Help me With “Every Note, All at Once, All the Time:The Unrelentlessness of the Speed Guitarists Hall of Fame Album”
I wanted to be one. Shit, who didn’t?
The K-to-the-Z was blew out of the '80s like a sore trial of diaharria that had an end, but was nowhere in sight, with nothing left but a Charvel 3A w/2 Jackson generic HBs.
Chiseled in stone,somewhere at the top of the “**Rules List for the '80s **Shit” was the letters: SPEED. These letters meant that the faster your sweep-arpeggios-segueing-into-finger-tapping-then-the-traditional-dive-on-the-Floyd-Rose-into-a-blues-riff-and-the-on-and-off-switch was, the higher percentage in success it was that you were going to get laid.
To that end I am developing an album featuring the the most over-the-top, speed-for-speed’s-sake, shredders and axemen known to exist.
Though the term *album *may date the SupK, it both lends to, and leads to a certain reverance of the genre. This reverance shall be displayed as TUoftheSGHofFame Album. I have chosen the first three songs, by demand, and they are as follows:
**Far Beyond the Sun **(Live) Yngwie Malmsteen. Unless you call it different, the: Imperius Rex of gothic/baroque/pastoral-sweep-arps-and-taps-and-shit. (I call this one: “Far Beyond Listenable”. Hey, Ying-wee, take a fuckin’ break will ya? even the orchestra is rolling their eyes. Mr. Dragstrip of the fretboard. Whaddays play like 7fuckinbajillion notes in that song? Sheesh.)
Baby-OVinnie Vincent Invasion The “Hardest Picking Man in Show Buiseness” You can feel the pick-attack, it flashes off the pickups like hail-made-of-foil-in-a-studio-lit-by-flourescent-lights. Too fast for Paul and Gene. (Authors Note: The KZ used to shred with a DiMarzio “Super Distortion” HB, and the fucker was so HOT, I could SING into my shit if I wanted, but Vinnie…shit, it might as well have been a Shure SM58 mounted in his shit, BECAUSE EVEN HIS FINGER-TAPPING HAS PICK-ATTACK! I was in a buddy’s Ford 460 Station Wagon, back in '83, and without knowing,he knocked it in neutral with the cruise control set at 65mph. We didn’t realize the car was in neutral, but heard a noise getting louder and faster, well beyond redline, with a determination to keep going. That is this song. And to this day, I have “No Outboard Effects Used on this Guitar” written on the Charv.)
**Save Yourself ***Micheal Schenker or MSG *or whatever. I interwebbed that shit once, for tabs, and the shit came up a PDF!!! ARE YOU SHITTIN’ ME? The Fucker who posted it…not only learned it, BUT WROTE IT OUT BY HAND AND SCANNED IT!!! Problem was, I could barely follow the written notes on the sheet music for how fast Mike was playing, when I followed the shit on paper, with my finger.
I am a fan of Lynch, Jake E. Lee, Vai, and Satriani, but these are all guys who try a little to not sacrifice melody for speed-for-speed sake. I could be wrong, and have been frequently, so who’s got some McAlpine or Gilbert shit, or whomever they can turn me onto?
S-to-the-K - while I bask in the glow of your guitar-osity (what cool shattered-glass, lightning bolt design did you have on your Charv, dude?) I just want to say it is nice to see both a post from the **Kapowz **on the Dope and then also realizing that you are totally in touch with your inner Bill and Ted. And, by the way, air-riffing by Wyld Stalyuns would totally qualify in the speed department…
As for the topic: well, I can hardly wait to read how you unleash the fury on the progenitor of all things Paganini in speed-shred-guitar: the Viking King himself, Yngwie J. Keeper of the flame or sweep-picking moron - what say the Super K?
*for non-shredders, that’s a model of shred-type amp: a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier - folks like Metallica used them a lot. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Wow. Just… wow. Virtuosically knock-you-over piles, nay snowdrifts of notes notes notes! You have to admire the technique, but the overall effect is dreadful, just freaking horrid. I nominate this guy for your album, SK, as at least a dishonerable mention.
Then there is this guy, who no one has ever heard of.
Listen at 2:56 in. The plus about this guy is that he shreds and also breathes from time to time.
Then, of course, you gotta have Steve. Note, he picks everything.Link 2
Vinnie Moorecan also get fast when he wants. On the cool side he slowed down a bit and does more feel these days though he still hits it from time to time. (note, I could not seem to find his early Sharpnel stuff where he really lets loose)
Frank Gambale is just silly. I mean seriously silly.
I know this isn’t really the genre you’re aiming for, but I always liked Tommy Emmanuel doing Classical Gas. When you listen to it, remind yourself that his guitar is the only instrument you’re hearing.
And though he tended to understate his ability, Jimmy Page has some pretty amazing stuff if you go looking for it.
Oh, god yes, Al. The human sewing machine. I know people like him, but he always felt passionless and mechanical to me, just banging out notes notes notes ratta tatta tatta. I was told a surely apocryphal story that at a concert of his he played something more rock-ish than his usual repertoire, and after he says to the audience something like, “I bet you didn’t think I could play rock!”, and someone shouts back, “well, you sure as hell can’t play jazz!”
I actually like Al quite a bit. My thinking about the passionless thing (not Al specific) is that there are ton of players out there that I don’t get. For whatever reason some people sound passionless and mechanical to me. Or sloppy and careless. However, instead of the fault being with the player, my view is that it is with me. There are certain things I don’t get. The fact that I don’t get them doesn’t say anything about the talent of the musician. I get Al. I don’t get Jack White*.
There are a few exceptions to this, there are actually some people who managed to get famous and sell a ton of records without being musicians (think Milli Vanilli) or having any talent.
I’ve heard that Al can be quite the dick. According a friend who opened for him once, after the show he introduced himself to Al and all Al said was ‘Your picking sucks’. My friend was a first rate classical player. He won some prestigious classical guitar competition
Slee
*People kept telling me about this new guy, Jack White, and how good he was. At the same time I kept hearing this damned song on the radio with an awful guitar tone that annoyed the living crap out of me. Finally I decided to check out White. Turns out I’d been hearing him on the radio, he was the guy annoying me on my morning drive to work. However, White is going for a certain tone and style and pulls it off well. It just doesn’t work for me.
Ritchie Blackmore is the daddy of all these guys. He’s chillin’ out playing Renaissance music now but back in the 70’s this guy was deadly.
Suggestions:
Ritchie Blackmore: Rainbow “Stargazer” from the album Long Live Rock and Roll
Ritchie Blackmore: Rainbow “Kill the King” from Rainbow Rising
Ritchie Blackmore: Deep Purple “Highway Star” from Machine Head
Ritchie Blackmore: Deep Purple “Burn” title track of the album Burn
Judas Priest has dipped their feet in many pools over the years, their most speed metal intensive effort was 1990’s “Painkiller” which might have some you’d be interested in.
Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing: Judas Priest “Metal Meltdown” from Painkiller
Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing: Judas Priest “Painkiller” title track from Painkiller
If you’re looking for pure speed, I refer you to pretty much anything by Katherine Thomas, otherwise known as “The Great Kat”.
Slee, fair enough, and I can respect liking Al, he’s just not my cuppa. I included that apocryphal story because I thought it was kind of a funny (if unlikely) exchange. I did not mean to step on your toes, although I definitely was stepping on Al’s a bit, but not his fans, if that makes sense. OK?
It is all good, though one of my pet peeves is when people state things like ‘He has no feeling’ when referring to musicians. You (the general you, not you in particular) might not get the emotion but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. There is a difference, to me at least, between ‘I don’t get his playing’ vs. ‘He has no emotion’. Silly, maybe, but it has always bugged me.
I remember talking to someone about Yngwie (I think it was him, in any case it was some really fast player) and the person I was talking to said ‘He plays too fast’. My response was ‘No, you think too slow’. I don’t care much for Yngwie these days, though he is a hell of a player even if he is a total ass.
I totally forgot about Tommy Emmanuel, that man rocks. In fact I know there are a bunch of players I am forgetting, I used to be into the speed thing for a while. This getting old thing kinda sucks
Well, I did tack on the proviso “to me”, in my “Al” post, but you noticed that.
So, I’m wondering if perhaps I’ve missed the point of this thread. I took the OP to mean that he wants to make a list of guitar players/songs that are so ridiculously over the top in terms of speed that they delegate every other consideration, including good song writing:
So I’ve been following along in the quoted, gently mocking vein, when perhaps others are being perfectly serious about the topic. So which is it, guys, mocking or serious?
