Ashba Makes It To Number 1!!

[RandallFlagg]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/entertainment/top_10_biggest_guitar_fails_ever.html

His SCOM fail at the golden gods topped the chart on one of the biggest guitar sites on the net. The out of time Jungle from the 90's is up there too but it's not really a guitar fail by Slash imo. Also they have a Dizzy's 'new album is coming out' on the site. Whenever they report new GNR stuff it's always split half and half between ridicule and support, Ashba always gets abuse. People either love or hate Captain Ahab's project. Shame we don't get too much good press like the end of the residency bringing out Yesterdays or 'Axl Rose - Benjamin Button?' in 2010 or BBF's Estranged. It's always Ashba on the guitar sites.

They could've had a whole top 10 dedicated to DJ alone. Not entirely his fault but it's not as if he's a stranger to screwing up. This topic's been done to death but if he was as good a player as he believes, he would've stopped or adjusted his frets, I mean, he's played it a few hundred times. He's an alright player but no better, his solo sections are decent and he can play to a certain degree but so can a lot of people. This kinda press ain't really helpful to the band, it kinda overshadows it, maybe he oughta practice and figure out why these things keep happening. Mark my words, he'll have his own section on ultimate-guitar within two years.

[slash23579]

Wow, so DJ Ashba IS the best at something after all

[Bumble's Bridge Pickup]

UG actually gave Slash his own section when his first solo record came out, it lasted for a year or so. It was a marketing deal and Slash was supposed to regularly come to the forums and chat but he did it like 2 times in total.

[RandallFlagg]

At least DJ is up there in lights with Frusciante, Mustaine, Slash, Hetfield and Hammett. They could've put in his Patience solo at number 1 which is infinitely worse than the rest on that list combined.

[The Glow Inc.]

Someone call Bullyville pronto.

[IRanOutOfIdeas]

John Sykes for GNR.

[themadcaplaughs]

In all fairness, that was the problem of the guitar tech at the end of the day. Still, it shows DJ's lack of on-the-spot ability that he could not adjust on the fly. Hell, even stopping hte song and starting over would have been preferable to what we got.

I've always been vocal that I do not think DJ is a bad player at all. He is very good actually, but "very good" does not cut it in a band like GN'R when you are taking over the lead guitarist position. It's ultimately the same problem that plagued Paul Tobias during live performances. He just wasn't up to playing the material. In all honesty, I think DJ would even be pretty good in a role like Paul or Richard, mainly handling rhythm with the occasional leads here and there,

The defense of his defenders seems to be that he is an ace songwriter who will write material that brings Guns N' Roses back to mainstream relevance. This is entirely possible, but the point is the songs I have heard from DJ that wrote in Sixx A.M. and Beautiful Creatures hardly give me confidence. His version of "Better" was pretty laughable, but I will be fair and admit that he probably worked on it for a day before being told it would never see the light of day.

TL;DR He could be effective in the right role in the band, but as long as he's lead guitar we'll see stuff like this.

[SeBaZ]

#ConquerTheCharts

[Gackt]

#demented

[RandallFlagg]

In all fairness, that was the problem of the guitar tech at the end of the day. Still, it shows DJ's lack of on-the-spot ability that he could not adjust on the fly. Hell, even stopping hte song and starting over would have been preferable to what we got.

I've always been vocal that I do not think DJ is a bad player at all. He is very good actually, but "very good" does not cut it in a band like GN'R when you are taking over the lead guitarist position. It's ultimately the same problem that plagued Paul Tobias during live performances. He just wasn't up to playing the material. In all honesty, I think DJ would even be pretty good in a role like Paul or Richard, mainly handling rhythm with the occasional leads here and there,

The defense of his defenders seems to be that he is an ace songwriter who will write material that brings Guns N' Roses back to mainstream relevance. This is entirely possible, but the point is the songs I have heard from DJ that wrote in Sixx A.M. and Beautiful Creatures hardly give me confidence. His version of "Better" was pretty laughable, but I will be fair and admit that he probably worked on it for a day before being told it would never see the light of day.

TL;DR He could be effective in the right role in the band, but as long as he's lead guitar we'll see stuff like this.

Fair post, if we ignore all the sideshows that go on with Ashba, he clearly can play the instrument to a competent degree a lot of the time, the problem is there are levels when you're good enough to play professionally, he doesn't sway the GNR fanbase over for a reason, he isn't a strong enough player for this band. He isn't terrible, his solo sections are enjoyable imo but countless guitarists could compose great solo sections if that's all they had to do, he doesn't fuck up as much as the hate suggests, his solo album wasn't bad (Addiction to the Friction), I believe he'd be fine on a record as PART of the solos/songwriting, not the wingman ala Bucket/Finck, I just hate his Sixx:am stuff. It's not offensive, it's just not my kinda deal, especially regarding the direction of a sublime band as this and the potential of BBF/Finck/Bucket's stuff. Even 4tus, as little as we know about him, has shown to be better than DJ from what we see live. Again, this is focusing solely on Ashba away from the gimmicks, cliches and reams of negative things about his live performances. as they've been done to death.

Edited June 27, 2014 by RandallFlagg

[Smokin' Cigarettes]

In my heart I know he was handed a guitar that was out of tune so I'll give him a pass on that, but the timing of it was comical because he'd been getting so much heat from the fan base in the weeks leading up to that day.

It was all part of the perfect storm and we piled on.

[RandallFlagg]

Bumblefoot's face was the best part of it all. I can also imagine Tommy's sarcastic applause. Would 4tus or BBF carry on or say 'hold on a minute' or immediately amend the fretboard? He's been playing that riff for years, surely he thinks 'here is my alternate approach' or something. He hasn't even got the benefit of it being the first time this has happened on this exact song though. I don't know, I honestly would rather have him not do this twice, but it is what it is and one of, if not THE biggest guitar sites on the net has spoken.

[HubbaBubba]

All that incident showed was a lack of confidence.

He got handed a guitar in dropped d or some other tuning and just started playing. But a confident player & band member would've played three notes then just stopped and laughed with his buds before switching guitars.

But with dj, things are very different. In his heart of hearts, he knows he's a not-so-great player playing in the company better guitarists. Plus the ever-unpredictable boss, his golden ticket, is 6 feet away. Plus he's playing material written and made world-famous by a now absent and much- loved guitarist that the entire room & everybody watching wishes was still there in his place.

The result? Head down, keep playing. And maybe a little prayer that this isn't really happening.

There might really be something to all that talk of being a bullied kid. Ironically that makes dj just the sort of guitarist Axl wants, but the exact opposite of the one we all know guns needs. And that's without even getting started on technique.

[DR DOOM]

All that incident showed was a lack of confidence.

He got handed a guitar in dropped d or some other tuning and just started playing. But a confident player & band member would've played three notes then just stopped and laughed with his buds before switching guitars.

But with dj, things are very different. In his heart of hearts, he knows he's a not-so-great player playing in the company better guitarists. Plus the ever-unpredictable boss, his golden ticket, is 6 feet away. Plus he's playing material written and made world-famous by a now absent and much- loved guitarist that the entire room & everybody watching wishes was still there in his place.

The result? Head down, keep playing. And maybe a little prayer that this isn't really happening.

There might really be something to all that talk of being a bullied kid. Ironically that makes dj just the sort of guitarist Axl wants, but the exact opposite of the one we all know guns needs. And that's without even getting started on technique.

I don't know about that, all the almost nonstop showboating and Slash poses he pulls does not suggest a lack of confidence to me.

[HubbaBubba]

All that incident showed was a lack of confidence.

He got handed a guitar in dropped d or some other tuning and just started playing. But a confident player & band member would've played three notes then just stopped and laughed with his buds before switching guitars.

But with dj, things are very different. In his heart of hearts, he knows he's a not-so-great player playing in the company better guitarists. Plus the ever-unpredictable boss, his golden ticket, is 6 feet away. Plus he's playing material written and made world-famous by a now absent and much- loved guitarist that the entire room & everybody watching wishes was still there in his place.

The result? Head down, keep playing. And maybe a little prayer that this isn't really happening.

There might really be something to all that talk of being a bullied kid. Ironically that makes dj just the sort of guitarist Axl wants, but the exact opposite of the one we all know guns needs. And that's without even getting started on technique.

I don't know about that, all the almost nonstop showboating and Slash poses he pulls does not suggest a lack of confidence to me.

In the words of dexter: 'So if you don't rate, just over-compensate'

[Bruno P.]

Also his guitar tech's fault? Again? I don't buy it. It's HIS OWN fault.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xErDV32CSos#t=243

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf7u6YNnrR0#t=227

[HubbaBubba]

Also his guitar tech's fault? Again? I don't buy it. It's HIS OWN fault.

I think most of us agree that Dj, like huge, is a bedroom guitarist. Hell I've hit many a bum note playing that run in the main sweet child solo - my neighbors can vouch for that!

But at the golden gods he was handed a bum steer. It's the way he handles it that's telling.

[iftheworld]

Wow, so DJ Ashba IS the best at something after all

and Slash is good at nothing....

[DR DOOM]

Wow, so DJ Ashba IS the best at something after all

and Slash is good at nothing....

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to let the Slash thing go?

I know you're not really interested in being taken seriously, but comments like that just make you out to be an even bigger fool than what you are aiming for.

[HubbaBubba]

Wow, so DJ Ashba IS the best at something after all

and Slash is good at nothing....

I'd say objectively slash, like izzy, is probably good at helping write many of gnr's biggest hits. Unless you can think of anyone better.

[The Real McCoy]

I've always LOVED the first Beautiful Creatures album, and DJ's solo in this song is GREAT:

[HubbaBubba]

But that kinda frames the point.

When he's writing original material within the limits of his own abilities he sounds better.

A dj fan might say he's sabotaging his own career by spending years covering old slash material that's right on the limit of what he can play, while releasing nothing new with guns. He ain't getting any younger.

Axl's artistic inertia just eats up and shits out their potential. Dizzy might not have done much else, but some of the other nu gunners....

It's like they're all mesmerised with the potential that guns had in the early 90s. But you could say the same about most of us that still come here! The difference is that we occasionally check out what's up at mygnr, and they stick around in gnr getting their careers eaten alive.

[Nosaj Thing]

Everything Ashba has written is awful but his guitar playing is even worse. He's very amateur and it's evident he has gotten worse. He used to play a decent Better solo but now it's just a shit terrible version of Finck's. Sames goes for Patience or even SCOM.

The number #1 title at being a terrible guitarist is perfectly fitting and well deserved.

[RussTCB]

Wow, so DJ Ashba IS the best at something after all

and Slash is good at nothing....

Slash has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.

[SMG]

I love this, even the media know just how awful he is.