WHAT IS YOUR DEFINTIION OF A GREAT GUITARIST

JCP

A tough question.......that shoud bring some very cool insights.......
and hopefully no arguements !!!!!

REMEMBER this is YOUR OPINION !!!

JCP

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Troels · Wolf Joined: 11 Apr 2003 Posts: 536 Location: Denmark

The reason why I love George Harrison as a guitar player is - that he ALWAYS played exactly what's needed to make a song great - no more no less.
So that's my definition of a great guitarist - a player who knows where and how and how much to play.

JCP · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 9:15 am Post subject:

I loved George as well, for his writing, his playing, and the fact he seemed the most uneffected by his fame (he and Ringo). I love them all, but I have to credit George and the Beatles for my wanting to pick up a guitar.

Music is such a personal thing...it has to grab me. MY tastes are all over the boards... I love Al Demeola for his absolute command of the instrument, his clean speed and that muted, pick -every-note style that he bowled me over with in the 70's with Return to Forever and then his early solo jazz-fusion stuff.

I can equally love a guitarist who is far less technically accomplished, but has mastered "speaking" thru his/her guitar, expressing their own personality and emotion.

Technical playing in rock hit it's pinnicle or lowest point in the eighties, depending on your point of view. For myself, I was impressed by the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen for his extreme technical prowess in playing sweep arpeggios, and million-notes-a-second diminished/harmonic minor scale runs....for about 5 minutes. That kind of playing has to be respected, try to play that stuff cleanly. However, it can be very souless and machine-like, and I can't listen to more than 5 minutes of it.

Too many jazz players to list, from traditional to fusion.

And, of course, there are blues players who can communicate more with one bent note than many players can with 100.

SAguitar · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 10:39 am Post subject:

Well, I sure concur with y'all. To me, if the music speaks to me, with emotion and clarity, I'm in. And while I appreciate the technical ability to whip out 100 notes per second, those gymnastics bore my ears and mind in short order. There is a place for that, but there is always a place for space in the music. Without the spaces between the notes, the notes aren't very interesting. Ya gotta make 'em say something. Cool

daveh · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject:

Yep, the music has to be spacey.

Laughing

tw001_tw · Tadpole Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 26 Location: St. Louis

SAguitar · Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject:

admin · Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 9:22 pm Post subject:

One who makes me forget everything else.

SAguitar · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:27 am Post subject:

firedude · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:13 pm Post subject:

Yep, I agree with all. Shredding is cool but ya gotta have some emotion in the playing. There's a couple old Judas Priest songs that I just zone out to with headphones late at night. The solos are perfect for the song. I completely forget about anything else. Beyond the realms of Death, Dreamer Deceiver .......the guitar solos really take me away.

ACfixer · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:27 am Post subject:

There are a few ways you can look at "great". I think to be truly great is when people recognize someone's playing by their unique tone/style, you have to add to that fantastic technical ability.

There is no mistaking Brian Setzer, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Satriani, and yes George Harrison for sure. Of course the list goes on, but you always know those guys when you hear them and that is just VERY difficult to achieve in it's own right. Now there are a few people who have managed that without being "great", Kurt Cobain comes to mind, I suppose Tom DeLonge could be in that group as well.

On the other hand, I saw Greg Koch the other night and I have never seen a "better" player, hands down as technically good as anyone I have ever seen with the possible exception of Setzer. Still, I wouldn't consider Greg "great" just because he doesn't have his own tone or style that is recognized by millions.

Just my 2 cents.

JCP · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:07 am Post subject:

All great answers, and it looks like we all agree that the best players play for the song, not "notes per second", and have something to say on their instrument.

In my view, great technique is best used to serve the song, or the moment, but not as a pure display of dexterity. And the song may not require tremendous dexterity... Nothing worse than hearing someone noodling all over a good song with "look what I can do" licks.

Voodoo Funk · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 12:31 pm Post subject:

SIMPLE

A guy who plays JUST ENOUGH not to much nor to little to fill in his places in the song.

Also someone who can connect with the people with is guitar and or lyrics.

A guy who knows is limitations and is NOT into his ego but is into learning all he can about the Guitar no matter who they may be !!!!

A man who has his emotions in his music.

Voodoo Cool

AjayTele · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject:

Even easier...two words:

Tommy Emmanuel Wink