
chewie wrote:
This guy does it on bass and better:
The man:
Back in the day:
More:
If there’s any bass players reading this thread and who viewed the Victor Wooten clip, is he tapping or playing harmonics? The notes sound really high for a bass.
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He does both: I think on this solo he mostly taps. I only viewed it once. Go to powertabs.net. They have a nice collection of his tabs.
You can possess virtuosity irrespective of musicality or ability to compose. Sure, Yngwie just does the same thing every time, but if you put a piece of music in front of him, he can play it.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Marshallman wrote:
Yes, often the best guitarists go unheard. Or, uncredited as a sideman. That’s because song writing skills make you a living, not necessarily proficiency on your instrument. Morse is awesome, but guys like him don’t always fit into “bands”. Take a guy like Jimmy Page. He was a bit sloppy, but he wrote great songs. I think that’s part of what makes a great guitar player. Slash is no Steve Morse, but I wouldn’t call him a no-talented hack. He wrote cool songs, too, and he can burn with the best of his genre.
Fair points about songwriting and instrumental proficiency. Since you brought up Page before I had a chance to you’re exactly right there too. WAY overrated player, but another killer songwriter and arranger. He was sloppy, even in the studio with stuff that shouldn’t even have been that hard.
Morse is just on that other level.
I can’t understand what you see in Slash or Guns n Roses though. I just cannot stomach them.
On the other hand AC-DC which makes some of the simplest 4 chord drivel ever heard managed to write songs I was almost ashamed to say I liked and Angus did actually improve over time unlike Keith Richards who has the unusual talent of going from barely passable to outright shitty the longer he plays and the more drugs he ingests.
Gawd that was one band I never “got” and never will. I’d rather listen to a truckload of 45 pound plates being dumped down a long cement staircase that have to spend 3 seconds listening to the stones. Gives me the willies just thinkin about it.[/quote]
You really don’t like GNR, eh? By any chance(and I don’t mean this in a condescending way), are you much over 40?
There seems to be new rumors of a reunion with one lineup or another and nothing ever materializing. I’m not the hugest VH fan, but it would be nice to see Eddie releasing new music one in a while.
Good clips toward the top of the thread – most I’d never seen before.
^^ Leo is my personal favorite being I’m an acoustic player, although not a very good one.
[quote]Marshallman wrote:
If there’s any bass players reading this thread and who viewed the Victor Wooten clip, is he tapping or playing harmonics? The notes sound really high for a bass.
chewie wrote:
He does both: I think on this solo he mostly taps. I only viewed it once. Go to powertabs.net. They have a nice collection of his tabs.[/quote]
He’s just tapping there, but you’re right about the notes sounding high. I’ve duplicated where he’s playing on my bass and the notes are too high.
I’m pretty sure he’s using alternate tuning and/or a thin set of strings. Instead of EADG, he’s got the strings as ADG(C or B).
Cool note on the powertabs.net. Don’t forget XGuitar.com. I’ve done some searching recently and couldn’t believe how much tab stuff there is out there.
If you want access to the really good tab stuff (as opposed to the plain text approximations), may I suggest the GuitarPro software. You can try it for free for 15 days.
Some of this stuff shows all parts including guitar, keyboards, and drums! Most cool.
my favorite van halen record is “fair warning”. it’s the only record where eddies seems to expand his ideas and stretch a sentence out for more than just two bars. his usual 2 bar question/answer phrasing gets old for me quick.
Speaking of tabs, does anyone know where I can find Vai’s “Freak Show Excess”? I know there’s an instructional video on Youtube, but he only goes over a couple lines, and it would really help to have the tablature…
eddie’s tone has changed also…i don’t know if it’s the peavy gear or what but the old eddie tone had no comparison even today. his sound now is much more generic.
[quote]swivel wrote:
eddie’s tone has changed also…i don’t know if it’s the peavy gear or what but the old eddie tone had no comparison even today. his sound now is much more generic. [/quote]
It’s his tone on the three new songs from the greatest hits album a couple years ago that sounds really bad to me. Must be the way it was recorded.
[quote]Jack_Dempsey wrote:
There seems to be new rumors of a reunion with one lineup or another and nothing ever materializing. I’m not the hugest VH fan, but it would be nice to see Eddie releasing new music one in a while.
Good clips toward the top of the thread – most I’d never seen before.
^^ Leo is my personal favorite being I’m an acoustic player, although not a very good one.[/quote]
I had totally forgotten about that guy. I haven’t heard of him in years. Good clip.
[quote]conner wrote:
Though Eruption does sound impressive, I would have to agree with tremelo24 that it can be learned by most guitarists. If you wanna hear some REAL crazy guitar works check out people like Vai, Malmsteen, Buckethead, or even Rusty Cooley (for his sheer playing speed).
Or, search for “AirTap!” on youtube and see if that does it for ya.[/quote]
[quote]Marshallman wrote:
swivel wrote:
eddie’s tone has changed also…i don’t know if it’s the peavy gear or what but the old eddie tone had no comparison even today. his sound now is much more generic.
It’s his tone on the three new songs from the greatest hits album a couple years ago that sounds really bad to me. Must be the way it was recorded.
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VH used to record live in the studio. If you listen carefully you can hear all kinds of mistakes including DLR coughing and EVH missing notes and cues. Now they record individually and sanitize completely. The original stuff was so raw. The mistakes made it pure. Now it’s just ho-hum and uninspired.
Pretty much every band grows “generic” over time. Look at Metallica, GNR, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi (first album was great), AC/DC, VH (Van Hagar), Green Day…they all went soft and lost their hard edge as they got popular. Metallica is the worst offender by far.
[quote]Marshallman wrote:
You really don’t like GNR, eh? By any chance(and I don’t mean this in a condescending way), are you much over 40?
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They bore me, I,m 42 and no offense taken. That’s really not it though. I still pull out the old metal pretty regularly. I just find myself doing something other than listening if I’m anywhere they’re being played.
I’m a rivethead from way back man. I was 11 years old in Cobo arena while Kiss was recording their first live album. I saw Van Halen open for Sabbath on the Never Say Die tour for god’s sake. I actually wore a Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush t-shirt to high school (what little I actually went).
I knew Jason Newstead when he was in a local Phoenix band called the Dogz back in the days when Yngwie was in Ron Keel’s first band Steeler.
My wife teases me for never having grown out of my love for rambunctious tunes. Trust me I have no aversion to LOUD.
