The Anti-Guitar Hero Thread

[Real Ray]

I was listening to Tattooed Love Boys-my favorite Pretenders song-this morning, and started thinking about James Honeyman-Scott's style. I really loved those records that he played on.

Other favorites? Johnny Thunders always seems to make this list, but I'm not really that big a fan of his.

[bojendyk]

Joey Santiago

[Pints]

Joey Santiago

Indeed.

[Real Ray]

James Williamson. His playing with Iggy Pop...I love that stuff. At its best, lean, and to the bone.

[bojendyk]

Camper van Beethoven had some interesting guitar work. (Doug Lisher, I believe, was the main guitarist, although I can't remember.)

Richard Hell and the Voidoids were criminally overrated, but Robert Quine was the Man.

[taosjohn]

Camper van Beethoven had some interesting guitar work. (Doug Lisher, I believe, was the main guitarist, although I can't remember.)

Richard Hell and the Voidoids were criminally overrated, but Robert Quine was the Man.

Tom Verlaine?

[655321]

The original anti-guitar hero...

http://foreverill.com/images/marr/clrplay.jpg

[Crimen y Castigo]

Marc Ribot.

Three great albums featuring him:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000001FFJ.01._PE33_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Tom Waits

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000003S2C.01._PE8_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Lounge Lizards

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000006OB6.01._PE17_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos

[Real Ray]

Tom Verlaine?

Indeed. I've always thought U2's Edge was cross between Verlaine and Neil Young. You hear this especailly in the live, "Under A Blood Red Sky" album.

And yeah Johnny Marr-but he looks an awful lot like young Clapton in the photo :)

[taosjohn]

Indeed. I've always thought U2's Edge was cross between Verlaine and Neil Young. You hear this especailly in the live, "Under A Blood Red Sky" album.

The Triffids are heavily Verlaine influenced too; they don't list who played what on "Calenture," so I don't know who the guitars are by...

[Crimen y Castigo]

And yeah Johnny Marr-but he looks an awful lot like young Clapton in the photo :)

At first I thought that was David Spade doing a Roddy Frame impersonation.

[zman31]

Richard Thompson

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/sandy.denny/images/largerec/watchingthedark.jpg

[Auriaprottu]

Indeed. I've always thought U2's Edge was cross between Verlaine and Neil Young. You hear this especailly in the live, "Under A Blood Red Sky" album.

Blood Red Sky in one of the greatest live albums ever recorded.

The Edge and Neil Young were going to be the first names I added to this list, until I saw that they'd already been mentioned.

Andy Summers
Lindsey Buckingham

[sebakoole]

Marc Ribot.

Amen. It took years but this one finally clicked with me:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d352/d35210q225n.jpg

[taosjohn]

Richard Thompson

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/sandy.denny/images/largerec/watchingthedark.jpg

Pretty much a guitar hero, not anti-hero? I mean he's God to me, but I thought this was in re the Honeyman-Scott "no widdly-woo" ethos?

[Auriaprottu]

Pretty much a guitar hero, not anti-hero? I mean he's God to me, but I thought this was in re the Honeyman-Scott "no widdly-woo" ethos?

when I saw this thread, I immediately "guys whose playing..."

1) fleshes out their bands' tunes, rather than adding to those tunes the sort of flash that has scores of 17 year-old kids imitating their licks in the local music store

2) employs riffs that are tasteful, somewhat unusual, and are created to fit the song rather than having a song created around them, and are not difficult for difficulty's sake

3) includes compelling, thoughtful solos that rise above the I'm-going-to-display-everything-I've-ever-learned-in-every-song "Can you do this? I think not" playing that characterizes so many past and current guitarslingers.

I'm reminded of an interview I read in Guitar Player several years ago when the player made a comment about seeing guys standing in the front row of concerts staring at his hands all night- that's the kind of player I was thinking this thread ain't about.

I see a guitar anti-hero as a guitarist whose sound encourages listening and enjoyment and inspires study of musicianship first and technique only as the vehicle rather than the pursuit of technique as the goal in and of itself. I'm not bashing the heroes -I love Page, Clapton, Slash, Nugent, Bettencourt, Hendrix, Paul Gilbert, SRV, etc. as much as the next guy, but I love The Edge, Summers, Buckingham, Harrison, Cobain, etc. even more.

[taosjohn]

when I saw this thread, I immediately "guys whose playing..."

1) fleshes out their bands' tunes, rather than adding to those tunes the sort of flash that has scores of 17 year-old kids imitating their licks in the local music store

2) employs riffs that are tasteful, somewhat unusual, and are created to fit the song rather than having a song created around them, and are not difficult for difficulty's sake

3) includes compelling, thoughtful solos that rise above the I'm-going-to-display-everything-I've-ever-learned-in-every-song "Can you do this? I think not" playing that characterizes so many past and current guitarslingers.

I'm reminded of an interview I read in Guitar Player several years ago when the player made a comment about seeing guys standing in the front row of concerts staring at his hands all night- that's the kind of player I was thinking this thread ain't about.

I see a guitar anti-hero as a guitarist whose sound encourages listening and enjoyment and inspires study of musicianship first and technique only as the vehicle rather than the pursuit of technique as the goal in and of itself. I'm not bashing the heroes -I love Page, Clapton, Slash, Nugent, Bettencourt, Hendrix, Paul Gilbert, SRV, etc. as much as the next guy, but I love The Edge, Summers, Buckingham, Harrison, Cobain, etc. even more.

Ah-- at some point the Pretenders took an oath not to use the conventional guitar lead ethos of their time, but treat rock guitar kind of as if Charlie Christian had never lived, and that's what I took the thread to be about... Thompson certainly fits all three of your criteria; but Jeez its hard not to watch his hands much of the time...

How bout Eric Johnson?

[CHICO13]

Robbie Krieger of The Doors. Probably the most underated guitarist of his time.

[Real Ray]

A few more come to mind:

Peter Buck
Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers).

Robbie Krieger-yeah, that's a good call.

[clevelandstoker]

F--k you...

Johnny Thunders is a guitar hero.