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No disrespect to the man or his song writing, I just don't understand the profile he has as a player
Am I missing something?
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No. Doesn't do it for me either.
Separately, but related, I can't stand The Beatles.
That's a bit of a strange question because if you respect his song writing then you would understand the respect he holds as a guitar player. It is really a case of if you don't like The Smiths then you probably won't have given due time to hearing the things he does.
Take something 'simple' Johnny does and then try and do it.
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Electronic was always a let down for me, although a massive part of that is the fact that Bernard Sumner's voice feels like someone scratching my eardrums from the inside.
I have nothing against the guy, no axe to grind, I'm just puzzled why he appears on the front cover of Guitarist, when I have never heard anything that sounds special to me in his playing - Is it any harder than imitating anyone else's style?
I would have thought Neil Young and JJ Cale are the least technical players I can think of who write great songs, and are very good to listen to, would be far harder to imitate
Even then, I would consider these 2 as composer/players with a lot of "feel", rather than as accomplished guitarists
He could be considered a guitar based composer like the two you mention - that said Guitarist would put Neil Young on the cover in a flash. He is technically a very accomplished player, he just doesn't tend to do the things we always expect of a recognised guitar icon. The stuff he plays on The Smiths' albums especially is far more complex than it first appears and it's quite easy to assume that maybe some parts are layered.
I would put Johnny Marr well in the category of players parts other guitarists say dismissively 'Yeah I can play that' and the proceed to fuck up.
The other factor with Johnny Marr is that he created his own sound. The Edge is technical incredibly limited in his style but regularly receive an iconic status for the 'Edge Sound'. Nobody back then sounded like Johnny Marr.
I couldn't stand the over-opinionated twat that is Morrissey, and I never liked The Smiths, either. So until I read this thread I had no idea who Johnny Marr is, nor that some people worshipped him.
Whatever floats your boat.
I agree with all that, I just think there's lots of less-celebrated players, also from top-selling bands who I would think had developed their own sound, and also demonstrated a larger variety of personal and widespread techniques. My personal opinion is that he often appears to have a position higher than I can understand in the shared league table in influence & greatness
To test my hypothesis: The first hit in my search for top English guitarists hit this: http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/list-of-the-day/the-25-best-british-electric-guitar-players.html
This puts Professor Marr ahead of Andy Summers (who I would put streets ahead in terms of the kind of stuff Johnny Marr plays), Phil Manzanera, Dr. Brian May, Peter Green, Rory Gallagher (hey I know he wasn't English), Peter Green, Peter Frampton. I would think these were all far more gifted and influential guitarists, with their own distinct styles
Anyway this isn't something I lose sleep over, I just remembered I am puzzled about this
I do think, since we got to it, that a lot of very individual styles come from the personal technique limitations (both in singing and guitar playing): The Edge, Bob Dylan, etc... It's one of the great things about popular music that people who would fail any qualification assessment based hierarchy of musicianship (like you need to play classical for a job) can get to give us these individual styles
If you get an erection from watching the Joe Satrianis of the world with their one million notes in a minute playing style then you're less likely to appreciate Marr.
For me, it's obviously not about technical ability with him, it's about what he does with notes and how he adds to a chord in his own, unique style to get the sound just right. Not overly clever or technical, but it just sounds on the money.
It's very cliche to say 'Morrissey is a depressing twat' or 'Marr- I don't get the hype' in my opinion. I normally hear it from people who know fuck all about music. No disrespect to anyone on here mind.
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
He's a competent guitarist, but everything I see or hear by their self-important vocalist makes me think "bell-end".