Author Topic: 5 Reasons why you love your Guitar hero (Read 16954 times)

99_not_out · « **on:** November 23, 2007, 09:58:01 PM »

So we like lists, and I'm not sure if anyones ever done this one before. We all have a guitar hero ... but why? For me ...

Angus Young

1) Tone
Angus sounds like no-one else. An ostensibly simple setup to copy, SG / Marshall, but he puts so much of his body into playing (just watch him doing vibratos) that his sound is uniquely his. And boy what a sound.

2) He makes it look easy
The sign of any master of his art. Watching Angus play makes you think 'I could do that, can't be that hard if he can do it whilst running about all over the stage'. Bollocks, its bloody difficult but he makes it look simple.

3) Ego
Or the lack of. No solos-from-the-mountain-top videos or outspoken views on the rest of the music business, just 5'2" of rock playing legend. Let the guitar do the talking, the way it should be.

4) Energy
A defining moment in my hero worship was when I first saw the Let There Be Rock video (the live concert from Paris). Towards the end, Angus has to go off the stage and breathe from an Oxygen Mask to carry on. Now that is dedication to the cause. No other guitarist I have seen puts quite so much energy into their playing.

5) There are two of him
Angus 1, starts the concert fully clothed. He is Rock.
Angus 2 arrives about half way through the gig. Angus 2 is a cooking-with-gas bare chested RAWK machine, and on a good day will bring a tear to a rock fans eye. Amen.

Woogie · « **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2007, 10:19:59 PM »

Jake E Lee (who would of guessed!!)

1. Writing ability - Whether it's BATM, Rock N Roll Rebel, Killer of Giants through to Devil's stomp or Highwire, Jake knows how to write and write it well.

2. Improvising ability - BATM '84 solo on Suicide Solution or the '86 solo on Killer of Giants, enough said.

3. Tone - Screaming trebley JCM800 rock with Ozzy and warm Marshall crunch with Badland's, what more is needed?

4. Tasteful shred - Adds in some real tastey shred where required aswell as general tastey playing.

5. Underrated - Not many people seem to of heard of him which I kinda like, everyone raves about Slash and Clapton etc but Jake never seems to get a mention.

5 points isn't enough, I could list all of Jake's Godly playing factors all night!! His feeling is also immense. Aswell as his showmanship.

machine_of_god · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2007, 10:46:37 PM »

Dave Matthews ;)

1 - Sings great.

2 - Plays great.

3 - Writes some really off-the-wall, funky music that still sounds accessible and enjoyable to people who don't know what a bone nut is.

4 - Plays it all on acoustic (I would say it's a damn sight more difficult than flabby floppy electric strings).

5 - He's really weird in interviews. Perfect :twisted:

Go on. Bash me. I have my helmet on!

Crazy_Joe · « **Reply #3 on:** November 23, 2007, 10:52:11 PM »

Tony Iommi

1) Tone - Vintage Laney cranked up power! Dark sludgey doomy sound that compliments the music perfectly.

2) Riffage - Riff after riff after riff, this man has been making them for years and he's still busting out some of the best and original riffs nowadays.

3) Normal Guy - He isn't a famous rock star who gets wasted every day, he is a down to earth guy who just loves to play the music.

4) Tasteful Solos - His solos are bluesy and jazz influenced and not just w**kery like the stuff nowadays, he always knows which notes to hit.

5) HE INVENTED HEAVY METAL!!! :twisted:

99_not_out · « **Reply #4 on:** November 23, 2007, 10:52:24 PM »

Quote from: machine_of_god

Go on. Bash me. I have my helmet on!

Hey, never question a mans religion ;)
I also love Final Fantasy but the last thread on that subject got locked!
Vive la difference.

99_not_out · « **Reply #5 on:** November 23, 2007, 10:54:28 PM »

Quote from: Crazy_Joe

5) HE INVENTED HEAVY METAL!!! :twisted:

Can't argue with that. Or point 4) on your list come to think of it 8)

Will · « **Reply #6 on:** November 23, 2007, 11:09:12 PM »

Steve Clark (either him or Jakey, and I agree with Woogie on that)

1)Stlye - Played guitar in a way I find quite unique really, sloppy in some situations (something I can relate to :D) melodic in others, and live he would even do some scale runs. Whatever he did in the studio was ALWAYS the right note, no major showing off

2) Performance - Anyone else watched 'In the rounds, In your face' ? that explains it all

3) Phil Collen - Probably an ok guy, but Steve fitted his stuff around Phil, he let Phil record all the solo's on Hysteria, Phil always seems to show off with triplets and shreddy kind of solo's. Well I think this part would be better titled 'tolerance' as Steve seemed quite versatile

4) Songs - They never sound the same! All capture a different feeling (unlike Mr Phil C and recent Def Lep IMO)

5) He never sold out - Well dying in your prime does prevent that :( a big example would be Zakk, those first two albums, 18 years ago now were good. Steve never got to have his own BLS and turn into a weird biker.

99_not_out · « **Reply #7 on:** November 23, 2007, 11:28:10 PM »

Tasty :) ...

mecca777 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 24, 2007, 10:03:36 AM »

Randy Rhoads!

1) Style

There were guitarists before Randy who mixed up classical and rock influences (Blackmore, Schenker), and guitarists since who've done the same and taken it to the extreme (Yngwie), but Randy remains my favourite guitarist to have blended both worlds. "Diary of a Madman" and "Revelation (Mother Earth)" are particularly excellent examples of his approach to classical arrangements in rock song structures. His best solos are emotional, melodic and totally ripping.

2) Songwriting

I love Iommi's riffs in Black Sabbath, but none of Ozzy's post-Sabbath songwriting partners have done the business with the regularity and consistency that Randy Rhoads did. Everything he did with Ozzy remains a totally essential rock track - no filler.

3) Died in his prime

Of course, the "no filler" aspect is understandable considering that Randy died after only a couple of years in the spotlight; he never had time to grow old and stale, or to have a Damascene conversion to the blues like Gary Moore and Vivian Campbell, resulting in endless boring albums of neo-classically-influenced Robert Johnson covers.

4) Cool guitars

I'm not going to put "tone" on this list because I don't think Randy really had an exceptional guitar tone. It's a bit too raw and trebly for my ears. But the array of awesome guitars he played gives me cold sweats and fevered dreams when I think about them too much. The white Les Paul Custom, the polka-dot Sandoval V, the black Jackson Rhoads prototype, the white Jackson "Concorde" shortfin V... tasty.

5) Inspiration

Randy was the first guitarist I really desperately wanted to play like. I had already been exposed to Hendrix, EVH, Michael Schenker, Satch and Joe Perry as influences when I got into Ozzy, but although I loved their guitar playing it wasn't until I heard "Crazy Train" that I became acquainted with the joy of sitting listening back to the same riff twenty times to catch every nuance, or dissecting the solo licks until I was 100% certain that I was nailing them just like the record. I already knew the guitar was cool, and I loved playing it, but it took Randall William Rhoads to get me truly stoked about the possibilities of playing the electric guitar.

Ratrod · « **Reply #9 on:** November 24, 2007, 12:04:48 PM »

Brian Setzer

1. He's a master of the instrument. He does raise the bar so this also the reason why I hate him sometimes.

2. Writing ability. Not just lyrics and riffs but also horn sections.

3. Creativity. He resurected rockabilly and then combined that with a jump jazz big band and made it work. (He has the Emmy's to prove it)

4. Tone. Not traditional but gritty and dirty on a loud cranked amp. Mind you, it's hard to play solo's as he does with that tone and that guitar.

5. A nice down to earth kinda guy.

Malcolm Young

1. Rhythm. Need I say more?

2. Tone. Again, little overdrive, cranked amp with a growly axe.

3. Stearmanship. Yes, Malcolm is the captain on the AC/DC ship.

4. Simplicity: The gear is simple and so is his playing. He knows what NOT to do.

5. Lack of ego. The ego thing is for Angus but Angus would be helpless without his little brother.

Crazy_Joe · « **Reply #10 on:** November 24, 2007, 01:52:35 PM »

Quote from: mecca777

Randy Rhoads!

Nice choice!

It was either Randy or Tony for me.

donovan.x · « **Reply #11 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:10:55 PM »

Glad to see Steve Clarks name mentioned.
You did steel my number one though. I would say Pete Willis in response but I have never heard anything else but early Lep. I will have to go with...

DIMEBAG.

1. He was Dimebag. he sounded like himself and nobody else. He had a real "Marmite" tone
2. Underated.
3. Great live, I saw Pantera play years ago in Plymouth and Dime just $%&#ing rocked, his intro to "Rise" nearly blew my eardrums
4. Seemed actually like a nice guy. No ego.
5. Always pusing what he could do with that guitar.

noodleplugerine · « **Reply #12 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:44:44 PM »

Dimebag had no ego?

His stage presence was pure ego.

That being said - He was a nice guy, but you can't say he wasn't egotistical on stage.

donovan.x · « **Reply #13 on:** November 24, 2007, 07:04:03 PM »

Dave Lee Roth has ego, DimeBag just rocked. :shock:

Nadz1lla · « **Reply #14 on:** November 24, 2007, 07:05:18 PM »

Aye I know what you mean. On stage he was a pure showman, which does indeed require Ego in large doses. But backstage, he was a really humble guy, down to Earth and always doing stuff for other people more than himself.

I guess Don was on about Dime as a person more than anything in that respect. He was a good lad, and he's probably the guy going for more beers for everyone in Heaven, making sure everyone's catered for and having a good time. :D