# How can you distinguish between good and bad guitarists/solos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-distinguish-between-good-and-bad-guitarists-solos/357254 "2006-05-18T13:26:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-distinguish-between-good-and-bad-guitarists-solos/357254/61 "2006-06-10T18:24:57Z")
**JCorre** Thank you for posting those Jack White videos! I saw the White Stripes last summer–“on fire” pretty much covers it. 🙂 What about John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Seems to me he’s feeling the music he plays. He and Jack White sort of give this aging hippie hope for the future of music. Also–Neil Young? Yeah, maybe his technique is neither subtle nor especially complicated, but that raw, assertive style of his is just so, well, so unmistakably Neil. Cinnamon Girl. Powderfinger. Cowgirl in the Sand. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-distinguish-between-good-and-bad-guitarists-solos/357254/62 "2006-06-10T23:37:13Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > This is a song called “Ball and Biscuit” He shows more of his “chops” here. Neither of those solos did much for me, to tell you the truth. Ball and Biscuit was better, but they were both very noisy. The thing that really won me over for the Stripes was seeing them break off from Seven Nation Army and go into Death Letter at the Grammys a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-distinguish-between-good-and-bad-guitarists-solos/357254/63 "2006-06-11T03:21:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Neither of those solos did much for me, to tell you the truth. Ball and Biscuit was better, but they were both very noisy. The thing that really won me over for the Stripes was seeing them break off from Seven Nation Army and go into Death Letter at the Grammys a few years ago. That was just awesome. The energy level those two display on stage is incredible. I remember after it was over the camera panned around the audience and you could people staring wide-eyed, others stomping and cheering, and yet others talking to the people beside them in that, “Holy cow, did you see that?” way. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-distinguish-between-good-and-bad-guitarists-solos/357254/64 "2006-06-11T07:15:42Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > That was just awesome. The energy level those two display on stage is incredible. I remember after it was over the camera panned around the audience and you could people staring wide-eyed, others stomping and cheering, and yet others talking to the people beside them in that, “Holy cow, did you see that?” way. Here’s a link. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLixpduRQU&search=white%20stripes%20grammy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLixpduRQU&search=white%20stripes%20grammy) and if you like that, the “Under Blackpool Lights” DVD is an example of one of the best live Rock and Roll performaces I’ve ever seen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-distinguish-between-good-and-bad-guitarists-solos/357254.md?page=3)