and the bass and drums are unbelievablbly well grounded and Zappa tested through taskmaster Keneally, and Bryan Beller and Marco Minnemann can handle just about anything
These days I listen mostly to Senri Kawaguchi, but she's a drummer so
maybe that doesn't count. Greg Howe in Gentle Hearts with Dennis C,
that's the ultimate.
> These days I listen mostly to Senri Kawaguchi, but she's a drummer so
> maybe that doesn't count. Greg Howe in Gentle Hearts with Dennis C,
> that's the ultimate.
Oh yes, Jeff Beck with Vinnie and Tal is hard to beat.
I'm way impressed with the techique. I like to do this *kind* of thing (certainly not at this skill level or with this kind of legato) for an afternoon after a few beers and smoke. But I tend to weary of compressor, overdrive, and the other requisite sigproc to accomplish it.
In listening, I eventually get a dissatisfaction borne of repetition, narrow range of dynamics (rhythmic and harmonic, as well as those imposed by sigproc), as well as a lack of statement-like phrasing.
But it's like carping about the lack of nutritional content in really good dark-chocolate caramel; it sure tastes incredible!
Maybe for dinner, not so much.
-- Music is the best means we have of digesting time. -- W. H. Auden
I absolutely love guitar, I only have so much time left on this mortal
coil. Therefore when I listen for pure joy I listen to; Wes, Pass,
Barney, Django, Hall, Burrell, Ellis, Martin, Roberts, or to other
guitarists who have actually dedicated their life to the guitar, and
guitar technique.
> In listening, I eventually get a dissatisfaction borne of repetition, > narrow range of dynamics (rhythmic and harmonic, as well as those > imposed by sigproc), as well as a lack of statement-like phrasing.
I should amend that. I think it is almost devoid of what we think of as "statement-like phrasing. I think I could life any random 2-bar phrase and use it as an ornament almost anywhere. But melodic phrases I find almost absent.
On the other hand I love "cubist" guitar playing that is riddled with 4ths and wide skips and angular playing. And this guy has it in spades.
And honestly, I wish I had half this material (for use as gee-whiz ornaments) to use in playing, say, Somebody Stole My Gal. I think it would be totally mind-blowing.
-- Music is the best means we have of digesting time. -- W. H. Auden
> And honestly, I wish I had half this material (for use as gee-whiz > ornaments) to use in playing, say, Somebody Stole My Gal. I think it > would be totally mind-blowing.
I think coming from a 'shred' background he's one of the best, He's building on foundations by Holdsworth, Greg Howe and Brett Garsed but has is own voice as well. I think Alex Machacek with FAT is probably covering more ground in this style currently, although hasn't fused the elements as well as Greg Howe did on Abstraction.
--
> In listening, I eventually get a dissatisfaction borne of repetition, > narrow range of dynamics (rhythmic and harmonic, as well as those imposed > by sigproc), as well as a lack of statement-like phrasing.
> But it's like carping about the lack of nutritional content in really good > dark-chocolate caramel; it sure tastes incredible!
For me it's usually overuse of particular stylistic elements, like the twitch slur, in fact Howe, Vai and Quayle tend to use it in preference to string bends. Also the thin whiney tone *all the time*. I have heard players using twitch slurs sparingly and fuller tones still playing essentially this style, so it doesn't have to be that way. The style is what it is though, so it will be predominantly relentless, extended runs of equal notes, just a matter of where they steer them over time.
--
> I absolutely love guitar, I only have so much time left on this mortal
> coil. Therefore when I listen for pure joy I listen to; Wes, Pass,
> Barney, Django, Hall, Burrell, Ellis, Martin, Roberts, or to other
> guitarists who have actually dedicated their life to the guitar, and
> guitar technique.
>> I absolutely love guitar, I only have so much time left on this mortal
>> coil. Therefore when I listen for pure joy I listen to; Wes, Pass,
>> Barney, Django, Hall, Burrell, Ellis, Martin, Roberts, or to other
>> guitarists who have actually dedicated their life to the guitar, and
>> guitar technique.
>So what's 'current' from those players?
What's current is their continuing sterling reputations for being
great complete guitarists and not one trick ponies; that is an
achievement.
> Which definition of 'ordinary' are you using here?
> --
> icarusi
Gerry seems to think precisely as I do. Nowadays you can buy a sound,
which is OK but everybody else has that same sound and it gets old.
The no dynamics thing gets old too. And I'M old, so I've heard an
awful lot of this stuff.
I used to play through electronics but gave up on it. It gives you an
immediate boost, but it's too limiting.
The sound of real instruments doesn't get old. There's no limit to
the amount of subtlety and inflection. That's why I like Jeff Beck
these days, it's got the plinky, weak sound of a real guitar. You can
do something real with that.
For shredding I like Emily Autumn, who plays violin. These electronic
guitars are like fake violins. I hear Emily with a real violin and it
outclasses all of those guys. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjWx1VCm3KI if you're interested. You have to start playing at age three and
dedicate your life to it, but such results come no other way.
John McLaughlin has a fake tone those days but he's good enough to get
away with it. I wish he'd go back to his Mustang, though. Fat
chance.
On the other hand, I respect what this guy is doing. If someone else
likes it, fine. It just isn't my deal.
>> In listening, I eventually get a dissatisfaction borne of repetition, >> narrow range of dynamics (rhythmic and harmonic, as well as those >> imposed by sigproc), as well as a lack of statement-like phrasing.
>> But it's like carping about the lack of nutritional content in really >> good dark-chocolate caramel; it sure tastes incredible!
> For me it's usually overuse of particular stylistic elements, like the > twitch slur, in fact Howe, Vai and Quayle tend to use it in preference > to string bends. Also the thin whiney tone *all the time*. I have heard > players using twitch slurs sparingly and fuller tones still playing > essentially this style, so it doesn't have to be that way. The style is > what it is though, so it will be predominantly relentless, extended > runs of equal notes, just a matter of where they steer them over time.
You know the ornament (can't think of the name of it) where one plays a triplet figure on a note sounding the initial note then the next higher scalar note, then the primary again? You can find it throughout Bird solos and by every other mortal. Sometimes I think I use it to much, so try avoid it for a while.
I was just listening to Coleman Hawkins (Hawk in HiFi), and he uses it CONSTANTLY. It is dramatically overused. So when I hear the "twitch" it doesn't seem to be too abundant, comparitively. Similarly Pass uses THAT lick where he plays a half step below a chord tone and slides up to it, then repeats it for other chord tones either above or below. He does that often, and so do some sax players. That's certainly more than an ornament of course; it's a shtick they do while killing time before coming up with another idea, I think.
-- Music is the best means we have of digesting time. -- W. H. Auden
> > And honestly, I wish I had half this material (for use as gee-whiz
> > ornaments) to use in playing, say, Somebody Stole My Gal. I think it
> > would be totally mind-blowing.
> I think coming from a 'shred' background he's one of the best, He's building
> on foundations by Holdsworth, Greg Howe and Brett Garsed but has is own
> voice as well. I think Alex Machacek with FAT is probably covering more
> ground in this style currently, although hasn't fused the elements as well
> as Greg Howe did on Abstraction.
> --
> icarusi
of those guys i think i like Garsed the best, as he's very versatile and has really matured a lot over the years with several really rock solid, interesting good fusion with tons o' guitar--like this record with TJ Helmerich :
> > In listening, I eventually get a dissatisfaction borne of repetition,
> > narrow range of dynamics (rhythmic and harmonic, as well as those imposed
> > by sigproc), as well as a lack of statement-like phrasing.
> > But it's like carping about the lack of nutritional content in really good
> > dark-chocolate caramel; it sure tastes incredible!
> For me it's usually overuse of particular stylistic elements, like the
> twitch slur, in fact Howe, Vai and Quayle tend to use it in preference to
> string bends. Also the thin whiney tone *all the time*. I have heard players
> using twitch slurs sparingly and fuller tones still playing essentially this
> style, so it doesn't have to be that way. The style is what it is though, so
> it will be predominantly relentless, extended runs of equal notes, just a
> matter of where they steer them over time.
> --
> icarusi
Something else I like about Garsed, is that he seems to like to improvise, and does so without sounding like four other guitarist in the process… in other words he doesn’t so much string rehearsed bit A (say, “the Holdsworth Thing”) and rehearsed bit B (“The Gambale Thing”) and rehearsed bit C (“The Larry Carlton Thing”) as much as he just “plays”. But I’ve got to say, that when someone says, “a heir apparent to Allan Holdsworth…..?” I don’t know…… nobody comes to my mind, and I think I’ve heard them all (short of Sylvain Luc getting a serious interest into modern electric fusion guitar). Interesting.
