July 16, 2009

3 Generations of Guitar Virtuosos?


Mad Hatter made a comment on the recent post about the new rock doc called "It Might Get Loud".

He suggested that perhaps Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White were not necessarily the best three choices to represent "three generations of electric guitar virtuosos".

So my question for you is: Which three would you choose for this film?


BTW, if you haven't checked out Hatter's blog you should. He reviews a lot of interesting music, some popular some obscure. I love his grading scale:
Key To Music Grades
A - You will never be whole without it
B - Highly recommended
C - Flawed, but still pretty good
D - It's your money, not mine
F - Why couldn't this have been burned in Fahrenheit 451?

12 comments:

Mike aka MonolithTMA said...

Jimmy Page I get, but The Edge? I love U2, but don't exactly listen to them for the guitar work. Most of my favorite guitarists aren't in the rock genre so I cant really say who I would pick.

Jeff said...

Personally I think they were three excellent choices. They all have their own unique sound and I think could play off each other well. If there was anyone in that group who I think would be the most replaceable, it would be Page. Edge is certainly one of the most unique guitarists just because of the sounds he's able to produce from his guitar - he's an effects master and could certainly teach White and Page a thing of two. I think White is probably the most definitive guitarist of this current generation and his talent often goes overlooked due to the pop/rock qualities of The White Stripes singles. The only person who I think could be a reasonable subsitute for White is Tom Morello, but given the fact that The Edge is already included I think Morello's uniqueness in terms of the sounds he produces would be null and void. In my opinion Page is overrated and isn't as good as people make him out to be. I think in place of Page I would have liked David Gilmour. There are very few people who are able to create such a soulful and clean sound as Gilmour.

So I guess the only replacement I would like is to switch Page for David Gilmour.

Dan said...

Great analysis Jeff. I agree with the Gilmour selection.

Anonymous said...

Wow, thanks Barbara. Didn't think my comment would create a spin-off post. That said, I know I've made my feelings towards Page known in the past, and I definitely wouldn't consider him a virtuoso. I always hate categorizing like that, but it's what we humans do. David Gilmour would have been a much better choice as Jeff said. I also would let Morello in over Jack White. Morello is actually a lot like the Edge in that he creates this enormity of sound through seemingly nothing. I guess I could go on with more guys. EVH would have been great to see, though.

Southern (in)Sanity said...

I have to agree with Jeff as well. I think The Edge and Jack White are solid choices, and I would really have liked to see David Gilmour in there.

Sean Coleman said...

I have to be the dissenting voice amongst the comments. Page is one of the most schooled and versatile players in the game. Now, I will take his work with Led Zep out of the equation. As a session player he tackled just about every conceivable style. Look up his credits and you'll be reading for a while. His contributions to recording technique are too often overlooked. He rewrote the book on rock guitar in the 70s and is still very widely imitated. David Gilmour is a very accomplished, tasteful player, but he doesn't come close to Page. The Edge and Jack White owe a great debt to players like Jimmy Page and I'm sure they were thrilled just to be in the same room with the guy. Watch the Knebworth performance of "Achilles Last Stand" and you will be hard pressed to come back and say that the aforementioned players could even approach that level of brilliance. Without the effects rack, the Edge is Dave Evans, guitarist. I love Jack White's approach and feel, though without Page's recorded legacy and trail blazing, well...who knows?

My two pennies.

Mike aka MonolithTMA said...

What Sean said. ;-)

Dan said...

I just believe Gilmour has the most distinctive, soulful guitar sound out there. I understand Jimmy has been a lot of places but he has also been overated IMO. Dont get me wrong because I love Led Zeppelin. They were successful because of the sum of their parts, not just because Jimmy was there. I believe Gilmour "made" the modern day Pink Floyd and what about the frickin lead riffs we all can not get out of our minds.

Dan said...

Maybe I have had a bit too much to drink tonight TGIF. They were both great IMO!

Dr. Deb said...

I've seen the Edge in concert and he is underrated!

cjk_44 said...

Pete Townshend deserves consideration for his extraordinary rhythm playing.

Bar L. said...

This post generated some great discussion! I LOVE IT!

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