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

[thiswaythatway]

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"

Dude, I've drank too many beers tonight to read all that.

 

[stephen sawall]

I agree with Ed ... if you still want to shred head to the Country. Last time I saw his country band his playing had more to do with MSG than Chet Atkins. There were more women than men at the show and the band makes good money. .... all that other stuff is long dead.

 

[degenaro]

I agree with Ed ... if you still want to shred head to the Country. Last time I saw his country band his playing had more to do with MSG than Chet Atkins. There were more women than men at the show and the band makes good money. .... all that other stuff is long dead.

shoulda seen the Quest field crowd today ....20 woman to 1 man, hollering after the solos like i'm the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan show.

 

[stephen sawall]

I was just going to ask how the gig went. ..... Maybe I am old fashion but I still like to look at girls more than boys. As in any place you have girls some boys show up and you can draw from old / young and everyone in between with country. There are lots of good songs .... the music has been around a long time. The people seem to like the rock country stuff like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the classic stuff like Johnny Cash the best.

 

[van hellion]

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...

ver VERY true!

A Wood

 

[Mailman1971]

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

+1 on this. I was just going to write that until I read your post.
They have some great playing going on. Some songs sound like 80's metal but with a modern twist.
Actually listenable.

 

[jessexxx]

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...

ver VERY true!

A Wood

see..your all making my point!


"bottomline, a burner...even a hired hand burners in country will mop the floor with the majority of what we dug in the 80's"


see!!..to most guitarists...especaily newer guitarists,...IT ALL ABOUT BURNING!!...ITS THE BE ALL END ALL!!!...this is so sad...

being a muscician is about music!!...music if for the ears!!..not impressing a fellow "burner"...our conception of what makes a guitarist good,great or god like all hinges on "burning" in our eyes!!

as long as we subscribe to this,...the guitar gods of mass appeal is dead!

the burners will appeal to a small nitche group of other burners...

this will be my last post on this subject...rock on brothers!

 

[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...

ver VERY true!

A Wood

see..your all making my point!


"bottomline, a burner...even a hired hand burners in country will mop the floor with the majority of what we dug in the 80's"


see!!..to most guitarists...especaily newer guitarists,...IT ALL ABOUT BURNING!!...ITS THE BE ALL END ALL!!!...this is so sad...

being a muscician is about music!!...music if for the ears!!..not impressing a fellow "burner"...our conception of what makes a guitarist good,great or god like all hinges on "burning" in our eyes!!

as long as we subscribe to this,...the guitar gods of mass appeal is dead!

the burners will appeal to a small nitche group of other burners...

this will be my last post on this subject...rock on brothers!

OK, we get it ... you don't like shred. I agree, shred for shred sake isn't very interesting. Having said that, there are great guitar players out there that can shred AS WELL AS PLAY KILLER MELODIES. I find if FAR more interesting when a player has total command of his instrument and uses ALL the tools available to him...melody, rhythm, harmony...etc and yes SHRED!

 

[King Guitar]

I always thought everyone knew the country pickers were the best, I always knew that. I would put Brent Mason up against any of the shredders and I dont even like country music.

That said the reason I always dug Slash's leads is that they were memorable, vocal and melodic even if just pentatonic. Kinda the reason I really dig Gary Moore as well. I never got the Rusty Cooley, Dragonforce thing, always soundled like a 14400 old school modem to me.

 

[Digital Jams]

I agree with Ed ... if you still want to shred head to the Country. Last time I saw his country band his playing had more to do with MSG than Chet Atkins. There were more women than men at the show and the band makes good money. .... all that other stuff is long dead.

shoulda seen the Quest field crowd today ....20 woman to 1 man, hollering after the solos like i'm the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan show.

PICS!

Man I wish I could have seen that, ma boy bringing the heat in a fucking football stadium.

 

[glassjaw7]

This is a difficult topic to nail down...I love shred, and I attempt to play quite fast and practice scales, modes, sweeping and other "technique" based playing daily. But, I LOVE a well written song, even if it is comprised of three chords. If I can feel the music and it moves me, then that's all that matters!

Someone said this and it really stuck with me: "You can express yourself one way with a million notes, or you can express yourself a million ways with one note".

For someone who strives to "burn" on guitar, I think it is equally important to learn how to capture the magic of making one note really sing, like cantrell or gilmour.
By the way Andy Wood can really do both well! Amazing shred and great feeling captured in the song writing as well.

 

[IntrepidCellist]

They do exist. Matt Bellamy of Muse gets my vote for a modern guitar hero. Crazy melodies and effects, yet enough hooks to manages to make it all top-40 friendly yet appeal to those of us who want some depth.

Check out the solo to "Invincible" (4:00 widdly yet melodic, and it fits the song completely.

Or how about "Knights of Cydonia" where he has the whole crowd singing along with a guitar break?

 

[yourguitarhero]

Yup.

See username....

 

[sherpa_man]

They do exist. Matt Bellamy of Muse gets my vote for a modern guitar hero. Crazy melodies and effects, yet enough hooks to manages to make it all top-40 friendly yet appeal to those of us who want some depth.

Check out the solo to "Invincible" (4:00 widdly yet melodic, and it fits the song completely.

Or how about "Knights of Cydonia" where he has the whole crowd singing along with a guitar break?

i have to agree, Muse are great and Matt to me is a hero. Theres nobody that has ever sounded like him.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

I think the guitar hero is dead and buried personally.

As much as I enjoy playing, I don't think the future is going to be too bright for the electric guitar imo.

There are so many competing forms of entertainment for young people these days that music has become just a background distraction and not something in and of itself to really get into like the old days (just imo).

I also believe guitar will eventually become more of a niche product similar to orchestra or other old school instruments. Young people will be using something else eventually as the "voice" of their generation.

I probably won't be around by then though.

 

[chunktone]

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.

There are some great players in Country music, but they are keep on a short leash. Too short for them to emerge as a "guitar hero" imho.

 

[IntrepidCellist]

Honestly, I doubt the guitar hero is totally dead now, and it will likely make a return eventually anyways; music and trends are cyclical... buildup, backlash, buildup, backlash. I feel that we are on a "growth period" where we're starting to see a lot more talented and showy players, and eventually the guitar hero will be back in full swing.

But, I'm likely also 10-20 years younger than many of you guys, and I don't have the nostalgia of Van Halen and such to look back on. Don't worry, we'll have something of our own.

 

[van hellion]

This is a difficult topic to nail down...I love shred, and I attempt to play quite fast and practice scales, modes, sweeping and other "technique" based playing daily. But, I LOVE a well written song, even if it is comprised of three chords. If I can feel the music and it moves me, then that's all that matters!

Someone said this and it really stuck with me: "You can express yourself one way with a million notes, or you can express yourself a million ways with one note".

For someone who strives to "burn" on guitar, I think it is equally important to learn how to capture the magic of making one note really sing, like cantrell or gilmour.
By the way Andy Wood can really do both well! Amazing shred and great feeling captured in the song writing as well.

thank you for the props my friend!

A Wood

 

[ZachMN]

My take would be the music in the 80's always had shredder types playing an the guitar solo was a big deal- we cared about who and how etc but eventually the style was diluted. VH was the blueprint for so many of the stuff in the 80's but they (the ones who came after) weren't the real thing. Very attractive sound and presentation and most of the 'Hair' scene was a clone of VH. Shredding was never that big a deal -in the mags it was but the mags were at best a cult level thing-

GnR killed the scene more than anybody in my opinion along with generally people wanting something different rather than another clone of VH or some dude with super model hair------- good songs are where its at and you dont need blazing solos if the song rocks........

GnR specifically Axel with his Ill go on when I want I think had a lot more to do with things changing- people don't want to be treated like shit and he did it to an absurd point. Nirvana and PJ came along and gave the people what they wanted without the hype........not a fan of either but thats what I felt since around '92....

 

[Gainfreak]

I think the whole guitar hero thing was only popular amongst other guitar players regardless of the decade. What I mean is that all of my past girlfriends from back in the day could care less about how good a guitar player was and All they cared about is if the tune was good. That's statement also hold water for the general public as well.

With that said, I think that we have way better players out now currently and as an 80's guitar player from back in the day, there are kids out today that are doing incredible stuff that made most of us look pretty silly. The information that the newer players have available to them is light years ahead of what we had back in the day and there are lots of players who have capitalized on this and it shows in there playing.

all IMHO