Entertainment For Lively Minds
Bernard Butler? John Squire? Graham Coxon? Jonny Greenwood?
Posted by Remote Control on 12 August 2010 - 4:35pm.
...Who's your favourite guitarist to have emerged in the last 20 years or so?
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Hmm... tricky one.
My initial thought would be Brendan Baylis of Umphrey's McGee.
Joe Bonnamassa is a stunning player but, I fear, has already played himself into a blues cul-de-sac.
...as opposed to an indie cul-de-sac?
It's tough for the virtuoso blues player to break out of that pigeonhole.
Look at John Mayer or local boy Aynsley Lister. Both tend to blunt their edge when they try to go mainstream and alienate early fans without necessarily garnering new ones.
Joey Bones is edging towards this but his most recent venture is supposedly a balls-out rock album so we'll see.
Local
as in Coalville?
If Matt Bellamy had managed to improve on this
then I'd vote for him.
So the answer's Graham Coxon.
Marc Ribot
Pushes himself into increasingly esoteric corners, but generally adds a touch of magic to any record he plays on.
I'm a big fan too
I saw him as one of Elvis Costello's Confederates, sparring with James Burton! He's great on the Tom Waits records and he also plays beautifully on last year's Allan Toussaint album.
Thirded.
He's done some awesome work with John Zorn, too.
Live
I've yet to be see anyone make my jaw drop as much as Nick Harper.
Nick Harper - jaw dropping
Especially when he changes a broken string whilst continuing to play!!
Hm.
Probably Mr Squire. Until I change my mind in five minutes or read someone else's better suggestion.
Nick McCabe
Probably lacks the technique of a John Squire, but capable of coaxing some wondrous sounds from his 'axe'.
Early McCabe = stunning
I'd like to give a shout out for
Daniel Kessler:
Graham Coxon
However many albums worth of evidence of Coxon's brilliance, but really, just watch the footage from Blur's comeback gigs last year. Coming up with some of those guitar lines in the first place is impressive enough, but his live playing is so energetic, and yet precise and incredibly fluid all at the same time.
Yes
It is Coxon. That is all.
Bernie was my inspiration
Having already started piano lessons at primary school I already had a fair understanding of music theory by the time I realised how cool it might make me to play guitar, so I basically taught myself to play by listening to and trying to copy - one note at a time if necessary - Johnny Marr & Bernard Butler. This being the early 90s Johnny wasn't very visible, but seeing Bernard wrench his guitar like a madman, and hearing the gorgeous, intricate layering on record which he'd clearly learned from Mr. Marr made him my guitar idol. Even now if you were to name a Suede song I could play you a pretty faithful rendition of it, complete with foot-stomping and Bisgby-waggling theatrics.
Another favourite of mine, who has been sadly overlooked since his band's heyday, is Steve Mason of Gene. Combining elements of Marr with Steve Cropper and the gentle end of Jimi Hendrix he had a beautiful, elegant, lyrical style of playing, with the kind of unshowy technique that means you don't realise just how good he is until you try to recreate his sound yourself. Here's a great example - Save Me I'm Yours (by Gene):
Thanks Cadabra
Good to read something tangibly positive about Britpop era music as it's a time of music I often feel less inclined to revisit despite owning a number of albums.
The first 30 seconds of this track is a great counter-argument to those who off-handedly dismiss the music of that era as disposable and insubstantial.
A hearty thanks for this reminder.
As to Mason's playing, for me the word is mellifluous.
Bernie B
I absolutely love Graham Coxon's playing, esp on Modern Life..., Parklife and The Great Escape , but my soul's still aflame by the guitars on early Suede: