Guitar Players

[Chang Style Novice]

I have waaaaay too many favorite guitar players to list them all here, so I'll just throw out the ones who's records I listened to in the last 24 hours:

Robert Fripp, Sonny Sharrock, Higashi Hiroshi, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, John McLaughlin, Joe Strummer, Brandon Ross

I listen to a lot of music.

[IronFist]

I agree on the Mel Bay books. I still have mine from when I was a little kid. Good stuff, if you don't have a teacher. Mine were given to me by my teacher.

I would imagine now they come with CD's and stuff, too.

Good luck with your guitar studies. Your finger tips will hurt for the first few weeks so don't over do it, but it's fun, so you might

IronFist

[Souljah]

yea it is fun, i just thought i'd go and practice scales for about 15 mins today and i ended up coming out of my basement wannabe studio an hour later having really gotten into a rhythm when doing them, man, it doesnt sound nice but you really get a kick out of it when its going well.....reminds me of when i started playing drums.
Though these days i dont like to play so much cos my drum kit is really battered and i cant get them to sound nice. (changed skins many times and tuned them to hell and back)
I'm thinking of getting a electronic set - what do u guys think of them?
Just seems ideal to me, but im not sure which one to get if i do.....anyone got a set?

(sorry, just thought i'd ask since this seems to be the musicians corner)

soul

[HuangKaiVun]

Yes Chang Style Novice, I've heard Charlie Hunter. Fantastic ability.

However, I prefer guys on guitar that can make me FEEL something. And I try to play that way myself.

I'd rather hear a well done rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" that goes straight to the heart than any number of notes flying by me at any velocity in some acid rock or jazz piece.

This Christmas, I was visiting the elderly parents of one of my students. I played for them things like "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bells". Afterwards, they said that they really enjoyed my sound (Gibson L-5CES) and groove.

The mark of a musician is whether or not he can MOVE an audience.

[taijiquan_student]

CSN--Have you heard much John Abercrombie? I heard some older, fusion stuff he did with Michael Brecker, and didn't really like it, but recently I saw him live and it was fu(ckin awesome. Have you heard much Charlie Christian? I guess some people consider Christian boring and dated, but he's basically the father of most all guitar shi.t you hear.
John Scofield's jazz stuff is pretty cool, though I can't get too much into his recent jam band records.
Any more jazz guys here on KFO?

[HuangKaiVun]

Charlie Christian is neither dated nor boring, and he definitely ISN'T the father of most guitar stuff.

Actually, guys like Eddie Lang and Django Reinhart fit that bill far better than the short-lived Christian did. These two predated Christian and had far bigger careers for far longer periods of time.

Most of the jazz master guitarists born before WWII were more influenced by Reinhart and Lang than Christian. They say so themselves and it shows in their playing style. It can also be argued that Reinhart - a European Gypsy - was heavily influenced by Western classical guitar traditions.

Today's guitar playing traces its roots back to the masters like Joe Pass and Johnny Smith and Wes Montgomery - men who respected Christian but reserved their greatest praise for the all-influential Django.

Christian was certainly the father of the electrically amplified guitar, though it was Les Paul who ran with that to even higher levels.

[David Jamieson]

chet atkins and stanley jordan, the dynamic duo. oh yeah, and Lenny Breau, Les Paul, Mark Knoppfler and Eric Clapton, etc etc etc

[rogue]

Barney Kessel, Christian, Johnny Smith, Tommy Tadesco, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter(the man knew when not to play and his solo on Donna Summers Hot Stuff almost made disco worthwhile), Mick Taylor, Scotty Moore, Brian Setzer(love that rough dirty playing, just fun), Vai, Billy Sheehan, Mark Knoffler(what can you say), Slash, Early Eddie Van Halen, Robert Randolf, Edge, John the Cat Gatto, Charro and Shakira. OK I don't care if Shakira can play or not but she looks hot and Charro was hot(back when I was a kid) and can play.

Oh yeah, add about 20 guys that play in churches, studios, dive bars and garages that will never make for whatever reason, but can play their backsides off.

[Chang Style Novice]

HKV - that's exactly how I feel about Charlie Hunter. At some point he'll have the ability to pull off all his cool stuff effortlessly, and start infusing it with some soul (or whatever you choose to call it.) In the meantime, the three records I've got have everything I need to hear.

Much as I love Django (I haven't heard much Eddie Lang) I have to disagree with your assessment of Charlie Christian. His records don't thrill me the way some others do, but not only did he start playing the electric guitar, he was the one who moved the guitar from a rhythm to a lead instrument in jazz. That historic importance cannot be taken away from him - I've also heard talk that describes him as an early bebopper, jamming at Minton's with Monk and Gillespie and Bird and them, but I haven't heard that side of his playing.

Abercrombie's another guy I haven't heard a bunch of, although what I have heard I've liked a lot. I have all of Scofield's records when he had Joe Lovano in his band, but since then he doesn't really seem to have anyone pushing him, and has devolved into squishy lightboy whiteboy funkjazz goo. Too bad, 'cause when he's got some thinking to do when he plays, he's exceptional.

I tend to like wierd, spiky, dissonant stuff the most. Henry Threadgill is my favorite guy right now (he's a reeds player, but gets over most on his composition skills) and he gets a lot of milage from his guitarists. Brandon Ross, mentioned above, is the one he uses most often. I highly recommend Threadgill's "Very Very Circus" records from the mid 90s to anyone interested in exciting, atypical music. The lineup is

Henry Threadgill, reeds (most often alto sax, flute, piccolo)
another wind player (sometimes french horn, sometimes trombone
Brandon Ross, electric and acoustic guitars
a second guitar player, sometimes Masujaa, sometimes Ed Cherry
two tuba players (typically Edwin Rodriguez and Maarcus Rojas, but I think others filled in, too.)
and a drummer (mostly Gene Lake)

being a texture-maniac, he also brings in other insstrumentalists, like pipa, accordian, violin, 'ethnic' percussionists, vocalists, etc.

The great thing about a setup like this is he can go to town on arrangements and orchestrations. Since the band is sort of shaped like an inverted pyramid, with the drummer at the corner of two sides, he can have one thing going on in the left speaker and something totally different (syncopations, counterpoints, etc.) going on on the right. He can (and does) divide things in any number of 'mini groups' for something like a concerto grosso structure. Two or more players can solo simultaneously as two (or more) interlocking grooves are hled down at once.

Or to sum up - duh...I really likes me some Henry Threadgill!

Edit -

Since I've got a CD burner and a lot of this stuff is out of print, I'm totally into a little sharing the wealth with my feller KFOers. Who's up for some swapping?

[guohuen]

Electronic drums suuuuuuuuuuck! That said, buy new heads. Laminate heads go dead real fast. Stick to something tunable like remo ambassadores. Don't use cricket bats for drumsticks.
I like the Mel Bay books, but Guitar Handbook, published on your side of the pond is more concise.
No one likes Charlie Christians boyhood chum T Bone Walker? He played every Chuck Berry lick fifteen years before Chuck did.

[DelicateSound]

Count me in on any exchange program Chang Style Novice. If you like Robert Fripp then I'll trust your taste in music.

What are your thoughts on Bireli Lagrene and Martin Taylor? I can't get enough of Taylor these days. And Bireli may as well be Django's b@stard child.

[Chang Style Novice]

I can sum up my thoughts on Bireli Lagrene and Martin Taylor in two words.

Who they?

PM me a snailmail address and I'll get some Threadgill out to you in a week or so.

[DelicateSound]

I can sum up my apprehension to that offer in three words:

What is threadgill?

I don't have PM enabled, so just mail me at:

lewisbeardmore
@
hotmail.com

(edited to prevent scanning)


Bireli:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...ll/berelli.htm


Taylor:

www.martintaylor.com

http://www.legacyrecordings.com/MartinTaylor/



Will tell you better than I ever will. You Yanks have Renault cars? The Clio advert? Probably shooting blind here but nevermind.

[Souljah]

guohuen


I played a set 2day and I thought they rocked, though i could only play for about half an hour - there was like a queue when the time ran out, i didnt notice it going by (gotta love that feeling)

why dont you like them?

[Chang Style Novice]

I described Henry Threadgill's music a post or three back. It'll be a mystery exchange for both of us.