Al Di Meola doing Santana-ish stuff

[Endrik]

I know that many think that Santana's music, specially his leads are too repeative and whatnot.

But do you think Al Di Meola (who is one of the most versatile musicians ever) has more to say in guitar driven Latin pop wich have videos of chicks dancing in a club and all that stuff?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIWsNCO3NHw

[Norton]

That's just one video. And I like that song.

[paris is burning]

Anyway ya cut it "Big Al" a bad ass..Thanks for the clip

[Endrik]

I like this stuff anyway (huge Latin nut lol), this tune has great hooks and grooves, and everything Al does is badass in my book.

But when Santana does it some people seem to complain (I personally dig Santana).... I want to see if the reaction is the same with Al....

[pro-fusion]

This one's ok, but it's really just him guesting on that singer's album, though they are credited together on it. Al's own recent work is more in line with what you'd expect from him.

[Norton]

I like this stuff anyway (huge Latin nut lol), this tune has great hooks and grooves, and everything Al does is badass in my book.

But when Santana does it some people seem to complain (I personally dig Santana).... I want to see if the reaction is the same with Al....

That's just one album.

Santana overdoes that thing. That's the reason he gots flamed.


And actaully, the real problem with santana is, the same pattern again and again. He's not even a decent player in my book.

[thetroy]

That video is great regardless of the guitar playing.

[missionguitars1]

Di Meola is a god, not afraid to move from electric to acoustic, flamenco to fusion - one of the best in my book. If you don't have "Friday Night in San Francisco" yet, I highly recommend it...in-fucking-sane...

Santana, on the other hand, really hasn't advanced his game since the 70's. I have all his stuff from pre-1980, but I don't feel that anything he's done in the last 25 years is really "groundbreaking"...

Just my .02...

[Endrik]

Al is the kind of fellow who is capable of playing anything.

That being said when you compare this tune to some of the Santana's tunes... is there much difference in your opinion?

If you try to do it differently than it's not Latin pop anymore. It's the style that Carlos has chosen to do... Latin blues/pop/rock. And there are certain chord progressions (usually 3 different ones) and certain scales and melodies (from Flamenco) wich are the foundation of latin music. You don't have a lot of options because there are only certain amount of elements wich sound latin. It's not like jazz where you can play in every mode and whatnot. There are bazillion of different rhythms in latin music though.

When you listen to old school blues greates. They are basically doing the same stuff all time. Jimmy Reed never played diminished scales over polyrhythms.... he did his own stuff all the time... he used his simple pentatonic licks all over again.... wich were part of his signature sound and style.

Carlos plays his own signature licks.... but his music has varied a lot over the time. Very psychedelic when he first started, then he has done some classic blues stuff, some jazzy albums... now he focuses more on latin pop. At times he does something totally different.... like the Santana Brothers album.

[Bert]

I'm surprised at all the Santana bashing around here. Sit down and try to learn some of his stuff (i've been learning Europa recently) -- he's got some really cool & unique riffs, but what really makes it Santana is the phrasing, quite unlike any other player out there. Al DiMeola is great, but his playing comes across pretty dry and boring on that song. You could substitute most any jazz fusion guitarist in his place and it would sound about the same.... IMO of course.

[hippietim]

Al played more unique runs in that song than Santana has done in his entire career.

[Bert]

Just a few notes from Santana would still be more exciting than 1000 more of those bland runs

[DC_rhoads82]

Thanks for the clip....good song.

[Endrik]

You could substitute most any jazz fusion guitarist in his place and it would sound about the same.... IMO of course.

very few "fusion" players sound like Al these days.... very very few... most of the dudes are trying to be Gambale and Holdsworth... weird scales over weird chords and whatnot... Al's a lot more melodic and rhythmic... latin style.

[hippietim]

Just a few notes from Santana would still be more exciting than 1000 more of those bland runs

Santana is the king of bland runs. He is the most predictable guitar player in history. I already know what the guitar work sounds like on his next 10 albums. The only thing that ever changes with his music is the singer and the album cover.