I mean, I see how they went for versatility, but I think there could have been better choices than The Edge and Jimmy Page. Personally I'd rather it have been Jack White, Robbie Robertson, and Jonny Greenwood.
Pete Townshend, Clapton, and Chuck Berry would also be great choices, but I feel like they've been covered in their guitar playing genius.
"I don't like noisy stuff too much, `cause it's just noise."
Robbie Robertson
I can understand having something against The Edge, but Jimmy Page? How can you not acknowledge his genius? Robbie Robertson absolutely, but Jack White's a rip-off artist and doesn't even begin to compare to Jimmy Page: Who's taken hundreds of different directions and been the main songwriter/producer on around 20 studio albums, 12 of which were by Led Zeppelin one of the world's greatest bands.
shareI guess they wanted someone from the 70's, one from the 80's/90's and a current guy. Davis Guggenheim said that before they had called anyone, the 3 guys he would have wanted right off the bat were the 3 he ended up getting, he just never thought all 3 or even 1 of them would agree to doing the film.
It seems they are his favourites.
Who exactly is Jack White ripping off, and how is his ripping off different than the nature progression of music? It's not like anyone who plays guitar today has never listened to music ever and just created their own style on their own. Musicians do what they do because they like music.
I could understand the claim if his music was derivative, static, and identical to some other band's music, but given the rather large variety of styles within his repertoire, I couldn't possibly guess who you think he's ripping off.
Jimmy Page and Jack White seem like good choices, they have the commonality of both interpreting old Blues tunes. Whether you feel they ripped the tunes off or not, they have exposed them to an entirely new audience instead of being in the dustbins of 7 decades passed.
What I don't understand is the inclusion of The Edge. He's probably a nice person, but his style of playing the guitar is more as a sound effect. The echo, delay and other effects he uses are just too much. The other two, Page and White, have the ability to play melodic line, I can't say the same for
The Edge, who style is more percussive.
Lastly, The Edge's band U2 and that swollen carbunkle Bono remind me of Kurt Cobain's line about "yuppies riding around in BMWs singing the lyrics to his songs. Somehow they make me think about Wall St investment bankers, and what they consider music.
No love for Mark Knopfler on this board? :(
shareSusieIsFag
shareThe Edge writes his guitar parts within the context of U2, so if you strip away Adam and Larry from some of their biggest hits like Where The Streets Have No Name or Mysterious Ways then there's not much there.
The echo and delay he uses allows him to play around with different sounds and ultimately give U2 their sound. It also works brilliantly in big venues which is why they sound better in stadiums than most bands.
Not sure about the yuppie line, you might have a point though. One of things about selling as many records as U2 is a broad range of people are listening. This sadly includes Patrick Bateman.
I still think these three are a wise choice for the different eras and styles rather than three shredders. There's enough contreversy over who was as well to really make people think about their approach to the guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95vkJfeJBw4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVen50_nFjU
What about Mike Campbell, from The Heartbreakers?
He plays a wide spectrum of music, from blues to rock to folk to pop and is an interesting, smart person.
I've always been impressed with his guitar playing.
"I don't want Fop! I'm a Dapper Dan man!"
one of the best guitarists alive today...outrageous player, and smart enough to write all his own songs. He's scored quite a few quality movies also; Local Hero, Cal, Princess Bride. He'll be playing with Bob Dylan this Fall, tour of Europe.
shareI know I'm very late to the party, but I totally agree with your comment.
Mark Knopfler would be awesome in this situation.
It's not about an olympic competition of the best; neither of them were the best of their generation. Blackmore and Beck murdered page technically but it's not about that. It's about contrasting the styles of three very visible guitar players of different generations and they chose rather well.
If this was made in the 90's they probably would have gone with the bald guy from the smashing pumpkins or Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead.
The idea probably was to include guitarists from different 'generations'. I.e. guitarists who defined/dominated/reached their peak in the 1970s, 1980 and 1990s, respectively. My shortlist:
1970s: David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
1980s: The Edge (U2), Eddie van halen (Van Halen)
1990s: Adam Jones (Tool), Tom Morello (RATM), Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), John Frusciante (RHCP)
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Jack White appeals to the mass of neo-nihilism individuals who use plastic guitars (Airlines) thtough fuzzers to achieve the classic ''choking bat'' sound. He is an original guitarist, but should be nowhere near a documentary such as this. Energetic bends and catchy basslines are fine but dont make you a reference.
Tom Morello? Seriously? Making the guitar sound ungodly and strumming artificial harmonics the length of the string just make you a jackass. He made some nice songs, ill admit, and i am a fan of RATM, but Tom belongs nowhere near a reference point. Its all powerchords, pickup antics and feedback tricks.
Tool... please. I wont even gratify that with a reply. Keep your sobbing, sappy powerchords over heavy drums. How loud you play doesnt depend on talent, it depends on a factory made plastic knob. Which goes for all the neo-rock guitarists who would be left stranded without their 50 pre-amps and effects pedals. There are some out there who made the guitar sound wicked through their playing style innovations and clever observation of the guitar's properties. These people should be getting exposure. The Edge? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He is the poster-boy for reverb-fueled major third pull-offs... a trick mainly reserved for war amputees looking to become active with their new prosthetic hands.
Where the hell is Uli John Roth? Paul Gilbert? Guthrie Govan? John Petrucci? It bothers me that instead of shedding light on some truly ingenious individuals who REALLY brought the electric guitar to another level, we have the same recycled coverage on boring, overplayed artists. I mean, Jimmy Page? Dont get me wrong.. it's just that HOW MANY TIMES have we seen the saaaame guitarists overexposed again and again and again? Whats Jack White gonna talk about? His freaking haircut? He has basic playing qualities at best.
You have your basic cornucopia of carbon copy cutout hacks set up for a disappointing rockumentary.
Van Halen, Dimebag Darrell, Kirk Hammet, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Clapton, anyone would have been better.
shareYou have to remember that not everybody in the audience is going to be a musician. Some are going to be just average, guitar-loving, music-buying folks and the filmmaker probably wanted three guitarists who had some wide-spread appeal and name recognition.
Just my two cents, inflation-adjusted.
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Wow! Eccelctic, original choices from someone who knows what he's talking about. Bravo!
60's: Joe Pass, Jimi Hendrix, anyone who was prominent in the fusion of blues/jazz into electric guiar, and there are too many to cite. Joe Pass counts because he used an electric guitar. Some old videos even show him using distortion.
80's: Ah, the wonder years. Rock ballads, epic solos, and thundering distortion. Too many to cite; choosing even ten out of the countless individuals is too hard for me. I erased every name i posted.
Modern: John Petrucci, period. In terms of modern guitar playing, no one fuses together more beautifully 30 years of guitar evolution into his playing, and brings it to new and exciting levels. It's called progressive for a reason.
Though, as a secret ballot, i would vote Guthrie Govan. Go listen to this guy on youtube; he played with Frank Zappa in the 80's, and still continues to pound out some of the most satisfying phrasings and punches, while maintaining a strict level of high quality professional playing. On top of that he plays Tom Anderson drop-top hollowbodies.. a sign of true greatness.
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Jimi Hendrix? Great idea, let's dig him up and see what kind of insight a corpse can give us on playing guitar.
Do you people even pay attention to what you write?
I saw the movie last night, and I agree with this post. The filmmaker wanted to be sure that main-stream music lovers would show up. I think for that they needed big names. I know that Jimmy Page was the principal reason for my seeing the movie, but when a documentary movie can boast of having "the lead guitarists for Led Zeppelin and U2", it broadens the audience. As for Jack White? I bought an album of his, just now! :-)
Rick (http://www.rickumali.com/) Umali
Tommi FRAKKING Iomi invented the distorted sound. 'nuff said.
sharePhil Keaggy
shareJohn Petrucci. Period.
shareJohn Petrucci is technically proficient, but even in the worlds of progressive rock and progressive metal he's a small fish.
I'm going to show you morons what a real list looks like.
60's-70's: Steve Howe from Yes or Robert Fripp from King Crimson. Both of them are rediculously underrated and blow Paige out of the freaking water.
80's: David Byrne of Talking Heads or Francis Dunnery of It Bites.
Present Day: David Fiuczynski, Roine Stolt, John Mitchel or perhaps John Frusciante.
Too bad Yes and King Crimson are terrible.
shareIn your opinion.
There would be no Mars Volta without Yes, and King Crimson.
I play Steve Howe's guitar parts in our progressive band. I would GLADLY play other guitarists, it would save my fingers.
People who rag on Yes have NO IDEA how difficult this music is to play. There are hundreds of tribute bands for Zep and The Beatles. There's maybe a dozen worldwide who play Yes. That's not opinion - that is fact.
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No Mars Volta!? That would be a shame. Who would we turn to for three albums of wankery!?
I know exactly how hard Yes songs are to play. Technical prowess and advanced knowledge of musical theory doesn't necessarily translate into good music.
This is the problem I have with fans of "prog" (be it metal, or rock, or whatever other genre "prog" can be prefixed too), they listen to music because they admire the musicianship, the technical ability. What they don't understand, is that this does not necessarily interest the majority of the people.
The result? Millions of prog fans crying because no one wants to listen to Vai and Dream Theater.
This doesn't apply to you necessarily.
"This is is the problem I have with fans of "prog" (be it metal, or rock, or whatever other genre "prog" can be prefixed too), they listen to music because they admire the musicianship, the technical ability"
I don't. Bands like Dream Theater, Rush, Porcupine Tree, King Crimson, Symphony X, Queensryche, Circus Maximus, Pain Of Salvation, Redemption, Pagan's Mind, Shadow Gallery, Marillion, etc... can write really catchy and/or beautiful songs, which is something that ignorant prog "haters" don't know because they never even listened to them and judge them based on their reputation or they listened to less than 5 songs. Some progressive bands focus too much on being technical and complex, but not all of them. Oh and what someone considers to be pointless/senseless wanking can make sense to someone else.
Trust me, I know Rush can write catchy songs...living in Canada, I have to hear them on the radio every five goddamn minutes.
Catchy and Beautiful are two relative terms. It all depends on what appeals to you and what you look for in music.
I also live in Canada and it's always really nice to hear them on the radio... Especially because most of what's on the radio is crap.
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