Random Music Talk CXIV: No more rock star deaths for a while please (not even Stapp)

[Axver]

I still like their music, so I probably wouldn't have as much fun with this as the rest of you.

And, yeah, a new thread for it would be good.

I don't know, I wonder if after this album whether they will have any fans left at all. 130 minutes?! Really, guys? Really?

 

[david]

Swans are the only band that can pull off albums pushing the 130 minute mark. And even as great as those albums have been, (their last two) they are a demanding listen.

 

[Mack_Again]

I don't know, I wonder if after this album whether they will have any fans left at all. 130 minutes?! Really, guys? Really?

I play guitar and I read guitar magazines (mostly online content) time to time, and amongst musicians, people like John Petrucci are absolute favorite and I don't think that's gonna change anytime soon.

 

[lazarus]

lT'S OFFICIAL MOTHERFUCKERS GILMORE GIRLS IS BACK RORY IS BACK YOU SLEEPY BITCHES LET'S GO RIGHT NOW

I wouldn't mind hollowing out her star, if you get my meaning.

 

[Axver]

Swans are the only band that can pull off albums pushing the 130 minute mark. And even as great as those albums have been, (their last two) they are a demanding listen.

I'm sure many would agree with you, but good grief do I find Swans tedious.

I play guitar and I read guitar magazines (mostly online content) time to time, and amongst musicians, people like John Petrucci are absolute favorite and I don't think that's gonna change anytime soon.

I don't get it. He hasn't played tastefully for about 15-20 years now.

 

[liamcool]

lT'S OFFICIAL MOTHERFUCKERS GILMORE GIRLS IS BACK RORY IS BACK YOU SLEEPY BITCHES LET'S GO RIGHT NOW

Genuine question. I've seen a smattering of Gilmore Girls' episodes over the past few years, a friend is really into that show. If I were looking to dive in, where should I start? I've heard Season 2 is a good starting point?

Also, I have this Dream Theater album polluting my hard drive. Are we doing this today or tomorrow?

 

[Danny Boy]

If I were looking to dive in, where should I start

The one where Rory screws her married ex-boyfriend.

 

[Axver]

Also, I have this Dream Theater album polluting my hard drive. Are we doing this today or tomorrow?

I favour today, but I can roll with tomorrow as long as we're done by the early evening.

 

[Mack_Again]

I don't get it. He hasn't played tastefully for about 15-20 years now.

I know you don't (i don't, either), but most people who reads about techniques in guitar magazines care more about speed, difficulty, and complexity not necessarily musicality and "nice sounding" phrases. or creativity, even. that's why if you read those magazines, you'll find those 80s shredders like Steve Vai or Joe Satriani more often than people who actually play nice notes. like Larry Carlton.

 

[LemonMelon]

Guitar shredders are fucking horrendous songwriters, so I seldom listen to them. I appreciate the skill, but only on one level. Give me someone like John McLaughlin fronting Mahavishnu Orchestra any day; it's got all the wanky shredding you could want but in the context of fluid, intriguing compositions performed by a talented band, not just one guy and some bland session musicians.

 

[Axver]

I know you don't (i don't, either), but most people who reads about techniques in guitar magazines care more about speed, difficulty, and complexity not necessarily musicality and "nice sounding" phrases. or creativity, even. that's why if you read those magazines, you'll find those 80s shredders like Steve Vai or Joe Satriani more often than people who actually play nice notes. like Larry Carlton.

It's like these people don't realise there's a great talent in restraint. But hell, it's not like it's impossible to play super-fast and still have feeling or good taste. Some of Joe Satriani's stuff isn't awful (Steve Vai, the less said the better, and Yngwie Malmsteen may be the worst guitarist in the world), and Petrucci played some really evocative stuff on Images & Words and Awake.

Some of the best guitarists, you don't even realise how good they are until you see them play live. I had never appreciated just how good, say, Peter Koppes of The Church is until I was right in front of him playing the likes of You Took.

 

[IWasBored]

Random Music Talk CXIV: No more rock star deaths for a while please (not even...

Satriani has some listenable stuff. So does Eric...Johnson I think? I forget his last name. The dude who did that Cliffs of Dover thing a while back. But not being into that/wanting to see Yngwie Malasteem thrown into a volcano (and also just being pretty much awful at the guitar) was why I stopped reading guitar magazines. Well that and they still print magazines?

 

[liamcool]

There's two good tracks on Surfing With The Alien, kudos to Satch for that one. (I don't recall which off hand...Echo, maybe?)

Having spent six hours yesterday trying to improve my fingerpicking skills, I have a new appreciation for people like Leo Kottke who play complex music while maintaining a sense of listenability in the course of doing so.

 

[Mack_Again]

Yngwie is still on the guitar magazine, yes! oh lord we're stuck in the 80s. Magazines are still printed as well, though they put more content online/YouTube these days so no need to buy. unless you're idiot like me and decided to buy one as it had Chris Cornell interview and article about history of Kramer guitar.

I absolutely adore Jeff Beck when it comes to finger-pick. or I really haven't looked too hard.

 

[Mack_Again]

I adore Lee Ranaldo as a guitar player. is that a mistake?

 

[LemonMelon]

Random Music Talk CXIV: No more rock star deaths for a while please (not even...

I care about tone and feeling over the quantity of notes played. Neil Young, Lou Reed, Roger McGuinn, The Edge, Tom Verlaine, those are the guitarists I find inspirational. They color their music so beautifully.

The way I play acoustic guitar is copped straight from Pete Townshend though, I don't know how that happened. I guess my dad took a lot from him and it transferred over to me when he taught me.

 

[Axver]

Yeah, being impressed by a guitarist just because they can play a thousand notes a minute is like being impressed by an author because they wrote a book with ten thousand pages. Who cares if it's unlistenable or unreadable.

 

[Mack_Again]

I care about tone and feeling over the quantity of notes played. Neil Young, Lou Reed, Roger McGuinn, The Edge, Tom Verlaine, those are the guitarists I find inspirational. They color their music so beautifully.

.

Good choice.

how I play guitar is basically cross of Thurston Moore and Tom Morello with trace of the Edge.

 

[david]

There's two good tracks on Surfing With The Alien, kudos to Satch for that one. (I don't recall which off hand...Echo, maybe?)

Having spent six hours yesterday trying to improve my fingerpicking skills, I have a new appreciation for people like Leo Kottke who play complex music while maintaining a sense of listenability in the course of doing so.

And he's doing it on a 12 string! I want a 12 string.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I don't know squat about the technical side of music when it comes to musicians' ability to play their instruments in the first place, but even if I did, yeah, I don't care how technically proficient someone is with the guitar, or whatever other instrument they play. I'm with LM in that I'm more interested in the general atmosphere and feeling they put into their playing.

Same goes with people who sing. It's cool if someone has a great range vocally, but if there's no emotional investment in what they're singing about, I'm probably not going to be all that interested.

 

[liamcool]

The Sonic Youth guys are very good guitar players - their focus on sound over technical virtuosity is really interesting.

I'd love a baritone acoustic 12 string if the fucking things weren't six grand >_>

 

[Mack_Again]

i'll just leave this link here as a joke.

 

[namkcuR]

I agree with Travis and others - it's how you play, not how much you play.

That said, it doesn't necessarily have to be either/or. There are guitarists who can do both things. One of my favorite guitarists ever is John Frusciante, and he can play a slight, melodic, minimalist piece that hits me right in the gut one minute and then absolutely shred the fuck out of another piece the next minute to the point where I'm jumping around the room.

David Gilmour probably rounds out my top three(the other being Edge), and he's another who can do both. He actually manages to find a pretty masterful balance, I think. He plays so beautifully, so melodically, yet on some tracks mixes in some finger acrobatics as well. But he always managed to keep it within the boundaries of his artistry and never really let it become full on shredding.

 

[Mack_Again]

BREAKING NEWS: Phil Anselmo is racist.

 

[Axver]

BREAKING NEWS: Phil Anselmo is racist.

His attempt to pass off the white power thing as a joke about white wine is, uh... original, I'll give him that.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Okay, now I have to go see what exactly he said, 'cause that kind of an attempt at a defense is just...wow.

 

[Mack_Again]

I love it when remaining member of the band totally destroys his/her past band's legacy

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Just looked it up...okay, making that kind of gesture and supposedly shouting what he did is bad enough, but...he honestly thought a charity concert for cancer research was the best place to pull a stunt like that? Really?

 

[Mack_Again]

I wanna hear Vinnie's reaction to this

 

[IWasBored]

"i'm not racist" dude, you roared 'white power.' you're racist.