Shredders vs. "feel players" - an observation

  • Thread starter Thread starter famous beagle
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Once at Guitar Center in Indy, I got to noodling around on a Tele Deluxe plugged into an AC15, and before long my noodling turned into a free-form, stream-of-conscious jam of which I wish there had been some way to record what I was playing at the time. As I was jamming, I did happen to notice that other patrons in the store were going out of their way to avoid the shredder several displays away, but when they'd walk near where I was playing they'd start bopping along to whatever was coming out of the AC15 speaker. Not that I'm any guitar god, nor am I any kind of technical player; I was basically making shit up as I went along. But other people enjoyed that "shit" (dug it, I s'ppose), so I was happy. :)

Matt
 
This is such a subjective subject, where do I even begin...

I respect and enjoy both styles. Who is to say that playing a certain way is the only way? Music is an artistic expression... which should reflect the character of the person performing the music. Giving people shit because they can only play a certain way is like a humming bird telling a hawk "You can't hover? F*** YOU!"
 
Amen brother! I'm an old guy too. I long to hear rock music the way it once was played by musicians who really were. ballads and blues were a part of the music just as much as rockers and just as popular with the kids. i invite any young guitarist to try to play as fast or as beautifully slow as the great Cliff Gallup,(Gene Vincent's Blue caps). Les Paul was incredibly fast but knew when to do it. there were many others and they wrote the book! I wonder how many will remember Eddie Van Halen 50 years from now?
 
Terry Wetzel said:
I wonder how many will remember Eddie Van Halen 50 years from now?
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Eddies already been around for 30 years and I've never even heard of Cliff Gallup or Gene Vincent's Blue caps.

50 years from now all of this will have largely been forgotten. The original Van Halen fans are already grandparents. If the Blue Caps are from the 50's like I assume, that fan base is approaching thier 70's. The 'kids' today are 3 or 4 generations away from understanding where any of that was coming from. Another 3 generations out from here, no one will know anything about any of them.
 
Farview said:
Eddies already been around for 30 years and I've never even heard of Cliff Gallup or Gene Vincent's Blue caps.

50 years from now all of this will have largely been forgotten. The original Van Halen fans are already grandparents. If the Blue Caps are from the 50's like I assume, that fan base is approaching thier 70's. The 'kids' today are 3 or 4 generations away from understanding where any of that was coming from. Another 3 generations out from here, no one will know anything about any of them.
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All we are is dust in the wind...
 
Farview said:
Eddies already been around for 30 years and I've never even heard of Cliff Gallup or Gene Vincent's Blue caps.
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Agreed. I know them by name, but little else. Meanwhile, Van Halen 1 came out in what, '78? If you still feel the need to slag off on the guy 30 years down the road from the debut of this "flash in the pan" musician, well, obviously he's a guy people remember, right?
 
Greg_L said:
Everyone will. You're an idiot if you think EVH will fade into obscurity. Dude is a bonafide legend already and he aint even dead yet.
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...much as most of us would like to forget the last couple years. He's another guy whose playing has suffered thanks to his long love affair with the bottle. :/
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
...much as most of us would like to forget the last couple years. He's another guy whose playing has suffered thanks to his long love affair with the bottle. :/
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Yeah but so what? He's already established himself as one of the greatest and most influential ever.
 
It's also a tall order to keep up with you in your 20's when you are now in your 50's. Not to mention the problems that occur when the musical landscape keeps changing.
 
Greg_L said:
Yeah but so what? He's already established himself as one of the greatest and most influential ever.
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Oh, no doubt. It just makes him influential in two ways - how to ignite the world and rewrite the book on electric guitar, and, by way of negative example, the importance of not fucking up.

I mean, even Keith Richards looks better than Eddie these days. :/ It's hard to watch, considering how jaw-dropping he could be back in his peak.
 
Greg_L said:
Yeah but so what? He's already established himself as one of the greatest and most influential ever.
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I can appreciate [EVH's] command of the instrument and some of the different things he does/did with it, but frankly, I never was really drawn to him that much. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
 
ggunn said:
I can appreciate [EVH's] command of the instrument and some of the different things he does/did with it, but frankly, I never was really drawn to him that much. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
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Me neither. He hasn't influenced me one bit. But I'm not blind or deaf. I was young, but I remember VH's heyday. He's probably had more impact on modern rock and metal guitar than anyone else. Really, it's not even debatable.
 
Greg_L said:
Me neither. He hasn't influenced me one bit. But I'm not blind or deaf. I was young, but I remember VH's heyday. He's probably had more impact on modern rock and metal guitar than anyone else. Really, it's not even debatable.
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Not even debatable, you say? Does that really work in a debate? Not debatable! I win! :D
 
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