freshmattyp
New member
apl said:
Yes. Like a bowling ball.
Is it wrong to like The Edge?
- Thread starter HogansHiro
- Start date
Yes. Like a bowling ball.
famous beagle
Well-known member
Just a few things here:
His nickname came from the fact that his people used to make fun of something to do with his face. I think his chin or something. It was particularly square or something, so they started calling him "The Edge."
And saying that anyone with a delay can "do what he does" is just about the biggest case of sour grapes I've ever heard. He created a style that happens to use delay. Why should he not use it? If you're in a death metal band, would you be able to pull off your "sound" without the use of massive amounts of distortion? Jimi Hendrix used practically every new effects toy he could get his hands on, but no one holds that against him.
And one other person mentioned this earlier. He is capable of NAILING backup harmonies while doing pretty much anything on the guitar: rhythm, lead, combinations thereof, etc.---not to mention his songwriting talents.
So to answer the question originally posed: No, it's definitely not wrong to like The Edge. He's (at the VERY least) an extremely competent musician who's carved out his own niche among THOUSANDS of guitar players. That's something I bet no one on this board has done, much less most guitar players in the whole world.
His nickname came from the fact that his people used to make fun of something to do with his face. I think his chin or something. It was particularly square or something, so they started calling him "The Edge."
And saying that anyone with a delay can "do what he does" is just about the biggest case of sour grapes I've ever heard. He created a style that happens to use delay. Why should he not use it? If you're in a death metal band, would you be able to pull off your "sound" without the use of massive amounts of distortion? Jimi Hendrix used practically every new effects toy he could get his hands on, but no one holds that against him.
And one other person mentioned this earlier. He is capable of NAILING backup harmonies while doing pretty much anything on the guitar: rhythm, lead, combinations thereof, etc.---not to mention his songwriting talents.
So to answer the question originally posed: No, it's definitely not wrong to like The Edge. He's (at the VERY least) an extremely competent musician who's carved out his own niche among THOUSANDS of guitar players. That's something I bet no one on this board has done, much less most guitar players in the whole world.
P
Phyl
Guest
Bullet the Blue Sky is a stunning piece of guitar work.
Codmate
New member
Chris Shaeffer said:
I don't think album sales are any indication that somebody is a good musician or songwriter.
It's often evidence of good marketing though.
The longevity and credits are soley due to good U2 album sales.
Personally I find U2 dull as ditchwater.
I think they have made it through Bono being a very charismatic frontman and having a 'classic rock' voice.
Without him the band would be nowhere IMO.
Codmate
New member
Light said:
I beg to differ - there are thousands of great guitarists in the world with their own very identifyable individual styles.
Edge isn't one of them.
It could be ANYBODY with a delay unit.
Also - I don't think that just because somebody has been playing 20 years, their technique is somehow automatically beyond reproach. I've been playing 15 years and mine certainly isn't anywhere near where I'd like it to be.
Just out of interest - why did you choose to make this personal.
I pride myself on having quite an individual style, which many people have commented on, and actually take some offence at what you have said - not even having ever heard me play?
Codmate
New member
famous beagle said:
The problem is not that he uses delay - it's that he uses it in an incredibly boring and unimaginative way and virtually always sounds the same.
Some people have been touting the fact that he sounds the same on almost every record as a virtue. I find it boring.
Look to Brian May, David Gilmore and others for how delay could be used for more than just 'effect'.
sile2001 said:
oh man, I took offense to that at first, and then realized you were with me on that. I think that it might be more of an issue of musicians shying away from that which is so widely successful. I know I do it, for instance with the new Coldplay album, which I'm not a huge fan of compared to their last one. I personally am a huge fan of a lot less widely known groups, but still appreciate U2's songwriting and production value.
And to say that they always sound the same, I would disagree. I personally find their new album boring, but look back to songs like Numb. I don't think there's any delay on that one, it's a great song, and it's got a cool unique sound.
sile2001
_|_
Codmate said:
You are SO freaking hung up on that delay aren't you....
Have you ever researched anything about what really goes into his sounds? He has a six foot tall, two column rack box full of his effects processing gear (compressors, EQ's, delays, other filter effects), and has the whole top of the box covered in different stopbox type effects, and he really does use them.
He has over 30 vintage Vox AC30's, and he'll use 6 of them in any given show...switching between them for the variations in character that they have.
He can get more tone, texture, soul, emotion (whatever you choose to call it) out of a single note on a single string than most people could eek out of their whole guitar.
My co-worker made a very good point about this whole thread. You can only say that Edge's use of effects is a crutch if he has to use them to play things that a REALLY GOOD guitarist could get without all the effects. Like if he couldn't play fast enough for shredding so he has to use the delay to make it sound like he's playing faster. Or he can't play notes cleanly so he uses distortion or delay to hide that fact. That is most certainly NOT why Edge uses them.
Have you ever noticed that even in songs that are awash with delay echoes, you can still clearly hear exactly what Edge is playing? He's not trying to hide anything...
As someone already mentioned, Bullet The Blue Sky is some damned fine guitar work! Effects are a crutch huh? Ok, take any guitarist in the world and give them just a strat and an AC30TB and tell them "play that song and make it sound just like Edge." If they've ever heard the song, they'll laugh you right out of the room because it simply can't be done.
P
Phyl
Guest
Clapton sucks!!!
oh sorry..wrong thread.
oh sorry..wrong thread.
famous beagle
Well-known member
Codmate said:
Ok well .. this is just obviously a matter of opinion and not worth discussing. How is David Gilmore's use different from the Edge's? He uses it in basically two ways as far as I can tell:
1) simply slapping it on a lead (as in "Time")
2) on riffs, using the repeats to create rhythmic additions to the notes he plays (as in "run like hell")
Those are the same ways that the Edge uses it, but the Edge just happens to come up with cooler and more intricate riffs, as in "Where the Streets Have No Name"
And Brian May ... don't even get me started on that wanker. Harmonizing with yourself is the simplest and most kindergarten approach you can take with a delay.
He's the reason I started playing guitar, and even though I don't really sound like him, I hear aspects of the Edge in a lot of things I do. I put on "Boy" the other day, thanks to the iPod having all my stuff on it... not a whole lot of delay on that album, but it still sounds great. What Edge has that a lot of guitarists lack is incredible taste. He very rarely does anything ugly, and he's a great textural player. Daniel Lanois is the same way... I bet sitting in on a Lanois/Edge jam would be enough to get you high without chemicals.
Light
New member
Codmate said:
Ask your girlfriend what she thinks of "With Or Without You," sometime.
Of course, that assumes you have a girlfriend, which is questionable if you don't understand that song is "worth listening to," and for far more than a bar.
Oh hey, another one without delay, too.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
dcwave
New member
Interesting thread...I like Edge (as his friends call him 
...met him in 87 during JT tour). Great guitarist... okay sure, but maybe only in the confines of U2, which is just fine.
Some of the things being said about him - same sound, same song, etc... could be said of Mr. Young of AC/DC, Marshall with gain at about 5 or 6, same SG, same outfit, same three chords, same solo but man... take him out of AC/DC and where would he or them be - that boy can rock!.
...met him in 87 during JT tour). Great guitarist... okay sure, but maybe only in the confines of U2, which is just fine.Some of the things being said about him - same sound, same song, etc... could be said of Mr. Young of AC/DC, Marshall with gain at about 5 or 6, same SG, same outfit, same three chords, same solo but man... take him out of AC/DC and where would he or them be - that boy can rock!.
One of the best days of my life was when I got off the "muso" chain-gang and just pursued music (and instruments that make music) according to what moves me. When I heard a style that moved me that required an advance in my technique, I'd certainly give it my best shot. This is why I can hear a guy like the Edge and try to cop his stuff and also why I can hear a guy like, erm... maybe Robert Fripp, and try to cop his stuff too. Now the "technique" level between the two I just named is a far margin apart.
For me, technique is the vehicle I can use to arrive at inspiration. However, again, I was relieved (and liberated) the day that I rejected technique as the end.
The Edge has inspired me the same as many many people. The Edge came up at the time of punk where the "you can still play even if you don't know how to play" ethos arose.
The quality of a player is hard to reduce to a set method for assessment. I mean, what are you intersted in? Art? Technique? Feel? Cool? These are all dimensions of a player's quality.
I, as I am sure is the case with many others, came up in the 70s, 80s and 90s frequently reading the "player" rags and really bought into the superstar == technique thing. The muso scene teaches you to worship and hold in high esteem the eminently virtuosic players above all. However, over time, I found that the music that many of these guys made just didn't move me. To each his own, c'est la vie and all that jazz... yeah.
So, I'll chime in here FOR the Edge because what he did with the instrument, in and amongst the other elements of his band, really resonated with me.
Of course, asking questions like: "Am I wrong to like XXX" is nonsense to begin with. Like what you want to man - life is waaaay to short. However, the cool/uncool debate is a hallmark of the muso scene and certainly alive and well on muso-oriented forums such as this one. Oftentime in these discussions, bashing a player (usually one that is popular and making $$$) on technique is no longer an indictment on anything musical, but solely a masochistic taunt of machismo. But hey, that's cool too. So long as the assessment is on technique and the "mine's bigger than yours" mentality, then the haters certainly has some standing on this matter.
In the end, as this thread bears proof, "who's good" arguments are seldom useful.
For me, technique is the vehicle I can use to arrive at inspiration. However, again, I was relieved (and liberated) the day that I rejected technique as the end.
The Edge has inspired me the same as many many people. The Edge came up at the time of punk where the "you can still play even if you don't know how to play" ethos arose.
The quality of a player is hard to reduce to a set method for assessment. I mean, what are you intersted in? Art? Technique? Feel? Cool? These are all dimensions of a player's quality.
I, as I am sure is the case with many others, came up in the 70s, 80s and 90s frequently reading the "player" rags and really bought into the superstar == technique thing. The muso scene teaches you to worship and hold in high esteem the eminently virtuosic players above all. However, over time, I found that the music that many of these guys made just didn't move me. To each his own, c'est la vie and all that jazz... yeah.
So, I'll chime in here FOR the Edge because what he did with the instrument, in and amongst the other elements of his band, really resonated with me.
Of course, asking questions like: "Am I wrong to like XXX" is nonsense to begin with. Like what you want to man - life is waaaay to short. However, the cool/uncool debate is a hallmark of the muso scene and certainly alive and well on muso-oriented forums such as this one. Oftentime in these discussions, bashing a player (usually one that is popular and making $$$) on technique is no longer an indictment on anything musical, but solely a masochistic taunt of machismo. But hey, that's cool too. So long as the assessment is on technique and the "mine's bigger than yours" mentality, then the haters certainly has some standing on this matter.
In the end, as this thread bears proof, "who's good" arguments are seldom useful.