i was just listening to “Do You Feel Like We Do?” on the radio and to my totally untrained ear it seems to me the Frampton is damn good guitarist. Unfortuantley it seems that quirky voicebox thing he did makes himi seem like a novelty. but I ask the guitaranistas here, how does Peter Frampton rate in the echelon of rock guitarists?
He is better than me at lead, but probably not top ten or anything.
IANAG[uitarist], but he rates pretty high in my book. I see him every chance I get. His album Fingerprints was good enough to win a Grammy in 2007 for Best Instrumental Pop Album.
In a technical sense, or a more “David Gilmour”-melodic-sensibilities sense?
You tell me. I know nothing.
Frampton is/was a very talented and well respected guitarist. I don’t want to get into rankings, but he is certainly a peer of the best guitarists of the classic rock era. His pop stardom overshadowed that, which is probably why he’s not as likely to be in “the conversation” as much as he should be, perhaps.
I always thought he was a very good guitarist, but one who didn’t contribute anything original to the instrument. And that mouth thingy was just annoying.
He’s certainly a talented musician. Good melodic sense, good songwriter.
On Raw technical ability? I’d say decently above average. On a stage full of professional touring RnR musicians he could easily hold his own. On a stage with Steve Vai or Marty Friedman, not so much, but they obviously have wildly different styles. I’d put him on par with most of the other guys from that general era of classic rock of musicians.
I agree that he has an excellent sense of melody. His solos can be, for lack of a better rock-n-roll word, rather beautiful. I think his playing stands out in that regard. His leads in Something’s Happening on Framptom Comes Alive are what first inspired me to play guitar. He had that nice warbly tone, too (I think he used a leslie cabinet?).
Ah, c’mon, do you feel?
/Hullabalooza
I rate him quite high talent-wise. I don’t care for his solo work but his stuff with Humble Pie was kick ass rock and roll.
Yes. And I value melody and musical creativity more than technique. Gotta say, though, I like a guitar to sound like a guitar – his tone never really thrilled me.
Back in the 70s, he was considered to have great physical ability and a better vocabulary of scales and phrases than most rock guitarists. This, along with a pretty creative sense of melody, allowed him to play solos that sounded much more melodic, and I agree, beautiful, than most of his peers.
I rate him quite highly. I saw him at a local festival, maybe 6-7 years ago, long after his glory days.
He blew the place apart! Very good.
Recommended.
He’s touring this summer, opening for the current incarnation of Yes. Frampton and Howe on the same night…pretty sweet!
Frampton Comes Alive was a great album. Very unique sound. He just disappeared after his second album and I wonder where he has been all these years? I thought he may have gotten into drugs or died.
Actually, Frampton Comes Alive was his fifth solo album. He lives near Cincinnati, Ohio and still performs quite a bit.
I got to meet him a couple of years ago; he was doing a promotional tour of various ad agencies in the Midwest, looking to drum up business.\
He still records albums, though he seemed to acknowledge that he was doing stuff which interested him, and not necessarily things which would be commercially successful. Which was why he was talking to ad agencies, hoping for opportunities to do stuff which would pay the bills. (Not too long after, he appeared on a Geico ad (not from my agency), so something must have come from his tour. 
)
He came across as very personable, very funny, and very down-to-earth. And, he still played a great guitar.
His new album, Thank You Mr. Churchillis coming out on April 27.
I was a fan of his years ago, but moved on to other artists when he kind of dropped out of the public eye. Then, sometime last year I stumbled across his “Frampton Comes Alive II” DVD and was blown away. I finally saw him live last Fall, and thought he was phenomenal. I’m hoping to get to see him again when he tours this Summer.