Is the guitar hero dead in music that has mass apeal?

[ejecta]

I know there are still guitar hero's out today but nothing like we saw back in the 80's where bands that were selling a lot of records were common with guitar hero's, you guys think that will ever return?

 

[thiswaythatway]

It's been dead since 1990 with only a few exceptions. Wether this forum wants to admit it or not, Slash is one of the few guitar hero's left. Zakk was at one point, but he seems to have faded from the general public's eye probably because nobody outside of guitars players, some Ozzy fans and bikers listen to Black Label.

Before anyone says Guthrie Govan, nobody knows who he is outside of the guitar community. And that's a damm shame, but it's reality.

 

[amiller]

For now maybe...but...I think there are a lot of killer players out there that may eventually find their own way.

Out of the ashes...the phoenix.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the concept of the "gunslinger guitar hero" is dead, but I do not think guitar is dead in pop music. A lot of the pop stuff coming out now has a lot more guitar solos/rock production going on than ever before, IMO.

 

[sebby123]

The only one i cant think of are avenged sevenfold there attempting to bring back the concept.

 

[jessexxx]

yup!!...dead!!..ka-put!!!..and there's a dam good chance they will never return..

and who's to blame???....EDDIE VAN HALEN!!!!!...thats right..i said it!!!

i know, i know,,...blashemy right?...hear me out...

let me take you back to the days of guitar hero's!!..singers would pout cuz they often times had to take a back seat to a mere guitar player!!..ha!

back in this time guitar gods like hendrix,page,beck,clapton,iommi,young,blackmore,townsend etc. were all unique!..you could tell any of these guitar hero's apart in mere seconds into the music!!..they all had there own "SOUND"...there playing was literally a "VOICE",...they all could come up with phrasing,licks and alot of the time "A SINGLE NOTE"...that came out of know where!!..yet fit so well into there "VOICE" that it would literaly send chills down your spine!!!...a smile would be plastered on your face,...and all you could say was "wow"...it happens whenever you some how witness greatness!

your "VOICE/SOUND" was the be all/end all,....nothing else mattered!!...which makes perfect sense right!!..it's "MUSIC"....it's for your ears!!!

so,..along comes eddie vanhalen,...maybe the last guitar god,...he had everything all the others had,..(i wore out 3 copies of the album vanhalen 2 from playing it so much!!)...but!!..eddie brought something with him,..something insideous!!..like a virus!!..he wasnt the first to do it,...but i think we can all agree he mastered it,.and put it front and center in his "SOUND"..

THE EVIL OF ALL EVIL'S!!!..THE 2 HAND TECHNIQUE!!!!!!...OH THE HORROR!!...

and this is when the tide turned my brotheren!!!the silver bullet!!!..the stake through the heart of guitar gods!!!....and i witnessed it first hand my friends..i lived in california at the time...and what the tapping thing did was make every kid want to be fast!!..if you weren't fast..you werent good!!...fast..or sounding fast became the new be all/end all!!!..NOT SOUND!!...NOT MUSIC!!..BUT SPEED!!!!...so instead of phrasing!!!,..or great riffs!! or unique notes...or a single spine chilling (dare i say) note!!!...yikes!!!!

all the elements that made "GUITARISTS GODS" were destroyed!!!...replaced with fast (or the illusion of fast) scales!!!!!!!!...did you hear me BROTHAHS!!...fucking scales!!!...FAST-FUCKING-SCALES!!!.....WHIP-TEE-FUCKING-DO!!!....

and i'm gonna tell ya a secret!!..know one!!..and i mean know one!!..outside of the dwindling guitar community could care less about how fast you can play scales!!....

so we have traded substance for fluff!

 

[TX6Strings]

I think Kirk Cobain and the video game "Guitar Hero" has pretty much killed the guitar hero.

Granted towards the end of the 80's the guitar hero concept was starting to become a mockery of it's self, and that's part of what of what made Cobain's "Grunge" sound/attitude so popular but it tought a whole generation of guitarist that banging out some sloppy chords will make you an rock star.

Now, again, even though the end of the 80's of the guitar hero concept was starting to become a mocker of it's self, it's nothing compared to what the video game has done to it.

 

[ejecta]

yup!!...dead!!..ka-put!!!..and there's a dam good chance they will never return..

and who's to blame???....EDDIE VAN HALEN!!!!!...thats right..i said it!!!

i know, i know,,...blashemy right?...hear me out...

let me take you back to the days of guitar hero's!!..singers would pout cuz they often times had to take a back seat to a mere guitar player!!..ha!

back in this time guitar gods like hendrix,page,beck,clapton,iommi,young,blackmore,townsend etc. were all unique!..you could tell any of these guitar hero's apart in mere seconds into the music!!..they all had there own "SOUND"...there playing was literally a "VOICE",...they all could come up with phrasing,licks and alot of the time "A SINGLE NOTE"...that came out of know where!!..yet fit so well into there "VOICE" that it would literaly send chills down your spine!!!...a smile would be plastered on your face,...and all you could say was "wow"...it happens whenever you some how witness greatness!

your "VOICE/SOUND" was the be all/end all,....nothing else mattered!!...which makes perfect sense right!!..it's "MUSIC"....it's for your ears!!!

so,..along comes eddie vanhalen,...maybe the last guitar god,...he had everything all the others had,..(i wore out 3 copies of the album vanhalen 2 from playing it so much!!)...but!!..eddie brought something with him,..something insideous!!..like a virus!!..he wasnt the first to do it,...but i think we can all agree he mastered it,.and put it front and center in his "SOUND"..

THE EVIL OF ALL EVIL'S!!!..THE 2 HAND TECHNIQUE!!!!!!...OH THE HORROR!!...

and this is when the tide turned my brotheren!!!the silver bullet!!!..the stake through the heart of guitar gods!!!....and i witnessed it first hand my friends..i lived in california at the time...and what the tapping thing did was make every kid want to be fast!!..if you weren't fast..you werent good!!...fast..or sounding fast became the new be all/end all!!!..NOT SOUND!!...NOT MUSIC!!..BUT SPEED!!!!...so instead of phrasing!!!,..or great riffs!! or unique notes...or a single spine chilling (dare i say) note!!!...yikes!!!!

all the elements that made "GUITARISTS GODS" were destroyed!!!...replaced with fast (or the illusion of fast) scales!!!!!!!!...did you hear me BROTHAHS!!...fucking scales!!!...FAST-FUCKING-SCALES!!!.....WHIP-TEE-FUCKING-DO!!!....

and i'm gonna tell ya a secret!!..know one!!..and i mean know one!!..outside of the dwindling guitar community could care less about how fast you can play scales!!....

so we have traded substance for fluff!

Very interesting take!

 

[degenaro]

Seriously?????`
It's dead in those genres, since those went the way of the dinosaur. But the first thing that jumps to mind is Brad Paisley and Country in general. That's the only genre that where you still get burner and it has mass appeal.

 

[JackBootedThug]

Seriously?????`
It's dead in those genres, since those went the way of the dinosaur. But the first thing that jumps to mind is Brad Paisley and Country in general. That's the only genre that where you still get burner and it has mass appeal.

true. lotta country shredders out there. B.P and that aussie dude that married nicole kidman come to mind immediatly.

 

[marvcus]

The music business and the way that artists are signed now vs. the way they were signed THEN has made it hard for any would-be guitar hero to emerge. Back then, labels would sign long term deals to bands and (somewhat) cultivate relationships with them. Then sometime in the 90s everything changed and the 10 album deal is almost unheard of, if not extinct, today.

I'm not a big fan of Avenged Sevenfold or Dragonforce, but my little nephew loves 'em because of guitar hero and thinks the guitar players are the best ever...and he doesn't even play guitar. They may be as close as we get back to the "hero" status, and they were a nice gateway for me because I was able to show him the real shredders like Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen and now he really digs them. So I can respect them even if I'm not a fan.

I agree about the guys who are technically brilliant but have no feel. In fact, I almost started a "what talent would you rather have" thread between a guy like Jeff Beck or a guy who is a technical master like Rusty Cooley. I didn't because I didn't really want it to sound like it's a competition, but if I had to choose between these two skill sets, I'd pick Jeff Beck (I'm more like Nigel Tufnel. I have the talent of...volume). No third-partying Govan in, either, because he really does have a lot of the quintessential elements, but fusion will never be radio friendly enough to bring "guitar gods" back to the masses...

Lastly, when MTV became Drama-TV instead of playing music, that really changed things for the worse, too.

 

[amiller]

Seriously?????`
It's dead in those genres, since those went the way of the dinosaur. But the first thing that jumps to mind is Brad Paisley and Country in general. That's the only genre that where you still get burner and it has mass appeal.

Well, there are some great players in Country, but, I don't know that I'd call them guitar heroes. The players in Country seem to be a bit more rounded...i.e. sing and write as well as play. Hereos...maybe.

 

[degenaro]

Seriously?????`
It's dead in those genres, since those went the way of the dinosaur. But the first thing that jumps to mind is Brad Paisley and Country in general. That's the only genre that where you still get burner and it has mass appeal.

Well, there are some great players in Country, but, I don't know that I'd call them guitar heroes. The players in Country seem to be a bit more rounded...i.e. sing and write as well as play. Hereos...maybe.

Potato/potato...
bottomline, a burner...even hired hand burners in Country will mop the floor with the majority of what we dug in the 80s...

 

[Digital Jams]

The music industry puts out what is popular, they have deemed the " guitar hero" being dead in mainstream Clear Channel land long ago.

That said you look around and there are plenty of chops to be found, just not in top 40 rock.

 

[amiller]

Seriously?????`
It's dead in those genres, since those went the way of the dinosaur. But the first thing that jumps to mind is Brad Paisley and Country in general. That's the only genre that where you still get burner and it has mass appeal.

Well, there are some great players in Country, but, I don't know that I'd call them guitar heroes. The players in Country seem to be a bit more rounded...i.e. sing and write as well as play. Hereos...maybe.

Potato/potato...
bottomline, a burner...even hired hand burners in Country will mop the floor with the majority of what we dug in the 80s...

+1 ...absolutely!

No argument here...they're killer players for sure but I just don't know that I'd call them guitar heroes...I like your description..."hired hand burners."

 

[stefvorcide]

i'm guilty of (tryin' to) playing fast

When I first started all I wanted was to play mctallica's solos faster than hammett..

 

[thiswaythatway]

I think Kirk Cobain and the video game "Guitar Hero" has pretty much killed the guitar hero.

Granted towards the end of the 80's the guitar hero concept was starting to become a mockery of it's self, and that's part of what of what made Cobain's "Grunge" sound/attitude so popular but it tought a whole generation of guitarist that banging out some sloppy chords will make you an rock star.

Now, again, even though the end of the 80's of the guitar hero concept was starting to become a mocker of it's self, it's nothing compared to what the video game has done to it.

I disagree with you about Guitar Hero killing the guitar hero. We didn't have Guitar Hero in 1993 and Grunge did it's best to destroy 80's metal. If anything the video game Guitar Hero is getting kids interested in guitar players from the 80's. My 10 year old Nephew plays it and when i brought my guitar over his house he wanted me to play Eruption, Hot For Teacher, Crazy Train, etc etc. He wasn't asking me to play Pearl Jam or Nirvana...!

 

[jessexxx]

i dont think anyone "heard" what i said,...the entire grunge movement was the backlash of the entire eddie clones/shredders that you all hold so dear!...grunge was the polar opposite of shred!...no solos! no predictable verse,chorus,verse,chorus "speedy-scale-solo"chorus,... shitty songs!!!

grunge didnt kill the guitar gods,...shred did!..shred has no soul,..no feel,...it dosent live and breathe,..it's all about technique,..good god people shit can your scales ,..make one note sound like its your last breath!,..put some emotion in your notes!,...(the 80's had some who did it very very well,..george lynch and warren dimartini to name a couple)

if guitarist still played there instruments so it pulled at your heart strings...the guitar gods would rule the world.

The best musical advice i ever got was "GET-INSIDE-EVERY-NOTE"

 

[degenaro]

i dont think anyone "heard" what i said,...the entire grunge movement was the backlash of the entire eddie clones/shredders that you all hold so dear!...grunge was the polar opposite of shred!...no solos! no predictable verse,chorus,verse,chorus "speedy-scale-solo"chorus,... shitty songs!!!

grunge didnt kill the guitar gods,...shred did!..shred has no soul,..no feel,...it dosent live and breathe,..it's all about technique,..good god people shit can your scales ,..make one note sound like its your last breath!,..put some emotion in your notes!,...(the 80's had some who did it very very well,..george lynch and warren dimartini to name a couple)

if guitarist still played there instruments so it pulled at your heart strings...the guitar gods would rule the world.

The best musical advice i ever got was "GET-INSIDE-EVERY-NOTE"

Except shred and VH have very little in common. I agree with the basic idea, but in the end too many holes in it...
The problem never was nor never will be anything than shit going in cycles. You go with a basic idea that gets the audience excited, then the self indulgence begins, and finally the back lash against it will happen.

 

[boogieman1187]

I think Kirk Cobain and the video game "Guitar Hero" has pretty much killed the guitar hero.

Granted towards the end of the 80's the guitar hero concept was starting to become a mockery of it's self, and that's part of what of what made Cobain's "Grunge" sound/attitude so popular but it tought a whole generation of guitarist that banging out some sloppy chords will make you an rock star.

Now, again, even though the end of the 80's of the guitar hero concept was starting to become a mocker of it's self, it's nothing compared to what the video game has done to it.

I disagree with you about Guitar Hero killing the guitar hero. We didn't have Guitar Hero in 1993 and Grunge did it's best to destroy 80's metal. If anything the video game Guitar Hero is getting kids interested in guitar players from the 80's. My 10 year old Nephew plays it and when i brought my guitar over his house he wanted me to play Eruption, Hot For Teacher, Crazy Train, etc etc. He wasn't asking me to play Pearl Jam or Nirvana...!

+1

I have been teaching for the pasy seven years and since guitar hero has become more popular i have alot of 9-15 year olds that are interested in all the classic rock and 80's tunes that they would never have been introduced to if not for the game. So, while i personally hate the game i give it credit for turning some of todays kids on to some good music.