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low-gain (predominantly) instrumental guitarists?

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axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
I'm looking for inspiration - instrumental guitar music but either pretty clean sound or not too heavy on the gain. Preferably not Jazz or fusion widdling, something with more of a song structure.

I'm thinking more your Hank Marvin's rather than Robben Fords I guess.

Any suggestions?
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    Johnny A
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12253
    axisus said:
    I'm looking for inspiration - instrumental guitar music but either pretty clean sound or not too heavy on the gain. Preferably not Jazz or fusion widdling, something with more of a song structure.

    I'm thinking more your Hank Marvin's rather than Robben Fords I guess.

    Any suggestions?
    Surf music- Dick Dale, The Chantays, The Bel-Airs, The Ventures.  There is an old chap on youtube called Phil McGarrick who does really nice covers of the shadows, carpenters, abba and stuff.  
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  • Preston Reed is worth checking out - he frets over the top of the neck rather than from below  
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited September 2018
    Greg Howe. Overdriven but a very clean sound somehow. 
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • westwest Frets: 994
    Kebabkid said:
    Johnny A
    +1 ...  

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71951
    All of Mark Knopfler’s movie soundtrack work.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • dtrdtr Frets: 1037
    Eric Haugen does tutorials every Friday on his YouTube channel with nice arrangements of songs by people like Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch, Mark Ribot, Tom Waits and others.  All with a lovely clean sound and very much structured around the songwriting.
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  • munckee said:
    axisus said:
    I'm looking for inspiration - instrumental guitar music but either pretty clean sound or not too heavy on the gain. Preferably not Jazz or fusion widdling, something with more of a song structure.

    I'm thinking more your Hank Marvin's rather than Robben Fords I guess.

    Any suggestions?
    Surf music- Dick Dale, The Chantays, The Bel-Airs, The Ventures.  There is an old chap on youtube called Phil McGarrick who does really nice covers of the shadows, carpenters, abba and stuff.  
    There is modern surf that isn't just recreations of old choons as well. Los Straitjackets are the obvious ones but The Bambi Molesters take a wider approach and definitely tick all the boxes in the OP. Messer Chups are quite fun although they have some vocals. Quite a few modern surf bands and surf itself is broader than people often think with Eastern European influences, for example. 


    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • CHRISB50CHRISB50 Frets: 4286

    Check out some of Mike Bloomfield's live stuff. He tended to play with a pretty clean tone, and there was a fair bit of instrumental / very few vocals stuff live.

    If you're not averse to acoustic I'd suggest Spencer Elliott. His songs have a really nice structure, he's a monster of a player, if you can get around the tippy tappy parts. This song doesn't really have a huge amount of percussion to it though. It's probably my favourite of his.

    I can't help about the shape I'm in, I can't sing I ain't pretty and my legs are thin

    But don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to

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  • VaiaiVaiai Frets: 530
    Nick Johnston and Dave Brons - composition mixed with "guitaring" but Nick's stuff is beautiful musically.  Andy Latimer from Camel - very tasteful melody focused player. Sonny Landreth too. 
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  • Mark Lettieri (bit fusion-y, bit RnB, bit funk, often very melodic), e.g. as a solo version:



    Julian Lage



    Jim Campilongo

    Marc Ribot


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  • westwest Frets: 994

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  • dindudedindude Frets: 8534
    Robbie Mcintish released an album this year called “thanks Chet” a tribute to you know who which is rather a nice listen
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  • dindudedindude Frets: 8534
    edited September 2018
    Also Greg Koch’s solo album
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  • Steve Rothery's recent (ish) album might float your boat.



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  • Philly_QPhilly_Q Frets: 22515
    munckee said:
    axisus said:
    I'm looking for inspiration - instrumental guitar music but either pretty clean sound or not too heavy on the gain. Preferably not Jazz or fusion widdling, something with more of a song structure.

    I'm thinking more your Hank Marvin's rather than Robben Fords I guess.

    Any suggestions?
    Surf music- Dick Dale, The Chantays, The Bel-Airs, The Ventures.  There is an old chap on youtube called Phil McGarrick who does really nice covers of the shadows, carpenters, abba and stuff.  
    There is modern surf that isn't just recreations of old choons as well. Los Straitjackets are the obvious ones but The Bambi Molesters take a wider approach and definitely tick all the boxes in the OP. Messer Chups are quite fun although they have some vocals. Quite a few modern surf bands and surf itself is broader than people often think with Eastern European influences, for example. 

    I like The Mermen, although they don't particularly have that real twangy surf sound - they're psychedelic and sometimes quite heavy.  It's definitely instrumental and melodic though.
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  • Another vote for Julian Lage: 

    (He goes a bit madder there than he does on the record, but the tune is gorgeous, isn't it?)

    And Bill Frisell (who is similarly jazz, but with a style full of Americana):


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  • I find Lage a really inspiring interviewee, as well. He's scarily talented, in multiple genres, but he wears it really lightly, and talks really beautifully about music and guitar.
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    Steve Rothery's recent (ish) album might float your boat.


    Yeah, I have that actually. Very nice.
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  • Y Niwl, welsh surf band


    https://youtu.be/hLZPdHn0RQo
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