Viv Campbell slams Gibson

[savage]

This reminds me of something that happened a couple years ago at NAMM. I went to the Ibanez booth to meet Steve Vai and the artists scheduled to appear at the booth before him were the Korn guys (Munky and Head). When I arrived there was a line of people waiting and I didn't want to stand in line for an hour only to find out I was waiting for the Korn guys so I asked several people who the line was for and they all stated they were waiting for Vai so I stood there. As we waited for Vai to appear Munky and Head sat there twidling their sharpies as I don't recall anyone stepping up to get an autograph. It was the funniest thing in the world. Everyone there for Vai and no one for Korn guys. Now reading through this thread I'm thinking it illustrates an important point which is Vai is probably an unkown to the general masses but VERY well known among guitarists. Korn attracts the young people and my be more on current radio but they are looked down upon by the musicians. Which do you think sells more guitars for Ibanez Vai or Korn? Which would your guitar company endorse first?

good story with a great point!

[roodyrocker]

I agree with that, but I didn't here too much rhythm playing/riff writing that I found inspiring either. A lot of it was the same old bar chord type stuff (Nirvana recycling a Boston riff for example) that we'd heard many times before...just packaged with more anger and angst and a different vocal and production style. Then there were the drop D wonders playing their single finger root/5th power chords all day long...not too inspiring to me.

That said, music is subjective and I'm sure I like my fair share of what others would consider go garbage...I don't have to respect the player to appreciate a cool song. My point is aimed at the guitar playing specifically, not the overall package.

I agree Rupe. Most of those guys tune down to low W and think they are a Metal band. To me they sound like beginers. The Grunge movement which prides itself on supposedly killing 80's metal should take a good look at itself because they sounded AND looked worse than any of the spandex wearing lipstick and eyeliner sporting a poofy hairdoo bands ever did! The dressed down look was extreme and as Gene Simmons once said about them: You're a rock star, dress like one. You can't tell the artist from the crowd And in my opinion it wasn't just the guitars, even the vocals are horrible. Curt Cobain has no business in front of a mic compared to Brad Delp. Now THAT is a singer! Anyway, its a good thing Grunge didn't last long. Those guys weren't bad guiatar plays because they didn't do solos they were so bad they couldn't do solos. They just used it as an excuse to claim they were being artistic. Anyway, enough rambling on my part

[TheUntalentedOne]

Why does a song have to have a solo ?

[roodyrocker]

Why does a song have to have a solo ?

It doesn't have to have a solo. I'm just saying they use this as an excuse because they simply can't play play one. There is a difference between an artist not putting one in because they feel their song doesn't need one vs. they don't put it in because they can't play one. I'm of the opinion that the reason new music doesn't have one isn't because its not needed but rather that these new "rock stars" can't play one. Anyway, even a solo wouldn't save most of the new crap out there anyway

[TheUntalentedOne]

It doesn't have to have a solo. I'm just saying they use this as an excuse because they simply can't play play one. There is a difference between an artist not putting one in because they feel their song doesn't need one vs. they don't put it in because they can't play one. I'm of the opinion that the reason new music doesn't have one isn't because its not needed but rather that these new "rock stars" can't play one. Anyway, even a solo wouldn't save most of the new crap out there anyway

I agree but does the average listener notice how technical the guitarist is or the song . I think the best rock players have the best balance between song and chops . That's why I don't like Malmsteen . No dynamics .

Back to Viv Campbell . Now he has dynamics , melody , aggression and can shred when he "needs" to . I just listened to Stand Up and Shout , Holy Diver , Rainbow In The Dark and Don't Talk To Strangers . Those songs have all the above . And he was just 19-20 years old . Very similar to Gary Moore's rock playing . Nuno has that as well ............ he must have Irish ancestors to be able to play like that

Anyway Viv is a great player . Would love to have a tiny bit of his talent .

[VitaminG]

I thought there were some good players in the 90s. That dude that played on Little Miss Can't Be Wrong - I thought that was some cool rhythm playing and featured a cracking little solo too. Got a LOT of airplay.

Jerry Cantrell.

The solo on FNM's Epic wasn't much, but Kim Thayil snuck in a meedley meedley bit at the end.

The dude in Tonic would slip some cool bits into songs too.

The Pearl Jam guys played a lot of blues rock inspired solos, despite everyone claiming that no one in the whole grunge movement was playing any. More like, Cobain didn't play any and he was the face of the movement, so since Cobain doesn't play any, nobody does.

Most of the music didn't do much for me, but there were still some cool stuff going on, here and there. Just not in the spotlighted solo, down on one knee with a leg extended while lead singer of former metal legends with moussed up hair, wearing sparkly Tammy Faye outfits dragged lead guitarist around the stage...type of way.

[Endrik]

This reminds me of something that happened a couple years ago at NAMM. I went to the Ibanez booth to meet Steve Vai and the artists scheduled to appear at the booth before him were the Korn guys (Munky and Head). When I arrived there was a line of people waiting and I didn't want to stand in line for an hour only to find out I was waiting for the Korn guys so I asked several people who the line was for and they all stated they were waiting for Vai so I stood there. As we waited for Vai to appear Munky and Head sat there twidling their sharpies as I don't recall anyone stepping up to get an autograph. It was the funniest thing in the world. Everyone there for Vai and no one for Korn guys. Now reading through this thread I'm thinking it illustrates an important point which is Vai is probably an unkown to the general masses but VERY well known among guitarists. Korn attracts the young people and my be more on current radio but they are looked down upon by the musicians. Which do you think sells more guitars for Ibanez Vai or Korn? Which would your guitar company endorse first?

what gives you the idea that those fags in line waiting for autographs are real musicians... specially in NAMM ????????????????

[Endrik]

Kim Thayil for example plays absolutely disgusting guitar solos... but I don't think he is a bad guitarist... not at all... Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" is just a brilliant song with brilliant guitar parts.... except for the solo

[Bengal]

Which do you think sells more guitars for Ibanez Vai or Korn? Which would your guitar company endorse first?

I would almost bet that Korn moves more guitars than Vai. Korn moved the 7 string market when Vai couldn't give them away. I don't think I'm on too thin of a limb by saying that.

Which company would "my" company edorse first? Korn. They move more albums than Vai ever thought about moving and they sell to kids with parents with a bunch of disposable income.

Vai attacts guys like me who can't afford to pay attention.

And you made a comment about grunge guys looking worse than hair metal guys. You can't be serious? Have you seen Pretty Boy Floyd? Show me a grunge band that looked worse than that. Seriously. Show me.

And grunge singers not being able to sing. Are you kidding there too? What about Chris Cornell? Great pipes on that guy. The dude for Candlebox had a good voice too. So for every Kurt Cobain I can find a Chris Cornell to trump you on that.

And just because they DON'T play solos doesn't mean that they CAN'T play solos. Don't fool yourself on that one either. I've heard Head shred, and he can shred. The dudes from Slipknot are MONSTER soloists. Check out the new album if you don't believe me.

I get it that you are jaded because your kind of metal was played out. But don't be mad at grunge, be mad at Hair Metal. They are the ones that became a fuckin' joke. Dudes like Kip Winger and Mike Tramp made young kids want to puke, can't say I blame them.

Hair Metal is to blame, not grunge.

[442w30]

Dimebag?

I would say he "came out" of the 90's.

Just because a guitarist doesn't play solos doesn't mean they are not playing guitar. I dig solos too but for fucks sake, dudes like CC Deville and Snake Sabo and Jeff LaBar and Vinnie Vincent and That douchebag from Pretty Boy Floyd pretty much ran the solo into the ground.

Not only was the "grunge" movement against the look, it was against the sound. They wouldn't have got so popular of metal hadn't become a complete joke.

Who here thinks James Taylor is a good guitarist? I've never heard him shred.

(I can't stand James Talyor myself, just the only example I could think of)

So you slam Grohl because he doesn't play solos? Pretty fuckin' narrow look at music.

Dimebag?
He was 100% our of the 1980's. He was a late one though, as his influences were VH and Kiss, Pantera was kicking around widdly solos and hair metal before 1990. Then new singer, new look, new alum and WHAM - Classic Pantera that "transformed" Pantera for the 1990s.

Grohl is an exceptional songwriter. I actually have the opinion that as much as I disliked Nirvana, Grohl likely made that band work.
He plays every instrument in that band, has great hooks and understands melody. Has decent sense of lyric writing. Sings well unlikely Cobain did and apparently has few of his issues. Foo fighters is 20X the band that Nirvana was on a multitude of levels.

[Bengal]

Dimebag?
He was 100% our of the 1980's. He was a late one though, as his influences were VH and Kiss, Pantera was kicking around widdly solos and hair metal before 1990. Then new singer, new look, new alum and WHAM - Classic Pantera that "transformed" Pantera for the 1990s.

Who knew about Dime in 1988?

Who knew about Dime in 1991?

I'd say he's a 90's guitarist. He might be a "child of the 80's" but he came to the forefront in the 90's.

That was the point, someone said no good guitarists came out of the 90's. I still state that Dime came out of the 90's. Regardless of what music he listened to.

[Bengal]

This is what happens...



...when you take fashon advice from this guy.



hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.

[442w30]

I guess we knew about them in 1988 for sure here in TX.

Skip to 2:08 here and you can tell he IS an 80s guitarist, came out of the 80s, he transformed well to a 90s guitarist, but his addiction to the solo proves he wasn't OF the 90s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzCRdYAChM&feature=related

I wouldn't argue that he's not a 90s guitarist too, but he is not by definition a 90s guitarist - quite an exception in style, etc.

90s=guitar as a percusion instrument tuned down in my opinion ala Korn.

Just an opinion, FWIW, YMMV, no warranty expressed or implied, Offer subject to change, not available in all areas, see dealer for details.

[Bengal]

We are debating two different things.

He is an "80's type" guitarists, yes.

He became popular in the 90's. Hence my saying he's a 90's guitarist. No one really knew who he was outside of Texas in the 80's.

So I still say he's a 90's guitarist.

Hell, both Munky and Head have said they were inspired by Steve Vai. You can tell because they both played UV's back in the day. Inspiration doesn't dictate style.

But I see what you are saying. I still stand behind my comment that Dime is a 90's guitarist.

[savage]

.

Oh you got to be kidding me!
they really dont deserve to have the word "boy" in their name