I have figured out that he is playing a dropped D. I suspect the rest of his strings are tuned to an open chord by the way he gets a good sound when he spanks the strings…
…and this kid doesn’t have a record deal…I have yet to peruse his site very much, but I suspect I will shell out the $20 or so to get his CD.
Eh, it’s been done. Check out any of Preston Reed’s work; he was doing this sort of thing 20 years ago, but better, as he’s not just about the pyrotechnics, but writes actual (good!) compositions as well.
Not having heard any of his other work, this short clip is all I have to go on. I’m not disputing the guy has chops, but it still is nothing particularly original.
I agree with most of you - technically accomplished, but ultimately a very basic blues progression with pyrotechnic riffing on top of it. When you play on top of something so basic, you have to make the melody and emotion compelling in order to overcome the basic limitations of the materials. SRV is as revered as he is for his ability to inject the simple progressions of the blues with melodic and emotional freshness - and, for what it is worth, tended to play single-note melodic leads much more than pyrotechnic dweedly-dweedly stuff. This came across as nifty noodling.
A lot of amazing technicians need to slow it down and remember that, in prioritized order, three things matter:
The song/melody
The emotion invested into the song by the player and the listener
The technical ability of the players
There is a reason why Sex Pistols rock - they have 1 and 2, and just enough of 3. There is a reason why Yngwie Malmsteen sucks - he completely lacks 1 and 2 and is over the top on 3, but by that point, nobody cares…Hendrix, in his day, is someone who had it all, which is why he is so legendary. Same thing with Clapton…
**Skillet38 ** - isn’t a Kottke Taylor a 12-string? This is a 6 string, near as I can hear. I assumed it was a Larrivee guitar simply because the video has someone name Larrivee associated with it…
Wordman they made (or make) both a 12 and a 6. A guitarist I played with a couple of years ago had 1 of each, though since he was primarily a 12 stringer, I got to borrow the 6.
Both were great, best playing flattops I’ve put my mitts on.
When I’m in a guitar shop I love nothing more than simply playing the wicked riff from “All RIght Now” by Free in 1971. It’s a riff which taught AC/DC everything they know, and most importantly, it’s a riff which exemplifies everything that good quality rock music is supposed to be about. It’s not an overly fussy riff - not too many notes or hammers or fancy stuff at all. But holy shit you can invest some feel into it if you want.
The last time I was checking out a Marshall Amp in my local store, I was playing my '68 Cherry Red ES335 just to get a feel, or an idea, of what modern Marshall’s are up to these days.
One of the guys who worked in the shop was ogling my guitar and asked if he could have a play. Now he’d just spent 10 minutes listening to me play a whole bunch of really timeless classic riffs - and so what did he do? He gets my 335 and proceeds to go into shred mode. A million notes all over the shop. He had all the feel of finger nails dragging on a blackboard.
Eh… each to their own… but I just felt sorry for this guy. He had in his hands a genuine and way magnificent 1968 Cherry Red Gibson ES335 and instead of just playing some classic pieces from the era on it, he insisted on playing it like it was some PRS modern thing with a tremolo bar.
My point here is that the sales guy in question has still to progress beyond the wanky “how many notes a second” can you play mentality. He’s yet to learn about taste.
Dave Gilmour RARELY played fast runs, but holy fuck, he knew all about good taste.
No self-respecting ES335 worth a damn has anything OTHER than a traditional Gibson stop bar.
Just check our Mr Clapton himself during the Cream days. Bigsby’s were fashionable, but amongst afficionados, they actually reduce value instead of enhancing it. Eric’s classic ES335 was identical in fitout to a Les Paul in every respect - save for the semi-hollow design of the body of course.