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Slash on not being highly rated in guitar magazine polls: 'There's this obsession with technical prowess.'


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4 hours ago, appetite4illusions said:

It's only in the guitar community that technique matters or is really given any prestige.

Average music listeners want melody. They want a guitar part that has a melody that they can remember, follow and embrace. They appreciate it in the context of the song and how it makes the song better.

It's why people like David Gilmour have become universally loved. 

Agreed. 

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There's room for both. 

Slash is great at what he does, and someone like Yngwie Malmsteen is great at what he does. Also, there are some very melodic and tasteful players who are studied musicians (Steve Lukather, Paul Gilbert are two different the top of my head... Both can burn it up or come up with a simple melodic line, and are instantly recognizable).

I don't think Slash is underrated in guitar mags, he's on the cover enough and he's always at least top 30 in the greatest polls. But let's get some perspective! There are A LOT of great guitar players, and yes some are more profecient than others and some people are preffered by more or less people... Just how it is! Not to forget all the great unheard guitar players who never got a big break.

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I think that guitarists who are extremely talented and can do all kinds of stuff with the guitar, tend to do just that and then they don't get to develop a signature unmistakable thing because they change things up again and again, just doing new things all the time. Whereas more limited guitarists, who have to stay within a more narrow range of what they can do in terms of technique, can more easily hone their skills within that limitation and tend to make music that is necessarily more similar each time, allowing them to be more easier recognized. I am not saying that either is more melodic or better at making riffs and solos that fit the music, but that the more limited players naturally tend to copy themselves more than the more versatile players.

I also think that some of the more limited players have got that way because they have focused on developing their melodic playing and how to fit with the music, so they haven't to the same extent trained for speed or new techniques, because that has become secondary to what they have wanted to achieve with the music. Only when a new technique or increased speed has furthered the song, have they gone in that direction. 

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The faster someone tends to play, the more limited and one-dimensional they become.

Music isn’t the notes but the spaces between the notes.

My favorite guitar solos have been those that have dramatic changes in them, which leaves room for different techniques to be used - but never at the expense of the Melody.

For instance, my all time favorite solo is My Sharona by The Knack. Berton Averre employs about a dozen different techniques - from legato runs to double stop bends and long sustained notes - but he lets every one of them build the Melody. You never feel he is simply showing off, all the parts of the solo come together to have its own amazing voice.

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11 hours ago, Ralphelmo said:

I think this video fits here really well:

 

See that video... I hate the new album... but Call Of The Wild there sounds fucking awesome. Is it just me? Myles is like a black hole for the attitude Slash evidently still has. 

If that song had Axl on it... vintage Axl unquestionably but maybe even current Axl.... less layers...rawer... just a driving DTJ kinda beat... some venomous lyrics. 

That riff is way better than I initially gave it credit for.... but it's lost on that song. 

Same for that slinky Driving Rain verse riff.... now I'm mad about this whole thing again haha. 

Edited by Ant
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7 hours ago, Ant said:

See that video... I hate the new album... but Call Of The Wild there sounds fucking awesome. Is it just me? Myles is like a black hole for the attitude Slash evidently still has. 

If that song had Axl on it... vintage Axl unquestionably but maybe even current Axl.... less layers...rawer... just a driving DTJ kinda beat... some venomous lyrics. 

That riff is way better than I initially gave it credit for.... but it's lost on that song. 

Same for that slinky Driving Rain verse riff.... now I'm mad about this whole thing again haha. 

I thought the same when I heard that. But I already knew Myles is the weak link. But hearing Slash riffing like this, those songs with different arrangement could have been Stones numbers

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I remember him saying a lot of dudes come to his shows nowadays with an arms-crossed, “show me what you got” guitar nerd vibe.

I mean... I'm a guitar nerd... but that’s pretty lame.

Could compelling rock even exist with today’s crowds? 

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2 hours ago, Ant said:

I remember him saying a lot of dudes come to his shows nowadays with an arms-crossed, “show me what you got” guitar nerd vibe.

I mean... I'm a guitar nerd... but that’s pretty lame.

Could compelling rock even exist with today’s crowds? 

There’s much less personalties in rock music.

There’s bands but no characters like Keef or Lemmy. There’s no megalomaniac singers. There’s no one with anything to say. I guess everyone says enough on twitter. Music is a soundtrack to posting memes or part of somekind of celebrity fashion thing. 

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10 minutes ago, wasted said:

There’s much less personalties in rock music.

There’s bands but no characters like Keef or Lemmy. There’s no megalomaniac singers. There’s no one with anything to say. I guess everyone says enough on twitter. Music is a soundtrack to posting memes or part of somekind of celebrity fashion thing. 

There are but now they're charged with sexual assaults 

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