Entertainment For Lively Minds
Who are the current Guitar Heroes? Does this idea/concept still exist?
Posted by Uncle Wheaty on 23 November 2011 - 10:03pm.
I have just come across an old Rainbow bootleg in my iTunes library (nice image as I wish I could stumble through an actual library with loaded shelves of albums).
Blackmore was a great guitarist to my ears. I'll leave the technical arguments to those that know!
Do guitar heroes still exist in 2011?
- More from Uncle Wheaty.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Was thinking the same thing.
Couple of years back I got into Tommy Bolin..His Solo stuff is a bit "Rawk" for my tastes but his fusion type stuff with Alphonse Mouzon and Billy Cobham is brilliant...Check out "Golden Rainbows" on youtube(tried to post but wouldn't let me) absolutely stunning guitar work.The book about his life is a great read.Played with The James Gang..Deep Purple..
Allow me...
Jonny Greenwood
The only one that comes to mind for me is Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. A guitar hero who does not sound like a revivalist of blues rock, has great talent and who adds beautiful and exciting touches to records, and is distinctive, original and makes music that sounds like it belongs in the 21st century.
This is probably going to end in tears
when the "guitar wank" brigade wade in, but I'm a huge fan of Joe Bonamassa.
Here he is giving a new spin to the old Jeff Beck track Blues Deluxe:
I saw him at Cornbury a few years ago
I liked what I heard but wasn't moved enough to invest in a record though.
He reminded me of Gary Moore.
Too many records
Bonamassa has made something like 12 solo albums, plus a few with his supergroup Black Country Communion (Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, Derek Sherinian & Joe Bonamassa) and that tends to spread his material pretty thin.
I can see the Gary Moore parallels, but I really enjoyed him live. It's great to see someone his age (early 30s) embracing the late 60s British Blues Boom style so convincingly.
THIS !!
Hear hear
Then there's this
A full orchestra and some mad mental guitar playing.
The spirit of Ritchie Blackmore is alive and well in Steve Vai.
The fun starts at 2.20.
At 7.05, is that a man actually masturbating ..
.. in front of a live audience? You got to admit it's funny. Sounds more funny than moving too, certainly in the high energy moments.
In response to the OP.. the guitar is too expressive an instrument to go asleep for long.
Matt Bellamy
and don't give me any shit about him being a Queen copyist or a light show with sound or soul less etc. The man is a guitar hero to thousands all over the world he has created a great live act based on his musical talent and an imagination to match. Someone here described Bono as seeing the world in HD, Bellamy sees it in HD, 3D, with surround sound and a touch of stardust. I love him if for nothing else than taking his inspiration for this from "The Flashing Blade" theme (this may not be true)
Muse "Knights of Cydonia"
+1
No one else here is currently writing and performing songs with guitar solos and will headline huge gigs.
That Bloke Out Of BiG PRiEST
is pretty handy. Handsome too.
Ooohh..
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/guitar-heroes
Seeing as the OP is about current faves
I'll take Reading's own John Mitchell, please! His playing graces Arena, Kino, It Bites and these monkeys, Frost.
At 2' 55" Johnny Mitchell takes flight.
The omnipresent RT
Just thought I'd put my vote in for the finest acoustic player in the business in my very biased opinion. Seen him live ten times or more now. Always delivers.
Wish I could play like him.
Electric
I agree, and would add that his electric playing is staggering too. By a mile our most complete guitarist.
"Today"
What occurs to me is that all of those posted have been around for ages. Possibly not Matt Bellamy but certainly yer RTs, Steve Vais, Tommy Bolins etc are today in the sense that they are still here (well, sadly Tommy isn't) but are hardly new faces. If the question is limited to those who appeared on the scene in the last 10 years, who would we include?
Ps if anyone is available the answer is obviously Jeff Beck.
Jeff Beck
is possibly the greatest rock guitarist alive today, but clearly he's not a new face, either.
Of the new-ish guys, I'd stick with Joe Bonamassa (above) and possibly Derek Trucks.
What about Jack White?
He's keeping the blues rock guitar solo dream alive.
(See also the Black Keys.)
Wilco
I saw Wilco a couple of years ago and part of the set involved the two guitarists having a "battle of riffs", with Jeff Tweedy in the middle doing the announcing. Guitar heroes indeed!