Caio wrote-
>hehehehe... I'm going to ask my guitarrist friend what he thinks of >Malmsteen technically. I myself can't stand Eric Clapton ( and that song >about his dead son DOES suck! ) and like Malmsteen ( but not everything ), >Steve Vai ( but not everything again ) and Satriani ( most of what does ). >Vai's "For the Love of God" has more musicianship AND feeling than anything >I've listened to by Clapton. And I'm an atheist, imagine if I had joined the >Church - the institution, not the girl. I'm not a pedophile, either! :-) >
I'm a guitarist, and I used to shred away on Malmsteen, Vai and Satriani. Technically, it is far more complex than anything clapton has ever done- but here is my point- Clapton does not let technique DICTATE what he writes- he just writes songs. Malmsteen, and to a lesser extent, vai and satriani are slaves to their technique- Malmsteen uses his chops just about ALL of the time, and when he doesn't, it's to let some long haired heavy metal singer scream high F's. It's all about superiority and serving the self. There's not a lot of real musical control, as his ego gets in the way all the time.
Take Lennon and MacCartney instead- they were very average musicians, but instead gave priviledge to melody, harmony and inventiveness- that is music to me, and to a lot of other people. Take beethoven's emperor concerto- the second movement- it's so sparse and beautiful, and moves mountains without any empty virtuosity. You could play the main piano part with one finger!
Less is more.
Clapton's playing in cream, similar to hendrix, was fantastic and ground breaking- linking american blues, and british rock sensibilities into the british blues invasion. Have a listen to 'strange brew' or 'sunshine of your love' songs that will give you goosebumps, without selfish displays. and Caio, I'm sure you know what makes good music. you pointed out that 'for the love of god' was a good song- well, I agree with you. Count the amount of notes in the main motif...4! It's good to see at least Vai can exercise some restraint.
Mirko
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