This is one talented & versatile player!

Voxman

All I can say guys is that I feel quite humbled at the expertise being conveyed by FB'ers and I've clearly got this wrong - there must be some really terrific players here.  Seriously & genuinely, I'd really love to see your playing in a video to learn from you, so please do post 'em.  Perhaps someone could start a thread to show off some of the amazing talent that we have here on the FB?  

Teetonetal

Voxman said:

All I can say guys is that I feel quite humbled at the expertise being conveyed by FB'ers and I've clearly got this wrong - there must be some really terrific players here.  Seriously & genuinely, I'd really love to see your playing in a video to learn from you, so please do post 'em.  Perhaps someone could start a thread to show off some of the amazing talent that we have here on the FB?  

I'll bite

I am an average guitar player, thousands are better me than (your guy in the op being one) but IMO he is also just above average in many respects.

there are some very, very good players resident here on the FB - check out some of the making music threads. I don't do videos as I can't be arsed, but here is my Pink Floyd play list. Feel free to disect my playing, but as demos of my ability, they get me work

Teetonetal

Hmm, sound cloud doesn't like my TIme solo - oh well. That's the best one

Voxman

I've had a good look at those excellent stairway vids and I'm working through both to improve my playing & phrasing - but neither of them are playing it correctly from a fingering perspective in lots of places.  For example, and its easier to see in the slowed down version of Sean Booths vid, you can clearly see that at 0.18 he moves down the fretboard to play the D on the third fret. But that is NOT how its played. And to be fair all 3 are playing it wrong - they are all going down to the D on the third fret.  It's an unnatural and uneconomic movement and I don't understand why they are all doing it. 



Jimmy Page plays the A string on the 8th fret - and this all goes to the economy and fluidity of his playing.  

Here's Page playing it - see his positioning at 0:25.



Jun 626 plays it spot on with the right fingering:



So, whilst I fully accept that these 2 guys nail the solo and each gives it their own variation of interpretation and feel, the only one playing it authentically is Jun626.  

Voxman

...and Jimmy Page, of course! 

dindude

Yeah decent enough but a bit too gentile for me, wanted him to grab the note in places and give it some welly. Slightly out of tune bends, and an over-gained tone, not great phrasing would be other observations. 

Bucket

Voxman said:

All I can say guys is that I feel quite humbled at the expertise being conveyed by FB'ers and I've clearly got this wrong - there must be some really terrific players here.  Seriously & genuinely, I'd really love to see your playing in a video to learn from you, so please do post 'em.  Perhaps someone could start a thread to show off some of the amazing talent that we have here on the FB?  

Ok, I'll play. (Seems a bit presumptuous to refer to myself as an "amazing talent" though)

This is something I did a year or two ago when I'd not long bought my 30-fret monster Ibanez - the drums sound shite as hell, but the guitar playing is pretty good I think. Solo at 3:05. I use 27 of those 30 frets...



I'm still really happy with this one too - one of my best efforts. No drums, but hey. Biiiig solo from 2:35 onwards.



I did this three years ago, so at the age of 18 or thereabouts... I still really like it. Backing track provided by @monquixote ;

Voxman

Really cool stuff Connor, enjoyed that - some great playing and thanks for posting.  But I was really thinking of videos where you could actually see players technique rather than just sound cloud recordings, bit like the videos posted. 

Lewy

Voxman said:

 It's an unnatural and uneconomic movement and I don't understand why they are all doing it. 

I suspect it's because if you listen to the record it sounds much more like a quick slide down to the note rather than a picked note on a different string.  It might not be the most efficient way of playing that note but it has something going for it from an expression/phrasing point of view and it's actually a very common blues lick. So regardless of how JP plays it on that video, the audio evidence would seem that it's not how he played it on the record.

Voxman

Lewy said:

Voxman said:

 It's an unnatural and uneconomic movement and I don't understand why they are all doing it. 

I suspect it's because if you listen to the record it sounds much more like a slide down rather than a picked note. It might not be the most efficient way of playing that note but it has something going for it from an expression/phrasing point of view and it's actually a very common blues lick. So regardless of how JP plays it on that video, the audio evidence would seem that it's not how he played it on the record.

Sorry, but yes, he did - Page plays how he plays, it's his technique - he plays with economy and he'd never do that, & it doesn't even sound like a slide down on the record either - you'll never see Page do that on any Stairway video.  Jun626 is an absolute expert on JP style and he does it right.  Players are free to do their own interpretations of course - but actually I think the real reason they all go down is because most players struggle with their little finger and can't get the vibrato with it. 

Lewy

Voxman said:

Lewy said:

Voxman said:

 It's an unnatural and uneconomic movement and I don't understand why they are all doing it. 

I suspect it's because if you listen to the record it sounds much more like a slide down rather than a picked note. It might not be the most efficient way of playing that note but it has something going for it from an expression/phrasing point of view and it's actually a very common blues lick. So regardless of how JP plays it on that video, the audio evidence would seem that it's not how he played it on the record.

Sorry, but yes, he did - Page plays how he plays, it's his technique - he plays with economy and he'd never do that, & it doesn't even sound like a slide down on the record either - you'll never see Page do that on any Stairway video.  Jun626 is an absolute expert on JP style and he does it right.  Players are free to do their own interpretations of course - but actually I think the real reason they all go down is because most players struggle with their little finger and can't get the vibrato with it. 

I'm sure you're right.

I listened to the track to see why people might be playing it "wrong" and the fact that there's very little audible attack on that note - and the fact that it is a really common lick - would still be my suggestion as to why people hear it as a slide down. I claim no knowledge on how he played it.

.....Other than the fact that he very obviously played in tune which was and is my criticism of the guy in your original video.

Sassafras

I don't know who Led Zeppelin are but their guitarist bloke had no idea of how the solo to Stairway goes. He was wandering all over the place.
And I swear he was sharp on one of the notes.

Voxman

Having heard the other vids I readily accept that the first vid guys technique was a bit rougher, some wrong notes etc - I didn't realise it was going to be taken apart in such detail, but I'll know for next time.  I just enjoyed the vid as a collective thing (I don't know why Stairway was singled out) but I still think he's very versatile.  

To put this in perspective, there are folk on here who have had musical training, formal lessons, or who might even give lessons, or are just pro-players with superb technique & a great ear - or are just naturally gifted  Sadly, I don't fall into any of this - I'm just a self-taught bread & butter player who's never had any lessons, can't read a note of music, and never played in big/pro bands - I just enjoy playing, do the best I can with minimal talent, and just try to entertain the audience - so I accept I'm probably more easily impressed than some of you here.  

Voxman

Sassafras said:

I don't know who Led Zeppelin are but their guitarist bloke had no idea of how the solo to Stairway goes. He was wandering all over the place.
And I swear he was sharp on one of the notes.

LOL! 

Lewy

Sassafras said:

I don't know who Led Zeppelin are but their guitarist bloke had no idea of how the solo to Stairway goes. He was wandering all over the place.
And I swear he was sharp on one of the notes.

Yep that's definitely the point I'm making.

mixolyd

@lewy @Voxman ;;;

Yeah there's no slide down to them note there, I'm pretty sure Jimmy plays it on the A string and that's how I've always done it.

 On the subject of fingering, yeah those guys are straying from the original fingering there and in a couple other places I think but that's getting into fine territory (much more subtle than the problems in OP video): it's par for the course for guitarists to use whatever fingering when doing a cover as there's a whole extra level of work in trying to figure out the perfect original fingering by ear.  Anyway since @voxman has started splitting some hairs, I'll split a few more!

I agree in the case of that riff that F note on the a string at the end is one of two notes in this passage that you absolutely HAVE to nail - the other being the second note of the solo, the bent E note on the g string.

The E note marks the real start of the phrase and the F note the end - notice that they are a half step apart - not a coincidence.  Also that F note is an added note: it doesn't belong to the Am pentatonic that Page is playing here.  He adds it here because it is the root note of the F chord that enters on that bar.  EDIT: not beat one now I think about it.

I only listened to jun626 play that first phrase but I knew he'd messed it up within the first two notes: he misses the strong vibrato on the E note.  In most places this wouldn't be a big deal but this is the most important note in the whole solo!  It's the "HEY LISTEN!" message as well as being the setup for the phrase ending on the F note.

Bucket

Voxman said:

Really cool stuff Connor, enjoyed that - some great playing and thanks for posting.  But I was really thinking of videos where you could actually see players technique rather than just sound cloud recordings, bit like the videos posted. 

Gotcha.

Well, here's me doing an actual note-for-note copy of a solo - Mississippi Queen, which sounds ok on a Strat as it turns out:

Or some wanky improv over one of Francis Dunnery's solo tracks.

ElectroDan

Voxman said:

Having heard the other vids I readily accept that the first vid guys technique was a bit rougher, some wrong notes etc - I didn't realise it was going to be taken apart in such detail, but I'll know for next time.  I just enjoyed the vid as a collective thing (I don't know why Stairway was singled out) but I still think he's very versatile.  

To put this in perspective, there are folk on here who have had musical training, formal lessons, or who might even give lessons, or are just pro-players with superb technique & a great ear - or are just naturally gifted  Sadly, I don't fall into any of this - I'm just a self-taught bread & butter player who's never had any lessons, can't read a note of music, and never played in big/pro bands - I just enjoy playing, do the best I can with minimal talent, and just try to entertain the audience - so I accept I'm probably more easily impressed than some of you here.  

Part of what's great about being a guitarist, is that you don't have to be amazing to enjoy what you're doing. Every new thing you learn brings that same sense of achievement and of advancing. That in turn opens more doors for things to learn next.
The guy in the originally posted vid is on his way to becoming a great player. But how good he seems to someone, will always depend on where they are in their own journey of learning the instrument, in relation to him. He has a grasp of the technique and is developing the dexterity needed, but is yet to develop some of the finesse of a truly seasoned musician.
It's easy to look at a more advanced player and think that they are specially blessed or that they are at an unattainable level. But that is what's really great about being a Guitarist... If you stick at it, analyse your own playing and push yourself to constantly learn, you can improve to whatever level you want to reach.

Teetonetal

@ElectroDan great post and nails it for me. 

Voxman

Bucket said:

Voxman said:

Really cool stuff Connor, enjoyed that - some great playing and thanks for posting.  But I was really thinking of videos where you could actually see players technique rather than just sound cloud recordings, bit like the videos posted. 

Gotcha.

Well, here's me doing an actual note-for-note copy of a solo - Mississippi Queen, which sounds ok on a Strat as it turns out:

Or some wanky improv over one of Francis Dunnery's solo tracks.

Love that green strat!  And some nice 'wanking' there!