George Lynch WTF?

[Dino 939]

I wonder if playing the heavy strings caused his arthritis. He was 35 when he died, kinda young to have arthritis isn't it?

Guys like him wear out their guitars and eventually hands.
Genetics also.
At 45 years old, I had to have both of my hips replaced ( 5 weeks apart ).
I breakdanced, skateboarded, surfed, jumped off massive bridges into oceans....
then comes along the ole' "cost of doing business".
I found out Osteoarthritis runs on one side my family.
And like Stevie, I had to "leave the party",
which after a few years reveals the carnage
and the new baseline.

 

[Donnie B.]

Genetics also.

Ya, you can begin showing signs of rheumatoid arthritis pretty young.
And the genetic thing in this case is auto-immune. Shows up different
in each of us 3 kids. Younger sister has thyroid issues, older is lungs, and
I have the twisting joints.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

If I over play now, my finger joints hurt for a day or two. What do you know, my mom's side of the family suffers from arthritis in their hands. I am also going on 45. Good times! My back is gone to shit also now about 8 years ago... paying for sports , weight lifting, and getting thrown around in martial arts without ever thinking of flexibility or joints later in life. (which "later" I thought might mean 70 not 40) George still hits the road and performs, getting gig to gig and setting up/down in small places and just not sleeping in your own bed has got to be rough on the body at that age. Good on him for doing it.

 

[Racerxrated]

I didn't say woodshedding, please don't take my words out of context , that clip of Lynch is hardly shredding, it's terrible.
and the guys I know that are still playing great in their 60's were very good players back in their 20's. look at some orchestral players
violinists etc. there are plenty of older classical players that can still rip it.
Physical ailments aside, I stand by what I said I've seen plenty of real life examples of older guys that still have it.
Joe Satriani is only 2 years younger than Lynch
Vai is 60, I've never seen any clips of those 2 sounding anywhere near as badly as Lynch sounds in this clip , and don't get me wrong I'm a big Lynch fan, but that is one jam he should've opted out of, whatever the reason

My point is, he's 66 yrs old. He's gonna have a bad day or two from time to time. I'm 54 and played 10s for 20 yrs, then went to 9s for the last 10 yrs of playing out and now? I'm playing 8s because of the random hand/wrist pain that occasionally flares up. Yes there are exceptions to this but for the most part, guys that are still playing in their 60s are NOT as good as when they were in their 20s/30s. Bottom line. He was pretty bad, I get it...but he's George freakin Lynch FFS. He gets a pass from me.

 

[kmanick]

he gets a pass from me too , but really , he should've passed on this one.

 

[Racerxrated]

he gets a pass from me too , but really , he should've passed on this one.

Yeah, maybe he didn't see the potential train wreck that would ensue haha....in this day and age, anytime you jump up to play you could be getting filmed.

 

[Devin]

 

[crankyrayhanky]

NO PASS, George needs to be fire on every note! My arms are folded and waiting for his flaws.

But seriously, it makes me feel hope for my own self every time I see a clip where GLynch or EVH or Gilmour sound "off". They are so go damn awesome on recordings and most live gigs that it is startling to see them occassionally flop around on bad notes.

 

[Rock Bodom]

And here he is from the weekend playing with Dokken for a few songs. And again, I don't think it's age so much as a choice these days (and has been the case for a long time)...while George may not have been completely there with some note choices, he clearly was in the mood to play classic 80's style with some fire. He was playing through a high gain rig and what a difference it makes.

 

[espquade]

Anyone expecting Lynch or anyone else at almost 70 to be anywhere near the same player as they used to be is just stupid.

Unfortunate as it is It is hard to see our musical hero's age and slow down as I guess its bringing everything into perspective even though some of us still think in terms of mid 80's to mid 90's when George was on fire, but I still check out his playing and usually get anything new he's put out and he's still a favorite of mine, although for me those early Dokken and Lynch Mob records are where it's at!

 

[Rock Bodom]

Unfortunate as it is It is hard to see our musical hero's age and slow down as I guess its bringing everything into perspective even though some of us still think in terms of mid 80's to mid 90's when George was on fire, but I still check out his playing and usually get anything new he's put out and he's still a favorite of mine, although for me those early Dokken and Lynch Mob records are where it's at!

I would agree if George actually could not play at that level anymore, but did you actually watch the videos I just posted? That was from 2 days ago...does not sound too "old and slow" to me. He appears to be in great shape physically still, had as much energy as I remember from back in the day, and while not completely in the pocket on some of the solos, he was ripping through a lot of it (sounded just slightly unrehearsed in a few parts versus actually struggling). And also again, he's playing through a high gain rig that fits those songs and lets him really tear into them.

George would always get a "pass" from me if he needed it, but I'll keep saying I don't think he needs it...I think he mostly has all those old chops, he just doesn't always dig being an 80's shred guy. Also, he's not 70 yet, he's 66, and even 70 for an in shape guy isn't remotely that crazy old. He looked to me there like a guy half his age in terms of physical shape and bouncing around on stage.

What I've seen more over the years is just different moods/phases he goes through that aren't the classic shred, and he's not the most consistent player live to begin with.

 

[Kidkramer71]

Well I would never go see Dokken again.
George was my favorite guitar player.
Don blew his voice out many years ago, but atleast he always had top notch players.
George just doesn't do it anymore.
I'd much rather see John Levin, or John Norum playing.
I have seen Dokken to many times to count, with George atleast ten times, with Reb I think 3 or 4 times , John Norum once and John Levin atleadt 6 times can't remember .

 

[espquade]

I would agree if George actually could not play at that level anymore, but did you actually watch the videos I just posted? That was from 2 days ago...does not sound too "old and slow" to me. He appears to be in great shape physically still, had as much energy as I remember from back in the day, and while not completely in the pocket on some of the solos, he was ripping through a lot of it (sounded just slightly unrehearsed in a few parts versus actually struggling). And also again, he's playing through a high gain rig that fits those songs and lets him really tear into them.

George would always get a "pass" from me if he needed it, but I'll keep saying I don't think he needs it...I think he mostly has all those old chops, he just doesn't always dig being an 80's shred guy. Also, he's not 70 yet, he's 66, and even 70 for an in shape guy isn't remotely that crazy old. He looked to me there like a guy half his age in terms of physical shape and bouncing around on stage.

What I've seen more over the years is just different moods/phases he goes through that aren't the classic shred, and he's not the most consistent player live to begin with.

Just missed that and your right as he sounded really great there and I think when he's on and in the groove he still brings it !

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

And here he is from the weekend playing with Dokken for a few songs. And again, I don't think it's age so much as a choice these days (and has been the case for a long time)...while George may not have been completely there with some note choices, he clearly was in the mood to play classic 80's style with some fire. He was playing through a high gain rig and what a difference it makes.

Some suspect tapping and fuckery but he still sounds great to me. Just needs a tad more gain. Just crank the gain on the OD pedal George!

 

[Devin]

And here he is from the weekend playing with Dokken for a few songs. And again, I don't think it's age so much as a choice these days (and has been the case for a long time)...while George may not have been completely there with some note choices, he clearly was in the mood to play classic 80's style with some fire. He was playing through a high gain rig and what a difference it makes.

Damn Don Dokken looks like the lovechild of Vince Neil and Axl Rose

 

[harddriver]

And here he is from the weekend playing with Dokken for a few songs. And again, I don't think it's age so much as a choice these days (and has been the case for a long time)...while George may not have been completely there with some note choices, he clearly was in the mood to play classic 80's style with some fire. He was playing through a high gain rig and what a difference it makes.

I only saw one DSL stack plugged into all the way on the right. Who was the hired gun playing for Dokken that night, Jon Levin?

He always gets some awesome Lynch tones with his DSL's so no wonder George sound great thru them as well.....

George has always been like a light switch even in his younger days, he is either on or off at that performance.