Enthusiasm for Hendrix' technical ability - Those under (edit: 80)...who's your guitar hero?

Corsair, you're quite right, Malcom is the man.
Playing this rhythm guitar....

I saw Jeff Beck a few years ago. He had beautiful women in his band, which played guitar.
I think she's a jazz guitarist, can't remember her name. But during the concert she played nice battles with Jeff,
which have been stunning. So I would like to add her to the list. Maybe someone can help.

Why not add some more bass players: Without them it's sometimes quite difficult.

Marcus Miller
Paul Simonon
Flea
Michael Anthony
Bootsy Collins

Tal Wilkenfeld --> see the DVD Jeff Beck Performing This Week... Live At Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Tina Weymouth
Kim Gordon
Melissa Auf Der Maur
Me’shell Ndegeocello

OK, then... Duck Dunn (Booker T and the MGs), Roger Glover (Deep Purple Mk2), Mark King (Level 42), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones), Randy Meisner (Eagles), Phil Small (Cold Chisel), Tab Martin (The Peddlers), Muff Winwood (Spencer Davis Group), Todd Hunter (Dragon), Jim Hughart (session man - played the theme from "Barney Miller"), Chuck Portz (The Turtles), Chris Hillman (The Byrds)..... the list goes on and on of the bassists who have inspired me over the years - these are just the ones that spring readily to mind; tasteful players all with only a couple of virtuosos amongst them... King and Hughart, but they all do one thing well - they let a song breathe and introduce a little harmony.


My 2c worth!!

You'd think I'd have more specific bassist inspirations since bass is my thing, but I am mostly inspired by entire bands. Here are the few bassists whose names I have gone to the trouble of learning:

Roger Manganelli (Less Than Jake)
Les Claypool (Primus, various solo projects)
Mikey Hachey (Suburban Legends)
Rick Johnson (Mustard Plug)
Matt Wong (Reel Big Fish)

Each individual word in the parenthesis is a link, by the way. I kind of doubt it was worth going to the trouble since I don't exactly listen to popular music.

Just came across this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_lC5CKJYYA&NR=1

JB makes me think why the need for the Floyd Rose?

For basses how about:-
Harry Kakoulli (Squeeze) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6pUZNfzk3Q

Warrn wrote:

anaerobe wrote:Random squawking... ?? I'd better put a cup on before I throw out my personal prefs...

I'm sorry, but it was just bad. I may not be able to play the Star Spangled Banner on guitar, but I can certainly play random notes that sound better and clearer than the noise he was making. I had to take my headphones off a couple times...

I like Hendrix, but not enough to be able to appreciate that bit of improv. I'm sorry if that's blasphemy, I listen to music that most people don't like as it is.

sorry if this has been posted before but i think some of you missed the point of the Hendrix Star Spangled Banner, this was performed at Woodstock during the Vietnam war and the random 'squawking' is bombs, machine guns and screams of people dying, listen again and you will see that this a comment about America's involvement in the war. Absolute genius if you ask my opinion.

I have just seen Steve Via do the same thing at an opening of a ball game and it appears that he missed the point too.

I'm sorry, but I don't buy into the "Hendrix is God" thing either; yes, extremely talented player and an even better writer but really all he did was to combine the styles of one or two old bluesmen into a coherent whole - Johnny 'Guitar' Watson was doing "Hendrix" in the 50's!!
For my money, the best stuff Jimi did was the quiet, introspective stuff where the song had a chance to breathe - "The winds cries Mary", for example.
Woodstock was hardly an good advert for Jimi as the word was that he was absolutely wasted and hardly knew what the hell he was doing; a close listen to his set is quite revealing...

Now, don't get me started on Eric Clapt - out.....

Then of course there was Les Paul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrC_oqWq2pU&NR=1

No responses about the Floyd Rose mechanism eh.?

Mate, that was Jeff Beck; what can one say?!

Paid £60 for a £25 ticket to see him as I missed the last tour and cos I havent got an Amex card, IndigO2 here I come.
Anaerobe I think you can see how he does those harmonics, its all in the thumb.

Grogg - The Jeff Beck blues vid shows off his entirely unique technique which involves a lot of bashing the trem around with and without the bar !?! I thought, I mean, it sounds like he's using a slide ...No.. he was just pushing the entire trem around with the heel of his wrist .. sick. Did I see that correctly??? Anyway - getting slide sounds with no slide within 500 metres of his strat is worth a mighty Hail of the Machine.

Corsair - yes...Malcolm is the engine pushing the entire barge. And to paraphrase your insight as to playing "inside the blues box" - that made me stop and think a bit. Actually made me think about it a lot, half the weekend, when I was trying to focus on fishing. I think what a large proportion of the public, and even a few of us, get from Angus (as opposed to Malcolm) is the formers' natural showmanship. He simply grabs all the attention.

But - I like the blues box, or it likes me.... ah well, I'm a simple person, simple tastes.

post scriptum - Corsair - if its breathing you appreciate, have a listen to Hendrix' "third stone from the sun". (Like you don't already know this).

Grogg - The Squeeze were a very, very strong pop band. Chris Difford's solo in Another Nail in my Heart is another almost-but-not-quite-forgotten piece of terrific work, far beyond the average blues box. I've got a couple of their CD's in the basement, which I am now dusting off.

Difford is very talented (an underrated) as a writer and a player. In the U.S. they didn't make a huge impact in my opinion, but up here we heard a lot of them - cool for cats, pulling mussels from a shell, annie get your gun, etc.

More trivia - I think Difford's guitar in the original vid of Another Nail in my Heart is a Yamaha SG 2000 - which I have a soft spot for. Santana used em for a short while.

Yep, third stones a goody, too! My tastes have broadened over the years and they were pretty bloody wide to begin with - I was prone to playing sets that included Chuck Berry, Julian Bream, Raphael Ravenscroft, George Young (Angus & Malc's older bro), Al Stewart and Ritchie Blackmore stylisings! What a complete prat...
Anyway, as to the Blues box, or the minor pentatonic to give it its 'proper' name - horses for courses, really, isn't it; I mean, you cannot play "Roundabout" in there, but trying to put Phyrgian phrases into a blues is just, well, yucky...
I, too, make use of the blues scale and I would reckon that 97% of guitarists do just that; the rest of the scales and modes take such a load of getting your head around, and besides you've got to find someone who can do the chord progressions in those modes so that you can solo without sounding and looking like a complete knobend!! Generally that'll be a piano/keyboard player - their skills are generally breathtaking to a two-left handed player like me!!

So, did you catch anything?

anaerobe wrote:Grogg - The Squeeze were a very, very strong pop band. Chris Difford's solo in Another Nail in my Heart is another almost-but-not-quite-forgotten piece of terrific work, far beyond the average blues box. I've got a couple of their CD's in the basement, which I am now dusting off.

Difford is very talented (an underrated) as a writer and a player. In the U.S. they didn't make a huge impact in my opinion, but up here we heard a lot of them - cool for cats, pulling mussels from a shell, annie get your gun, etc.

More trivia - I think Difford's guitar in the original vid of Another Nail in my Heart is a Yamaha SG 2000 - which I have a soft spot for. Santana used em for a short while.

Squeeze were just the coolest; and how could they not be with Jools Holland on piano?! And I'm sure they were originally called UK Squeeze, at least here in NZ?

Corsair - 3 stripers (on a plain yellow horsehair leadfaced jig with a spottail minnow, salted - slow retrieve, off the beach in front of the cabin) - within 30 minutes, in Lake Winnipeg - water temp ~ 16 C, just above the thermocline. Stripers are the local slang for an introduced variety of silver-striped bass. Nothing above a 0.5 kilo... back they went!!

Thread content - we listened to my son's "Police" disk in the van on the drive up.

Warrn - I just spent 30 min researching Les Claypool - he's fantastic... ah, I mean he sucks. Claypool and Vic Wooten both really suck.

Well, all the Les Claypool songs I linked are ones that I enjoy. Most of his stuff is too weird for me, and on the two Primus albums I own there are maybe five songs that I can enjoy. Couldn't play them to save my life, but fun to listen to. I can't believe some of the singles they released were even considered as singles. Like, for example "My Name Is Mud". So strange, and completely beyond the scope of the average listener.

Wootten tends to be popular among bassists but not anyone else. I'm not a big fan because he plays a lot of technical stuff that isn't really fun to listen to, just astounding to see.

The other guys I listed are ones I consistently enjoy, but that particular genre of music doesn't get much love anymore.

"My name is mud" and "Mr. Krinkle" have completely original basslines. You realize too that by saying that Claypool sucks, I'm just trying to absorb the Primus protocol.

It was saying Wootten sucks that confused me, but I was kind of thinking that was what you were going for. "My Name is Mud" just has too many drum/vocal sections, which are just really strange. I actually quite like "Mr. Krinkle". One of my favorite bass lines is from the Primus song "Tommy the Cat". It has vocal/drum sections like "My Name is Mud", but they are shorter and somewhat less weird.

OK we're golden. And I've got to add that I really enjoy Wooten's iterations on old familiar tunes.... he wrings them out, denatures them, and puts them back together to his spec.

I seem to have a hard time finding good Wooten videos on youtube, would you mind linking some? Also, my links for Claypool included the song One Better... the single/music video version. I found the album version and there's a long instrumental section which is just excellent. It features some of the craziest bari sax I've ever heard... and I love bari sax.

Stuff like this makes me want a a 6-string fretless Spectrum bass.

Or maybe a Thunder. With that see-through red finish and cream colored pickups.

I found Primus a bit well, clever; too clever for their own good really. There's no questioning their technical ability - Lalonde is a very good player as well, but they strike me as being a bit try-hard - you know, the Steve Vai "look at me, look at me!!" syndrome.
If I want clever lyrics I'll listen to Randy Newman or Frank Zappa, and clever rock music, 10CC or The Vapors!! Is it just me or does Claypool have a fondness for onanism in his lyrics?!

Vic Wooten:

Norweigian Wood -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz7flss0w9Y

..and a sundry battle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vdJvHE8qxA&feature=fvw

...somewhere in the midst of this is amazing grace....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6t47pV8Qc&feature=related

...and a really nice groove.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NwD1hG0lp8&NR=1


Can't speak for the quality of the vids - none are the best, but the sound is fair to good in all....

+++++++++++++++

.....and here's Claypool with Buckethead and an amazing keyboards guy - Bernie Worrell (I think). The excursions by Worrell, if that's the right guy, are jaw-dropping stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjOM5YjMZ8w&feature=related

Claypool has a bit of the "look at me" in his show.

Oops, before we get too carried away, I have to add Mark Knopfler to this list. One of my favourites is "Brothers in Arms", and this is a good quality vid. The tone he gets from his finger picking and the neck pup are too cool. Plus the lyrics of this song are hard to beat. Gets you right "here" <thumps chest>.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XVVZPefbR4&feature=related

and Telegraph road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFX7zVXlypc&feature=related

Not the fastest, not one of the top 10 shredders, but a fantastic song-writer I will say.

Knopfler is an excellent choice, I completely agree with with you.

I love Dire Straits first - self titled - album really laid back chill out record. He's from my neck of the woods so the songs have local subjects in them I actually recognise.

This album also has Sultans Of Swing on it, I still have to stop myself playing air guitar when ever I hear it!(come on! you've all done it along to your favorite track at some time )

He is one of many guitarist's that use tone, feel and soul more than speed and fretboard gymnastics, something I still haven't learned to do after 23 years 'practice'.

This train of thought reminded me of a few more soulful players that seem to make every note count:

1, Hank Marvin - The Shadows - Man Of Mystery
2, Billy Gibbons - ZZ Top - La Grange
3, Roy Buchanan - Sweet Dreams + The Messiah Will Come Again wonder if Gary Moore Ever listened to Roy?

DAN.

Hey guys, been away for a few days with work, just wanted to say what a great thread this is. Keep it coming eh? just listened to the first Shadows stuff I thought was ok.

Taking me ages to get to the end of this thread as I keep checking out the links; loads of good stuff, keep on posting!

Just treated myself to the Lynyrd Skynyrd "Vicious Cycle" DVD. I'd like to add the LS guitarists to the list but there's been many changes over the years. Gary Rossington has been there from the start, Freebird is still one of the best tunes ever recorded IMO.

When we've done this to death (although it looks like it's going to run for a while yet) how about "best guitar solo ever" as the next big thing?

PS, just noticed, I'm now a "senior member." Great, can you put the cheque in the post please Polly

Yeah; for people of my generation - and I suspect a few more generations - Hank B. and the Shads were 'THE MEN', although it was very, very uncool to say so!! However, I never, ever told anyone back then that my favourite instrumental was Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" and to this day I love playing it - I eventually acquired a lap steel to play this and One of these days!!
I was moved to check out a bit more of the lap and pedal steel and 'discovered' Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West; Stratosphere Boogie is just sublime; and Jerry garcia was one of the best pedal steel players I've ever heard...

Hey Dan and John, thanks for those comments - I forgot about the Shadows <shakes head in disgust>...these guys also contributed to Hendrix' tricks of playing behind his back, with his teeth, etc..

More Shadows (god, they're good!) -

Walk don't run (1977 version):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNZjVoi7dsw&NR=1

Apache (5 stars from me):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY-rPDwzM9M&feature=related

FBI (pretty good, whot th'?? choreography!!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hga1GalqYo4&feature=related

Atlantis (star trek-style backing vocals):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VycZVyApqew&feature=related

Peace pipe (MIGHTY delay/echo effects):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ctz2jT8l8&NR=1

Sleepwalk (Corsair, I think I spotted you running for cover on one of the beach pics):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS38_gJh3hE

Moonlight shadow (quality not too great, but this is MIGHTY as well - gosh this sounds like the grandaddy of all Dire Straits songs):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv7SgYNA_ec&feature=related


++++++++++++++

Wipeout by the Safaris (first song I learned with my new Yam electric circa 1973 - good wipeouts in this vid):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH5WGWX4MPg&feature=related

Original Ventures' version of Walk don't Run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ11y7pYl-8&feature=related

+++++++++++++++++

Question of the day - For a Few Dollars More, and (IIRC) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly themes were written by Ennio Morricone, but who played the guitar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXQltR7vUQ&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hYV-JSjpyU&feature=related

OMG; I've covered all of those over the years, plus one or two others like Shadoogie, Wonderful land and Cavatina - what memories; being 17 with a crappy old guitar, an old valve radio modified by Dad to serve as an amp and similarly equipped mates.... you needed a drummer who could actually drum to do Wipe out, ...oh boy... was I ever that young?!

I prefer Santo and Johnny's Sleepwalk, though...

Nope, don't know who Ennio Morricones' guitar player was; shouldn't be too hard to find out?

Now, if we're delving into those sorta vaults, how about Friday on my mind (Easybeats), Five o'clock world (Vogues), and early Hollies; good guitar pieces all!!


Ahh; the memories.....

Yep... gotta try and find some of those.

Here's another one - Roy Buchanan. This vid (just below) is great, as the sound is very good quality. He does "Hey Joe" in epic fashion; he can rip it - and check out his tuning!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0pUl5f8wwA

Here's some innovation for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkbM1M1WN0w&feature=related

and another of old Roy... pretty nice iteration of Down by the River:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLhdS-8-YS8&feature=fvw

Has anyone mentioned Joe Satriani? Awesome guitar player. Heres a couple of sounds:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amT_qZtGn7Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOsgv_X_cV8

Anaerobe, Actually had a go at listening to all those Shadows links you put up, for a short while it was good then I thought I dont like this.
Corsair - how old are you really?

grogg wrote:Corsair - how old are you really?

Cheeky sod! Younger than Barry. mate... younger than Barry!! I'm only 50, but 50 in southern NZ is sorta like 70 anywhere else!! In the 60's music filtered down there very slowly indeed and the people who paid the bills, ie the promoters, liked to hear stuff that was gonna get the punters drinking loadsa piss, so you played what he wanted, and that sort of attitude was current right through into the mid 80s!!

Besides, brother - good music is good music!

grogg wrote:Has anyone mentioned Joe Satriani? Awesome guitar player.

Yes he is; so is Vai... and Malmsteen... and Holdsworth... and any number of other uber-technical players but they all have that "Look at me! Look at me!!" thing happening which I find a bit of a turn-off and another greater sin is not letting a song breath, which you can't do when you're showcasing your chops at a million miles an hour!

Another thing I'll mention in passing is that, by and large, people go to a gig to dance and have a good time - not to listen to a player onstage basically having a w*nk - AC/DC's crowds are a lot bigger than Vai's.... see what I'm getting at there?!

That said, one of my favourite instrumental pieces to play on guitar is Always with me, always with you, because the chords used are simply beautiful....

Corsair, you mentioned you played the 60's surf instrumental stuff when you were a young'un. When I first started learning electric guitar in the early 90's, instead of modern music I was listening to my dads old vinyl collection.

My dad made sure I heard the blues, country, rock & roll and old rock stuff he had got when he was growing up. I got to hear both Santo & Johnny and Jimmy Bryant & Speedy West's music as part of my education, amazing players! I also got to hear that surf stuff which hooked me at the time, these were some of my favorites.

I suppose these are less to do with a particular player and more about the tune:

1, The Dakotas - THE CRUEL SEA - Still can't nail this one!
2, The Chantays - PIPELINE - Gotta have tube driven spring reverb turned up to 11 to play this!
3, The Ventures - LET'S GO - Any idea what guitar the guy in the hat is playing? It's fitted with a Bigsby palm bender!
4, Santo & Johnny - SLEEPWALK - Corsair mentioned it and it has to go on here, pure class.

Another great player I don't think has been mentioned is the insanely talented Albert Lee, check these out:

1, COUNTRY BOY
2, LUXURY LINER
2, SWEET LITTLE LISA

DAN.

yep; all true - really good stuff, eh! I had 2 older siblings and I used to listen to their records; back then they would be off down to the record shop on a Friday to get the latest 45 and as a result we had all sorts floating around!

The one no-ones mentioned - and who stands heads and shoulders above most - is Ry Cooder, for his technique, style, phrasings, songwriting... just everything; the man is a bona fide genius! I heard "Every woman I know is crazy 'bout an automobile" and the proverbial lightbulb went off and I realised that I could do any damn thing I wanted on the guitar as long as what I did fitted the song and didn't overpower it!

Oh, back to the early 60's; I reckon Joe Brown and the Bruvvers have been shabbily treated by the record buying public - really really good songs well played.... have a listen to "A picture of you"...

corsair wrote: and another greater sin is not letting a song breath, which you can't do when you're showcasing your chops at a million miles an hour!

Another thing I'll mention in passing is that, by and large, people go to a gig to dance and have a good time - not to listen to a player onstage basically having a w*nk - AC/DC's crowds are a lot bigger than Vai's.... see what I'm getting at there?!

Totally agree with you, its great in short doses but not for a whole night.

Grogg and Corsair, do you mean w@nking like this? After a while, its a yawner for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5BrE1Pi5cU


Also Grogg, did you have a look at some of Roy Buchanan's stuff, at points it feels/sounds like Jeff Beck.

This one is just too weird and wonderful not to include... FZ's live version of Stairway to Heaven. Notables - i) the dog barks and ii) the fact that the ENTIRE horn section plays the guitar solo note for bleeding note:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p3Ue3ncH3g&feature=related

anaerobe wrote:Grogg and Corsair, do you mean w@nking like this? After a while, its a yawner for me.

Yep; exactly that. EVH pretty much has a mortgage on that sort of stuff because he lets the song breathe, he doesn't let his quite prodigious talent get in the way of the song, and he doesn't take himself too seriously!!

Roy B. has what it takes, no question; I just never liked his tone very much?!

Frank's great; everything done tongue in cheek with massive talent: Shut up and play yer guitar is still on high rotate in my house! And if you like like odd versions of STH, Dread Zeppelin and Rolf Harris both covered it....

anaerobe wrote:Also Grogg, did you have a look at some of Roy Buchanan's stuff, at points it feels/sounds like Jeff Beck.

Buchanan was great, I think his tone is fine too.
Corsair you beat me to it on the Stairway versions, was thinking of starting a new thread just for that but then thought I couldnt bear to listen to it again and again.
Can remember how proud I was when I could first play the song, was good at the time cos it hadnt been around that long, now tho.. theres only one Rolf Harris - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKtkcqqvxwo more original version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzdcT60kGMs

Anyway didnt want to mention these guys for purely selfish reasons, too late now heard their stuff in the backing for some tv stuff. Saw them 3 years ago in Bristol, ticket was a tenner then, bet it would be a lot more now. Anyway heres a bit of Rodrigo y Gabriela:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5VFWA2YKdo&feature=fvst

PS they do a great version of Orion

Did you mean THIS Grogg? Awesome isn't it, sadly no video so you cant see Gabriela's strumming style, it's jaw dropping!

Then there is their version of STAIRWAY and their own tracks TAMACUN and DIABLO ROJO.

Unbelievable technique!

DAN.

Dan,

Albert Lee is a monster... I must say I didn't know much about him..

Check this one out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cek5qZ76FZs&feature=related

+

Sickening the amount of talent Albert Lee has, isn't it.

Makes you want to be a drummer instead!

DAN.

Yeh, I spent an hour zooming aroung utube watching Lee play.

Rolf Harris plays a mean wobble board.

There is another guy I know of who is similar to Albert Lee and I thought he might interest you? The guy was called Danny Gatton and he played in a country/rockabilly/jazz kinda style. Some of his tricks just can't be explained!

Check out THIS, and THIS, and THIS, and THAT. (Please note, no trem and no 'B' bender, just fingers!)

DAN.

corsair wrote:

grogg wrote:Corsair - how old are you really?

Cheeky sod! Younger than Barry. mate... younger than Barry!!...

Swine kiwi player! Everyone is younger than me!
"Get on the cart."
"But I'm not dead!"