Guitar Anti Heroes

[gtrwun]

Nels Cline....Monster player..dont hear many talk about him.

 

[Mudder]

Joey Santiago - Pixies
Kevin Shields - My Bloody Valentine

 

[Motorpud]

First name that comes to mind is Adam Jones. Monster player player with no shredding

 

[diagrammatiks]

weezer's secret is that they are like the vampires of modern era rock.

No matter how old you are right now if you were born any time during or after the 80s there's a weezer for me.

my older friends have blue album. then pinkerton.

i've got green album and maladroit.

The high school kids I worked with during and after college had whatever was next.

it never stops.

man is a genius.

 

[racerevlon]

I think there's plenty of people out there no one would ever even give a second look. I saw a show in the 90's with the Alan Parsons Project. Their guitar player, Ian Bairnson doesn't do much in the studio on the albums, but live he got a chance to cut loose and I was floored, both by his playing and his tone. A peek through the binoculars revealed a rack rig with both a Marshall JMP1 and a Triaxis going into a Boogie rack power amp.

I think there's more "Sleepers" out there than we would imagine...

 

[glassjaw7]

I think many guys that hit it big in the 90's could probably shred or at least play some decent leads, but shred was dead in that decade so those players couldn't really show off their chops. I also think that for that reason many of the stories of how well they can actually play are over exaggerated. I mean think about it; Compared to a three chord punk progression, any leads are going to sound good! I've heard Billy Corgan "shred" also and it wasn't too impressive. I do love his songwriting however, just saying that he's not a great shredder. Morello actually has some wicked chops. Clint Lowery of Sevendust/Dark New Day can kind of shred too.
Also, the guitarist for Third Eye Blind or Matchbox Twenty or one of those pop bands is supposedly quite the prodigy. I doubt it though. He can probably play the solo for Enter Sandman.

 

[Mudder]

Fred Durst.....



Alright, I can't even keep a straight face as I type that.

 

[Mailman1971]

Fred Durst.....



Alright, I can't even keep a straight face as I type that.

 

[mboogman]

I'd have to say David Gilmour. Based on the OP comments, I think he fits. Gilmour can say more with one note, than most guys can with twenty.

Someone also mentioned The Edge. I like listening to U2, especially the older stuff, because he knew how to make a single guitar band sound so huge, and clean.

 

[gtrwun]

Most of the players you guys are mentioning are non-shredders.....but come on....Gilmour is a huge guitar hero as is Morello. Anti Hero to me is different than someone who can shred but doesnt. Two totally different things. Johnny Marr is an anti-hero for sure.

 

[MisterBulbous]

Nels Cline....Monster player..dont hear many talk about him.

I've been trying to get this community in to Nels. I think no luck...

My vote was Johnny Marr, but maybe I am not understanding the "anti-hero" thing. Everyone keeps referring to someone who can "shred" but doesn't...In other words, someone who is not revealing his full talent.

I take anti-hero to mean someone who is out there busting their ass playing guitar, but not indulging in countless endorsements, selling songs to TV commercials, posing for magazines, etc. I don't think Nels is anywhere near against publicity, but I remember Johnny Marr basically calling out guys like Yngwie and others as non-genuine because of the way they sold theirselves. I'm not necessarily a big Marr fan, but I know his rhythm and songwriting skills are impeccable.

 

[gtrwun]

I take anti-hero to mean someone who is out there busting their ass playing guitar, but not indulging in countless endorsements, selling songs to TV commercials, posing for magazines, etc. I don't think Nels is anywhere near against publicity, but I remember Johnny Marr basically calling out guys like Yngwie and others as non-genuine because of the way they sold theirselves. I'm not necessarily a big Marr fan, but I know his rhythm and songwriting skills are impeccable.

Exactly, you summed this up pretty well. I saw some live footage of Nels with Wilco recently on HDNET and he was pretty incredible. I don't really know much about him except what Ive read in Guitar Player....Pretty impressive though.