Went to Guitarmageddon last night

[PowerTube]

It was a bit different than I expected. For one thing, it was held back in the pro sound room. They kept a disco ball spinning during the entire thing. There were six players; the 1st and 2nd place winners from three previous nights.

Observations:

1. Only one player really sounded good, and he wasn't the best I've ever heard. During his 2-minute "freelance" section, he almost played Eruption, sort of played Cliffs of Dover, and somewhat played Eugene's Trick Bag from Crossroads.

2. The Line 6 Flextone HD sounded much better than the Marshall JCM-2000, BUT..... this was only because the guys who played through the Marshall were using the amp's own distortion. It would have sounded MUCH better with a good pedal in front of it.

3. One kid was absolutely painful to listen to. Bad tone, off key, missed notes. I couldn't help but to think that if he was one of the winners on one night, I would have hated to hear the other guys.

4. All but one guy was very blues-based. No neoclassical at all, unless you count the snippet from Crossroads which wasn't played very well.

I may just have to participate next year. I would probably get slaughtered in a regional, but the local talent here shouldn't be much of a problem. I might do it just for fun.
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[PowerTube]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

Oh, I almost forgot: I didn't realize that they allowed people to play Guitar Center's guitars off the rack for the competition. [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

The first guy to play used a Les Paul Custom which still had the Green Tag Sale sticker hanging from the headstock! It was on sale for $3009.00! The sound guy said to another employee, "Hey, man, go take the tag off for him."

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[Swillmaster]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

Anyone go to the La Mesa, CA store finals? A buddy of mine was one of the finalists, but I wasn't able to attend and haven't heard what happened.
He's a great shredder but sometimes the "judges" don't appreciate neoclassical. And, he uses a Malmsteen Strat... I told him to wear his baggy pants and backwards hat for balance. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Swillmaster]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

Update: Shredder's Rule!
My friend won last nights contest for San Diego. I guess that you don't have to tune down to C to win these things. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I want to attend the regionals in L.A., but why do they hold these things on Tuesday??

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

I judged the finals last night in Crestwood, MO. It was cool, 2nd night of judging for me. There was one guy that's really a good player, but NO feeling, all mechanics and stiff as a board, he didn't do anything for me at all. Just sweep sweep sweep, yeh, it's good, but if you have no soul or feelings coming through, what's the point?

Anyway, a VERY cool blues/jazz player won, as soon as he started playing, he just had the room goin, man, it was very cool and won me over in a big way. Black guy, playing the blues, grunting, moaning, doing a Chet Atkins type thing with a super cool picking technique.

After the contest, we all stepped in the sales office, tallied up the votes and there was a "TIE" between him and the "mechanic" 219 I believe. If any of you have judged this deal, you'd know, it's virtually impossible to come wo a tie, but, it happend. Anyway, we gave them another 2 minutes and "Dude" ( Shelby is his name, plays guitar for "The Black Hillbillies" with "Baby" Al Caldwell ) just killed the room, everyone was diggin that unique style.

Anyway, it was a great experience and I enjoyed both nights of judging.

Pat

[ March 12, 2003, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: Strangletooth ]

[Swillmaster]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

That's cool, Pat. You judged with an open mind, accepted any style, and picked the more well rounded player. I'm just happy that my friend won and bagging on the nu metal crowd a bit.

[ March 12, 2003, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: Swillmaster ]

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

I sat in and pervaied the winners of the last three weeks. Man were they good. One guy played flamenco style type of stuff, then went into a two hand hammer on of Linus and Lucy( The peanuts theme) Then breaks into some Reggie Wooten style stuff. All this on a ES335. He was good but not polished. It couldve been nerves or whatever.
The guy that won did a series of neoclassical stuff into a flamenco run, into a shred fest and flurry of clean articulate notes. The guy is really good and he will probably win the regoinals
at Joe's on Weed street. He used a MM Steve Morse
and used it to its fullest extent.
Gil

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

Gil,

Can you believe the tie? Pretty bizarre aye?

Pat

[sevser]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

What is the grand prize anyhow?

[Ace]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

Free guitar lessons from me!!

[Ace]

Re: Went to Guitarmageddon last night

Also I think I remember seeing our regional(Los Angeles) was a Line 6 Vetta full stack, and the Grand Prize was like a $7000 GC shopping spree. I was asked by the employees at the GC in El Toro to compete last year, but that just shows how ignorant they are about guitar playing. Yeah, I can play better than those kids that turn up their cheap amps all the way and butcher Green Day songs, but you KNOW some guy is gonna come out of his garage with a '59 gold top and put you right in your place and make you feel stupid for competing. Did they still have those crappy backing tracks this year? Playing to that stuff would just be too boring. Like listening to anyone OTHER than Yngwie on one of his earlier albums. Just simple chord progressions for someone to masturbate to.