Warren DiMartini vs George Lynch

[rupe]

To continue on with the theme, let's discuss Warren and George in their prime (I'd easily go with Warren these days). I find these two interesting since George was a generation ahead of Warren and was actually one of his biggest influences (in fact they were roommates at one point), yet they ended up as peers during the peak of their popularity. Warren has even admitted to copping Lynch's vibrato and licks.

Once again this not a direct comparison as much as simply who do you prefer and why?

 

[thiswaythatway]

Lynch, mostly because Warren seemed restricted from being in Ratt. I like some Ratt tunes but they were pretty damm predictable and did Warren ever get to do an instrumental? They were too much of that sleazy, cheese, LA thing.

IHMO it was a waste of Warren's talent to be in Ratt, even though I imagine he made some dough since they were very popular in the 80's. It would have been nice to hear him in something like Badlands.

I think Lynch's stands out because he was also in a cheesy LA hair band but his talent really was the main attraction in Dokken and really stood out. His lead tone was pretty unique. On Stars solo he blew everyone away except for Yngwie and Schon.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

The first time I saw Warren's splayed picking hand technique back in the day I knew who influenced him.

Lynch influenced me more back then, I kind of saw Warren as a Lynch lite generation 2 mixed with some of his own personal style which I also enjoyed.

 

[Chris O]

Warren was indeed limited by Ratt, but I found his tone to be legendary in the later stuff they did, especially the chimey, bluesey tones through his neck pickups. Love Lynch though - his Lynch Mob stuff was pure awesome. I'm not a fan of his recent offerings, and I think Warren's chops have held up better over time. Warren still sticks with his formula (which I love), but he doesn't stray much. Lynch alienates the fans of his "classic" days.

Hard to quantify "who's better", and I love both of them, but I'll give the edge to Warren, since I like cheese!

 

[yngzaklynch]

Picked George but they both have tone and killer chops. Like danyeo said I think Warren was way more restricted being in Ratt where Goerge seems to enjoy more artistic feedom. If Warren would have tried to spread his wings a bit more Pearcy would prolly have quit sooner than he did.

 

[mojotone]

Lynch for me. Would anyone call his early playing predictable? I doubt it.

Funny thing is that both guys were in bands that the bass players were better singers than the lead vocalists.

 

[zepland73]

Lynch.

 

[fek]

I have seen both live in the past and recently. Warren always looks so stiff when he plays. Lynch looks much more fluid.

 

[Digital Jams]

Danny bro Jonus pretty much summed it up, Warren was restricted in Ratt while George had more room to roam. Love both players at their peaks but George had a tad more fire and George seems to have more of his own signature sound note selection wise back in the day that you knew it was him.

 

[metalmaniac93]

Lynch all the way!!!! I agree that Warren was limited by Ratt though, but George had the fire and the more tasty solos!!!

 

[carlygtr]

Warren. Listening to Lynch is like listening to a guy trying to cram a million disjointed licks into a solo.

 

[PBGas]

Lynch is one of those guys that has been around and influenced a lot of people with his unique style. Warren is a great player regardless and has his own unique style as well. Love listening to both of them. Everyone borrows something from someone else to make it their own.

 

[ejecta]

Couldn't really choose on this one. Like them both equally.

 

[loudgtr]

Danny bro Jonus pretty much summed it up, Warren was restricted in Ratt while George had more room to roam. Love both players at their peaks but George had a tad more fire and George seems to have more of his own signature sound note selection wise back in the day that you knew it was him.

Yes he did, but...imho on the Stars solo, because of the composition and originality on his pass, Lynch was the clear standout. Blew me away seeing him Rip that solo

Lynch for me here in this thread. Would loved to have seen Warren being stretched as well as danyeo said.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Lynch is rather creative and unpredictable ..very choppy to fluid with a lot of his playing with odd choices of notes at times but he was pretty incredible back in the day. Gotta go Warren though, always loved his phrasing and ability to play very similar leads but that always fit the song with the right emphasis in the right places. He's incredible. Too bad he was restricted with RATT. That said, when he filled in on one of the Whitesnake tours, I didn;t feel his style suited Whitesnake at all.

 

[craftm1]

Lynch for me also, but DiMartini had a great deal of influence on me as well.

 

[sandman]

Both are great....but....Lynch for me

 

[Shawn Lutz]

George Lynch for me. I was never fascinated by Warren although I like the first couple Ratt albums. Both are great players but to me was Warren was a bit more of an old school based player when I was getting more into modern guys than stocked beefed up blues licks. I probably like Ratt songs better but I like Lynch, he is older but has evolved nicely. I like Lynch in Dokken and his solos were always well constructed and fit the songs well. I saw Dokken in 80's and they were great but what really made me have more respect for him the track or two that he played on Tony MacAlpines second instrumental album and the guy tears it up and trades solos nicely with Tony. Jeff Watson from Night Ranger was also on that album

 

[Gainzilla]

Love Lynch but Warren is just tastier to me. Loved his fire in the beginning and then loved how he evolved into a bluesier tastier version of himself.. All that said, I just cant knock George, hes 100% badass..

 

[Chubtone]

I feel that we will never really know what Warren might have turned into as a player. On the first album and the tour he was just TEARING it up. He was ridiculous as a player at that time. Tons of speed, fire and slippery flash.

Check out the lead and the trading off leads in this:

And the solo in this:

During the time of the first tour, Warren did an interview in Guitar For The Practicing Musician. It was his first interview in any guitar magazine and it was a big deal to him. One of the questions asked of him was the most offensive, ridiculous, calling him out question I have ever seen in a guitar magazine interview. The interviewer ( I think it was John Stix ), said something very similar to this:

"You sound too much like Edward Van Halen. Is there anything you can do to work towards having your own sound"? I remember reading that after I had bought "Out of the Cellar" and after I had seen this Ratt concert on Rock Palace that I linked to above and after I had seen Ratt live. Yes, there are some "vibe" similarities with EVH, but I have to tell you that I think what Warren was doing here was like the next generation player who grew up with an EVH influence and was going quite far beyond it lead-wise. I got so pissed that John Stix asked him that because I was AFRAID that it might cause him to focus on other things in his playing when I wanted him to keep going in this direction and just become SICK on guitar.

So I watched Warren's style "evolve" over time and I saw him pictured with vintage strats in interviews and getting bluesier and talking about Joe Perry and Keith Richards. His playing did change a ton too. I LIKED that bluesy swing sort of vibe he started doing. It was bitchin' and there were very few players playing stuff like that. It was kick ass. But, he almost completely did away with the young, ripping, bad ass, fire-filled Warren we see in these videos.

Why couldn't he continue to develop the fire-breathing monster we see in these videos and INCORPORATE the swingy blues licks lines with it? That would have made him completely the MAN in the 80's in my opinion. And he overused that swingy blues thing too.

For me, I can't choose between these two. Lynch was definitely more of an influence on me but I always held out hope that Warren would incorporate the two different "Warrens" and take over the guitar world.

John Stix may not have had anything to do with it, but I always felt that question was so off base to a young, up and coming guitar player and he really wasn't that guilty of being an EVH clone. Yeah, he had very cool, custom Charvels and long black hair but....... who didn't? Strangely, no one ever asked Vito Bratta that question about sounding too much like Van Halen.