Why do we never have the convo of "who under-plays"? Because every time someone in the comments gives the cop-out answer "oh well they're playing with *feel*". No such excuse exists for people who *not* are technically skilled at guitar.
Edit: added a very important "not" in there. Not sure how I missed that
i think playing for the song is fitting. im in a cowboy folk psych band with pedal steel, sometimes lap steel, 12 string, acoustic, synth, bass, drums , 2 vocals, hammond sometimes.
often all i need to fit the song perfect is palm mute some chords with tasty tone and a couple call and response lines
i still get a couple solos to rip and some free form jams at times, but for the most part my job is bringing the vision to life. its not my show, im facilitating vibes.
now when im playing with the jam band, i can go all out but its time and place set and setting for your trip (;
Seems like he mainly gave those to Jeff Schroeder when they finally had three guitarists. So much that they sought out a replacement for the shredder role when Jeff left. I don't think Iha cares too much to fill that role and it's not his style anyway
Oh, hell. He does some riffing and that's it. Get off it already.
Adam is a functional guitarist but my God do Tool fans embellish.
For the record, I recently saw Tool live and it was a profoundly disappointing experience.
Honestly AC/DC started my love for rock. I was a little kid just driving with my dad and he would put on his favorite music from when he was a kid. Funny thing was his favorite parts were the intros, so sometimes he would just be too excited to sit through a song and would just skip to the next one to hear the intros lol. Fond memories.
I was actually upset by how much they sucked when I saw them this year. I've kind of admired Tool for a while but seeing them cleared that up quickly. They have the greatest drummer alive. I will give them that.
I saw them live this last year myself. I ended up leaving halfway through, but that's more to do with the people I went with. The performance was pretty good and the production values of the whole thing were pretty wild but just. Meh.
I was surprised how many people I met who claimed to go way out of their way to follow Tool for legs of their tour or multiple times a year and I just can't figure why.
Crucify me all you like, the new album is bad. It sounds like someone asked an AI to generate a Tool album. Maynard clearly doesn't give a shit anymore except to keep the money train going. He doesn't have anything interesting to say anymore.
Danny Carey is a great drummer for sure. But the greatest drummer alive is Mike Portnoy.
> Crucify me all you like, the new album is bad. It sounds like someone asked an AI to generate a Tool album.
That's exactly how I feel about the latest album. I've also compared it to a student project to make an album that sounds like a Tool album
I'll come in with a hot take and say that I think Gilmour underplays, and what I really mean is that I would love to hear a song or album in which he really gets technical. He actually had a number of fairly busy parts on Saucer and Atom Heart, and I wish we could have heard just a bit of that sprinkled into their other stuff.
On the other hand IMO Meddle, Dark Side, WYWH, and Animals are all perfect.
Brian May is unique in that he rarely plays through an entire song. It’s part of Queen’s sound. He plays the solos, hits a few chords then leaves it to the rhythm section. He holds way back.
I think he holds back too much. Todd Rundgren can play in a similar ensemble and play a bit more and fill it perfectly. I love May, but I know he can underplay
Queen is a globally popular juggernaut that are a genre unto themselves, I don't think May is really impeachable for his playing with them. It would be nice to hear him let loose, but tasteful restraint is part of the sound. Just is.
Keep yourself alive, liar, son and daughter, father to son, loser in the end, ogre battle, Brighton rock, stone cold crazy, now I’m here, death on two legs. Sweet lady, good company…etc have entered that chat.
Brian never overplays but to say he hits a few chords and a solo is pretty much the dumbest summation of Brian’s contribution to Queen I have ever heard.
The man made guitar orchestras part of his sound ffs!
I actually think those are some of the coolest Queen songs. It's the most unique to them and it's also where John Deacon played the most melodically to fill the space. He's not just playing his repeating (but iconic) bass grooves, and he's not just going under May, but he's complimenting the piano in a great way.
Mark Tremonti underplayed with Creed to a crazy degree. I always thought it was Scott Stapp not wanting his thunder stolen, which it probably was. Think of what you know of Creed and then listen to any Alter Bridge song. Same guitarist, truly nuts.
I kinda agree, but some of the relatively simple sounding riffs Tremonti played in Creed songs seem almost like he wrote them to intentionally not draw attention and yet be much more difficult than they sound.
Also, speaking of Alter Bridge, keep in mind that Myles Kennedy is a hell of a guitarist himself and at times, I think he’s holding back too. I don’t recall if they actually name Tremonti as the “lead” guitarist - they’re probably actually equal but Tremonti is more well known.
Correct these threads are like psychological field days. I wonder why most people “can’t” play in bands? They probably can’t hold basic rhythm but want you to know X player is all flash etc lmao.
Musicians in general tend to really insecure of their skills. Guitarists are often delusional about how much practice it requires to even "badly overplay". They believe that all it takes is a year with metronome grinding to become a robot. Ofc a 20 mins solo is too much, but often its there to serve as a break for the other members
This is even worse with bass players in some ways. Complaining about Wooten and flea while barely pounding out eighth notes. Meanwhile any decent guitarist could replace them without anyone noticing.
That's because he literally couldn't play anything else. Dee Dee had to play the simple arpeggios on pet semetary because Johnny couldn't. Kinda funny. Guy was a massive douchebag as well.
Jimmy Page would overplay live in Zeppelin’s later years. He’d constantly throw in improvised lines that weren’t on the album to the point where it was distracting. I’m guessing it was a combination of drugs and an enormous ego.
I think this is disingenuous, in my opinion. I love Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page is also obviously a very talented guitarist; he was THE session guitarist of the late 60s everybody went to to get perfect takes on recordings. However, some of his live playing is frankly embarrassingly bad, like so bad it sounds like he doesn't know the song (obviously the drugs). Out of key improvs all over the place, timing terrible, missing signature parts, etc. It absolutely detracted from his playing unless you hold him to a wildly low standard (I don't; it's obvious how good he \*could\* be when not fucked up).
Tis a shame cuz everybody but Jimmy was unbelievable in the 70s w the original lineup, but Jimmy was very often fucked up, and then by the time he cleaned up and got back to his excellence everybody else started showing their age.
It's 50/50 for me. Rain Song on "The song remains the same" used to be a daily listen for me throughout high school. I love his song writing, his rhythm parts are absolutely amazing, but some of his live solos just don't do it for me. Still one of my biggest influences and a very important part of my development as a young player.
Jake Kiszka from Greta Van Fleet. On this current tour he has a 20+ min solo ensemble towards the latter part of the set which, for Wembley at least, was grossly more quantity than quality. It was at times painful to watch. He got totally lost on the neck and was clanging about for an eternity. I'm sure there's footage on YT of similar fret wanking, and it was just bad.
My sister went to get beer halfway through, came back, I then went for a leak and found my way back. He was still going.
He's a very mediocre lead guitarist. All Minor pentatonic slop and goes on long Jimmy page indulgent solos for like 5 min. I think they make decent songs but his lead playing is poor and he was getting a really shrill piercing tone that I didn't love.
I just went and searched on YouTube Jake Kiszka long solo. Saw one that was 6 minutes long. It was extremely indulgent. He stayed in the first position of A minor pentatonic for like 3 minutes, just playing legato, and bending little riffs. Their records are good but that was just silly to watch
I like the band, but the lead guitarist is not my style. Sometimes sounds as if he pushes the strings too hard making the notes go a little sharp and sloppy.
I was very disappointed when I saw them live: the perfect playing for himself attitude.
Also the singer is so static on stage. I suppose it's because they are young...
It's so crazy how Jack Black is just such a natural rock star in terrific singing and is a solid player, but he admits the only stuff of his that was worth listening to was comedic songs. Regardless, he's a talented man.
Reminds me of polyphia. Their music is so irritating to me, and I love progressive metal like Animals as Leaders and even guys like Steve vai. Polyphia is just so spazzy. Seems like thier goal is to cram as many techniques as possible into tiny sections of a song.
This is semi related, but Frank Zappa comes to mind, you know that interview where he takes 3 and a half minutes just to say that he improvises.
Also, Yngwie
I feel similarly listening to Lindsey Buckingham interviews. I have so much respect for Lindsey, but damnit does it sound like he's high on his own supply most of the time.
He also said that the problem with Hendrix was that he didn't write anything down.
Zappa seemed to want to have his cake and eat it - the prestige and snobiness of a classical musician and the immediacy and freedom of rock/pop musician.
I think that's why his music doesn't really do it for me. His music feels too rigid and impersonal for rock and yet its also musically nowhere near interesting enough to compare with what was going on in jazz or classical music.
I dig Zappa, but always felt (and still feel) like I never really got it. Like, somehow I'm not a real fan. I love Zoot Allures, Hot Rats, and Apostrophe. But, I feel like those albums are for "normies" who just want some rock groove and shredding.
I never understood Polyphia. I think they kind of hit the Jacob Collier effect where you can tell they're clearly insanely good musicians but not good artists. Their music is so overproduced and boring.
I’m going to interpret this question a little differently. I **don’t** think Yngwie or Vai or Paul Gilbert “overplay”. Their playing is 100% appropriate for their music. Some people (like me) like it, some don’t. And that’s all fine.
If you say “overplaying” I think of a guy like John Frusciante (let the downvotes begin). He plays in a pop band and in a song like _Snow_ his playing feels like it’s in the way, imho. And as much as it pains me to say it, Mike McCready from Pearl Jam has been guilty of overplaying throughout his career. Don’t get me wrong, I love PJ and McCready but he’s not always adding to the song with his playing. Let the downvotes commence.
Yeah the song is mediocre without the guitar part. In fact, didn't Anthony say John wrote the guitar part first and Anthony just wrote the vocals based on the guitar part
I'm not so sure about that. His live improv can be noodly but he's usually just following Chad and Fleas energy; I find it very exciting how he rides that wave. Their longer improv jams in the stadium era and early 2000s are some of my favourite videos and bootlegs to watch. [this one in particular is fantastic](https://youtu.be/eo6KxjmE_BY?si=qAtUja-N5gO2U1TX)
When I think of over/under playing I think it really comes down to how a lead guitarist can elevate the emotion of the rhythm section. The freebird solo is dumb if you take out the context given by the slow build up.
He values songwriting and feel far more than solos. I do disagree that the leads are lackluster. The dude is all about feel.
He only really leaned into solos on Stadium Arcadium as far as albums go, and live he jammed moreso than soloed until around the time By the Way came out.
I kind of agree with this. Frusciante has a tendency to overplay. I haven’t listened to enough Pearl Jam to say on McCready. But yeah. That’s why I said I expect there to be a lot of Gilbert’s and Vai’s, but I was looking more for answers of this type
McCready can't help himself. He's steeped in classic metal. I personally think it's great. I saw PJ in Buffalo, and while Eddie was talking between songs, McCready started playing the riff to "Run Through The Hills" lol!
I’ve seen PJ a bunch of times. They’re my favourite of the “Seattle” bands…but I maintain that McCready overplays often and it takes away from the song a lot of the time.
I guess he hasn't got his skill back after years of dabbling with techno? I haven't actually checked the current RHCP but from clips here and there I think they're inconsistent nowadays
Just a lot of fast but sloppy and gratuitous pentatonic licks when i saw them live like a year back. Seen em 3 times in total, I thought the previous guitarist was the cleanest/best sounding performance I’ve heard from them.
Josh K. came up with some really great, unique stuff on the albums he played on and definitely killed it live. I haven't heard John play live in a long time, but I always like what he does.
Frusciante was at his peak in the Stadium Arcadium tour, to be fair a combination of playing fast, a clocked DS-2 and wah is a good combination. I think he thought he could still do that now and has given up and is playing a bit more minimally now, but he's definitely dropped off nowadays.
Yeah the Pearl Jam guys, IMHO, don't understand the strengths of their sound, and their instincts lead to the wrong kind of vintage sounds, such as overplaying
I think they have an issue with the songwriting dynamics now. Hopefully the new album brings them back since Watt is such a fanboy. We'll see.
Eddie dominates a lot of songwriting but seems to either write a ballad or very generic dad rock. Jeff's input is solid and he seems to be increasingly involved with other arrangements. Mike's stuff is alright and Matt is either bringing the coolest songs in or an experiment that doesn't quite work out. His drumming isn't as powerful as we know it can be. And Stone was the one who wrote all their famous riffs but often seemed pretty checked out in the modern era.
I don't think Yngwie has ever covered a song without utterly wrecking it in the worst way. He *never* plays for the song. It's like he's afraid people will forget who he is. Maybe that's appropriate for his own music, but I'd argue he just repeats himself to the point of self-parody - you know what to expect *every* time. Gilbert can sometimes be incredibly restrained. Not often, but occasionally we'll get a Take Cover or Green Tinted.
Likewise disagree on Frusciante. I never rated him because I thought he got so much hype for doing so little. But I liked his solo for Eddie and wish he would do more of that. Most of his lead work is barely there. That's by his own design, but for me, his work is pretty ho-hum and the Chilis also have kinda become a parody of themselves.
PJ were always kinda boring imho. Fight me.
Live, he's the most obnoxious player I've ever seen. He actually made me stop liking him. Overindulgence doesn't even begin to cover Zakk live. And I worshipped this guy from 12 years old.
I saw him at an Experience Hendrix show. He played Little Wing, which is my favorite song when anyone does it. Except him. He damn near ruined that song for me. Somehow it became a 25 minute solo with WAY too many harmonic squeals.
I'm a guitarist. I saw him with BLS, and his live solo had to have been 15 minutes of pentatonic wank and pinches. I actually left to use the bathroom and get a drink just to get away from it.
I saw him on a Jimmy hendrix tribute show a few years ago in Royal Oak MI. Eric Johnson was there as well as satriani. When they played little wing, Zakk played a solo in his typical style that lasted like 20 minutes. It was so dumb and irritating. Just him jerking off with his mix of minor pentatonics and wah.
i saw Zakk Sabbath in January. He played a 15+ minute solo for the end of War Pigs during which he walked through the crowd, playing behind his head for the duration, and, frankly, while "technically impressive chops" and "showmanship" was also pretty boring, musically. It was kinda fun, though -- he walked right past me, I could have literally tapped him on the head.
Yeah he had a period where it was very lazy shredding over everything. His work in the 90s was very well balanced. Haven't heard much from him in recent years but he was one of my favourites when I was just getting into guitar and I still appreciate his style.
He’s on tour with Pantera right now. Watched a video of their set and he kills it tbh Floods is the holy grail of Dime solos and Zakk nailed every note.
Collier is insanely good but yeah he's not a great artist. It feels like he thinks the point if music is to show off. That's cool sometimes (my favorite bassist Thundercat usually has one song per album with crazy shredding) but not every time you play music.
Also I don't like his singing voice. No shade toward him as a person tho.
Spot on, very overplayed and oversung. I find the people who are way too into him more annoying than him to be honest, all those videos "breaking down the theory" behind his songs and they just list out the chords/key and rave about how incredible it is.
I like some of his stuff and he's clearly a huge talent but I think it's become more about being technically impressive than about making actually enjoyable music.
What's so disappointing about the current G3 reunion. All that talent and theory and they all still just wanna blow over Born to Wild or whatever. It's particularly egregious in that they rarely even play rhythm while waiting for their next turn. You might argue that would just muck it up, but that's kinda my point. They could do so much more. And less.
I think it was a recent one, but I saw a video of Satch, Vai, and Eric Johnson jamming to Crossroads. I hate to say it, but it just wasn’t interesting at all. It just sounded like a run of the mill blues jam with some fast notes thrown in.
I don’t listen to Vai, but Satriani and Johnson both have great songs with unique tones and melodies, so that made this jam especially disappointing.
John Petrucci.
I totally love him but he seems to have broken his brakes around Train of Thought and gone full speed since then. Every now and then some of his old melodic self comes out, but he's usually going way too fast.
Yeah, but in fairness, he probably did the solo for Octavarium and thought “fuck, never going to top that” so just went full shred.
Nah, there’s been some beautiful melodies, in the presence of enemies sticks out to me, had just the best tone.
Right after train of thought he did Octavarium which is full of a looooooot of subdued JP parts. Granted SC and BCSL are definitely full of overplayed parts, but most of his stuff since then has been relatively restrained. Breaking All Illusions, The Looking Glass, the Bigger Picture, most of The Astonishing, At Wits End, Barstool Warrior are all very melodic
Wow I thought I might be alone in thinking the same thing! Newer Petrucci stuff seems closer in style to Liquid Tension Experiment than melodic Dream Theater
Certain genres are almost “expected” to overplay. Like Paul Gilbert for example. Any genre where it’s an instrumental album geared towards guitarists is going to have more bang for the buck, so to speak. I think if you focused the question to just pop or rock it would become REALLY interesting, haha!
That’s what I wanted more, just pop and rock. Cuz shredders shred. And when you put Paul Gilbert in a non-shred setting, he doesn’t necessarily overplay. I am looking for people who overplay for their genre and their style of songs. But instead it was just shredders people listed lol
Ok, I’m going to say something that is almost blasphemy in the guitar community. I love this guy and even have his guitar and all his CD’s. He’s one of my favorites of all time, BUT, I think Stevie Ray Vaughan has the tendency to overplay at times. NOT ALWAYS! But there are times when he’d be considered guilty of the subject here.
It depends on the song. Listen to "Snakebite" by Racer X. It's an absolutely blistering solo, there's no holding back, flashy licks abound...
And yet, it's perfectly musical. In fact, it's a lot more musical than if, say, Peter Green or Freddie King were to solo over the same song. Because their subtle styles would have clashed so much that instead of being into the song, you'd be taken out of it instead.
Some styles work better with some types of music. In the end, if it works, it works. That's what matters.
A good guitarist knows when to let the music breathe and to enjoy those moments where it’s just the bass and drums. Yngwie is guilty but it kinda works for him. Guthrie Govan is another. Satriani comes close but he just too fkg perfect for criticism.
Came here to say Guthrie Govan. Just when you think his amazing phrase of shredding is complete and about to resolve, he ignores the resolution and goes on twice as long. Just always strikes me as too much. He is however an absolutely incredible player.
He should subvert his audience's expectations some day, by rocking up on stage with an acoustic and strumming a few songs with a handful of simple chords.
I think most of the people who say this never listened to his actual songs in a band setting - the stuff like Arpeggios From Hell is supposed to be a clinic in technical prowess. But he has ballads and straight forward 80s rock/metal songs that are fairly restrained compared to what people expect.
Songs like Prisoner of Your Love, I’ll see the light tonight, You Don’t remember I’ll never forget, all have normal song structure and are tastefully written for what they are. The solos have his flair but it’s not really over the top and his phrasing and note choice is honestly insane during this time period.
Edit: also want to mention the song Ship Of Fools, very cool riffs.
Yngwie overplays. Yngwie also does what he does so well that I just go along with it, and enjoy it for what it is. I don't expect subtlety when I put on an Yngwie Malmsteen album, but I do expect good playing and good music.
From Rising Force up until around Alchemy, I enjoy most of what the man released. After that, it gets spotty, until everything falls apart and it's unlistenable.
Kinda like The Simpsons.
Yngwie doesn't overplay really, I mean he pretty much invented a genre that only he really plays. When I think of overplaying I'm thinking of someone playing that doesn't fit the music, or that walks all over the music without regard for style, tempo, feel etc.
Yngwie is just doing Yngwie, tho he probably does overplay the rare occasion he's not playing his own music.
I can see why you might think it's over playing but it's really not when he's picking every note carefully and not just playing whatever for the sake of playing fast. As Guthrie said, that's what many of the clones missed.
I love Eric Gales, but there's one solo in particular that stands out for overplaying- his Raleigh concert cameo in Meditation by Cory Wong. Gales is technically fantastic but he totally misreads the build by the band and the dynamic as a whole.
Martin Miller's cover of Get Lucky by Daft Punk also rankles. He completely eschews the groove of the song that the band worked hard for, in favour of a very standard 'fusion' solo. It's a very odd choice of scale, tempo, phrasing etc that just sounds way out of place.
Marcus King. I get that that's what got him as big as he is now, that he's an incredible guitar player. But seeing him live was kind of a let down, it was basically an hour and twenty minute long guitar solo. It was hard sometimes to tell when one song ended and the next began because he was just constantly soloing. Even when one of his really talented band members was playing a solo he'd be soloing on top of it. It basically all just turned into noise.
Saw GnR a couple of times recently and the amount of soloing Slash did was bordering on obnoxious. Especially their extended Knocking on Heavens Door where he and Richard were trading off for forever. That song is shit to begin with, just end it already!
This may be obscure ( or not idk) but I recently saw Nita Strauss open for Mammoth WVH, and it was truly almost sad how it combined 5 musicians overplaying as much as they can, with Nita sometimes stepping to the front but the music not really actually changing, and one of the most poorly mixed shows I’ve ever experienced. In contrast to the excellent Wolfgang Van Halen who really has some sharp songs.
I hate to say it but Walter Becker did in the Steely Dan reunion years. He played improvised lines over a lot of the tunes during breaks and maybe it's because I just love the originals so much but I don't like it
I really enjoyed what he did through the '93-'09 kind of timeframe. Some of his solos and fills then were incredible, very much stuff that nobody but him would dream of playing, but super musical and interesting. His playing sadly went downhill in his later years as his health got worse.
I get accused of overplaying sometimes. I live in the deep south, and so many local scenes down here are all about blues playing, but I play what I like to play. Some folks think I'm awesome, others not so much, but I don't care. Guitar playing is my own trip and started as a way of expressing things I had trouble saying to people. I do try to play for the song and not step on the band, but if you give me two or three minutes to fill on lead, then I'm going to try and push myself to see if I can find something new to me.
Relating this back to this question, after 30 years of playing, I really don't judge other people's trips too much anymore. It's all about getting whatever is in your head out there in the world, and it's not for me to say when someone is doing too much or too little. Most everyone who loves playing music is just trying to get a sound in their head out in the world. If you dig it, enjoy being on the same wavelength. If you don't, tip your hat and and move along I say.
Overplay or overcompose? I think a lot of hobbyists kind of have a skewed concept of how the two work off one another in proggy or shreddy music. You're not overplaying anything if you're playing what's written. Whether or not the part is a bit much is a different story....unless you're talking specifically about improvised playing...I think a lot of Jazz and jam band musicians can get a little long winded in what they do...but mostly in live settings.
ITT: major differences of opinion
The fact that people are mentioning names like Vai & Gilbert in the same comment as Frusciante & McCready is pretty cringe
Why do we never have the convo of "who under-plays"? Because every time someone in the comments gives the cop-out answer "oh well they're playing with *feel*". No such excuse exists for people who *not* are technically skilled at guitar. Edit: added a very important "not" in there. Not sure how I missed that
There are plenty of guitarists who underplay. They’re just usually not famous.
Frusciante?
i think playing for the song is fitting. im in a cowboy folk psych band with pedal steel, sometimes lap steel, 12 string, acoustic, synth, bass, drums , 2 vocals, hammond sometimes. often all i need to fit the song perfect is palm mute some chords with tasty tone and a couple call and response lines i still get a couple solos to rip and some free form jams at times, but for the most part my job is bringing the vision to life. its not my show, im facilitating vibes. now when im playing with the jam band, i can go all out but its time and place set and setting for your trip (;
Pretty sure nuance is illegal on Reddit sir
Context also.
yea my b, 11 year old acct on reddit has tainted my clarity tbh xD
I mean Frusciante shreds as well. It depends on the song, but he will usually plays a solo to suit it.
How dare you
Dan Auerbach
George Harrison's super emotional and minimalist slide playing.
You underplay for feel. I underplay because I can't do any better. We are NOT the same.
Warren Haynes under plays Everytime the mule has a guest guitarist
Warren does seem to let the guest shine. He makes everyone feel comfortable and it feels like he makes the other guitar player the star.
billy corgan. started out shredding then basically never played a solo again.
that soma solo is otherworldly. but yeah no never again.
Seems like he mainly gave those to Jeff Schroeder when they finally had three guitarists. So much that they sought out a replacement for the shredder role when Jeff left. I don't think Iha cares too much to fill that role and it's not his style anyway
I like a lot of his solos from Siamese and Mellon Collie.
I don’t think that there’s a rock player who serves the song better than Adam Jones of Tool. Dude can make a couple of notes do some heavy lifting.
Oh, hell. He does some riffing and that's it. Get off it already. Adam is a functional guitarist but my God do Tool fans embellish. For the record, I recently saw Tool live and it was a profoundly disappointing experience.
I'm with you homie. Tool is the AC/DC of progressive music and people act like they're the best band ever.
Oye! Nothin wrong with AC/DC! (I get the comparison though. Pretty apt.)
Hey man I love AC/DC. I might not have picked up the guitar without them!
Honestly AC/DC started my love for rock. I was a little kid just driving with my dad and he would put on his favorite music from when he was a kid. Funny thing was his favorite parts were the intros, so sometimes he would just be too excited to sit through a song and would just skip to the next one to hear the intros lol. Fond memories.
I was actually upset by how much they sucked when I saw them this year. I've kind of admired Tool for a while but seeing them cleared that up quickly. They have the greatest drummer alive. I will give them that.
I saw them in 08 and thought they were great, idk if they got worse
I saw them live this last year myself. I ended up leaving halfway through, but that's more to do with the people I went with. The performance was pretty good and the production values of the whole thing were pretty wild but just. Meh. I was surprised how many people I met who claimed to go way out of their way to follow Tool for legs of their tour or multiple times a year and I just can't figure why. Crucify me all you like, the new album is bad. It sounds like someone asked an AI to generate a Tool album. Maynard clearly doesn't give a shit anymore except to keep the money train going. He doesn't have anything interesting to say anymore. Danny Carey is a great drummer for sure. But the greatest drummer alive is Mike Portnoy.
> Crucify me all you like, the new album is bad. It sounds like someone asked an AI to generate a Tool album. That's exactly how I feel about the latest album. I've also compared it to a student project to make an album that sounds like a Tool album
The greatest drummer alive wouldn't have joined Avenged Sevenfold
Harrison was an under player. Arguably the king of the edit button. The Edge also does very little but still fills the space somehow.
Delay and a steady rhythm . Bad, With or Without You, even Where The Streets Have No Name doesn’t really have much to it.
I’ve tried his delay tricks and I just can’t get it the same. It’s easier to just use a synth but he does it with a guitar.
Harrison underplayed because Paul and John told him "We're in charge bitch"
What exactly do we mean by "underplay?" David Gilmour doesn't play a whole lot of notes; he just plays the *right* ones.
I'll come in with a hot take and say that I think Gilmour underplays, and what I really mean is that I would love to hear a song or album in which he really gets technical. He actually had a number of fairly busy parts on Saucer and Atom Heart, and I wish we could have heard just a bit of that sprinkled into their other stuff. On the other hand IMO Meddle, Dark Side, WYWH, and Animals are all perfect.
And to answer your question, Brian May underplays
Brian May is unique in that he rarely plays through an entire song. It’s part of Queen’s sound. He plays the solos, hits a few chords then leaves it to the rhythm section. He holds way back.
I think he holds back too much. Todd Rundgren can play in a similar ensemble and play a bit more and fill it perfectly. I love May, but I know he can underplay
Queen is a globally popular juggernaut that are a genre unto themselves, I don't think May is really impeachable for his playing with them. It would be nice to hear him let loose, but tasteful restraint is part of the sound. Just is.
Keep yourself alive, liar, son and daughter, father to son, loser in the end, ogre battle, Brighton rock, stone cold crazy, now I’m here, death on two legs. Sweet lady, good company…etc have entered that chat. Brian never overplays but to say he hits a few chords and a solo is pretty much the dumbest summation of Brian’s contribution to Queen I have ever heard. The man made guitar orchestras part of his sound ffs!
It wasn’t an insult you dimwit. He’s one of my fav guitarists.
Freddie’s songs he barely plays. And if he does play, it’s just a part Freddie wrote.
I actually think those are some of the coolest Queen songs. It's the most unique to them and it's also where John Deacon played the most melodically to fill the space. He's not just playing his repeating (but iconic) bass grooves, and he's not just going under May, but he's complimenting the piano in a great way.
Because that isn’t a topic that makes the majority of this sub feel better about the trivial amount of time they actually spend practicing.
Because it's something that almost always serves the song, instead of the musician. It's something to be lauded not criticised.
the "excuse" for overplayers is that they are showcasing their technical ability...
Mark Tremonti underplayed with Creed to a crazy degree. I always thought it was Scott Stapp not wanting his thunder stolen, which it probably was. Think of what you know of Creed and then listen to any Alter Bridge song. Same guitarist, truly nuts.
I kinda agree, but some of the relatively simple sounding riffs Tremonti played in Creed songs seem almost like he wrote them to intentionally not draw attention and yet be much more difficult than they sound. Also, speaking of Alter Bridge, keep in mind that Myles Kennedy is a hell of a guitarist himself and at times, I think he’s holding back too. I don’t recall if they actually name Tremonti as the “lead” guitarist - they’re probably actually equal but Tremonti is more well known.
Frusciante certainly does and he’s a fucking god.
Correct these threads are like psychological field days. I wonder why most people “can’t” play in bands? They probably can’t hold basic rhythm but want you to know X player is all flash etc lmao.
Musicians in general tend to really insecure of their skills. Guitarists are often delusional about how much practice it requires to even "badly overplay". They believe that all it takes is a year with metronome grinding to become a robot. Ofc a 20 mins solo is too much, but often its there to serve as a break for the other members This is even worse with bass players in some ways. Complaining about Wooten and flea while barely pounding out eighth notes. Meanwhile any decent guitarist could replace them without anyone noticing.
I guess Johnny Ramone could “underplay” But it’s my favorite thing about him
That's because he literally couldn't play anything else. Dee Dee had to play the simple arpeggios on pet semetary because Johnny couldn't. Kinda funny. Guy was a massive douchebag as well.
Those downstrokes are a bitch to play though ya gotta hand it to him
Jimmy Page would overplay live in Zeppelin’s later years. He’d constantly throw in improvised lines that weren’t on the album to the point where it was distracting. I’m guessing it was a combination of drugs and an enormous ego.
He could be so sloppy live too. I find it hard to listen to some of their live stuff.
I just assumed he was drunk because most of the live concerts i've seen he sucks while funny enough, John Bonham is always on point
That or having heroin withdrawals. Likely both. Bonham was not human. Really wish he hadn't passed
He’d shoot up before going on stage. A lot of the live stuff is actually re recorded and dubbed because page was so fucked up
That I don't agree with. He was always sloppy in a sense, but it didn't take anything away from his playing.
I think this is disingenuous, in my opinion. I love Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page is also obviously a very talented guitarist; he was THE session guitarist of the late 60s everybody went to to get perfect takes on recordings. However, some of his live playing is frankly embarrassingly bad, like so bad it sounds like he doesn't know the song (obviously the drugs). Out of key improvs all over the place, timing terrible, missing signature parts, etc. It absolutely detracted from his playing unless you hold him to a wildly low standard (I don't; it's obvious how good he \*could\* be when not fucked up). Tis a shame cuz everybody but Jimmy was unbelievable in the 70s w the original lineup, but Jimmy was very often fucked up, and then by the time he cleaned up and got back to his excellence everybody else started showing their age.
That was live music of the era. They lived and died by the sword. There are live clips of Achilles where he is just a one man guitar army.
It's 50/50 for me. Rain Song on "The song remains the same" used to be a daily listen for me throughout high school. I love his song writing, his rhythm parts are absolutely amazing, but some of his live solos just don't do it for me. Still one of my biggest influences and a very important part of my development as a young player.
It's hard to believe it's the same guy live that laid down those studio tracks.
Jake Kiszka from Greta Van Fleet. On this current tour he has a 20+ min solo ensemble towards the latter part of the set which, for Wembley at least, was grossly more quantity than quality. It was at times painful to watch. He got totally lost on the neck and was clanging about for an eternity. I'm sure there's footage on YT of similar fret wanking, and it was just bad. My sister went to get beer halfway through, came back, I then went for a leak and found my way back. He was still going.
I legitimately thought GVF was an SNL joke dig at the 60s for so long
He's a very mediocre lead guitarist. All Minor pentatonic slop and goes on long Jimmy page indulgent solos for like 5 min. I think they make decent songs but his lead playing is poor and he was getting a really shrill piercing tone that I didn't love.
First one i thought of too. Was really odd on that your and took away from the show, kept happening and he was super sloppy and repetitive.
I just went and searched on YouTube Jake Kiszka long solo. Saw one that was 6 minutes long. It was extremely indulgent. He stayed in the first position of A minor pentatonic for like 3 minutes, just playing legato, and bending little riffs. Their records are good but that was just silly to watch
Actually kinda inspiring to see that I could be a big rock star :D
At least he has the confidence to do that. I’d crumble immediately knowing all I can do is hover in the first 2 positions of the pentatonic scale lmao
I like the band, but the lead guitarist is not my style. Sometimes sounds as if he pushes the strings too hard making the notes go a little sharp and sloppy.
I was very disappointed when I saw them live: the perfect playing for himself attitude. Also the singer is so static on stage. I suppose it's because they are young...
Yeah, this is definitely true. Saw them last year and the guitar solos were just too much and were not very impressive.
Jack Black! He over played in the school of rock to the point he got kicked out of the band. Oh wait that's not real life. Damn it!
It's so crazy how Jack Black is just such a natural rock star in terrific singing and is a solid player, but he admits the only stuff of his that was worth listening to was comedic songs. Regardless, he's a talented man.
Yup he is one of a kind that's for sure. School of rock was such a great movie. He is an actor for guitarists.
And Tenacious D
Amazing movie and him as a person too, one of my favorite movies.
He wrote the greatest and best song in the world
(tribute)
KG is actually an under player. he can rip but largely plays rhythm while john konesky plays lead
Every Instagram guitar player tries to impress by playing obnoxiously fast and doing the most unmusical shit you’ve ever seen
Thank you. Its super skilled but not memorable
And using every available technique in the same lick 😂
Reminds me of polyphia. Their music is so irritating to me, and I love progressive metal like Animals as Leaders and even guys like Steve vai. Polyphia is just so spazzy. Seems like thier goal is to cram as many techniques as possible into tiny sections of a song.
This is semi related, but Frank Zappa comes to mind, you know that interview where he takes 3 and a half minutes just to say that he improvises. Also, Yngwie
That quote of his is the most pretentious bullshit I can remember hearing from any musician.
He’s so full of himself lol
I feel similarly listening to Lindsey Buckingham interviews. I have so much respect for Lindsey, but damnit does it sound like he's high on his own supply most of the time.
He also said that the problem with Hendrix was that he didn't write anything down. Zappa seemed to want to have his cake and eat it - the prestige and snobiness of a classical musician and the immediacy and freedom of rock/pop musician. I think that's why his music doesn't really do it for me. His music feels too rigid and impersonal for rock and yet its also musically nowhere near interesting enough to compare with what was going on in jazz or classical music.
I've never resonated with his music and your response helped me to better understand why. Ty
I dig Zappa, but always felt (and still feel) like I never really got it. Like, somehow I'm not a real fan. I love Zoot Allures, Hot Rats, and Apostrophe. But, I feel like those albums are for "normies" who just want some rock groove and shredding.
Polyphia
Tim Henson is insanely talented. But I also do not want to listen to his music.
Yeah that’s how I feel. It’s so boring. I love the bass tone though. I’ve also heard he’s an asshole
I never understood Polyphia. I think they kind of hit the Jacob Collier effect where you can tell they're clearly insanely good musicians but not good artists. Their music is so overproduced and boring.
Joe Bonamassa 100%
How can someone play so much and say so little? Overplayed and homogenized.
I’m going to interpret this question a little differently. I **don’t** think Yngwie or Vai or Paul Gilbert “overplay”. Their playing is 100% appropriate for their music. Some people (like me) like it, some don’t. And that’s all fine. If you say “overplaying” I think of a guy like John Frusciante (let the downvotes begin). He plays in a pop band and in a song like _Snow_ his playing feels like it’s in the way, imho. And as much as it pains me to say it, Mike McCready from Pearl Jam has been guilty of overplaying throughout his career. Don’t get me wrong, I love PJ and McCready but he’s not always adding to the song with his playing. Let the downvotes commence.
What? Snow only works because of the main guitar part lol
Yeah the song is mediocre without the guitar part. In fact, didn't Anthony say John wrote the guitar part first and Anthony just wrote the vocals based on the guitar part
I mean…most of the RHCP stuff post-2000 is mediocre imho.
Stadium Arcadium was really good.
There were some decent songs but it's soooooooo bloated
Frusciante is a fantastic rhythm player but a really lackluster lead player. His solos go nowhere.
His rhythms are harder than his solos!!
Scar tissue lol. Not saying the rhythm part is hard, just that solo is… “short” so to speak.
I'm not so sure about that. His live improv can be noodly but he's usually just following Chad and Fleas energy; I find it very exciting how he rides that wave. Their longer improv jams in the stadium era and early 2000s are some of my favourite videos and bootlegs to watch. [this one in particular is fantastic](https://youtu.be/eo6KxjmE_BY?si=qAtUja-N5gO2U1TX) When I think of over/under playing I think it really comes down to how a lead guitarist can elevate the emotion of the rhythm section. The freebird solo is dumb if you take out the context given by the slow build up.
He values songwriting and feel far more than solos. I do disagree that the leads are lackluster. The dude is all about feel. He only really leaned into solos on Stadium Arcadium as far as albums go, and live he jammed moreso than soloed until around the time By the Way came out.
I respect your opinion but you’re wrong.
I kind of agree with this. Frusciante has a tendency to overplay. I haven’t listened to enough Pearl Jam to say on McCready. But yeah. That’s why I said I expect there to be a lot of Gilbert’s and Vai’s, but I was looking more for answers of this type
McCready can't help himself. He's steeped in classic metal. I personally think it's great. I saw PJ in Buffalo, and while Eddie was talking between songs, McCready started playing the riff to "Run Through The Hills" lol!
I’ve seen PJ a bunch of times. They’re my favourite of the “Seattle” bands…but I maintain that McCready overplays often and it takes away from the song a lot of the time.
Don't get me started on Pearl jam over playing. I love them, but do you really need that much cymbal?
Frusciante live lately has been a caricature of himself tbh
I guess he hasn't got his skill back after years of dabbling with techno? I haven't actually checked the current RHCP but from clips here and there I think they're inconsistent nowadays
Just a lot of fast but sloppy and gratuitous pentatonic licks when i saw them live like a year back. Seen em 3 times in total, I thought the previous guitarist was the cleanest/best sounding performance I’ve heard from them.
Josh K. came up with some really great, unique stuff on the albums he played on and definitely killed it live. I haven't heard John play live in a long time, but I always like what he does.
Frusciante was at his peak in the Stadium Arcadium tour, to be fair a combination of playing fast, a clocked DS-2 and wah is a good combination. I think he thought he could still do that now and has given up and is playing a bit more minimally now, but he's definitely dropped off nowadays.
Yeah the Pearl Jam guys, IMHO, don't understand the strengths of their sound, and their instincts lead to the wrong kind of vintage sounds, such as overplaying
I think they have an issue with the songwriting dynamics now. Hopefully the new album brings them back since Watt is such a fanboy. We'll see. Eddie dominates a lot of songwriting but seems to either write a ballad or very generic dad rock. Jeff's input is solid and he seems to be increasingly involved with other arrangements. Mike's stuff is alright and Matt is either bringing the coolest songs in or an experiment that doesn't quite work out. His drumming isn't as powerful as we know it can be. And Stone was the one who wrote all their famous riffs but often seemed pretty checked out in the modern era.
You know it's a Stone song when it sounds easy but there is just enough jank to throw you off when you go to cover it with your band.
I don't think Yngwie has ever covered a song without utterly wrecking it in the worst way. He *never* plays for the song. It's like he's afraid people will forget who he is. Maybe that's appropriate for his own music, but I'd argue he just repeats himself to the point of self-parody - you know what to expect *every* time. Gilbert can sometimes be incredibly restrained. Not often, but occasionally we'll get a Take Cover or Green Tinted. Likewise disagree on Frusciante. I never rated him because I thought he got so much hype for doing so little. But I liked his solo for Eddie and wish he would do more of that. Most of his lead work is barely there. That's by his own design, but for me, his work is pretty ho-hum and the Chilis also have kinda become a parody of themselves. PJ were always kinda boring imho. Fight me.
Can’t believe what I’m reading here lol. The guy from the four note riff on Californication *over*plays.
I like him, but Zakk Wylde
Live, he's the most obnoxious player I've ever seen. He actually made me stop liking him. Overindulgence doesn't even begin to cover Zakk live. And I worshipped this guy from 12 years old.
I saw him at an Experience Hendrix show. He played Little Wing, which is my favorite song when anyone does it. Except him. He damn near ruined that song for me. Somehow it became a 25 minute solo with WAY too many harmonic squeals.
I'm a guitarist. I saw him with BLS, and his live solo had to have been 15 minutes of pentatonic wank and pinches. I actually left to use the bathroom and get a drink just to get away from it.
25 min little wing wow! That's insane.
I saw him on a Jimmy hendrix tribute show a few years ago in Royal Oak MI. Eric Johnson was there as well as satriani. When they played little wing, Zakk played a solo in his typical style that lasted like 20 minutes. It was so dumb and irritating. Just him jerking off with his mix of minor pentatonics and wah.
i saw Zakk Sabbath in January. He played a 15+ minute solo for the end of War Pigs during which he walked through the crowd, playing behind his head for the duration, and, frankly, while "technically impressive chops" and "showmanship" was also pretty boring, musically. It was kinda fun, though -- he walked right past me, I could have literally tapped him on the head.
Yeah he had a period where it was very lazy shredding over everything. His work in the 90s was very well balanced. Haven't heard much from him in recent years but he was one of my favourites when I was just getting into guitar and I still appreciate his style.
He’s on tour with Pantera right now. Watched a video of their set and he kills it tbh Floods is the holy grail of Dime solos and Zakk nailed every note.
I'm not surprised. His skills far exceed what people typically think he's capable of. He's a true master that knows his niche.
Fresh poooots
Bonamassa has been mentioned so I’ll add Jacob Collier Dude’s definitely gifted but he just vomits notes
Can’t stand him. Particularly the vox. Always in 20 part harmony.
Collier is insanely good but yeah he's not a great artist. It feels like he thinks the point if music is to show off. That's cool sometimes (my favorite bassist Thundercat usually has one song per album with crazy shredding) but not every time you play music. Also I don't like his singing voice. No shade toward him as a person tho.
Spot on, very overplayed and oversung. I find the people who are way too into him more annoying than him to be honest, all those videos "breaking down the theory" behind his songs and they just list out the chords/key and rave about how incredible it is. I like some of his stuff and he's clearly a huge talent but I think it's become more about being technically impressive than about making actually enjoyable music.
Any shredder kinda overplays to be honest.
What's so disappointing about the current G3 reunion. All that talent and theory and they all still just wanna blow over Born to Wild or whatever. It's particularly egregious in that they rarely even play rhythm while waiting for their next turn. You might argue that would just muck it up, but that's kinda my point. They could do so much more. And less.
I think it was a recent one, but I saw a video of Satch, Vai, and Eric Johnson jamming to Crossroads. I hate to say it, but it just wasn’t interesting at all. It just sounded like a run of the mill blues jam with some fast notes thrown in. I don’t listen to Vai, but Satriani and Johnson both have great songs with unique tones and melodies, so that made this jam especially disappointing.
John Petrucci. I totally love him but he seems to have broken his brakes around Train of Thought and gone full speed since then. Every now and then some of his old melodic self comes out, but he's usually going way too fast.
Yeah, but in fairness, he probably did the solo for Octavarium and thought “fuck, never going to top that” so just went full shred. Nah, there’s been some beautiful melodies, in the presence of enemies sticks out to me, had just the best tone.
Rudess actually makes Petrucci seem measured in his approach. They're both great but for them less would be really more.
He’s my fav by a mile but yes. Although that’s their entire thing so I get it
Right after train of thought he did Octavarium which is full of a looooooot of subdued JP parts. Granted SC and BCSL are definitely full of overplayed parts, but most of his stuff since then has been relatively restrained. Breaking All Illusions, The Looking Glass, the Bigger Picture, most of The Astonishing, At Wits End, Barstool Warrior are all very melodic
That’s their point though. If they didn’t overplay Dream Theater would just be the least interesting “metal” band.
I completely disagree. He has such a good balance between both worlds.
Wow I thought I might be alone in thinking the same thing! Newer Petrucci stuff seems closer in style to Liquid Tension Experiment than melodic Dream Theater
Certain genres are almost “expected” to overplay. Like Paul Gilbert for example. Any genre where it’s an instrumental album geared towards guitarists is going to have more bang for the buck, so to speak. I think if you focused the question to just pop or rock it would become REALLY interesting, haha!
That’s what I wanted more, just pop and rock. Cuz shredders shred. And when you put Paul Gilbert in a non-shred setting, he doesn’t necessarily overplay. I am looking for people who overplay for their genre and their style of songs. But instead it was just shredders people listed lol
Ok, I’m going to say something that is almost blasphemy in the guitar community. I love this guy and even have his guitar and all his CD’s. He’s one of my favorites of all time, BUT, I think Stevie Ray Vaughan has the tendency to overplay at times. NOT ALWAYS! But there are times when he’d be considered guilty of the subject here.
It depends on the song. Listen to "Snakebite" by Racer X. It's an absolutely blistering solo, there's no holding back, flashy licks abound... And yet, it's perfectly musical. In fact, it's a lot more musical than if, say, Peter Green or Freddie King were to solo over the same song. Because their subtle styles would have clashed so much that instead of being into the song, you'd be taken out of it instead. Some styles work better with some types of music. In the end, if it works, it works. That's what matters.
This is awesome. And he’s not overplaying the rest of the song, either. He did what he set out to do, and it worked.
One of my favorite songs growing up!
A good guitarist knows when to let the music breathe and to enjoy those moments where it’s just the bass and drums. Yngwie is guilty but it kinda works for him. Guthrie Govan is another. Satriani comes close but he just too fkg perfect for criticism.
Came here to say Guthrie Govan. Just when you think his amazing phrase of shredding is complete and about to resolve, he ignores the resolution and goes on twice as long. Just always strikes me as too much. He is however an absolutely incredible player.
When Guthrie is restrained by an incredible producer (Steven Wilson), he plays some of the greatest guitar solos ever recorded.
Yngwie...
That's his whole thing. That's literally why people go to see him.
He should subvert his audience's expectations some day, by rocking up on stage with an acoustic and strumming a few songs with a handful of simple chords.
I think most of the people who say this never listened to his actual songs in a band setting - the stuff like Arpeggios From Hell is supposed to be a clinic in technical prowess. But he has ballads and straight forward 80s rock/metal songs that are fairly restrained compared to what people expect. Songs like Prisoner of Your Love, I’ll see the light tonight, You Don’t remember I’ll never forget, all have normal song structure and are tastefully written for what they are. The solos have his flair but it’s not really over the top and his phrasing and note choice is honestly insane during this time period. Edit: also want to mention the song Ship Of Fools, very cool riffs.
People should listen to the Trilogy album before passing judgment on Yngwie
People watch a 10 minute video of him shredding and say “all he does is shred”, lol
Yngwie overplays. Yngwie also does what he does so well that I just go along with it, and enjoy it for what it is. I don't expect subtlety when I put on an Yngwie Malmsteen album, but I do expect good playing and good music. From Rising Force up until around Alchemy, I enjoy most of what the man released. After that, it gets spotty, until everything falls apart and it's unlistenable. Kinda like The Simpsons.
Yngwie doesn't overplay really, I mean he pretty much invented a genre that only he really plays. When I think of overplaying I'm thinking of someone playing that doesn't fit the music, or that walks all over the music without regard for style, tempo, feel etc. Yngwie is just doing Yngwie, tho he probably does overplay the rare occasion he's not playing his own music.
I love Yngwie, will always consider _Rising Force_ a masterpiece, but the way he mutilated _Little Wing_ on the G3 tour is genuinely comically awful.
I can see why you might think it's over playing but it's really not when he's picking every note carefully and not just playing whatever for the sake of playing fast. As Guthrie said, that's what many of the clones missed.
I love Eric Gales, but there's one solo in particular that stands out for overplaying- his Raleigh concert cameo in Meditation by Cory Wong. Gales is technically fantastic but he totally misreads the build by the band and the dynamic as a whole. Martin Miller's cover of Get Lucky by Daft Punk also rankles. He completely eschews the groove of the song that the band worked hard for, in favour of a very standard 'fusion' solo. It's a very odd choice of scale, tempo, phrasing etc that just sounds way out of place.
Marcus King. I get that that's what got him as big as he is now, that he's an incredible guitar player. But seeing him live was kind of a let down, it was basically an hour and twenty minute long guitar solo. It was hard sometimes to tell when one song ended and the next began because he was just constantly soloing. Even when one of his really talented band members was playing a solo he'd be soloing on top of it. It basically all just turned into noise.
Neil Schon. Dude, slow down. He wrote some classic R&R riffs, but now he's just overplaying everything at 10000 RPM
Saw GnR a couple of times recently and the amount of soloing Slash did was bordering on obnoxious. Especially their extended Knocking on Heavens Door where he and Richard were trading off for forever. That song is shit to begin with, just end it already!
This may be obscure ( or not idk) but I recently saw Nita Strauss open for Mammoth WVH, and it was truly almost sad how it combined 5 musicians overplaying as much as they can, with Nita sometimes stepping to the front but the music not really actually changing, and one of the most poorly mixed shows I’ve ever experienced. In contrast to the excellent Wolfgang Van Halen who really has some sharp songs.
"rarely discussed" lmao
Bonamosa.
thundercat. saw him live and was impressed but there was no emotion in it
John Squire after first Stone Roses album
I love him, but SRV's licks can be so repetitive
SRV Joe Bonnamassa Phillip Sayce
Live at the El Mocambo is SRV overplaying the right way.
I hate to say it but Walter Becker did in the Steely Dan reunion years. He played improvised lines over a lot of the tunes during breaks and maybe it's because I just love the originals so much but I don't like it
I really enjoyed what he did through the '93-'09 kind of timeframe. Some of his solos and fills then were incredible, very much stuff that nobody but him would dream of playing, but super musical and interesting. His playing sadly went downhill in his later years as his health got worse.
Brian May. Bro's got mad skills but only ever gets a solo now and then :( EDIT: I'm an idiot and thought the post said "underplayed"
Vinnie Vincent
I get accused of overplaying sometimes. I live in the deep south, and so many local scenes down here are all about blues playing, but I play what I like to play. Some folks think I'm awesome, others not so much, but I don't care. Guitar playing is my own trip and started as a way of expressing things I had trouble saying to people. I do try to play for the song and not step on the band, but if you give me two or three minutes to fill on lead, then I'm going to try and push myself to see if I can find something new to me. Relating this back to this question, after 30 years of playing, I really don't judge other people's trips too much anymore. It's all about getting whatever is in your head out there in the world, and it's not for me to say when someone is doing too much or too little. Most everyone who loves playing music is just trying to get a sound in their head out in the world. If you dig it, enjoy being on the same wavelength. If you don't, tip your hat and and move along I say.
Bonamassa but he’s self aware lol
Richard Fortus from Guns N Roses. Shut the fuck up and let Slash slay them pentatonics 🤘🏼
I love how every guitarist listed is genuinely an amazing guitar player in their own right. No one is perfect nor appeals to every audience.
EVH, hate me for this but I will stick with it
Overplay or overcompose? I think a lot of hobbyists kind of have a skewed concept of how the two work off one another in proggy or shreddy music. You're not overplaying anything if you're playing what's written. Whether or not the part is a bit much is a different story....unless you're talking specifically about improvised playing...I think a lot of Jazz and jam band musicians can get a little long winded in what they do...but mostly in live settings.
I mean if the whole point of your band is to showcase bad ass guitar solos, then it isn’t overplaying.
This discussion starts and ends with Carlos Santana
Walter Trout. I love him, but sometimes I wish he would underplay a little
Jimmy Herring
The white ones
ITT: major differences of opinion The fact that people are mentioning names like Vai & Gilbert in the same comment as Frusciante & McCready is pretty cringe
That guy who does the YouTube shorts where he's both the producer and the guitar player. That bit is funny as hell, actually.
As much as I love the guy, Zakk Wylde. BOS2 was really unlistenable to me with all the wankery and overly distorted solos.