Gobsmacked by this guys extraordinary talent - Sultans of swing like you've never heard it before!

OilCityPickups

Voxman said:

darthed1981 said:

To those of you wondering "When is Ed coming in here to gratuitously post the Leo video of Sultans"?  The answer is....

RIGHT NOW!  Not sure who the girl is though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0RV0kgdqJU

That was great fun!   

Love his stuff ... totally bonkers :-)

Jimbro66

darthed1981 said:

To those of you wondering "When is Ed coming in here to gratuitously post the Leo video of Sultans"?  The answer is....

RIGHT NOW!  Not sure who the girl is though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0RV0kgdqJU

Wonderful! :-D :-D

Legionreturns

darthed1981 said:

To those of you wondering "When is Ed coming in here to gratuitously post the Leo video of Sultans"?  The answer is....

RIGHT NOW!  Not sure who the girl is though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0RV0kgdqJU

I'm surprised you got further that Mary's knowing look at the beginning. 

Was that for your benefit @darthed1981  ? 

RandallFlagg

Are you lot deaf? Those versions pale in comparison to this, THE version of Sultans Of Swing all other should be judged by:

Legionreturns

RandallFlagg said:

Are you lot deaf? Those versions pale in comparison to this, THE version of Sultans Of Swing all other should be judged by:

Somebody has way too much time on their hands! 

darthed1981

Legionreturns said:

darthed1981 said:

To those of you wondering "When is Ed coming in here to gratuitously post the Leo video of Sultans"?  The answer is....

RIGHT NOW!  Not sure who the girl is though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0RV0kgdqJU

I'm surprised you got further that Mary's knowing look at the beginning. 

Was that for your benefit @darthed1981  ? 

Everything she does is for my benefit...

martinw

I didn't like it.

Am I allowed to not like it?

goldtop

TheGuitarWeasel said:

goldtop said:

But I sit here unmoved. Turning a great song into an overblown solo puts the 'mental' into instrumental.

IMHO. YMMV.

The average commuter will only hear a short snatch as they pass ... it's hardly like a gig ... so keeping it moving and keeping it flash will guarantee a lot of quids in his pot ... nobody except other guitarists are going to judge that deeply.   

This is true. If most punters stay and watch for 2 minutes, it doesn't matter as long as they get two minutes of showbiz. It no doubt keeps his tin cup rattling. That's good for him.

But, as a piece of music, it's not watchable or listenable. It sounds like a lot of technique in search of a musical direction. Ordinarily a song provides a context, and a solo is written to start, build and finish. That makes it emotionally interesting. This wasn't. At all.

kin

As someone who has to listen to buskers ( two playing at the same time today ) for several hours at a time on an almost daily basis, I would happily see all buskers shot or if I was in a good mood at least have their hands amputated or tongues pulled out.

  But yeah,apart from that, he is a good guitarist.

Philly_Q

I like the bits where he rocks out.  Which are probably the bits some people hate most... but hey ho.

timmysoft

Well that was everything i hate about guitar in one performance. Busking is something i find very shit anyway, but for me that was just over indulgent and took away the simplicity and vibe of the original song. Its very easy to take a song and do it in your own style but still keep the sentiment the same, for me this did not achieve that. I'm not doubting the guys ability, he can obviously play. 

rico

I don't know what annoyed me more: the playing or the red knob.

hotpickups

Matt_McG said:

There are people who play both classical and electric to a high level.

Just thinking about youtube guitar types, Rick Graham is good at both. Someone like Dominic Miller can do both. Neither particularly my thing (not to disparage them, just not what I normally gravitate towards). I'd probably put my own abilities on both instruments as about even (not that I'd describe myself as actually really good on either), but I started on electric first, which I think is the easier route to go.

But yeah, people who are classical players primarily, first, tend to be dreadful on electric. A while ago I remember someone -- Kevin gallagher, maybe? -- showcasing their electric playing, in a neo-classical vein, and it was awful.

I must be different then because I started out as a classical guitarist and moved onto electric later on in life. Primarily a blues rock guitarist now but wouldn't be able to play classical anymore. What that initial start in classical guitar though did teach me a very good technique to base everything on etc.  If my guitar teacher saw how I played now he'd have nightmares lol

danishbacon

Let's call it a modern take on a classic.

kt66

darthed1981 said:

To those of you wondering "When is Ed coming in here to gratuitously post the Leo video of Sultans"?  The answer is....

RIGHT NOW!  Not sure who the girl is though...

If only she could sing 

EricTheWeary

TheGuitarWeasel said:

The average commuter will only hear a short snatch as they pass ... it's hardly like a gig ... so keeping it moving and keeping it flash will guarantee a lot of quids in his pot ... nobody except other guitarists are going to judge that deeply.   

Despite my own criticisms I think this is correct; it would catch my ear as I went by and I'd give it a minute and ( possibly) 50p. 

kt66

apparently Knopfler walked into the White Hart in Greenwich - this pub, and saw a band playing, that was the inspiration for the song  -  I played there a couple of times, right dump. They also rehearsed under the chemists up the road on the corner. BTW I am not a Dire Straits fan at all, more a London musical history nerd.  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4738632,-0.0201139,3a,75y,31.64h,96.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7MFiuVGBHjRE19rofFBYfA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Rocker

Thinking more about why I did not like the version of Sultans of Swing by that (highly skilled) guitar player - SOS is primarily a song.  A song that tells a story about a band playing somewhere.  MKs guitar playing enhances the song but not at the expense of the song itself.

Other songs that feature memorable guitar playing, probably 50/50 song and guitar are:

'Parisienne Walkways' by Gary Moore & Phil Lynott

'Bird of Paradise' by Snowy White

'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits

'Shine on you crazy Diamond' by Pink Floyd


There are many others of course, your selection would most probably, be very different to mine.  Those songs have a story to tell and the original recordings show a good balance between voice and guitar.  I heard Gary Moore absolutely bollix up Parisienne Walkways by completely overplaying the guitar parts at a show in Dublin.  Incidentally this overplaying was enthusiastically welcomed and cheered by the mainly young male members of the mosh pit in front of the stage.  To me, Gary threw away all the charm and simplicity of the original recording by excessive use of his distorted guitar.  Sultans of Swing is slightly overplayed on the live album Alchemy but I accept that there is some potential in extending the outro.  There is a point where the original song gets lost due to excessive guitar soloing and it is up to the player to determine where this point is and not to overstep the mark.  Not everyone will agree or accept this criticism but there you have it.  

Simply put, my point is that some songs do not benefit from the 100% guitar playing thing, even if the skill of the player is beyond words.  Sultans of Swing is one of those songs.

gordiji

If you're a guitarist you should love what he plays here, even if it's not your bag, he's ace !

robgilmo

martinw said:

I didn't like it.

Am I allowed to not like it?

Yes you are, however you have to balance a negative comment with a positive one, even if you dont actually mean it, for example,

I didn't like it, but I also did like it a lot.

or

I didn't like it, I am however totally set back by his amazing technical skills and his succulent string fingering.

Or even, 

I didn't like it, but I do like the way he wears his hair and his casual yet smart attire really allows his laid back personality to breath, thus I can safely assume he's not as slow as he walks easy.