What kind of guitar player would you like to be?
A shredder?
A melodic guitarist?
A rhythmic, percussive jazz fusion master?
A groovy funkmeister?
A country hot shot?
I`ve been to plenty of great gigs since back in the day and I`ve seen some hot guitar players – Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee, Carlos Santana, Jeff Healy, Johnny Winter, Jennifer Batten, The Edge, Joe Satriani, Ron Wood and Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones, Pete Townshend and The Who, Martin Barre (Jethro Tull), Joe Satriani, Zappa, John MacLaughlin, Jack White, and those are just the guys I can remember.
What actually makes them great guitarists, in my humble opinion, is the levels of individuality and personality in their playing – yes there is a certain degree of technique in their playing styles, with Satriani definitely being very highly accomplished. But of all these acts although Satriani was undeniably good his show was the least engaging. If you want to communicate it`s all about feel and in this sense substance above and beyond style. That`s why Neil Young really cooks on the guitar.
Have a read of my post on unique guitar players here
Cheers,
Jake Edwards
Props to ya for including Martin Barre! A very underrated guitar player, IMHO. His body of work with Tull is prodigious and sublime.
Greatings, jamorama.com to GoogleReader!