why do 80s heroes forget how to solo

[mixohoytian]

Agree and cool vid Pat!

thanks-
as much as i hammer vai for his stage persona, the guy obviously still loves the guitar and keeps his skill sharp, and has a finger on the pulse of reality trying to make his fans happy. i'm not fond of his songs but that's just personal preference.

gilbert and timmons and guthrie crush in the rock idiom. totally impressive technically and relevant to today's sophisticated shred audience. having said that i'm not finding myself humming any of their instrumental tunes in my head, nor could i tell you what the songs are named.

yngwie still shreds technically but it's like listening to a treadmill. he's good enough to maybe branch out from the same phrygian bubbling cauldron licks he always plays. it's not even a signature style he's maintaining for his fans anymore it's just an excuse to not grow and mature. the symphony thing was an admirable ambitious undertaking but came across like an arrogant rocker with enough money to pull it off trying to jam sloppily to a classical record.

i still think eddie can pull off another great album. he has it in him. especially the chemistry with roth. but if all i ever saw of vh was that last tour with roth i'd think he was one of the worst players of all time.

I agree on eddie
as for Yngwie's symphony (the recorded one, not the live one)
Is it that sloppy? just sounds like Yngwie to me...
would have been cooler 15 years earlier...
but at least Yngwie spent his money on that orchestra and did something he wanted to do
I think it was boring, but in his mind, he was reaching
we can hear that he's doing the same things he's always been doing, but he IS metal...and you can't blame him for staying metal


as for guthrie etc...
yeah chops means nothing without the context of a memorable song

 

[IHateRap]

My tribute to 70's/80's guitar...

Sound Check

You guys allow your bass player to talk?

 

[Shark Diver]

This happens to most. Might as well be talking about Brett Farve...

farve gets hit by big black guys over and over again. his body was bound to fail eventually. guitar players just need to practice and not get wasted to keep their minds and hands sharp.

I'm sure having 12 groupie women jumping all over you every night might take it's toll as well.

 

[tekbow]

i was reading over this and there was a lot of wailing on EVH, now, yes i agree he's in a bad way now and just seems to be taking care of his own van halen covers band but...

and hear me out..

Something was niggling me over the criticism he was getting..

now i think this albums been deleted (they hated it so much) but if i remember rightly, in fact i dont need to because i listened to it today, when he did van halen III he did try to shake things up a little and do something different and a little experimental.

I'm not defending this album, or gary cherone wanting to be freddy mercury in it, and i'm not saying every track was solid gold, because it was far from that. but there were a few standout moments on there when i thought he was really trying and succeeding. he's was taking a different direction and playing with his sound and chops and it was really good.

"without you" is note worthy, as is "josephina". and i even quite liked "how many say I". the album may not have worked, but it wasn't stale.

and what happened? they got hammered for it, people wanted them to stick to what they'd always done, and now we're kind of bitching because they won't push things anymore..

 

[Zachman]

My tribute to 70's/80's guitar...

Sound Check

You guys allow your bass player to talk?

No, but that doesn't stop him...

 

[axemeaquestion]

Forgive him Pat for he has sinned

I'm the Holy Spirit. I am incapable of sin.

 

[MisterBulbous]

Agree and cool vid Pat!

thanks-
as much as i hammer vai for his stage persona, the guy obviously still loves the guitar and keeps his skill sharp, and has a finger on the pulse of reality trying to make his fans happy. i'm not fond of his songs but that's just personal preference.

gilbert and timmons and guthrie crush in the rock idiom. totally impressive technically and relevant to today's sophisticated shred audience. having said that i'm not finding myself humming any of their instrumental tunes in my head, nor could i tell you what the songs are named.

yngwie still shreds technically but it's like listening to a treadmill. he's good enough to maybe branch out from the same phrygian bubbling cauldron licks he always plays. it's not even a signature style he's maintaining for his fans anymore it's just an excuse to not grow and mature. the symphony thing was an admirable ambitious undertaking but came across like an arrogant rocker with enough money to pull it off trying to jam sloppily to a classical record.

i still think eddie can pull off another great album. he has it in him. especially the chemistry with roth. but if all i ever saw of vh was that last tour with roth i'd think he was one of the worst players of all time.

I 100% agree with your comments relative to the lack of memorable melodies; however I disagree with the inclusion of Paul Gilbert in that category. For me personally (but I'm a huge fan), I find tons of melody on his last three albums, and can pick out every song and hum the melody and typically play it on the guitar. But....in general I find that almost all of the music released by "guitar oriented" guys lately has very little impact on my memory.

 

[hawkeye17]

I don't know what happened to Lynch..he's been getting into odd territory for like the last ten years..biggest letdown by any of my guitar 'heroes' growing up =(

+1. He's good in the studio but he seems lost live and just plays way off key. You'd think after all these years the guy would be able to stay in key over a basic jam in E minor. Hell even I can pull that off without sounding like a noobie. When you listen to his solo's with Dokken and Lynch Mob then see a recent clip of the guy live it's just striking how bad he sounds these days. Sucks too because that guy was guitar jesus for me from about 1986 through the Lynch Mob years and I still love those solo's all these years later.

 

[hawkeye17]

Fuck using the age card, they just do not give a shit anymore. I hate that shit.............

Vai at age 50.......

Gilbert in his late 40s..........

Shit I could name 10 guys in their mid 40s that would make Eddie sit in a corner rocking back and worth wearing a football helmut. Eddie just does not care, age has nothing to do with it and that goes for that present waste Lynch.

Big +1 on Vai. That guy is STILL improving as a guitar player and musician. He gets panned for the crazy costumes and fans blowing his hair around onstage but Vai is off the charts good. He doesn't go onstage and just 'get 'er done', he goes out there with complete command of the instrument at every level.

 

[hawkeye17]

and uli may have imbibed one to many cups of shroom tea gazing into his anhk-encrusted crystal ball channeling hendrix to make music familiar to those dwelling in the milky way constellation. and i'd rather hear alan greenspan sing.
.

That's signature worthy. The way that 'sky guitar' is designed there are about 6 notes on there that you'd need dog ears to hear. Ah but I still love his "Sails of Charon" solo so he gets a pass (that he can use to pay the ferryman).

 

[diagrammatiks]

drugs. hell i'm surprised evh still remembers how to play guitar.

 

[Chubtone]

and uli may have imbibed one to many cups of shroom tea gazing into his anhk-encrusted crystal ball channeling hendrix to make music familiar to those dwelling in the milky way constellation. and i'd rather hear alan greenspan sing.
.

Yeah, I didn't comment on this before and I am a HUGE Uli fan. Huge! But the description of Uli by pat (by the way, I'm not capitalizing YOUR name anymore either ) and then the Alan Greenspan comment was about the funniest thing I've ever read on a forum. pat RULES as always! The posts aren't as frequent, but when they do arrive, I hang on every word.

 

[The Hoff]

Hetfield still brings it. Kirk might be lacking a bit.

Paul Gilbert is still a beast.

I can see what you're saying though....sad really!

 

[mentoneman]

and uli may have imbibed one to many cups of shroom tea gazing into his anhk-encrusted crystal ball channeling hendrix to make music familiar to those dwelling in the milky way constellation. and i'd rather hear alan greenspan sing.
.

Yeah, I didn't comment on this before and I am a HUGE Uli fan. Huge! But the description of Uli by pat (by the way, I'm not capitalizing YOUR name anymore either ) and then the Alan Greenspan comment was about the funniest thing I've ever read on a forum. pat RULES as always! The posts aren't as frequent, but when they do arrive, I hang on every word.

i try and keep my peoples happy.

but the uli hendrix thing was beyond healthy. didn't he live with hendrix's ex----monica danneman---and wear jimi's actual outfits?
something bizarre about that. and that whole hendrix conspiracy about jimi being a cosmic messenger predicting impending armaggedon via a large meteor........

"getcha red hot microdots!!!"

 

[Zachman]

and uli may have imbibed one to many cups of shroom tea gazing into his anhk-encrusted crystal ball channeling hendrix to make music familiar to those dwelling in the milky way constellation. and i'd rather hear alan greenspan sing.
.

Yeah, I didn't comment on this before and I am a HUGE Uli fan. Huge! But the description of Uli by pat (by the way, I'm not capitalizing YOUR name anymore either ) and then the Alan Greenspan comment was about the funniest thing I've ever read on a forum. pat RULES as always! The posts aren't as frequent, but when they do arrive, I hang on every word.

i try and keep my peoples happy.

but the uli hendrix thing was beyond healthy. didn't he live with hendrix's ex----monica danneman---and wear jimi's actual outfits?
something bizarre about that. and that whole hendrix conspiracy about jimi being a cosmic messenger predicting impending armaggedon via a large meteor........

"getcha red hot microdots!!!"

That story makes me feel the need to re-shower

 

[The Hoff]

Zachman. That's a ton of gear on your side of the stage. Is that other bands gear set up and ready or do you bring all that to gigs? I mean having all that at home okay but-to bring all that on stage?

Like your band by the way. Sounds good for sure.

 

[Zachman]

Zachman. That's a ton of gear on your side of the stage. Is that other bands gear set up and ready or do you bring all that to gigs?

Ya, guilty as charged... It's my stuff. I only take it to concert gigs or studio stuff. Normal gigs-- I use other stuff. The other bands setup in front of us, after our sound check is done....

I mean having all that at home okay but-to bring all that on stage?

Hehehehehehe-- No poser action here... That stuff earns me the $$$ to buy that stuff.

Like your band by the way. Sounds good for sure.

Thanks... Most appreciated

Here is a small gig-- Line6 FlextoneII 1x12 combo:

 

[Digital Jams]

Hetfield still brings it. Kirk might be lacking a bit.

Paul Gilbert is still a beast.

I can see what you're saying though....sad really!

Man bringing Kirk up in a thread giving praise to Gilbert.............................no.

 

[Kaleiwahea]

This happens to most. Might as well be talking about Brett Farve...

farve gets hit by big black guys over and over again. his body was bound to fail eventually. guitar players just need to practice and not get wasted to keep their minds and hands sharp.

to prove a point

im a tv cameraman/producer and an av director at a church. not a musician making a living playing the guitar. i have not been playing much gtr at all lately. in fact i had been in a really bad routine of only playing on the weekends when i pay live. which amounts to 1-3 hours per week. zero practice. then when september hit and i started traveling that dropped to zero gtr time for two week stretches.

so this is me at my rusty zenith rolling out of bed in cali, still on louisiana time in my mind, with a few sips of coffee in me.
i set up my rig in the livingroom the night before and got too tired to play...

it's not even close to shawn lane warp speed magic and coordination clams here and there but not totally tragic.

to me there is absolutely no excuse for a pro to show up and flail out of key, have crappy meter, can't bend to pitch, bad tone, when that is what you do for a living.

I'd pay to see that live

 

[mentoneman]

I'd pay to see that live

you're the one that destroys me braddah. you have obviously kept your chops alive and well. and that thing you have, melody and taste, combined with lovely technical execution, has inspired me since high school.

you have that thing that when you play a solo, it sounds right. professionally executed, logical extension of the song, beginning middle and end, and nice blend of melody and speed. disciplined and strong.

i think you'd hurt people with a solo cd.