Shawn Lane - must freaking see this !!!!

[speed monkey]

This is just insane.....what a loss.

When he was really young:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRJASxBRITY

And when he was doing things to a stock Strat in a test sesh that will make everybody re-evaluate whats capable on that guitar....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX_KUlZ_MHk

FWIW - keep in mind that he was not a "sweeper" but picked 98% of his notes....the Hendrixy stuff in the second clip is nuts.



Steve E

[horns666]

He was fucking awesome!

RIP

[shadowcat]

Nothing more to add, except... this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0gPkt8Y-HI

[neilli]

Amazing! Such a loss....

[horns666]

I bet Jeff Loomis was into this dude..that is some insanely fast legato shit..like a mix of Frank Gambale/Michael Batio!!!

cool patterns!!!

I remeber seeing his memorial in GW on the back cover when he passed..he didn't have a headstone ...just a plain engraved "rock".. He couldn't have alot of money..what a shame!!

You got players such as this that are broke and hacks that are filthy rich!!

[pro-fusion]

Great artists often aren't properly appreciated in their own lifetimes, and I think Lane was such a person.

In any event, most great musicians don't make a lot of money at it--especially the ones who make music that challenges the listener to rise out of their stupor and actually think.

Also, it's worth noting that Shawn, like Allan Holdsworth, achieved his legato effect by NOT picking every note. His left-hand technique was so evolved that he could hammer most of the notes with such precision and make it mix in perfectly with his picked notes. Of course, he was also a monster doublepicker, and he was able to use both styles interchangeably.

As a 750xl player, this particular video of Shawn is very inspiring to me--in his instructional video, he shredded away on a beautiful 750xl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0gPkt8Y-HI&search=shredding%20shawn%20lane%20jazz

Another thing about Shawn was that he was the total musical package--way, way more than just a shredder. His albums with bassist Jonas Hellborg are amazing. One moment he'd be shredding away, and the next he would switch over to some of the most beautiful atmospheric playing you've ever heard. And 95% of it was improvised, since that particular band never went onstage with setlists or even much in the way of set musical pieces. They just let it happen.

Can you tell I'm a fan?

[Guitarnut]

I looked at the links above - awesome. I found the whole REH "Power Solos" video on Google:-

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...n+lane&pl=true

As the player & the video are downloadable, I did.

Insane player - I'm going to have to buy some of his albums.

[horns666]

Pro-Fusion..Your absolutely right IMO!!

I'm a fan of his too..I'm not nearly versed in his work as you are..but I think I need to be..I must pick up his stuff..I don't have any. His releases are pretty obscure and hard to find..I'll check the Bay..

Are there any mail order distros that may stock his stuff..

The only thing I have is the original Guitar Player Mag with him in the spot light column and I had a "Unsung Heroe" Mike Varney compilation LP with him doing that fast crazy stuff called "Haunted house"..it blew me away!!!

Bill

[fuel0707]

And it's interesting to note that there are two versions of "Power of Ten". I think the main difference is real drums on one or two tracks and perhaps a bit of a different mix. But if you are Shawn Lane collector, keep an eye out for the different versions.

[markb]

I have always thought Lane had more natural talent than almost any guitarist that ever lived, bar none. It just came so easy to him. Unbelievable technical ability. His playing occaisionally lacked a bit of drama, as he would just run on and on at top speed without any variation (not always of course), but his command and the complexity of his phrasing is just ridiculous. I can listen to his shredding all day long, unlike most of the extreme shredders. Rusty Cooley could cure insomnia to me, but Lane can hold my attention.

[St.James]

He was definitely badass! Way back in the day I was listening to Scorpions World Wide Live and a friend said he had a tape of a guy that could blow them away. He put the tape in and sure enough it did. It was Shawn Lane...

I almost attended the funeral, but I don't do funerals very well so I didn't go.

Here's the info where's he's at. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=7919310

I may go by there and get some pics of the grave site and submit them to that site.

[Top Jimmy B]

Thanks for those clips, guys! Shawn has always been an inspiring player to me and I had never seen that first clip - WOW!

[pro-fusion]

I'm a fan of his too..I'm not nearly versed in his work as you are..but I think I need to be..I must pick up his stuff..I don't have any. His releases are pretty obscure and hard to find..I'll check the Bay..

Are there any mail order distros that may stock his stuff...

Bill, I'm probably more of a jazzer than you are, so I'm biased more towards his jazz project with Jonas Hellborg, which I feel was his best work. The three main releases he did with Hellborg are "Temporal Analogues of Paradise," "Time Is The Enemy," and "Personae," and you can get all three direct from the record label at www.bardorecords.com, as well as some more whacked-out acoustic stuff he did with Hellborg, which I'm not familiar with but is supposedly in an Indian-fusion style kinda like John McLaughlin's Shakti project.

His original studio sessions with Hellborg appeared on Michael Shrieve's album "Two Doors," which you can get from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CCW2PC/sr=8-1/qid=1145892168/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6487630-3884617?%5Fencoding=UTF8

As for Shawn's solo albums, I've never been quite as fond of those. "Powers of Ten" is a pretty decent album that is mostly in the Satriani instrumental-rock mold, but it doesn't excite me as much as the Hellborg stuff. There are some amazing solos, though, but it's not a total shred-a-thon. He also does some more experimental keyboard stuff on that album that you might not like. Also, it's out of print and just about impossible to find now. I sold my original copy many years ago and then just happened upon a $3.99 copy in the cutout bin at Best Buy about 10 years ago, which I now hold onto dearly, of course.

His other solo album, "The Tri-Tone Fascination" is more interesting to me, even though it's a grab bag of stuff, including some tracks that were originally intended for Powers of Ten. It's not perfect, but it has some very interesting material and great playing on it. Again, not as much shredding as you might think, though. Shawn didn't feel the need to shred over everything, even though he was more than capable of doing so. Currently, that album is the subject of some back-and-forth between his estate and his former manager, but you can still get a copy from the manager's label, I believe.

There's also a live 'official bootleg' album from the "Powers of Ten" tour that is supposed to be great--a much better version of the Powers of Ten material, but I haven't had the chance to hear that, yet.

[horns666]

Pro Fusion, Thank you VERY much on the sources and recommendations, I will take them to heart...

OK now I know where to start...

I will start browsing immediately..I always wanted to get some of his stuff..I wish I did when he was here to support his talants..but I guess that wasn't in the cards..

The only Jazz/fusion/shred stuff at the moment is Spastic Ink which is Ron Jarzombek of Watchtower he's nuts...some Batio stuff , MacAlpines Cab/Planet X, Petrucci's Liguid Tension stuff, and a few other things..ummmm..Allan Holdsworth "metal Fatigue" and Frank Gambale's "eye of the storm"..that's pretty much it ..

I was alot more into fusion some while back when I was cutting my teeth on bass..I'm a good jazz/funk/fusion bassist..I had alot of that vinyl..But I'm just strictly a metal hack guitar player..it just worked out that way.

Thanks man!!!

[NextInLine]

The first video was really amazing while the second was really boring I'm going to check some stuff from him, thanks for sharing...