The Edge is not really a guitar player...

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Flying FuManchu

New Yorker
Joined
Oct 13, 2000
Messages
3,185
Location
Used to live in Chambana. For now the Mid-South.
Condensed from The Irish Times:

Zing went the strings of their hearts

It is perhaps the defining instrument of the modern era: affordable, portable and versatile.
As the first chords are played in Dublin Guitar Week, some top guitar slingers
talk to Peter Crawley

Feb 25, 2002

The Edge
Guitarist, U2

As a guitar player, there are so many cliches you keep having to avoid. It's a case of
continually trying to find new things to do and say with the guitar. For me that's the
real challenge.

I suppose most people think of the lead-guitar player as the gunslinger of musicians.
Particularly in the 1970s, that approach reached its zenith. Coming after that rock 'n'roll
guitar virtuosity, I felt the only thing to do was try the opposite approach.

It suited our band and suits my personality, so I developed a much more minimalist
approach. I'd be busy trying to find the least number of notes that could convey the
maximum effect. I didn't want to sound like anyone else.

I'm not reverential about guitars. To me it was not really about the guitar, it was about
finding something interesting with whatever equipment I happened to have. You hear
a lot of guitar players talking about their guitars as if they are people. I could never
quite go there. I never felt the actual instrument was all that crucial.

My guitar only comes out on formal occasions. I write, but I don't play much for fun. I
don't goof around at home. I play U2 songs - I don't really play guitar.

Anybody have thoughts on these statements by The Edge? This viewpoint has driven the Edge for 20 years but is it really conducive to creativity?


------------------
~ "You can't resist her. She's in your bones. She is your marrow and your ride home. You can't avoid her. She's in the air; in between molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide." ~ RC
 
That sounds very much like Edge. He's always been more about looking for sounds...I think he has more of the mentality of a producer.

Originally posted by Flying FuManchu:
This viewpoint has driven the Edge for 20 years but is it really conducive to creativity?

If you can look back at their diverse 20 year catalogue and ask that question with a straight face...
 
Everything the Edge says is so cute and wonderful! *sigh*

LOL!
biggrin.gif
 
Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
That sounds very much like Edge. He's always been more about looking for sounds...I think he has more of the mentality of a producer.

If you can look back at their diverse 20 year catalogue and ask that question with a straight face...

My bad... I should have clarified and meant future creativity. The Edge has expoused this philosophy for like 20 years. Its somewhat of a mantra for him when he's being interviewed. That philosophy has obviously has helped make U2 one of the biggest guitar bands around as well as help make the Edge an innovator. But how much can one milk that kind of thinking with the guitar before it also becomes old (minimalism)? I'm not saying the Edge should learn how to shred but... isn't it a little limiting to one's creativity to just stick with one philosophy?



------------------
~ "You can't resist her. She's in your bones. She is your marrow and your ride home. You can't avoid her. She's in the air; in between molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide." ~ RC
 
Back
Top Bottom