Most overrated quitarist of all time

OK guys, I think this calls for a new thread rather than hijacking this one.
Just been to Amazon too & bought Croydon & 2nd Street.

It's strange.
I've been playing guitars for 15 years.
We boys, at age of 13/15, were crazy about all those guitarists making wonders with their fingers.
Now i really can't stand them.
But i don't know why.

I don't understand how Clapton gets so much praise from his dull noodling that goes nowhere. At least these "fretwankers" apply a bit of thought to what they play.

Andrew

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew Randle:
At least these "fretwankers" apply a bit of thought to what they play.

Do you think so? Joe Vai's guitar playing reminds me of that noise radios make when you tune them in!

EW

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Andrew Randle:
I don't understand how Clapton gets so much praise from his dull noodling that goes nowhere. At least these "fretwankers" apply a bit of thought to what they play.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

There are many reasons to dislike Eric Clapton. For being a dull or uninventive musician is less legitimate than most.It is not even a question of subjective like or dislike. Clapton is a musician with an exceptional (and very rare) understanding of black music. He is a bluesman par excellence. To slightly paraphrase Charles Shaar Murray, Clapton's music was amongst the first efforts by white musicians to transcend pastiche and play the music as himself without vaudville or irony. He is one of the (pitifully) few white musicians to be accepted as a peer by the black bluesmen he idolised. Whether you care for his music or not, to deny this is sheer churlishness.
He has recorded some abysmal music over the years and often indulged in a fair amount of 'fretwankery' but his early work with the Yardbirds and Bluesbreakers cement his reputation as one of the greatest ever guitarists in blues-derived rock.
Anyway, anyone else a bit bored with all the usual suspects? Let's hear it for the wonderfully inventive and lesser praised guitarists such as the late lamented Robert Quine, Richard Lloyd and Adrian Belew.

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew Randle:
At least these "fretwankers" apply a bit of thought to what they play.

Do you think so? Joe Vai's guitar playing reminds me of that noise radios make when you tune them in!

EW

Is that particularly when they're doing two-handed tapping, sweep picking, volume swells, harmonics or extreme whammy bar effects? Or are you just going to say it's "all the time" because you can't appreciate the difference?

Their playing and styles are actually more varied than many people think. Regarding the acusation of their music being devoid of emotion, then I would recommend people listen to Steve Vai's "For the Love of God" (particularly played live), packed with emotion that falls, tumbles and rises in a way that only a gifted musician could pull-off.

Oh the other supposed "guitar great" that I would consign to the dustbin is BB King - as dull as Clapton.

Andrew

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew Randle:
Oh the other supposed "guitar great" that I would consign to the dustbin is BB King - as dull as Clapton.

Add John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley! Oh and Yngwie Satriani!

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew Randle:
Oh the other supposed "guitar great" that I would consign to the dustbin is BB King - as dull as Clapton.

Add John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley! Oh and Yngwie Satriani!

Heh heh, looks like we have very divergent opinions here, as John Lee Hooker AND Bo Diddley are two of my favourite blues guitarists.

Andrew

Bo Diddley is more of a joke than a guitarist. I've never forgotten his performance at Seville (guitar legends)... man, I thought my sides were going to split, that was FUNNY!

EW

quote:

Originally posted by Earwicker:
Bo Diddley is more of a joke than a guitarist. I've never forgotten his performance at Seville (guitar legends)... man, I thought my sides were going to split, that was FUNNY!

EW

But he was GOOD with it

Andrew

Why does everybody think Electric Guitar when discussing the greatest or most over rated guitarist.

BTW has everyone forgotten Bert Weedon - according to Wikipedia: The first British guitarist in the Hit Parade, with "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" in 1959, he was a great influence on many of today's big names, including Eric Clapton, Brian May, Mike Oldfield, The Shadows and The Beatles (possibly excluding Ringo).

The Bonzo Dog Band defined normality as 'liking Bert Weedon'.

Brian May. Not a legend by any stretch of the imagination.

That guy from Cheap Trick, Nielsen I think, who was so far up his own @rs# he even had pictures of himself on his plectrum! What a shame ego and talent are not linked or proportional.

I think it it was "digging" Bert Weedon actually.

Thinking about it anew, it was probably Jimi Hendrix. We're tending to name our least favourite guitarists without taking into account how highly rated they are. I can't stand all that Joe Vai weedly stuff, but then nor can a lot of people; he isn't, therefore, all that highly rated.

So I reckon Jimi Hendrix has it: he was a serviceable axeman and a great blues man too when the fancy took him (which, sadly, it all too often didn't), but people eulogise his ass in the most ludicrous ways. He was alright, I suppose, but on the whole he was just a noisy, drugged-up headbanger.

EW

Over-rated: another vote for EC here Im afraid: I just dont get it. The documentary about the making of Disraeli Gears didnt help either, and I remain ignorant of his expertise

Under-rated: Steve Hackett: smart, tuneful, tasteful ( and also tacky occasionally -Office Party!!) . And that guy who used to play in Leeds (W.Yorks) of a lunchtime outside Boots - he did all the Vai/Satriani stuff singlehandedly and not surprisingly drew crowds in the hundreds. It makes a mockery of my long-term feeble efforts with a guitar. Where is he now I wonder...

Another under-rated player is Stephen Stills, on both acoustic and electric. Neil Young has his moments too!

As a guitarist myself, albeit not in the same league as the names mentioned in previous posts, I feel it is necessary to give due respect to anyone who is prepared to put in the hours of practice necessary to realise the levels of technical/musical mastery of the musos mentioned.
Favourites, if we must:
At first, the Man in Black was "God" to me, then people like Page, Beck, Hendrix, various widdlers in the mid 80's(I daren't mentioned who judging by the bitches on this forum!), McClaughlin, di Meola, Remler, Coryell,Ellis, Burrell and The Edge!
It not about who is best, but who has a feel for the musical situation. This may need demi semi qauvers or not, but given the contradictory comments on this forum, most of these players had "feel" for some of the time or they wouldn't get a mention.
As Eric Morecombe said, "I am playing all the right notes .... but not necessarily in the right order!".
Maybe the guitarists' Order of Merit should be looked at in a similar way.

.. just thought I'd mention that I consider Richard Thompson's solo in "the way that it shows" to be a benchmark in how it should be done. One of the best rock solos on record.

quote:

Originally posted by Milan:

That guy from Cheap Trick, Nielsen I think, who was so far up his own @rs# he even had pictures of himself on his plectrum! What a shame ego and talent are not linked or proportional.

Rick Nielsen is the one guy in rock who sees it for the silly business it is. He doesn't take himself seriously for one second. It's a shtick.

quote:

Originally posted by RandallE:
Rick Nielsen is the one guy in rock who sees it for the silly business it is. He doesn't take himself seriously for one second. It's a shtick.

Caricature. Exactly. Rick has a tremendous sense of humor.

I have to add: Dick Dale.
I'd only ever heard one song (the one in Pulp Fiction -Miserlou) so went to see him on a whim in a small club in Brighton. It was packed and he was just amazing and thoroughly enjoyable from the first note til the last. He is somewhat unconventional you might say.

The Edge, One note wonder with a delay pedal.

quote:

Originally posted by popeye34:
I have to add: Dick Dale.
I'd only ever heard one song (the one in Pulp Fiction -Miserlou) so went to see him on a whim in a small club in Brighton. It was packed and he was just amazing and thoroughly enjoyable from the first note til the last. He is somewhat unconventional you might say.

Popeye34

This thread confuses me - are you saying Dick Dale is a great guitarist that is worth listening to (I think you are) or are you adding him to the overrated list?

Confused, Rotf

ROTF: yes you are correct, I shouldve added 'underrated' to clarify.

quote:

Originally posted by analogue kid:

the live version of Voodoo Chile at Reading was as good as Hendrix even down to playing behind his head and with his teeth.

Hendrix wasn't really that special!!!!, was he?

I saw a virtual unknown called Carvin Jones play live at two local pubs last year - think audiences of 100ish.

He's from Phoenix, black, afro haircut, thin, left-handed - you get the picture ....

He plays exclusively Hendrix sets with the full works - teeth, behind the head, lying on the floor with guitar supported on his feet. As a party piece, he walks into the audience & shakes hands with the punters whilst maintaining complex riffs with left hand slurs (hammer-ons & pull-offs) only. With the guitar reversed of course !

So no, Hendrix wasn't so special. Anyone can copy him with practice. Err, well perhaps that's a slight exaggeration ....

He did do it first though - you get no progress without innovation.