Izzy's Guitar Playing

[NeonKinight]

I created this topic because I wanted to put a light on his guitar playing, more than his role on the band. 
How would you describe Izzy's guitar playing? what sort of influences do you see there? 

[lame ass security]

His playing is very complimentary, Izzy is pretty much a straight rhythm player. Some people have compared him to the Keith Richards/Ronnie Wood type thing but I think it's more closely akin to Malcolm Young really. Not so much his style but how his rhythm compliments the lead.

[Rovim]

6 minutes ago, lame ass security said:

His playing is very complimentary, Izzy is pretty much a straight rhythm player. Some people have compared him to the Keith Richards/Ronnie Wood type thing but I think it's more closely akin to Malcolm Young really. Not so much his style but how his rhythm compliments the lead.

yeah also Chuck Berry specifically and Punk in general. The Stones and Keith obviously a big influence as you've mentioned. There is definitely a strong AC/DC element. Izzy shares that with Slash. (out ta get me, Brownstone riffs)

[soon]

The Ramones, Stones, Stooges and Aerosmith are often tossed around with either Izzy or Guns and Id agree with those. I also think Tom Petty, The Cars and Golden Earring, maybe? I think he was a fan of all the bands that the Ju Ju Hounds lineup came from. I definitely hear some Georgia Satellites. Chuck Berry for sure. Maybe some Crazy Horse (Hey Hey, My My) with a different guitar tone obviously??

But his heavier AFD, LLAS and UYI 1 stuff is something that I just cant exactly place an influence for. I think thats partly down to what Izzy himself has said, essentially that his solo work is indicative of what he's always written and that Slash and co just made it way more heavy and epic. I think its more likely that Izzy was also a bit heavier for a while there though?

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by soon

[Rovim]

new york dolls as well. Shame Izzy didn't tour with them when he had the chance. Could have been cool.

[WhazUp]

Izzy does a lot of "scratch rhythm" stuff, kind of the counterpoint to Slash who plays the riffs and fills up so much sonic space with his distorted guitar and phrasing.  Filling in nooks in crannies with a less outright distorted done. 

Kind of like filling in the cracks of the walls (Izzy) as opposed to being the main paint job (Slash) to make a complete solid wall of rock

But even though we all sort of call him strictly rhythm - he also has moments where his riffing and parts are more on the melodic side, such as the verses to Rocket Queen where he is playing some single note melodic stuff in contrast to Slash's power chords. 

Or Mr. Brownstone where with the main repeated riff, Slash is playing power chords as the second part to it while Izzy is running through the open E pentatonic scale with the added natural 6th

Edited April 30, 2020 by WhazUp

[NeonKinight]

The first time his guitar skills came to my attention was when i was learning It's So Easy, and he'd play the heavy part of it with power chords, and then in the end, he'd play a bluesy kinda shuffle with E Power chord. That was fantastic, i'd never tought about something like that actually.

[Voodoochild]

Izzy's complimentary style was hugely missed on CD tracks. Velvet Revolver also didnt want this approach.

[TeeJay410]

One of the best things about Izzy, and the production on AFD, is that the two rhythm guitars were not playing the exact same thing. There is such a tendency to record both rhythm tracks for each ear the exact same. This keeps the track nice and tight, which suits a lot of people. But so much of the looseness and vibe of AFD that you get is that Slash and Izzy are playing differently in each ear. Takes a good producer and a good rhythm player to do this without it sounding like a sloppy mess. Izzy was just excellent in the pocket and in complimenting Slash. It helps that he had such a hand in writing tracks. It isn't impossible to overcome, but the rhythm guitarist can often be relegated to the singer or lead guitarist saying "I wrote this, you play this." I am not saying that is an invalid approach to songwriting, because it is probably the main mode of songwriting for most bands, but it is a piece of what makes Izzy unique.

[Powderfinger]

On 4/29/2020 at 3:24 PM, lame ass security said:

His playing is very complimentary, Izzy is pretty much a straight rhythm player. Some people have compared him to the Keith Richards/Ronnie Wood type thing but I think it's more closely akin to Malcolm Young really. Not so much his style but how his rhythm compliments the lead.

 

On 4/29/2020 at 3:33 PM, Rovim said:

yeah also Chuck Berry specifically and Punk in general. The Stones and Keith obviously a big influence as you've mentioned. There is definitely a strong AC/DC element. Izzy shares that with Slash. (out ta get me, Brownstone riffs)

The above pretty much sum it up. 

On 4/29/2020 at 9:07 PM, NeonKinight said:

The first time his guitar skills came to my attention was when i was learning It's So Easy, and he'd play the heavy part of it with power chords, and then in the end, he'd play a bluesy kinda shuffle with E Power chord. That was fantastic, i'd never tought about something like that actually.

That’s the genius of a good guitarist, I loathe to say rhythm guitarist. Izzy has some great interplay with slash no doubt who plays the leads but Izzy’s more than a rhythm guy, he’s a guitar player. He has a songwriters approach to his playing.
If that makes sense. 
 

 

There's also vids like this on YouTube, haven’t seen this one, but I’ve seen others. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Powderfinger

[soon]

I would say that early on it would be more accurate to say that Slash complimented Izzy well. Slash joined Izzys band and on LLAS Slash is playing straight chords in a saturated tone along to Izzys more nuanced stylings and tone. Slash chugs away at chords and handles the solos. This dynamic continued on for some time (Brownstone riff) right into UYI. Slash has stated along the lines of 'I was always there to beef up Izzys parts if need be.' Its just by UYI Slash had the inflated ego and Izzys playing had become more sparse and idiosyncratic to the extent that the 'Slash chugging along' dynamic became the meat of the sound in many cases (14 years).

I think that the two rhythm guitars playing differently was borne of Slash trying to distinguish his parts more. Like in the Night Train riff (an Izzy penned riff) Slash changes it up so that his phrasings end a beat or two after Izzys, with those dramatic hiccup tails. It works wonders in that tune, but its also kinda funny to me about that being the method chosen to distinguish ones part.

Thats just one stream of their shared dynamic of course and doesnt define all their songs.

[jimmythegent]

Great topic and I think everyone has pretty much covered it all.

Izzy's scratchy, tubey, earthy tone also was such a beautiful complimentary sonic tone to Slash's more traditional Marshall sound.

I always come back to Rocket Queen and One in a million of great examples of the Izzy sound - but LLAS in general is also a great reference point and I agree that for several AFD songs it was Slash and not Izzy adapting more.  But it was swings and roundabouts and they were perfect for each other. 

 

He was Miles Davis - knowing and understanding inherently that the spaces you're not playing are  more important than the spaces you are

[NeonKinight]

16 hours ago, jimmythegent said:

Great topic and I think everyone has pretty much covered it all.

Izzy's scratchy, tubey, earthy tone also was such a beautiful complimentary sonic tone to Slash's more traditional Marshall sound.

I always come back to Rocket Queen and One in a million of great examples of the Izzy sound - but LLAS in general is also a great reference point and I agree that for several AFD songs it was Slash and not Izzy adapting more.  But it was swings and roundabouts and they were perfect for each other. 

 

He was Miles Davis - knowing and understanding inherently that the spaces you're not playing are  more important than the spaces you are

"that the spaces you're not playing are  more important than the spaces you are"
Gotta note that somewhere.

[Rovim]

57 minutes ago, NeonKinight said:

"that the spaces you're not playing are  more important than the spaces you are"
Gotta note that somewhere.

I once watched a Clapton interview where he was asked what he thought about the importance of the spaces between the notes, what he's not playing. He said "that's just a bunch of bollocks" and the interviewer laughed and said "don't get all technical on me, Eric"

edit: I think that maybe it's just the importance of phrasing

Edited May 21, 2020 by Rovim

[Izzy Dutch]

Izzy's my biggest influence on guitar.... his sound is so regonizable, it's loose but tight at the same time, it's very percussive, offbeat in a laidback way. It's hard to replicate. I'd say the guy playing Jungle with the LP Custom comes to closes to Izzy's playing I've ever seen.

It's no secret Izzy loves the Stones and Keith, but he's also a fan of Ronnie Wood and I think his rhythm playing sounds most like Ronnie, not Keith.

For example take a listen to 'Take A Look At The Guy' on the Ju Ju Hounds album, their styles are very similar. I'd say Ronnie is his most obvious influence sound and style wise, but als Keith, Chuck, Johnny Thunders and a bit of Ramones and reggae (Lee Scratch Perry) thrown in.