Over-rated guitarist

[willj]

an amazing guitarist.yet...........................OVERrated!

Definitely NOT. ...and we'll leave it at that.

[rook2c4]

See i think its the other way, These two guys could NEVER play an Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai album note for note, but Yngwie could play all of their stuff. Maybe not with the same emotion, but he could do it pretty easily with a little practice. It would take RJ or BB years of practice IF they could ever even pull it off. These are the guys that play the pentatonic with absolutely no intrest at all IMHO.

Well, that's kind of like comparing apples to oranges. Or a master country fiddler to a virtuoso classical violinist. It's an entirely different approach to the instrument. I strongly doubt Yngwie can play Johnson's material in a convincing way. Just look at Clapton - he's been practicing Robert Johnson for decades and he's still miles away when it comes to matching those important nuances... he even admits that himself. When it comes to Blues, it's all about the nuances, not really about the notes. The notes are just filler.

[Beat Poet]

totally disagree with that! his song writing alone is amazing, and his guitar skills are pretty fuckin aswome and imaginative, u tried to play `cant stop` ? what a mad muting riff that was to come up with! he can shred massivly to, but he does it with emotion and passion. plus he plays awsome acoustic too. although i know what u mean about he isnt always writing amazing stuff but lets face it.he has written hundreds of amazing guitar riffs and songs?

are you going to say flea is crap on bass too? (sorry, dont want to take it off topic to the bass!)

but its all a matter of personal taste, so i respect your views :-)
E

I'm a Chilis fan, don't get me wrong. I'm one of those that's pro-Josh, they needed to get some new blood in and the guitarist spot is the only one that gets rotated in that band. I'm also one of those that thinks One Hot Minute is underrated, maybe because it doesn't have that typical Chilis sound!

[CL2-MrZero]

Wow! This thread kinda petered out before it could get going.
Only a few folks were mentioned as far as being overrated.
So, I will throw out another name who I consider to be overrated.

Edge, the U2 dude.

[willj]

Wow! This thread kinda petered out before it could get going.

Yeah man it did. Its such a subjective thing that there just isnt a conclusive answer.. I thought the Edge meets the hype. I dont think anyone ever said he was this amazing guitarist. Atleast that i know of. IMHO his hype is created by his songwriting skills or maybe his approach to the instrument.

[bozmillar]

I've never heard the edge mentioned in any guitar talk. I do think that U2 as a band is over hyped, but I applaud them for being able to sell out stadiums for 20 years, so I don't think they care whether or not I think they are great.

[rook2c4]

I too don't think The Edge is all that OVER-rated. I wasn't too fond of him in the 1980's - back then I considered him a bit of a "one-trick-pony". But throughout the 90's he's considerably expanded his versatility of techniques and playing styles - particularly with the slower songs. Although he rarely seems to play anything technically difficult, I do think his greatest strength is creating guitar parts with a very strong rhythmic impact. Many modern guitar players often seem to be lacking when it comes to rhythmic nuances in their playing and instead leave it entirely up to drummers to lay down the subtle variations of dynamics within the groove.

[Stan_Halen]

I have always liked U2, but didn't thing of The Edge as a remarkable guitar player either. Then I saw "It Might Get Loud", a 2008 movie with guitar "legends" Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge. It seemed like an odd combination of players, but was nonetheless fascinating seeing them collaborate and talk shop. I didn't really know much about Jack White at the time either (wasn't much of a White Stripes fan), except for that James Bond soundtrack he did with Alicia Keys - "Another Way To Die" - which I thought was awesome. The Edge did amazing stuff with guitar pedals, and other effects, to get his sound. I guess that is what he is well-known for, a "unique" sound. Also, Jack White did this thing in the movie where he made a guitar-like instrument on a country porch with basic materials in a matter of minutes. I think this is worth watching:

[dizzydog]

good movie, but I thought The Edge came across as somewhat autistic. Especially the scene where he was trying to teach Page and White how to play "I Will Follow" or whatever song that was.