Five most overrated players

[kaleb]

I agree with PGS's list except for Yngwie, and somewhat The Edge.. Yngwie ushered in a new style.

 

And while I'm no fan of U2, Edge has created some great soundscapes.

 

But the rest on their list....yeah, I think they're overrated. Here's MY list.

 

In no particular order:

 

1. Eric Clapton

2. Keith Richards

3. Carlos Santana

4. John Mayer

5. Kurt Cobain

[surfpup]

I think it's kinda like the rhythm guitarist of any genre tends to get no respect whatsoever on most "guitar" forums

 

Perhaps. Though here's a thought... the best guitarists blend rhythm and lead together rather seamlessly - as one should - Django, Jimi, Eddie, etc. One cannot be a really good lead/melody player without a strong rhythm IMHO. I don't see anyone on this overrated list who fits the above description - only those who focus on one at the expense of the other.

[pippy]

... the best guitarists blend rhythm and lead together rather seamlessly - as one should - Django, Jimi, Eddie....

Django, yes. Jimi, yes. Who is Eddie?

 

Not trying to be a smartarse...

 

EDIT : OK, Eddie Van Halen. Never heard anyone call him Eddie before; always EVH.. Sorry, My Bad.

 

As You Were!

 

P.

[jaxson50]

Sorry for going back to the Edge point, but as Kaleb points out, he is not my favorite player but he has expanded the soundscape. That brings up the topic of pedalboards...With all the pedals on the market today some guys are more pedal players then guitar players! Some players use them in a tasteful way and some players would just stink without them. I look at the pedal boards some players have I have to say, I would be totally lost! Jimi got by with 3 or 4? Today some guys have 15 or 20! Like I said, Edge is more of a synth player then a guitar player. And now they have vocal harmony synths that can raise or lower the key, etc....(that stuff drives me nuts). I don't mean to put down guys to use lots of pedal, as I said to do it right must take a lot of trail and error and hours of practice. But how do you know if what you are hearing is the player or a sound engineer?

[kaleb]

Sorry for going back to the Edge point, but as Kaleb points out, he is not my favorite player but he has expanded the soundscape. That brings up the topic of pedalboards...With all the pedals on the market today some guys are more pedal players then guitar players! Some players use them in a tasteful way and some players would just stink without them. I look at the pedal boards some players have I have to say, I would be totally lost! Jimi got by with 3 or 4? Today some guys have 15 or 20! Like I said, Edge is more of a synth player then a guitar player. And now they have vocal harmony synths that can raise or lower the key, etc....(that stuff drives me nuts). I don't mean to put down guys to use lots of pedal, as I said to do it right must take a lot of trail and error and hours of practice. But how do you know if what you are hearing is the player or a sound engineer?

 

Let me tell you, if Jimi had lived, he would have the biggest pedalboard on the planet today.

[jaxson50]

1379038637[/url]' post='1424664']

Let me tell you, if Jimi had lived, he would have the biggest pedalboard on the planet today.

 

That's not my point. I'm not knocking the use of pedals, but there are as you pointed out, guys like Edge who may not be the greatest player, but with enhancements (pedals) does become effective in a band...impacts rock, and gets put on a list of the best or the worse. I would be lost using all those pedals! Hell, I get lost going to my mail box! But at what point does a guy become a sound effects player instead of a guitar player?If Edge was playing a keyboard we would call him a synth player, but because he has a guitar on his strap we call him a guitarist...but it's a different instrument when sustain and pitch and phasing and echo and repeat are all electronically manipulated and the guitar takes on the sound of a bell or a piano or a pipe organ. I had a Roland GR set up for a few years, it is sold as a synthesizer, that's what it is, the guitar is just a trigger for the computer...so a player could be a great synth player and a piss poor guitarist and still make a good living playing music....

[milod]

I think Jax has a very valid point.

 

The way that electronic enhancement has been added into the equation, I think it's increasingly difficult to consider what sort of instrument a person is playing. With stomps that change the entire nature of a guitar "sound," loops, pitch changes, enhanced harmonies, etc., I question that we're at all talking about one's guitar technique any more, but that of operating a guitar-triggered synth.

 

That's not necessarily bad - but it's as different from comparing a straight piano player to a synth keyboardist. In fact, given looping, perhaps even more so.

 

I can hear it now: Django and Joe Pass and Segovia are overrated because they didn't once use a stomp box and only sounded like they were playing guitars acoustic and basic electric through an amp.

 

As for what Hendrix would or would not have done... I'd say it's moot. He's isn't here to consider and explain what might have been after his death. It's my observation that after a certain point of experimentation, a lotta older musicians have shown a tendency to go back to basics and "standards." Hendrix? I dunno. Honestly I never cared much for his material, but given how I've seen other musicians I may or may not like go into "basics and standards," it wouldn't have shocked me to have heard such stuff from Hendrix at age 55 or 65.

 

m

[zigzag]

 

As for what Hendrix would or would not have done... I'd say it's moot. He's isn't here to consider and explain what might have been after his death. It's my observation that after a certain point of experimentation, a lotta older musicians have shown a tendency to go back to basics and "standards." Hendrix? I dunno. Honestly I never cared much for his material, but given how I've seen other musicians I may or may not like go into "basics and standards," it wouldn't have shocked me to have heard such stuff from Hendrix at age 55 or 65.

 

m

 

Some believe that through Jimi's association with Miles Davis, he may have been influenced to move more into the area of jazz fusion as Miles was. And indeed, many of those associated with Miles Davis in the late sixties and early seventies helped to define what fusion became (e.g. Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Wayne Shorter). If this were to have occurred, there is no telling where the state of jazz/fusion would be today- all useless conjecture since I believe Hendrix was doomed to die young.

[milod]

Ziggy...

 

Yup to Hendrix and others "doomed" to die young. The era was unkind to those of all social classes, but especially to those of relative youth who found themselves in self-destructive lifestyles with little to mitigate their slide.

 

Again, I recommend Peter Coyote's book "Sleeping Where I Fall" for some additional insights.

 

The photos on the cover reflect the young guy I knew at the same small college a thousand years ago. And I'm half surprised he survived his younger years. BTW, he's also been a pretty good picker himself. Not "great," but a pretty good picker.

 

m

[dem00n]

 

Customers that get all butt hurt because someone doesn't like who they like usually aren't allowed to use their moms credit card to buy them guys stuff.

 

rct

 

Personally i don't care for any of the players on the list, nor do i think of them as overrated.

 

But you are going to lose customers when you start saying "This and this sucks, because internet". It's a foolish article and you can read the comments at people being suprised and mad at PGS. They have never done something so biased like this before.

[Twang Gang]

I'll weigh in on this one. Playing with feeling and emotion is important to me. As one poster mentioned BB King was not a great technician, but you could tell he felt what he played.

 

I don't think Carlos Santana is over rated because he has done a lot of original work, and plays with great emotion. Nobody else can just hold onto one note and make it express as much as he does.

 

This will piss a lot of guys off but to me one of the most overrated is Clapton. He did a great deal to bring the blues into the mainstream, and I enjoy a lot of his recordings, but not sure he ever played an original lick. Everything seems to have been lifted from the old blues masters.

 

To me originality and expression of emotion should receive the highest accolades.

[charlie brown]

Well, it all comes down to who you DO, or DON'T like, for whatever reason!

I've no time, for folks that haven't done a thing, except express their

opinions, judging or criticising those who've done a LOT, even if they're

not one's "cup of tea," so to speak. Which is why, topics like this, are

pretty much just opinion. And, truly, have no real merit, beyond that.

 

But...knock yourselves out!

 

CB

[Izzy]

It's the innernetz, Iz. You can't possibly take this crap seriously. Something I Like Is Better Than Something You Like has been a conversation starter at parties since parties began, it just starts conversation is all. It's way better than religion, politics, and salary, those three things we were taught to avoid as kids.

 

Go widdit. It's fun. Buckethead is a tool. See? Fun!

 

rct

 

Oh, nono. I don't take it seriously...its the chasing of the tail that never ends that I hate.

I mean, seeing people try to prove that one is better because "he's faster and more accurate" while someone is going on about...BB King, it IS entertaining.

 

I just think these threads don't go anywhere and it isn't as if we don't already know who is liked and not liked.

 

Oh, alright......I can't take people talking smack about my boy Jack. Okay, you got me!

 

Buckethead is really boring after like, ten minutes, by the way. I was just throwing a name that gets little respect for fun.

[rct]

Personally i don't care for any of the players on the list, nor do i think of them as overrated.

 

But you are going to lose customers when you start saying "This and this sucks, because internet". It's a foolish article and you can read the comments at people being suprised and mad at PGS. They have never done something so biased like this before.

 

huh. I didn't take it seriously, so I guess I just didn't think anyone else did. But hey, if people took it serious and it hurts their business, oh well. That's what you get.

 

rct

[Kaiser Bill]

Twang...I just read your post...I must say I TOTALLY agree with your Clapton comment.