How does Bumble compare to Buckethead and Slash?

[mynameisjonas]

Let's compare what each of the guitarists are doing now!

Slash is working on the 'soon' to be released Velvet Revolver album. it's gonna have a 'dance vibe'. His last album with Velvet had uninspired guitar riffs (execpt the solo in You Got No Right and the little riff thingy in Fall to Pieces). His live performance of classic GN'R songs with Mr. Weiland are less than they used to be. However, his past is (in no doubt) much more 'successful' than both Thal AND Bumblefoot's combined. He penned the classic solos for November Rain, Sweet Child O' Mine and Don't Cry. His signature top hat has eternally been part of Guns N' Roses.

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Buckethead put out a new album called 'Enter the Chicken' in 2005. A fairly bad album (I have it), vocal wise, and there's a lot of 'numetal' in it. Nothing on this is as good as his Nightrain solo or Madagascar's solo. He put out an extremely disturbing video for 'We Are One': http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=30741966 . He totally reinvented Nightrain's solo and made it easily the best it's ever been, but he made GN'R look like a circus.

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Ron 'Bumblefoot/The Nuke' Thal is now on tour with Guns N' Roses. After being in the band for just over 3 weeks, he has learned:

Welcome to the Jungle, It's So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Nightrain, Out Ta Get Me, Paradise City, Sweet Child O' Mine, Rocket Queen, Patience, Used To Love Her, You're Crazy, Live and Let Die, November Rain, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, You Could Be Mine, Better, There Was a Time, I.R.S., Chinese Democracy, The Blues, Madagascar, and possibly other tracks (we don't know what was gonna be played at RIR, cause it was ended early). He also has totally reinvented Don't Cry during his solos, and (again) improved upon Nightrain.

He has gone from his old band (Bumblefoot), where they recently put out the album called 'Normal'. Go HERE: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...eb-8f9e3a30ea7b to hear clips from the album. Arguably, the album is better than Contraband, and without a doubt it is better than Enter the Chicken.

So for me, the guitarists go like this:

1)Ron

2)Slash

3)Bucket.

[bucketmaster101]

He's pretty ideal. Has Bucket's chops, but is a much better fit image-wise for GnR.

Don't Cry

And I never knew his foot guitar had wings! Cool.

Just look at my piccy and you see perhaps THE greatest guitar of all time lol

[moreblack]

still, as good as he was, he's not even gonna be on the album is he? or so he told someone here...

[Axl_morris]

Bumble was cool last night. It was the first time I seen and heard in action last night. I was expecting him to be another idiot like Buckethead. I was wrong. He looked cool, played cool. There might not be much between him and bucket, I mean they both have skill and to which IS better is down to opinion. But Bumblefoot doesn't make GNR look like a joke, where as buckethead did.

Bumblefoot and Slash... To differant to even compare.

I prefer Richard to Bumble.

[SylvesterStallone]

I thought this was an interesting post about the guitar styles of this band, posted by someone on HTGTH.

Hi guys!

I'm a guitar teacher and I love to do guitar analisys (technique, improvisation skills,....).

I have been downloading a lot of material by new gn'r (only soundboard quality) to analyze the new members.

I'm going to write a complete analisys about the new members (Fortus, Finck, Ron Thal, Buckethead and even Paul Huge) some day but now a few considerations regarding Finck:

About guitar technique:

1) He's not very good doing bends (the prebends are awful). When he does bends the note he reaches is out of key or even out of tune.

2) His right hand is very weak. He is not very good picking notes.

3) His phrasing is really bad when playing lead.

4) He plays very interesant harmony leads. These harmony leads (chord melody) are simple (come on, he isn't Joe Pass!) but they are efective and interesant.

About improvisations skills:

1) Lead work: very very weak. Bad phrasing.

2) Harmony work: interesant. He loves to harmonize solos (Patience for example).

He's in the band because Axl needs him. I think Robin is the main composer in the new album with Axl.

Axl needs a guitar composer in the band and his man is Robin. Axl wants to sound a little industrial and he needs Robin.

The problem is that Robin can't play Slash solos very good (live or album version). He plays Sweet Child o' Mine solos because he needs credit with the fans.

Fortus does a couple of bad taste things when playing Slash solos. I think he's not very talented improvising or composing music. He's very efficient (he's the classic studio player) but has problem when improvising. He suffers from bad taste (like a lot of studio players).

Ron Thal: I'm a little disappointed with him. I don't know how much time he had to learn the songs but he improvised a lot and the only thing he does is play scales up and down, nothing else. He's boring.

Buckethead is way better than him playing and improvising.

Buckethead is one of the best guitar player with a pick in the world, but he's also very very good with fingerpicking.

In conclusion:

1) If Axl wants to sound Industrial he needs Robin.

2) Robin can't play lead guitar because he has bad phrasing (one of the most difficult thing to do in any instrument).

Regarding Madrid bad reviews:

The band was very weak, Axl has always been little professional and the new songs are also weak.

I don't want to start a war, please! This is music, remember! Not politics!

And please...........! Forget rock critics! They aren't musician, they haven't study music never! They're just music amateurs who write bad literature in newspapers or magazines!

Peace!

[titchy000]

bumblefoot is brilliant guitarist plus he shows more emotions than robin when playing

who needs robin when ya have ron & richard

bye robin you are weakest link

[Gallagher Rose]

I like Ron's work,he made a great job yesterday..Buckethead had better solos and stuff,but Honestly,Ron's image suits better in the band now.

And about Slash,he's unique.If you ask me which one I prefer to see in GNR,I would answer Slash.Technically,Ron is better..but Slash is my fave between them.

[SylvesterStallone]

Nightrain Rio - Buckethead

Nightrain Ritz AFD ERA - SLASH

RIO LISBON -BUMBLEFOOT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csuDiJWJLvQ...nightrain%20rio

I will say this...Buckethead has a keen sense for melody behind all that shredding...he was underrated during his stint in gnr.....

[moreblack]

Sly that analysis you posted of Finck's playing is pretty accurate. The weaknesses really stand out in a quality recording, but especially in a live setting where he doesn't have second takes to redo the fuckups.

As for the 3 clips of the guys doing Nightrain, they are all awesome, but I gotta say, of the 2 new guys (Bucket and Bumble) Bucket has a much stronger sense of melody, his solo actually said something...

[SylvesterStallone]

Sly that analysis you posted of Finck's playing is pretty accurate. The weaknesses really stand out in a quality recording, but especially in a live setting where he doesn't have second takes to redo the fuckups.

As for the 3 clips of the guys doing Nightrain, they are all awesome, but I gotta say, of the 2 new guys (Bucket and Bumble) Bucket has a much stronger sense of melody, his solo actually said something...

Moreblack, what does he mean by Finck harmonizing the solos?

Buckethead definitely has an ear for melody...

The AFD era nightrain that Slash plays is very stripped down, I wonder how he would sound now doing Nightrain with Pittman's synth effects and 2 guitars layering his outro.....

Edited May 28, 2006 by SylvesterStallone

[moreblack]

Sly that analysis you posted of Finck's playing is pretty accurate. The weaknesses really stand out in a quality recording, but especially in a live setting where he doesn't have second takes to redo the fuckups.

As for the 3 clips of the guys doing Nightrain, they are all awesome, but I gotta say, of the 2 new guys (Bucket and Bumble) Bucket has a much stronger sense of melody, his solo actually said something...

Moreblack, what does he mean by Finck harmonizing the solos?

Buckethead definitely has an ear for melody...

The AFD era nightrain that Slash plays is very stripped down, I wonder how he would sound now doing Nightrain with Pittman's synth effects and 2 guitars layering his outro.....

I'm guessing he's talking about when Robin plays 2 harmonizing notes at once. Usually on the softer passages, he does it a few times on the Beautiful solo. That would be the best place to hear it without much else getting in the way, but he does it on most of his unaccompanied solo spots...

As for AFD era playing, the cool thing was there wasn't much getting in the way of the lead instrument, when Slash soloed, the mixing wasn't as tricky so you'd just have to turn him up and keep the other guys out of the way.

As we found out yesterday with the Rio 5 feed, there's not only the guitar soloing, but 2 more guitars playing at the same time, a piano, a synth/keyboard, all competing to be heard, and Bumblefoot suffered all night from this, because he was the one guitar heard the least, yet doing the sweetest playing I'm guessing... I can't be sure since I could barely hear him...

[w_axl_rose_fan]

I thought Ron was awesome at this show. He's come a long way from the first Hammerstein show (where he had seemed overwhelmed by it all and stayed glued to the side of the stage). He's now moving around the stage a lot more -- and is quite charismatic onstage, which is cool.

I also thought he was EXTREMELY smart to add "Don't Cry" to his solo. Brilliant! He had been under alot of criticism from fans for his weak guitar solos during the Hammerstein shows -- and this change was very very smart. Well done Ron!

My only criticism - please lose the hat Ron. I mean - really - a ski hat in the Summer? You have great hair under that hat, so why hide it?

As for comparing Ron with Slash - or anybody else for that matter - why would you want to do that? They're two different musicians with different styles and different energy. Like comparing apples and oranges. Can we - for once - not bring former GNR members into a discussion about a current GNR show?

I agree with everything you said. rock1

[SylvesterStallone]

Moreblack, here's his take on those three clips I put up:

Nightrain Rio - Buckethead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHcLJ2A1QHM...20night%20train

Nightrain Ritz AFD ERA - SLASH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO7emHNVkQ8...20night%20train

RIO LISBON -BUMBLEFOOT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csuDiJWJLvQ...nightrain%20rio

I'm going to that just because SylvesterStallone has asked me in a very polite way to do it!

First I want you to know that my coments are going to be as objetive as i can, so i don't going to say what's the better to me.

1) Slash: his first solo is very good, he's demostrating here his mastery playing original pentatonic patterns. He knows a lot of left hand positions to play the minor pentatonic scale.

The outro solo: once again, he's a master of Hard Rock blues playing. He is the lord of the pentatonic world!

Very good phrasing in two important part of the solo (Slash has better left hand technique that right hand technique).

Very intelligent use of hard picking in the last bars of the solo (like Angus Young). This aspect is very overlooked in rock guitar, so thanks, Slash!

2) Buckethead: the first solo (the one he plays after the one Izzy used to play) is played note per note. He even plays the last five notes before the slide part! I think he used the tabbook to learn it or he put a lot of interest to play good this solo (remember, this solo is not an improvisation, so it's need to be played as close to the oreiginal as possible). He's demostrating here that he's very profesional.

The outro solo is an excelent example of how to improvise lead guitar in a personal way. This solo has born to be improvisated but not in a totally free way (Slash and Buckethead allways improvisated this outro solo but they allways kept intact the principals licks). He plays here melodic patterns that you can find in all his discography (specially in Colma). He's phrasing here is SUPERB, he changes his left hand position in a very fluid way. This SOLO is AWESOME! You can tell the Randy Rhoads influence here! He knowledge of scale position is brilliant! It's evident he has studied hard the fretboard!

3) Ron Thal: He's a dissapointment to me. This guy has lot of technique but his solos are boring.

The first solo: he still doesn't know how to play this one. He improvised a lot and he is lost.

The outro solo: a lot of notes played up and down the fretboard with no melodic sense. He plays scales like when a person is practicing at home. He plays cliche all the time.

I think he's going to improve because Ron Thal is a very talented guy, he's got tons of guitar knowledge.

Technically speaking Buckethead is the best of the three. When plays without a pick he's still SUPERB! So he has also a lot of technique fingerpicking!

But Slash is one of the best Hard Rock guitar composer ever. He mastered all the techniques that you need to know to play classic rock (just like Knoplfer) and his riffs, solos, chord changes, melodic patterns,.... are AWESOME. He's very good using vibrato and uses very well prebends and bends.

He used a Gibson Explorer to play Locomotive. This guitar sound a little different than the Les Paul. But all the UYI songs differents because in AFD he used a moded amp. This moded amp is the one who has the real AFD sound! Yes, the Locomotive outro of Slash is very good. He used there the wah-wah pedal very good.

Edited May 29, 2006 by SylvesterStallone

[fishyguy]

Man I gotta say the 2002 Rio video looks like a circus or a horror film and the 2006 one looks like an actual Rock band.

You guys obviously don't play guitar because what Buckethead was doing was playing scale patterns up and down the neck. That was a Malmsteen/Paul Gilbert type solo. Very Robotic.

Ron was totally rippin and tearin and did way more.

Plus Ron's solo was HUGE he just kept playing and playing.

Are you blind or deaf??

Edited May 29, 2006 by fishyguy

[moreblack]

Actually more than a few of us are players here, and despite what you may think about Bucket's playing, at least his solo had direction and purpose. Bumblefoot's was for the most part, I'm sorry to say, pure wanking...

[quadlaser]

Man I gotta say the 2002 Rio video looks like a circus or a horror film and the 2006 one looks like an actual Rock band.

You guys obviously don't play guitar because what Buckethead was doing was playing scale patterns up and down the neck. That was a Malmsteen/Paul Gilbert type solo. Very Robotic.

Ron was totally rippin and tearin and did way more.

Plus Ron's solo was HUGE he just kept playing and playing.

Are you blind or deaf??

hey bro, yes ron is awesome, but bucket is phenonimal himself. buckets pittsburgh nighttrain solo blows rons so far out of the water it aint funny. there isnt that much of a difference between the players, so insulting one is pretty much insulting the other too (as far as covering gnr tunes goes).

the difference is in their originals (i prefer ron), but buckets "big sur moon" whoops even "guitars suck"- too bad thats the only good tune bucket has, because pardo don pimpwagon beats the shit out of it.

edit- yes, i'm playing guitar right now- i'm jammin along with finck and fortus to beautiful, it's fun as shit!

Edited May 29, 2006 by quadlaser

[moreblack]

edit- yes, i'm playing guitar right now- i'm jammin along with finck and fortus to beautiful, it's fun as shit!

you too eh? I'm jamming to the Xtina song though...

[fishyguy]

Yeah Buckethead is very good but I never felt he was a good fit for GNR.

He wouldve been perfect for replaceing Paul Gilbert in Racer X but not GNR.

And trust me nothing whoops "guitars suck" and you'll never know until you actually try to play it on the guitar. Try to get the tab and play it.

But honestly I think we should all just move on unless you're just analysing cuz youre bored and have nothing better to do.

I think Ron has proved a very capable replacement.

Why not just enjoy the new band while it lasts.

Edited May 29, 2006 by fishyguy

[SylvesterStallone]

Damnit I need to learn how to play the guitar....is it too late to start...I'm 22....

[quadlaser]

yeah ron is more than capable, just don't short change bucket for being in gnr, he didn't look the part but who cares? cause he sounded it.

that's cool moreblack, i've actually jammed to that tune tons of times before these guys started copying me.

[moreblack]

that's cool moreblack, i've actually jammed to that tune tons of times before these guys started copying me.

I tottaly know what you mean haha

[bucketfan27]

sly, i greatly appreciate you posting that analysis here. that man knows what he's talking about and I agree with him and moreblack 100%. it's just unfortunate that half the people on this board dont know what 75 percent of those words mean, which is unfortunate, because it really does sum up all of gnr's players very well.

just as a sidenote, i find finck's chemistry with reznor better than axls.. who knows why. i just like trent and robin rubbing against each other. let ur minds run wild.

[Matty Boy]

If you have to compare Bumble to Slash and Bucket here's how it goes. Songwriting, until we hear CD goes to Slash hands down, with Bucket in second, Bumble a distant third. As far as Charisma on stage, it's a toss up between Bucket and Slash for me. Slash has got the whole Keith Richards/Ron Wood smoke dangling out of his mouth, fucked up thing down pat. Bucket has his sci-fi spaceman, robot dancing, num chuck thing. Bumble moves around alright but he doesn't have that intangible thing that makes you a star. For technical ability and live playing I have to go with Bucket, followed by Bumble, and Slash in third. Slash like Finck has a tendency to hit a few bum notes unfortunately. When it comes down to coolness of guitars, I have to go with Bucket, followed by Slash, and Bumble coming in third. The flying V KFC guitar just fucking rocks. Slash has a nice collection of Les Pauls and unfortunately Bumble has a foot guitar. Bucket is the clear winner followed by Slash in second and Bumble a distant third.

Edited May 29, 2006 by Matty Boy

[axlsfury]

Ron is just warming up. Let's see what people say in a month or two.

Edited May 29, 2006 by axlsfury

[TheAlien]

Ron is just warming up. Let's see what people say in a month or two.

When he won't be in the band anymore?

I've been reading he won't stand long was it false?