Guitar World Young Guitarist of the Year

axisus

SteveRobinson said:

darcym said:

SteveRobinson said:

darcym said:

 the young lady seemed to be the only one trying to put in some melody and character into her playing, 

Terrible backing track though. It was so busy I was convinced another video was playing too. I stopped it a couple of times to check there wasn't.

yes, track wasn't the best to show off the style she was showing (personal opinion only)  I'd love to hear some of these players in a 'band' type situation to see how they can make their talent fit into a group environment, maybe even in band environment where the guitar wasn't the focus or melody. 

I always maintain that Guthrie Govan's best stuff was playing with Dizzee Rascal 

Hmmnn .... can't agree with that. His solo album is AMAZING, and his stuff with Steven Wilson is superb as well. SW seemed to manage to rein him in a tad from overplaying.

SPECTRUM001

stickyfiddle said:

p90fool said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Someone should write to Guitar World and ask them for 2021 to introduce the: 

Over 55s under 12th fret three note blues riff nitro finish appraiser 12 gauge string 21 fret 7.25” radius ooooh ahhhh relic telecaster Jimmy Page impersonator curmudgeon category

 I can imagine it would very popular on the FB.

Or just a "Give us a bleedin' choon, son" contest.

I have over a hundred Zappa and Miles Davis albums, music doesn't have to be crass for me to like it, but honestly, if one of those kids got up there blasted out Johnny Ramone style riffs like a machine gun they'd get my vote. 

Kids can be cool and full of angst and passion in a way old farts like me can only dream of, yet here they are, drably progging there way through competitions. 

100% agree. There's a whole world of other guitar-based music outside of shreddy-but-bland competitiveness and White Man Blues (and holy christ is WMB boring as shit too). I want to hear songs. 

But whatever you want to hear, music in general shouldn't be about competition, and playing any given instrument alone certainly isn't a competition.

Just watched some of these (but had to stop). I would love to see some simplicity whereby the brain and ear is engaged to actually think about sound and the concept of the song.

Less is more.

Fiftyshadesofjay

They can obviously play very well so well done, but does every solo guitar based piece of music have to sound like the opening credits to a Sega arcade game from the 90’s?

Adi

Bennyboy-UK said:

Someone should write to Guitar World and ask them for 2021 to introduce the: 

Over 55s under 12th fret three note blues riff nitro finish appraiser 12 gauge string 21 fret 7.25” radius ooooh ahhhh relic telecaster Jimmy Page impersonator curmudgeon category

 I can imagine it would very popular on the FB.

I wish I could lol and wis this post at the same time , you're bang on here my brother , again what do you expect on the forum full of older, noble gentlemen,  all of which posses amazing guitar skills to the point that some actually played couple of sets in their local boozer

Vibetronic

Bennyboy-UK said:

Someone should write to Guitar World and ask them for 2021 to introduce the: 

Over 55s under 12th fret three note blues riff nitro finish appraiser 12 gauge string 21 fret 7.25” radius ooooh ahhhh relic telecaster Jimmy Page impersonator curmudgeon category

 I can imagine it would very popular on the FB.

Spot on  As per the above poster, not sure if a lol or wis. Going with wis. 

SteveRobinson

axisus said:

SteveRobinson said:

I always maintain that Guthrie Govan's best stuff was playing with Dizzee Rascal 

Hmmnn .... can't agree with that. His solo album is AMAZING, and his stuff with Steven Wilson is superb as well. SW seemed to manage to rein him in a tad from overplaying.

We'll have to agree to differ. I walked out of one of his shows but then I also once fell asleep at a SteveVai gig (back row of the Circle at Manchester Apollo)

Dan_Halen

SPECTRUM001 said:

stickyfiddle said:

p90fool said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Someone should write to Guitar World and ask them for 2021 to introduce the: 

Over 55s under 12th fret three note blues riff nitro finish appraiser 12 gauge string 21 fret 7.25” radius ooooh ahhhh relic telecaster Jimmy Page impersonator curmudgeon category

 I can imagine it would very popular on the FB.

Or just a "Give us a bleedin' choon, son" contest.

I have over a hundred Zappa and Miles Davis albums, music doesn't have to be crass for me to like it, but honestly, if one of those kids got up there blasted out Johnny Ramone style riffs like a machine gun they'd get my vote. 

Kids can be cool and full of angst and passion in a way old farts like me can only dream of, yet here they are, drably progging there way through competitions. 

100% agree. There's a whole world of other guitar-based music outside of shreddy-but-bland competitiveness and White Man Blues (and holy christ is WMB boring as shit too). I want to hear songs. 

But whatever you want to hear, music in general shouldn't be about competition, and playing any given instrument alone certainly isn't a competition.

Just watched some of these (but had to stop). I would love to see some simplicity whereby the brain and ear is engaged to actually think about sound and the concept of the song.

Less is more.

Come on, it's a kids competition. It's just supposed to be a bit of fun, have a shred and get a bit of exposure.

Bidley

The weekly "old men cry because music they don't like exists" thread never disappoints!

SPECTRUM001

Yeah I know - I am just jealous as when I was their age I was being taught the topline to ‘Sunny’ rather than rock star shapes.

But - it is only a small step to 20ft lines of coke. Have these kids read the Motley Crue expose ?

BlueStrat

"give us something we can whistle" music didn't stop in the 70s y'know

I'm so out of touch I thought Plini was the Roman philosopher, looked him up on youtube and am seriously impressed.

My two euro's worth is that these kids are brilliant and should be applauded, they'd play most of us off the stage.

Wonky

They're all bloody great if I'm honest and most of those  kids are likely to be better than most in the future for sure.  I mean if you can play like that at their age.....
As far as the style of music it's always seemed to me that Blues guys like the blues but nothing else and  therefore every year this competition  or similar  gets posted on here you get the same old 'there's no feeling in that cos there's too many note in it'  brigade knocking these super skilled guitarist who have obviously spent a lot of time working on their stuff.
I wonder how many  pianists say the same sort of thing about Chopin pieces which are often   renowned for being technical to play and therefore often played as show pieces?   It seems that not listening to many different types of music makes you unable to hear the feeling in other types of music maybe.
It's all guitar playing gents. 
These kids make the future look bright for guitar in my opinion.

digitalscream

darcym said:

stickyfiddle said:

But whatever you want to hear, music in general shouldn't be about competition, and playing any given instrument alone certainly isn't a competition.

you know that's a point I'd not considered, nothing wrong with being competitive, but actually, is a competition appropriate for this sort of stuff (did help GG's career no doubt so there is a flip side) 

I used to think that, too. But...here's the thing: if you want to be a session player, then competition is good early on because it sets you up for the "salesman" part of that job - you're always going to be competing with other players for business.

The part of the music industry that's all about enjoyment and creativity is actually vanishingly small. The rest of it is...business, and getting one up on the other people who want the job.

From that perspective, winning this competition would actually be valuable, because it gives the winner something that very few others have. Not only that, but I'd imagine having the judges' numbers in your phone would also be pretty useful.

That's why, ultimately, my only lasting contribution to the music industry will be running this place. I have no interest in faffing around at the mucky end of the business.

Philly_Q

SteveRobinson said:

axisus said:

SteveRobinson said:

I always maintain that Guthrie Govan's best stuff was playing with Dizzee Rascal 

Hmmnn .... can't agree with that. His solo album is AMAZING, and his stuff with Steven Wilson is superb as well. SW seemed to manage to rein him in a tad from overplaying.

We'll have to agree to differ. I walked out of one of his shows but then I also once fell asleep at a SteveVai gig (back row of the Circle at Manchester Apollo)

I think I fell asleep watching Jeff Beck.  I definitely did fall asleep watching Meat Loaf, but that's a bit outside the scope of this thread.

grappagreen

TeleMaster said:

p90fool said:

Very skillful, but a bit depressing hearing a load of children stuck in the 1990s. 

I suppose there hasn't really been any development in guitar music since then, or at least not enough to hang a stunt contest on, anyway.  

They're very talented though, and I'm sure at least a couple of them will find their own path.

https://youtu.be/RXGwVJCdV6A

Thanks for posting this... I love it.. really lifted my spirits after a tough few weeks.. 

Iamnobody

It’s a guitar competition and they’ve all honed that flash/widdly technique. Taste, space and fitting in a band mix will all come with age and experience -  if they haven’t got it already, they might.

Looking at them they are about a third of my age with 10 x the chops.

Even if they don’t ‘make it’ they’ll easily be able to play Mr Brightside and Sex on Fire note for note in a top wedding band and earn some decent cash on the side in a few years.

It’s good to see - albeit not music I’d listen to.

p90fool

Adi said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Someone should write to Guitar World and ask them for 2021 to introduce the: 

Over 55s under 12th fret three note blues riff nitro finish appraiser 12 gauge string 21 fret 7.25” radius ooooh ahhhh relic telecaster Jimmy Page impersonator curmudgeon category

 I can imagine it would very popular on the FB.

I wish I could lol and wis this post at the same time , you're bang on here my brother , again what do you expect on the forum full of older, noble gentlemen,  all of which posses amazing guitar skills to the point that some actually played couple of sets in their local boozer

Well that's not strictly true, and the point I made above is they ARE playing middle aged prog rock, which seems rather a shame at their age.

I do get the point about exposing their skills for future employment though, and it's hard to do that while playing something that's actually cool.

LastMantra

I'll probably not watch as I know it won't be my kind of thing. Pretty sure that none of them will give a shit about what I like but for what it's worth I'm a big John frusciante fan. The empytherian is one of my all time favourite albums. I'd say that was pretty unique and interesting and certainly not old man blues. 

The only thing about learning to play a thousand notes a second is that it seems to then be difficult to not. Of course if that's the kind of thing you want to play than why bother with anything else.

TTBZ

Adi said:

I wish I could lol and wis this post at the same time , you're bang on here my brother , again what do you expect on the forum full of older, noble gentlemen,  all of which posses amazing guitar skills to the point that some actually played couple of sets in their local boozer

The irony being that most of these critics are likely playing standard covers at said gigs which requires precisely zero thought or creativity. Obviously there are exceptions where a band will take a song and totally make their own spin on it (and I don't mean those cover bands who say "we play it our way" which just means they couldn't be arsed to learn it properly).