the greatest shredder that ever lived...and died RIP

[Superunknown]

Amen....

 

[thiswaythatway]

Love his guitar talent but his music is tough to get into IMHO. And if you're going to say nobody could touch him....well Brett Garsed smokes him on this track IMHO.

 

[mentoneman]

shawn is it for me.
and that sig vigier may be the the fastest most comfortable shred machine i have ever played. unreal.

i think it may not have the tone i'm after but if i could have a custom guitar with that neck and my preferred woods and hardware, i'd be a happy man.

 

[Erock]

Love his guitar talent but his music is tough to get into IMHO. And if you're going to say nobody could touch him....well Brett Garsed smokes him on this track IMHO.

Agreed.

I really dug the first player.

hehe,wow, both sick sick players! I don't think I could say Garsed smokes him on this track though IMO. The shit Lane is doing is all over the place, but that's part of the draw for me. The first guy kicks ass no doubt, and is tasteful as hell, but it's pretty wild hearing Lane going in 10 different directions with his playing. Just IMO, no argument both are killer.

 

[Ventura]

no one could touch this cat, and no one ever will. FTW RIP shawn.

THAT
WAS
SICK!!!!

Awesome post Reza

RIP indeed... Damn wicked finger work man, kazy!!
V.

 

[mentoneman]

4:15 destroys all notions of speed/shred virtuosity up to this moment in time

holdsworth, gambale, guthrie may be close but shawn operated at another plane

jason becker was another one who could get close to that level of intensity but not quite as bionic or as prolific an improvisor

 

[university81]

RIP to one of my favourite guitarists

i agree his music is tough to get into tho, the melodies/lines he plays on the more melodic tracks are so good, note choice/phrasing is excellent, stuff just sings

some eric johnson type of elements in his playing too, which isn't a bad thing in my book

my favourite tracks:

insane improv from around 4:40, gets into a certain headspace and goes nuts

and

this cover is great too:

 

[charveldan]

His bio on wiki said he was a heavy smoker, that's what killed him in 2003.

 

[Ventura]

His bio on wiki said he was a heavy smoker, that's what killed him in 2003.

I f*ckin' love smoking... Cigarettes and me? Can't get enough. I know, I know, gotsta stop...but for now, till I TRY QUITTING AGAIN, gotta keep in mind it's the worst thing I could be doing to myself

V.

 

[Milo]

I thing Guthrie Govan is in the same class,
Unreal good players both. Thanks for reminding me of the great late Shawn Lane.
Bless him,

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

And SRV eats them both for breakfast!

I wasn't aware Lane passed on.. remember reading alot about him in guitar mag almost 2 decades ago.

 

[gbsmusic]

Monster player! Another one we lost to soon!!

 

[Ayrton]

And SRV eats them both for breakfast!

I wasn't aware Lane passed on.. remember reading alot about him in guitar mag almost 2 decades ago.

No way dude. Shawn could play circles around SRV and could play things SRV couldn't even dream of, Shawn could play anything SRV played but SRV could not play half of what lane could play. No contest. Game over.

The world is full of guitar players that have great technical skill, but can't write a song to save their lives.

Shawn had incredible skill, but couldn't write a song anyone outside a guitar forum wanted to hear.

That is what SRV could do...

 

[mentoneman]

SL was many times more sophisticated a musician than SRV

but SRV had tone, soul, catered to the blues traditions, and connected to more common folk.

the only time i saw shawn live was at NAMM this night:

and i was blown away by his tone as well as how totally incredibly he played.

guthrie, holdsworth, gambale, jason becker, yngwie, and racer x.....they all were able to play unimaginable things and blow me away and i've been fortunate enough to see them all in pretty intimate up close settings,

but what shawn played was so extreme it didn't make sense what i was seeing. i could not imagine someone playing with that physically demanding speed and complexity and precision, yet be so musical. he took his hero holdsworth and brought rock sensibility and right hand attack to it, and married some of the neoclassical yngwie thing to it as well as some eric johnson.

the centrifugal funk stuff shawn played when it came out was scoffed and looked down upon, tagged "video game noises". same with his first shrapnel stuff.


but by the time i saw him he had evolved into a full fledged monster.

 

[Tone Chaer]

Shawn was a more than just a shredder. He could play with a lot of soul and feeling that is lacking with many "shredders", and had some great tone at times. I'm not a fan of some of his the violin tone type stuff, but he had some edgy open dynamic tone stuff that (to me) was him at his best.

I hate the whole SRV comparison. The whole argument belittles each player, but to me they both were sophisticated. Everyone can see that Shawn Lane was a sophisticated player from a Tab of his music, but there was a lot that went into what SRV did too. There's a lot of people who can play SRV stuff, but a rare player can truly play it right, and have it's tone, and feel, and really dig in and ring out that note in a way that is not really tab able. He had a sophistication to his tone, that mostly came from his hands. Many amps builder can nail VH tone, and a wide variety on tones, but few can nail SRV tone. I've only really heard one. As an amp builder who has tried many amps circuits, I get the closest to SRV tone with a Swamp Ash Strat with APS2 pickups and a 12000, not a Dumble Clone, or Super Reverb with TS. Go figure ( I bought a Van Zandt Blues Neck, and Rock Mid I want to try in a new build)

I really think both players were phenomenal, and wish they were still around giving me goose bumps when I listen . It's really sucks they are gone.

 

[marshall]

SRV, great bar player who caught some good breaks. Lane is on a distant planet from SRV or anybody else you can name, IMO. SRV? Gotta be kidding me.

 

[The Hoff]

SL was many times more sophisticated a musician than SRV

and i was blown away by his tone as well as how totally incredibly he played.

guthrie, holdsworth, gambale, jason becker, yngwie, and racer x.....they all were able to play unimaginable things and blow me away and i've been fortunate enough to see them all in pretty intimate up close settings,

but what shawn played was so extreme it didn't make sense what i was seeing. i could not imagine someone playing with that physically demanding speed and complexity and precision, yet be so musical. he took his hero holdsworth and brought rock sensibility and right hand attack to it, and married some of the neoclassical yngwie thing to it as well as some eric johnson.

the centrifugal funk stuff shawn played when it came out was scoffed and looked down upon, tagged "video game noises". same with his first shrapnel stuff.


but by the time i saw him he had evolved into a full fledged monster.

Well said

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Man! Lane is HUGE in that last pic!! As for him being on anothe rplanet in comparison to SRV.. I guess we will agree to disagree. Lane definitely is more versatile a player but bang for my buck, SRV always brought the thunder. It is all in the ears.... I guess it just appeals to me more. No harm in that. All these guys are/were amazing!

 

[chumbucket]

His bio on wiki said he was a heavy smoker, that's what killed him in 2003.

Cigarettes? I thought he was a junkie? He was rumored to have some demons...

 

[Digital Jams]

SL was many times more sophisticated a musician than SRV

but SRV had tone, soul, catered to the blues traditions, and connected to more common folk.

the only time i saw shawn live was at NAMM this night:


and i was blown away by his tone as well as how totally incredibly he played.

guthrie, holdsworth, gambale, jason becker, yngwie, and racer x.....they all were able to play unimaginable things and blow me away and i've been fortunate enough to see them all in pretty intimate up close settings,

but what shawn played was so extreme it didn't make sense what i was seeing. i could not imagine someone playing with that physically demanding speed and complexity and precision, yet be so musical. he took his hero holdsworth and brought rock sensibility and right hand attack to it, and married some of the neoclassical yngwie thing to it as well as some eric johnson.

the centrifugal funk stuff shawn played when it came out was scoffed and looked down upon, tagged "video game noises". same with his first shrapnel stuff.


but by the time i saw him he had evolved into a full fledged monster.

This coming from a guy that saw the whole shred explosion come on the scene up close.

Pure shred Shane was the man, that Ibanez NAMM show where everyone from Gilbert to Timmons was on the same stage Lane just dominated, guyts were looking at each other speechless.