ComEnts

I keep meaning to spend some time writing some meaningful entries for this blog, rather than "What I did over the Weekend" stuff. I thought I'd start by running through my favourite guitarists. Now, most of my fave guitarists are pretty obvious - Hendrix, Clapton, Satch, etc. but a few of them may not be, and one or two of them will probably need some explanation, but explain I shall. These are not necessarily the greatest wood-shedders of all time, they are just the ones that made the biggest impression on me and my development as a padwan learner plank-spanker.

The ones you'll know:

Clapton. Not just the solo's; the riffs, the songwriting, the singing, the whole kit and caboodle. "White Room" and "Badge" would be the songs that grabbed me the most. Most people woud say "Layla", but that's a candy-ass rock song if ever I heard one (sorry, Eric) - what's that country section at the end all about, eh? Contrary to popular belief, some of his later stuff rocked too, check out "Bad Love" - AWESOME SOLO.

Dave Gilmour - I don’t need to say anything. The man can put more feeling into one held note (with or without vibrato) than anyone else, ever. When I first heard "Another Brick in the Wall" I realised that all I wanted to do was flap around in pentatonic boxes all day.

Slash - I will say this only once. Everytime I step onto the stage with Yankee Nine Niner, I feel like I am in some small way paying homage to Saul Hudson. The man wrote "Appetite for Destruction", and if he had only ever written "Sweet Child O' Mine", he would still be top rock dog. As a wise man once famously remarked, "Les Paul and Marshall stack in perfect harmony." Enough technique to make jaws drop, but mostly he's about the feel, emotion, and the rocking out. Probably the greatest rock lead guitarist of all time as far as I am concerned.

Ronnie Wood - Small Faces, Stones, you know who he is and why he's up here. I was more into metal (as the other names here will attest to) than rock and roll, but you can't knock Ronnie Wood. He's the reason why all my heroes started playing guitar. Check out "Stay With Me" by Rod Stewart (Small Faces?), one of the most rocking songs ever.

Keef - see above. Not just for his guitar playing, either. What a cool bloke. There is a theory that a rock guitarist should be 10% about the music and 90% the attitude. Keef is what we all aspire to, or what we should all aspire to, anyway.

Joe Perry - the theme tune to my musical development was the theme music to "Raw Power" (see Rocky George, below somewhere) which was the guitar solo to "Love in an Elevator". I didn't get from rock and roll what I got out of metal until I heard Aerosmith's "Pump". "The Other Side" is probably my fave Perry solo, but his riffing is unbelievable, too. Another guitarist who just looks cool, too. I look at Wood, Richards and Perry and I wish I wasn't built like a front-row forward. In my weaker moments I realise that a serious smack habit is all I need to perfect the "lead guitarist physique", but quite frankly, fuck that.

Carlos Santana - my parents are big on Carlos, and many a childhood car journey was spent listening to "Abraxus". It's interesting that he has always considered himself a blues guitarist, cos most of his material gets pigeon-holed as Latin-jazz, but one thing he certainly knows how to do is to build (and build.. and build! and then build some more!) a solo to a climax. "The Healer" with John Lee Hooker was the track that made me realise what a legend he is (I'd never thought of him as a guitar hero of mine until that point), it made me dig out all my other Carlos CD's and vibe out to them. Preferred him when he played a Les Paul to the PRS (or is it a Patrick Eggle? I should do my research,really) he plays these days, they just have a fatter tone.

Joey Satriani - like Joey Tribiani, but eats less and shreds more. Seriously, the guy is Yoda. He taught (takes deep breath); Steve Vai. I could list more, but that's all you need to know. I thought "Surfing with the Alien" was cool, but "Flying in a Blue Dream" opened my eyes to melody, phrasing, emotional development (see "Bells of Lal part II"). Joe is one of three or four people alive who I would give full "We're not worthy!!" to.

Steve Vai - have you seen the film "Crossroads"? No, not with Britney Spears, the one with Ralph "Karate Kid" Macchio. Best end scene ever. Steve Vai is Jack Butler, the devil's own rock guitarist. Steve does melody and shredding and all those things, but the reason why I like him is because he brings humour and pure emotion into his lines. Check out… anything he's done, really. My faves "The Audience is Listening", "Sisters" and "For the Love of God". Yeah, I do have other platters other than "Passion and Warfare", like "Flex-able" but those are my faves, espesh "..Audience" (".. Little Stevie Vai is going to play guitar for us, class!"). He was Frank Zappa's "Stunt guitarist", too - that alone carves his name in the pantheon of great guitarists.

Kirk Hammett - Metallica's chief fret-worrier. "One", "Fade to Black" and "Unforgiven" highlight the why's and wherefore's of how to construct, develop and deliver a solo. One of the few "metal" guitarists (I don't want to open the "Are Metallica Metal or hard rock?" debate here...) who writes solo's that you can remember and whistle.

Prince - I know that the Purple One is Eric Clapton's favourite guitarist, but he very rarely gets anything like the credit that he should receive. He only lets loose with the occasional solo ("Purple Rain" is still my fave, what a tone! what a solo! What a dude!), but he only writes parts that fit the song, like the opening to "When Doves Cry" which has a bad little mini-shred. He's just an unbelievable musician - I have him here in my "Favourite guitarist" list, but he probably appears on bass, percussion, keyboards, brass and woodwind lists too. "We" - as the expression goes - "Are not worthy".


Lesser Knowns (to the man in the street, at least):

Dimebag Darrell - this guy is about as good as it gets as far as I am concerned. A man who is not afraid of writing an entire riff out of pinched harmonics, truly after my own heart. Wicked songwriter, can do tasteful and melodic, or heavier than Mandy Dingle (I think Pantera were accredited with having invented "The Stomp section"). It's all encapsulated in "This Love", but check out the uber-riffing in "Cemetary Gates". Again, the guy has a sense of humour with his solo-ing (see "Psycho Holiday"), as well as a sense of purpose - it's like he's telling a tale with every shred. Like Vai, you get the impression that he was born great, just a natural talent that you can't teach - you can only learn from.

Rocky George - when I first got an Ibanez guitar (a red RG770) people said it was because I wanted to be Steve Vai, but in actual fact I wanted to be Rocky George, lead guitarist with Suicidal Tendencies. I remember the first time I heard this band. Back in the day (homie) the only real rock that we ever got in the UK was the occasional rock chart on "the Chart Show" on a Sat afternoon, or the once a week church of "Raw Power", which was basically Kerrang! TV on at 4am. Phil Alexander - what a legend! We'd record it and come home from school to watch it, and this was my musical education as a 14yr old. They had one episode where - completely without warning - they played the video to "You Can't Bring Me Down", which is still probably my Now That's What I Call the #1 rock video of all time, ever, part X, in the world. I can't even tell you how cool it is, words flail me. Anyways, they were my fave band for years and years, I had the ST baseball cap and everything. RG was a very jazzy guitarist, a little bit prog with it, but had the greatest delay/feedback/sustain sound ever, could shred till the cows came home and one of the finest musical ears I've ever heard on a "metal" musician. Yes, I still love his work. Listen to "You Can't Bring Me Down" (see the video if you can - hell, just go and buy "Lights, Camera, Revolution!" - one of the best thrash albums of all time), and "Nobody Hears" from "Asleep at the Wheel". I spent more time learning his solo's than I did of any other guitarist. Amazing band, amazing songs, managed to see them live once and almost wet myself with happiness.

Alex Skolnick - Testament's main axeman, another prodigously talented musician and Ibanez endorsee. I saw a video that came with a Metal Hammer magazine, it had Testament in the studio recording "Practice What You Preach", and showed the full guitar solo from the title track, with young Alex Skolnick in full flow. Inspirational. Testament had some brilliant songs, but I lost interest after "Electric Crown", cos there were too many fillers, not enough killers (although the title track from that CD was great!, more quality tunesmanship and shredding!). Check out "The Legacy" for a perfect piece of epic rock balladry, and one of the most tasteful solo's ever.

Zakk Wylde - Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist and all-round wild (sic) man of rock guitar shred-dom. If you want to hear why he is rated about as highly as anyone can be rated, I recommend you check out "No More Tears" by his Ozzness. Zakk may have recorded faster and more complicated solo's, and written heavier riffs, etc. but when I first heard this song I was scarred for life. It's basically just a sick, sick guitar tone (with some spine-chilling slide guitar work) in a song that is constructed and delivered with maximum effect. I hid behind the sofa for a few minutes after I heard it. It's proof that tone is everything. The first Black Label Society album has a track called "I hate Your Guts", which is more Vyv Stanshawe than Vivian Basterd (The Young Ones), another reason to like him as far as I am concerned.

Vernon Reid - the full-package, I think he came from a jazz background, but with Living Colour they played everything and anything and made it sound like they were God's own personal rock band. "Cult of Personality", "Love Rears it's Ugly Head" and "Leave it Alone" to name but a few choice cuts, but see also "Solace of You" for some quality songwriting. Never played a solo unless he had made it all twisted and weird, that's why I love him.

Dave Mustaine - Megadeth's singer, leader and all round rock icon always used top, top men as his lead guitarists, but he's none too shabby a solo-ist himself. I heard a rumour that he has had to stop playing, I hope that isn;t true, but if it is he can rest assured that he is one of the most rock men who ever took breath. He was fired from Metallica for being too rock, that's how cool he is. (I hear he was a nasty drunk, but I prefer the "too rock" image). Even with Marty Friedman ("We're not worthy! we're not worthy!") playing lead, Dave still shone. A very jazzy guitarist at times, his lead break in "In My Darkest Hour" still has the power to make me run and grab a tennis racket to play along with it. I've never been able to imitate this solo, and it holds a special place in my heart because of that. Sometimes I hear a solo and I know how to play it without even picking up a guitar, but this one I've deliberately left alone; some things are sacred. See also "Hangar 18" and "Peace Sells" for some killer lead breaks from DM. Also one of my fave songwriters and riff-churners (Holy Wars - the Punishment Due),even if I get the impression that we'd just hate each other if we ewver met one another. He had the most posters on my bedroom wall as a kid though, a vastly under-rated figure in rock.

Marty Friedman - oriental and eastern melodies combined with rock sensibilities and attitude. Listen to "Holy Wars - the Punishment Due" off Megadeth's "Rust in Peace". 'Nuff said. If that doesn't convince you, then you're stupid; "Foreclosure of a Dream" and "Symphony of Destruction" are songs I've covered in bands before, and I've just about managed to get away with close approximations of his solo's. Probably the cleanest warp-speed guitarist I can think of.

Larry Lalonde - Primus' guitarist started out as a death metaller with a band whose name escapes me for the time being (research? Bah!) and you can tell that he's as technically proficient as can be, but it's the creativity, originality and uniqueness of his playing (and Primus' songs) that put him in this list. The quote that sticks in my mind is Larry's answer to the question "How do you write a Primus solo?";

"Find what key the song is in, and don’t play any of the notes in that key."

Atonal genius can be heard in "Jerry was a Race Car Driver", as well as measured use of effects and tremelo arm-wrestling. Another point I'd make about "Ler" is that with Les playing bass, it's the lower register that tends to make up the melodies and riffs for Primus songs, what LaLonde does/did was embellish and offer melodic support to the basslines, which not only helps to create some weird and funky counterpoint, but also opens up new avenues for dynamic and rhythmic ideas. In short - if the guitar isn’t playing the main riff of a song, then it can do tonnes of other stuff! And Ler was shit-hot at coming up with stuff! Some people think Primus are too weird or cartoony, but I will quite happily do standing backflips over albums like "Frizzle Fry", "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" and "The Brown Album".

Wilko Johnson - I've only heard his stuff with Ian Dury and the Blockheads, but that's good enough for me. The solo in "Hit me with your Rhythm Stick" is everything a solo should be; short, sharp, to the point, and capable of making grown men pull grotesque faces while playing tennis-racket guitar in front of mirrors. His rhythm work is also spot on, but then he did play in the Blockheads, probably the tightest group this country has produced, and he did get to play on some legendary punk/disco/arthouse/rock tracks like "Reasons to be Cheerful Part III". If you haven’t got "New Boots and Panties" - and you like music - go get it.

More to come!