Wanna know what pisses me off?

[Jayster]

I contribute every April 15th. and some other days too.

erm, never mind... It will go in the political section!

[lerxstcat]

Ive never understood peoples fascination with Zepplin. I dont notice anything spectacular in their music so I just dont get it. And, ooooh, heres a good one, EVH is only thought of like he is cause he was 1st. Any one of any of us can name a dozen other guitarist that are as good or better than him and dont get the attention he does. Piffle and poo I say!

I'm guessing you weren't around when they came out 41 years ago, to see the effect they had on the rock world of their time. EVH wasn't the first nor was he the best even in his own time and genre either. Uli Roth and Jan Akkerman smoked his ass as a pure guitarist.

But it's not just about pure guitar playing; it's about playing, songwriting and charisma. Zeppelin were the real progenitors of crotch rock, and if you used a Zep album to seduce a young lady in the 70s you know why they are in the top of the rock pantheon.

[tonemonster]

I am probably going to get flamed for this, but I do not understand the fascination with Uli Roth. sure he is a good guitar player, but where is the music? it all sounds like fusion garbalygoop to me. Lerxst, you mentioned playing, songwriting and charisma....... I see the playing in Uli, but I cant see ANY songwriting worth a damn, and no charisma. he looks like a burn out hippie from a commune with the worst skullet in history. I have a friend that just worships Uli, and for the life of me I cannot understand why, I never have. I just dont see the guitar god in him that other people see.

[jgcable]

I am probably going to get flamed for this, but I do not understand the fascination with Uli Roth. sure he is a good guitar player, but where is the music? it all sounds like fusion garbalygoop to me. Lerxst, you mentioned playing, songwriting and charisma....... I see the playing in Uli, but I cant see ANY songwriting worth a damn, and no charisma. he looks like a burn out hippie from a commune with the worst skullet in history. I have a friend that just worships Uli, and for the life of me I cannot understand why, I never have. I just dont see the guitar god in him that other people see.

Wow. I just don't know how to respond to this except with..
You are certainly in the small minority with the above opinion. You did leave out a few words to describe Uli though..
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Master
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Inspiration
I suppose Hendrix was just a burned out drug addict and SRV was just another "garbalygoop" blues player.
Tisk tisk. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[RacerX]

I'm guessing you weren't around when they came out 41 years ago,

Rich, you're old

or

"You were takin' Zeppelin in Khe Sanh when I was crappin' in my hands and rubbin' it on my face."

[Robert Hendrix]

You are certainly in the small minority with the above opinion.

You can add me to that small minority. I don't begrudge anyone their heros and influences, but as for me, Uli has never done anything that's turned my head.
I agree with Lerx, with Eddie, it was more about the fact that he was a pioneer than the fact that he did anything better than anyone. The same could be said for Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Beck, Townsend, SRV and any of the other "influential" guitarists of their day.
What struck me about Van Halen long before Eddie's abilities was the total package. I saw them open for Black Sabbath (yes, THAT tour) when I was a kid and I can tell you that the show itself was a spectacle. It was a time when everybody in the band was on top of their game and hungry. To this day, that show sticks in my head when I think of the biggest party I've ever been to.

[tonemonster]

Wow. I just don't know how to respond to this except with..
You are certainly in the small minority with the above opinion. You did leave out a few words to describe Uli though..
Icon
Master
Hero
Legend
Inspiration
I suppose Hendrix was just a burned out drug addict and SRV was just another "garbalygoop" blues player.
Tisk tisk. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I cant help it. Its just that way for me. I have a friend that just worships Uli, and he raved about him for years before I heard him. I was expecting the be all and end all of guitar when I heard him, and when I heard him it was just................like lukewarm oatmeal with no brown sugar or butter in it.....not very exciting. I am not taking anything away from Uli, I mean I understand alot of folks think he is great, and thats fine. but its all personal opinion. Personally I wouldnt go across the street to see him if he was playing for free. Everyone loves to play the Yngwie sucks and Uli is god game too. Like Uli fuckin invented classical music. give me a break. If you want to worship Uli, thats cool, but you dont need to slam Yngwie because he plays in a similar style. And dont hate Yngwie just because he was more commercially succesful and wrote some good songs, lived a rockstar lifestyle and got into the money and fame and chicks thing. Yea Yngwie had the major endorsements, the magazine interviews, all the attention. so what? but people LOVE to hate him for it. I hate the whole "yea but this guy did it first" attitude. I dont care if the Wright brothers flew first, it dont make them the best pilots ever. Same with athletes. the old "Muhammad Ali could have kicked Mike Tysons ass" routine. its just useless arguement over subjective matter.

SRV is a good blues player, but he was somewhat of a novelty I think. The white bluesman bringing blues to the mainstream radio scene. Eddie.....sure he was different, innovative and had a great band with a huge energy, but he is also like a turtle stuck on his back and cant get out of his shell or style. he is stuck there. as far as Hendrix goes, #1 he needed to tune his frickin guitar. I found his style as a musician more impressive than his guitar playing. His singing, songs, just general musical style. There is one song Hendrix did that captures more vibe than any song I have ever heard, its his cover of Dylan's "All along the watchtower". that fuckin song has mojo.

and thinking about that song as long as I am rolling I might as well say this too...... Neil Young is the worst fucking guitar player in the world, period. his singing is outright terrible too. just fuckin horrid. I have heard 13 year old kids attempting their first bar chord in a music store than sound better than Neil Young. His singing sounds like a pig stuck in a barbwire fence. What in the hell is the fascination with this burn out loser?

[Robert Hendrix]

SRV is a good blues player, but he was somewhat of a novelty I think. The white bluesman bringing blues to the mainstream radio scene. Eddie.....sure he was different, innovative and had a great band with a huge energy, but he is also like a turtle stuck on his back and cant get out of his shell or style. he is stuck there. as far as Hendrix goes, #1 he needed to tune his frickin guitar. I found his style as a musician more impressive than his guitar playing. His singing, songs, just general musical style. There is one song Hendrix did that captures more vibe than any song I have ever heard, its his cover of Dylan's "All along the watchtower". that fuckin song has mojo.

and thinking about that song as long as I am rolling I might as well say this too...... Neil Young is the worst fucking guitar player in the world, period. his singing is outright terrible too. just fuckin horrid. I have heard 13 year old kids attempting their first bar chord in a music store than sound better than Neil Young. His singing sounds like a pig stuck in a barbwire fence. What in the hell is the fascination with this burn out loser?

+1,000,000,000 Dylan and young were good songwriters, but I could never stand to listen to either one of them. I use to joke about the best songs they did were songs that other artists RE did. Hendrix was just sloppy. The stuff he did was ground breaking, but since then, others have taken what he did, cleaned it up and have been recognized for it.
The biggest thing about SRV is that he gave straight blues a sound that nobody had ever heard before or is likely to hear again. He was an amazing talent but just like you said, he was kind of a novelty.

[Shawn Lutz]

Uli is an excellent musician first and guitar player second....everyday Joe's just dont "get" his music. If you wanta just bang your head and be a moshpiyt idiot then you'll not like him. He's not going for pop metal or even attempting to be commercial in any sense, Uli does what Uli wants to do becasue Uli can do it all

The only thing I really HATE about Uli, is when he does his Hendrix-type of bullshit....

[lerxstcat]

I am probably going to get flamed for this, but I do not understand the fascination with Uli Roth. sure he is a good guitar player, but where is the music? it all sounds like fusion garbalygoop to me. Lerxst, you mentioned playing, songwriting and charisma....... I see the playing in Uli, but I cant see ANY songwriting worth a damn, and no charisma. he looks like a burn out hippie from a commune with the worst skullet in history. I have a friend that just worships Uli, and for the life of me I cannot understand why, I never have. I just dont see the guitar god in him that other people see.

I don't know how old you are, but there is an historical perspective that comes into play. Same with Hendrix who you also slagged. Point being that in both cases no one else was really doing what they did at the time they made their marks. You might say that Blackmore had some classical influences, but not nearly to the extent that Uli did. The only othe3r ROCK player I can think of contemporary to the 70s Scorpions who had similar chops to Uli was Jan Akkerman of Focus, but he was much more of a jazzy phrasing player. Of course Focus had one more hit than 70s Scorps too.

As for Yngwie, I love his playing, he certainly took it up a notch, but what he gains in speed he loses in nuance and feeling. Not that he CAN'T play with feel - he surely CAN. But most of the time he doesn't.

And as for saying that EVH is like a turtle on is back, unable to get out of his shell, that also applies to Yngwie. He has two modes, neoclassical etudes and fake Rainbow songs. I like that about him, but there it is.

To me, Uli has written some great songs. But if you're listening to hear him out-velocity your favorite shredder, well that's not the point for him. I personally think the Firewind album is almost all killer and no filler. Great songs and playing on that album of all his solo stuff. And the Scorpions became ordinary without him. They had their great commercial success without him - by lowering the common denominator and dumbing down their music. Power to them, I am glad they all have secure retirements now. And Matthias is a good guitarist too, just not what Uli is. It is strange that Matthias has been in the band for 32 years now, though!

[tonemonster]

See, I think just the opposite. I like Matthias' playing far more than Uli's. Matthias has alot of character in his chops to me. I think he fits the band's musical style very well, and just has alot of melody & style. to me Uli just wails on and on with no real direction. just shredding. I am not saying Uli is a bad player, I just dont like his music or his style. Again, its just personal opinion. what I say or think is only an opinion. If I had to listen to Yngwie or Uli, I choose Yngwie all day long. Why? I like his style and I like the songs. sure they are cheesey viking rock, but its cool in cheesey fun way. I like the stuff. he certainly can play with feeling, and maybe I just choose to see it where some folks just write him off as a shredder. I think his Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar in E flat CD is nothing short of brilliant. shows he is not only a guitarist, but a composer. shows his truly ability as a musician to have scored an entire orchestra.

Its all opinion and dont really mattern cuz at the end of the day, we all wipe our ass the same way.

[jgcable]

See, I think just the opposite. I like Matthias' playing far more than Uli's. Matthias has alot of character in his chops to me. I think he fits the band's musical style very well, and just has alot of melody & style. to me Uli just wails on and on with no real direction. just shredding. I am not saying Uli is a bad player, I just dont like his music or his style. Again, its just personal opinion. what I say or think is only an opinion. If I had to listen to Yngwie or Uli, I choose Yngwie all day long. Why? I like his style and I like the songs. sure they are cheesey viking rock, but its cool in cheesey fun way. I like the stuff. he certainly can play with feeling, and maybe I just choose to see it where some folks just write him off as a shredder. I think his Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar in E flat CD is nothing short of brilliant. shows he is not only a guitarist, but a composer. shows his truly ability as a musician to have scored an entire orchestra.

Its all opinion and dont really mattern cuz at the end of the day, we all wipe our ass the same way.

You mentioned how EVH was a pioneer. Good thing he got to listen to Rick Derringer before he formed Van Halen because Rick was doing hammer ons, pull offs and all kinds of legato whammy bar stuff about 5 years prior to EVH becoming main stream. Technically.. I knew how to do hammer ons ala Eruption before Eruption was ever played on the radio. How??? I saw Rick Derringer live several times up close.
BTW... I love Mathias's technique and phrasing too but keep in mind.. if it wasn't for Uli there would be no Mathias or either Schenker or Malmsteen or any other neo classical player and if it wasn't for Hendrix there would be no Uli. It goes on and on. I see your points though. I love so many guitar players. I just love Uli's effortless technique and his phrasing. He plays with so much feel and often he sacrifices speed. His vibrato and overall approach to the guitar is very unique.

[lerxstcat]

You mentioned how EVH was a pioneer. Good thing he got to listen to Rick Derringer before he formed Van Halen because Rick was doing hammer ons, pull offs and all kinds of legato whammy bar stuff about 5 years prior to EVH becoming main stream. Technically.. I knew how to do hammer ons ala Eruption before Eruption was ever played on the radio. How??? I saw Rick Derringer live several times up close.
BTW... I love Mathias's technique and phrasing too but keep in mind.. if it wasn't for Uli there would be no Mathias or either Schenker or Malmsteen or any other neo classical player and if it wasn't for Hendrix there would be no Uli. It goes on and on. I see your points though. I love so many guitar players. I just love Uli's effortless technique and his phrasing. He plays with so much feel and often he sacrifices speed. His vibrato and overall approach to the guitar is very unique.

Uli has a master class on Youtube where he describes some of his techniques, one of which is to alter his pick attack from 90 degrees to 45 degrees to get more warmth. When I saw what he did it was pretty similar to the way Marty Friedman holds a pick, though not as noticeable visually.

But I guess youngsters have no understanding or at least concern of the role of history in all this - like they have no idea of a world without 500 channels on TV or Internet or cell phone either. All of those things just ARE for them, they didn't live through a time before it existed. We did, John, because we are OLD MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!

Now pass me that Geritol, and let's RAWK!!!!

[VitaminG]

any guitarist that has ever been featured in a guitar mag, or any mag (or pamphlet) for that matter, flat out SUCKS! If a band has succeeded in getting a label to sign them, even their own independent label, then they are SELLOUT DOUCHEBAG FUCKS@!!! They are all shit. My kid sister can play better and she doesn't have any hands. I only listen to guitarists that are so truly underground you have never heard of them. And if you have heard of them, I don't like them anymore. Guitarists who are so groundbreaking they've come up with techniques I can't even prano..prenun...pronao... say out loud. And if you discover any of these guitarists, you will be so truly astounded that you'll either want to sell all your gear and take up canasta, or you will be inspired to head back to the woodshed even though you have no chance of ever playing anywhere near as good.... until I declare them COMPLETE & UTTER SHIT because you now know about them. Oh, and don't give me all that whiny old fart "you don't understand because you weren't there", "no one before them was doing", "brought an obscure technique to popular view" BULLSHIT justification that you dinosaurs constantly bring to the table. If these guitarists were so VISIONARY they should have had the foresight to ensure that no other guitar players would be able to surpass their technique

[Jayster]

Gary ~