Joe Satriani, Steve Vai et. al "G3" shred guys comment
schill_dan
If you had to rank these guys according to their shred capabilities,
Joe Satriani would be at the bottom.
So why is he so popular with shred guitar fans?
Simple: If you instead ranked these guys according to which one plays
off of their audience's energy the most, Joe would kick all of these
guys' asses.
Joe creates a live guitar orgy in which everybody comes when he plays,
whereas the other guys perform as if they are jacking off on a web cam
while you pay to watch.
Joe lists Jimi Hendrix as his primary influence. Any of these guys
could "outshred" Hendrix, but does that really matter? Joe
legitimizes shred as an artform, and that's a lot more than you can
say for the other fellows who at most give guitarists good reasons to
practice regularly.
The same is true for Eddie Van Halen, who sucks now, I know, but when
he was in his prime he did the same thing better than his multitude of
clones: not only shred, but feed of off audience adrenaline, a
characteristic of real rock music.
MartinGibsonTaylor
First of all. Eddie Van Halen does not "suck now". The last few tracks
he recorded where actually quite good I thought. He is a great rhythm
player as much as he is a great lead player.
Regarding Satriani, well you nailed it.... Yeah, he feeds off the
audience energy live better than the other two you mentioned (Eric
Johnson is the most skilled of the three I think, but Satch is a
schooled musician who could actually explain to you the music theory
behind what he does so I don't like to compare). Regarding their
recordings the reason Satriani is so successful as a recording artist
is because he writes catchy melodies and hooks better than the other
two. Really great music boils down to having a great melody, if you
want to show skill as a musician through shredding or whatever it all
comes back to using those techniques to complement the melody and not
as a replacement for it... That's what Eddie Van Halen, Zakk Wylde and
Satriani have that others are really lacking in. They all have it to
some extent, but some kats (Malmsteen is an example) are horrible
composers, they are essentially just technique players and non-
musicians would never listen to them.
WeReo_ScoTTy
news:64fc062e-d7f1-4d28...@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
Derek
like stuff they can recall or sing, not just endless notes at warp
speed.
I like them all, and really admire their technique, but can only take
about 10-15 minutes of Ywngie live (saw him on G3 tour), always like
Vai.
VH and Zakk seem like unfair comparisons because they are not known
for putting out albums of instrumental guitar music.
Not that they couldn't but, when you are fronting a singer, really
different dynamic. Haven't listened to any BLS, so maybe Zakk does
that sort of thing in that context.
dv...@altavista.com
I don't consider Zakk a shredder, he's more into the riff than
anything else. Sure, he can rip, but he doesn't go on ad nauseum (and
he usually stays within the blues pentatonic realm). I don't think
he's a particularly good songwriter, but I do listen to his solo stuff
for his guitar tone. He's got a nice balance of sludge & chunk
without sounding over-processed, like Glenn Tipton of Priest, for
example. His voice is a pretty good cure for insomnia (by "voice" I
mean "drone").
-d
tinyurl.com/2hj395/
recently gone through Musician's Institute (GIT) here
in L.A. Zakk was one of the featured player / instructors for a highly
anticipated clinic. For years the glossy magazine's have had him
playing the bit of 'pro wrestler looking biker' J.O., supposedly for
the benefit of the 12-15 year old mentality already insecure about
whether they're a male or not. [F'd up by advertisers U.S. society f's
kids up even more w/ that crap...and the perpetual angry and giving
the finger to the photographer bit...yawn...anyway], Zakk shows up to
this booked professional teaching situation-- already slurring drunk
and WITH a fresh 6 pack. It was clear to the guy I was talking to that
Zakk was literally afraid of other guitar players under the
circumstance. He's a mess. Seriously in need of rehab and AA. Yet
*another* player with a booze problem. No one seems to learn, --SRV
got it right, finally and then...
Too Long in The Wasteland
> Joe Satriani Steve Vai John Petrucci Yngwie Malmsteen Eric Johnson
>
or brilliance.
EJ gets a point for Cliffs Of Dover. But after a few listens
it gets down right repetitive IMO.
schill_dan
Haven't heard the latest VH, perhaps I spoke out of ignorance. Maybe
the reason why he "sucks now" is because the politics of the music
industry have changed like none other since he was known as a good
player, and he is trying too hard to fit in. Can you say "Metallica?"
Eric Johnson isn't really a shredder in the hard rock sense, but he
does sound kind of musak-y and generic, hence boring. He does have
technique that would make most aspiring guitarists lose bowel control.
schill_dan
> I agree, Satch is just more melodic than the others mentioned. People
> like stuff they can recall or sing, not just endless notes at warp
> speed.
Jeff Beck is a great example of that old school where you had to have
the energy to keep your playing from being pompous wankery for curious
voyeurs. Like Hendrix and others, Beck can/could electrify a huge
audience.
The whole point of shredding isn't to play fast for the sake of doing
so. A computer can play notes faster than Steve Vai, but that is just
sound. Shredding became popular because the players could musically
emulate a roller-coaster experience for the audience.