VTTW Board Index

...music has taken a hit this week.

As Randy B said about his brother, "I guess Beck needed a drummer"

They be Taking Care of Business

In the never-ending debate over greatest guitarist ever, I got Beck.

He is not #1 in my book but in the top 3-5

Best guitarist is so subjective. A lot of people say Jimmie Hendrix... but when Hendrix was asked how it felt to be the best he said he didn't know you better ask Johnnie Winter. A lot of people say Steve Vie (Vai). I use to think it was Eric Clapton (a buddy of Beck). Then I thought it was Peter Frampton. My Favorite is Rick Derringer.

Hence the never-ending debate.  I just think his early Yardbirds stuff broke the standard in terms of the range of guitar sound.  The Yardbirds had ties to 3 members of the never ending debate.  The story goes that when Clapton left he recommended Jimmy Page, but Page didn't want to be tied to one band at the time and recommended Beck.  

For pure guitar skill, give me SRV. For influence (at least on the music of the last 50 years), I’d say Albert King.

Two people I always remember hearing about were Todd Rundgren & Jeff Beck... I can't honestly say I can name anything they ever did  :dunno: I came of age in the classic rock era. I did see that Beck was in the Yardbirds along with Clapton, and Jimmy Page. I know Beck was very highly regarded. Weird. Guess I'll have to double back and revisit.

THIS!

BTW, never understood the love for Clapton as he never stretched the envelope to me
To me he is meh

Yeah... when I thought it was Clapton it is because I was listening to a lot of other people. When I got my own ear I started making my own choices.

Today in the news: David Crosby died.

Now we know probably why Graham Nash was trying to mend fences recently with him

CSN was a super group in every sense of the word

I Never cared for Clapton either. I think my favorite song of his is Lay Down Sally and that didn't sound very complex  :biggrin: and I Shot the Sheriff was Bob Marley's song. We're talking rock & blues greats. All genres have virtuosos. I literally like a little (or a lot) of just about every genre, but I'm partial to good (key word) country... There is a you tube of Glen Campbell playing Gentle On My Mind, live in front of his peers as country music used to do... Hard to imagine being able to play any faster or with more complexity as he did with the solo.  I never was a big fan of loud, drawn out guitar solos... As someone said it is mostly subjective.

Trivia question: who played guitar on Stevie Wonder's song Superstition?

Beck

Yes and I had no idea. Pretty cool.

And had a fantastic performance of it together at Hall of Fame anniversity

https://www.youtube.com/v/CeUKOFVO15w

Stevie Wonder wrote "Superstition" for Jeff Beck and agreed to let Beck put it out first. Jeff Beck put it on the Beck, Bogert and Appice album but it got delayed and so Wonder's version came out first. The Beck, Bogert and Appice album is excellent.

Agree that Clapton overated

Come on though guys.  Eddie Van Halen not even in the discussion?!? 

I am not a huge Van Halen fan either, but I do respect his skills.  Not saying he is the greatest.

Um....Hendrix?  Seriously...your discussion above is missing some big ones!

As for Jimmy Page, he is great, but...stole quite a bit of Stairway to Heaven from an obscure folk band, and (b) is definitely a satinist to the core.  So...do. not. like.

Finally, let me say that I agree with a discussion in a podcast I heard lately.  Which is, what is the standard for a "great guitarist".  Is it the speed at which they play?  The complexity of the music? Or is it mostly subjective?

Conclusion of the podcast, that I agree with, is that it's mostly just a subjective opion.   :cool:

Another point of discussion is that there may be great guitarists running around that just never got discovered or had some bad luck.  So by definition, we are speaking of popular music that has a wide audience.

Its a lot like discussions of GOAT QBs...a lot of it is opinion.  But in the case of GOAT QBs, there are stats and wins, etc, so its arguably less subjective.   :biggrin:

Its also less likely that great athletes are undiscovered.

For that matter I don't see Ronnie Montrose mentioned very often. (there is kind of a theme in all the names I have mentioned). It goes back to the Winter brothers who were highly influenced by Muddy Waters. It was their versatility that caused them to suffer a musical identity crisis. If Edgar Winter had focused on one crowd instead of jumping between styles they would not have been so underrated. They would have had a lot more material that everyone would have heard. But those guys were musical geniuses. Ruff was one of the best drummers I've ever seen and Dan Hartman went on to produce music also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1uMVQOxMlQ Listen 'til the end. Love BTO.