Hi all, As we all know... Ed Van Halen died today. He revolutionized guitar in way that arguably, to date, no one has quite been able to replicate the way in which we view that this instrument potentially can be used to create awe inspiring musical acrobatics. Who, we ask, is capable of doing something similar, currently? Obviously, Ed can't and will never be replaced or forgotten, but are there players out there who can contend for a similar remembrance when they expire? Poast modern marvel guitar players ITT. PS: Thanks, Ed. All my heroes listed YOU as one of THEIR heroes; ergo, you are also my hero.
Not one other living guitarist can't be replicated. Ed and Hendrix are the only ones that cannot not be replicated ..mostly Ed.
A better question might be: Where is there left to go with the guitar? What next is to be done? Is there anything left to "invent"? There are 12 notes. Nothing "new' under the sun. Is there anything new for the guitar? Who is doing it?
They said we were out of new places to go in music 200 years ago. All possible note combinations by that time had been written and rehashed a thousand times over. That's probably close to the truth But the fact that there are only 12 notes (12 whole steps in western music as we use it) is only a tiny part of the equation. Time signatures, tempo, tone and timbre, style, dynamics, instrumental arrangement, musical piece arrangement....all these things are qualities which exponentially expand possible variation. I see it as almost infinite. The tiniest change in just one element can completely change the face of a piece of music. Listen to Beethoven played by the Berlin symphony, then listen to the Moscow symphony do the same piece. It's two different worlds. Imagine Robert Plant singing Frank Sinatra's hits and putting his own twist on them. Imagine Pee-wee Herman singing Pavarotti Narrowing my point down to a single instrument, all the above apply. In addition to this, each generation is a new audience with fresh and naive ears. The next big guitar legend? I think the trick in our time is figuring out how to rise above the swarming cloud of uber musicians born of modern supercommunication. Everywhere you look there are 9-year-olds who can shred like the devil. We've ended up with thousands of tiny audiences instead of one big one. We have splintered our music into subgenres and Sub Sub Sub Sub sub genres. I don't think we will have another Super musician hero like Hendrix or EVH or another Super band such as the Beatles until after the next fall of Western Civilization. But I do think music will continue to progress as it always has. It just sort of flows back and forth, up and down, in and out. Every piece of music, even every performance of the same piece by the same artist is unique, just as each one of us is unique even though we each have only two eyes two ears one nose and a mouth. Or so it seems to me
Is anyone producing music that's inventive anymore? I don't listen to current music. I mean, not at all. Not even a little. Because it seems to be pop, country, rap or metal. Personally, I won't listen to any of those. (If someone else likes them, great. Not judging.) But it's a serious question, is there a Van Halen, a Hendrix, a Page, a Green, a Kossoff, an SRV, a King in modern music? Not someone that can copy them, like a Joe B., but someone really inventive? I'd like to know if there is too. (All the concerts I've been to in the last decade, the stars are all old. Frampton, Bad Company, ZZ Top, Doobie Brothers, etc.)
Yes, but you need to dig, be willing to lose money on shit you don't like in order to find the " buried treasures" because they are out there waiting for you.
It's more about time. I only listen to music in two places, my truck and when I'm in my pool; except, of course, when I'm playing. Can't skip a song from the pool. Truck, I could, but I did that years ago, and got tired of changing channels. So before streaming.
Excellent! That says it all. The only thing I'll add is that Van Halen's tapping/pull-off style was really nothing new, Hendrix had already done it..VH just took it to a whole new level. It's kind of funny, Eddie often cited Clapton as his big influence but hardly ever mentioned Hendrix, but to me his style owed more to Hendrix than Clapton. Don't get me wrong, I loved Van Halen. The original lineup that is. Never cared for Van Hagar that much, although I do love Sammy's solo stuff, and his work with Montrose. And I'll probably get flamed here but although I learned (kind of) how to do it, I eventually found the whole fingerboard tapping thingie kind of boring..Both to play or to listen to. I remember seeing Eddie jamming with G.E. Smith and his band on SNL (Valerie was hosting the show that night) and when it came his turn to solo he resorted to the tapping thing, and it just didn't work with a blues jam! I remember thinking "Wow, G.E. Smith just blew EVH away!" Kind of an "Eureka!" moment for me, that's when I realized that certain "styles" can also be rather limiting in a lot of ways. As far as the current crop of guitar slingers, there's some killer players out there, you just don't hear about them in the mainstream..The corporate music biz aren't promoting guitar heroes these days, they prefer pop divas and Justin Beibers over rock guitar innovators. Performers like those are easier to package and sell.
Unfortunately, we enter periods of being without any new guitar heroes from time to time ( the mid 90s and early 2000s quickly comes to mind) but every few years of a drought, we get a new army of guitarists who kickstart things back to being interesting. Right now, i feel the world is in a bit of a drought period and that can be from a lot of factors, such as COVID killing the tours and new album releases mainly, but Youtube has provided some great new blood. A few current, newish heroes from all across the music spectrum in recent years would be Joe Bonamassa, Gary Clarke Jr., Tosin Abasi, Guthrie Govan, Jason Richardson, Eric Gales to name a few. And theres new guys everyday fortunately. But as for the legendary guitar icons? Unfortunately, those were all created in the spotlight largely between 1966-1990 and time has robbed us of many of them and will only continue to do so. Again though, there were many before these years and many came well after those years. It just seems like that era produced unforgettable musicians and we're all lucky to have had them all
I'm still waiting for the day of the swordsman to come back. I hear guitar will follow thereafter, about 500 years.
Rock is so dead that "Rock is dead" is dead. Unless your counting Trixster ..they're huge! That was kind of a joke ...but that song was actually pretty cool.
Oh it can get better in so many ways. You just want five bucks cause you are a pizza crack head but aint getting it from me.
There is no place to go with the guitar anymore.........until the next innovator invents it...... Be for VH first album probably no one outside Cali....that hadn't seen Eddie in a club..... thought two hand tapping was capable of that kind of extensiveness. Some were some kid with 100% heart for the guitar will come up with something. Meanwhile till then just play what fits the song.
True. Aids had a big part in it too. That ended the sex in rock. Doom and gloom was to follow and has never ended. Nirvana, Soundgarden, STP, AIC, Pearl Jam, later ..Pappa Roach, Stained, Nickleback, NU-Metal ... was nothing but music to slit your wrists to. The party was over. It's not wonder all those singers are dead, havin' been involved in it. Vetter's the only one alive. Probably barely.
