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Who are the guitarists who you never fully appreciated until you matured as a musician?
When I was a youngster (late 80s), just prior to grunge bringing guitar playing back to being about songs rather than songs being about the guitar playing, widdle was king. I had played guitar from being four years old so we washed along with this seemingly natural progression of guitar playing getting more a more technical. Around this time I distinctly remember reading a guitar player special on The Edge and thinking "WTF? Who the fuck is guy kidding? He's playing three note there or he's just repeating the same note over and over. How does he even call himself a guitarist? I could do what he does easily.". I'm sure I am far from the only one who at some point thought like this about The Edge in particular. It was strange because I loved U2 so it wasn't any dislike it was just maybe I was expecting some unattainable wizardry to aspire to. Now however I look at the first half of U2's career and think the choice of playing is pretty much genius.
I feel like The Edge is a really obvious choice for this question but who else is there who just did not really impress you once upon a time but now you look at with great respect? C'mon which 12 year old one of you once thought Cece Deville was better than Gilmour?
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Comments
I can't think of many guitarists, but bass players like Noel Redding and Michael Anthony I used to think were hopeless, but I now see how good they were for the bands they were in, and really like them now.
It's not the same for guitarists though....everyone knows flasher is better ;-)
I've grown to appreciate Jeff Beck's ability. Considering its all done with his fingers! I'm not so much into technical players these days.
Agree on The Edge, the problem with U2 is the gobshite cockbadger Boner.
I never got Hendrix until I learned a couple of his tracks, now he's a favourite.
Also Paul Kossoff, admittedly I liked his playing prior to guitaring, but really appreciated his playing after learning a couple of Free tracks.
Also Phil Campbell from Motorhead, he can play way better than his role in Motorhead.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
I suppose what we're really saying is players who we have gained an appreciation of, even if the genre they play in is not our 'thing'?
If that's the case, there's loads; Nile Rogers, Martin Taylor, Martin Simpson, Albert Lee, Steve Morse - the list goes on....
"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
The very fine Dave Keuning (The Killers), the Kings of Leon guys, Graham Coxon i.e. indie or alt.rock players as they're not my sort of thing. It's only when you have to learn those parts, particularly Dave Keuning, that you realise how clever and well-constructed they are.
Andy Taylor of Duran Duran is another and when I was younger I concentrated too much on Glenn Tilbrook's voice and song writing to realise just what a fabulous guitarist he was/is. Take some time out and learn the solo from "Another nail in my heart" - it's a corker!
Andrew Gold. He (RIP) was a very fine songwriter but also a superb guitarist who was instrumental in getting Linda Ronstadt's career going before he went solo himself. His guitar solo's were always beautifully structured and designed to bring out the best of the songs. Terrific phrasing and wonderful choice of notes. His Strat tone could be really biting and his soloing skills really shone on the last record he made for Asylum.
The track 'Sooner or Later' from that album shows just how gritty his playing could be:
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I was quite late at starting on the guitar so it is interesting to listen again (or Listen Against for Radio 4 fans) music that I loved and hated when I was a teenager. The dominance of the electric guitar in pop and rock music prior to the late 70's means there is something guitary to appreciate in all sorts of disco and funk and all sorts of other stuff I would have avoided back in the day.
"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
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Agreed. And I'm not really a fan - but there's no denying his importance.
But +1 to the others on the importance of Hendrix wether you like him or not. FWIW I remember Hank Marvin not liking Hendrix - IIRC saying that what Hendrix did was easy as he only had a simple bass line to play against. I think Redding was the glue that allowed Hendrix and Mitchell to play. His bass lines were simple but there wasn't the need or the room for anything else.