Working on a new post...guitarists who seem to have no equal

[mirth]

So we all know there are about a million amazing and incredible guitarists in this country alone. Pretty much any city you go to you can find a person who just nails the shit out of any Hendrix stuff, or Van Halen or whatever. However, who are the players that just are frankly too difficult to mimic? The ones that basically no one even really tries to get down, or maybe they try but fail.

I'm starting to compile my list of players....there are some variables though, of course. For instance, I think someone like Arthur Rhames is obvious for this in a way, but I'm only considering him an honorable mention since probably less people know him than me. However, I think despite the fact that someone like Holdsworth is not nearly as popular as Jimmy Page (or even in the ballpark), he is well known enough by guitarists that you'd think there were a million clones, but despite the fact people try to cop his thing, they seem to all fail miserably at it.

So here is my list in no particular order:

1.) Holdsworth
2.) Shawn Lane
3.) Roy Buchanon
4.) Danny Gatton
5.) John McLaughlin
6.) Vernon Reid
7.) Stanley Jordan

Honorable Mentions (due to being very obscure):
1.) Arhtur Rhames
2.) Bryan Baker
3.) Possibly Chris Crocco


What do you think?

Maybe I should add someone like Frissel? I don't hear many people playing like him? Scofield and Metheny seem to have endless copycats, same with Rosenwinkel. I know a lot of people try and copy Holdsworth and Gatton, but I can't think of anyone really nailing it. Unlike the 50,000 guitarists nailing the Van Halen stuff.

Thoughts?

[Infinite Ego]

No, back in the late 80s there were thousands of Frisell clones....it was a thing.

Basically, what you're identifying are guitarists who are not influential. In other words, nobody else sounds like them or can sound like them.

They have no clones.

Bucketed is on that list as well.

if I were famous I'd be on that list too because I've never heard anyone with my speed and phrasing and you cannot clone it. Wish I were famous!!!! or maybe not, it obviously sucks to be famous. The worst is to be famous and broke and then next worse to be famous and rich. Or rich then broke....end of the line

[Infinite Ego]

and don't forget all the odd ball types that have *inspired* a lot of folks but are never duplicated. Bailey, Kaiser, Frith, some of the Downtown guys. Also Ry Cooder and Lindley

[sonicdeviant]

I think that's a really good list of folks. I've heard a few guitarists who are obviously going for the Holdsworth vibe; they get close--mostly in tone--but it's hard to capture that level of insane phrasing. Without his hands and brain.

In jazz, I think the most cloned guitarist is Wes Montgomery.

[mirth]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, I think influence is probably the better word. Though it's strange because I think these people inspire a lot of guitarists, but people seem to give up before even trying to figure it out.

Montgomery is definitely mimicked a lot. I'm not sure about Cooder seems there are a ton of Nashville guys trying to do the same thing .

[asb]

Bill Connors released a trio of records in the late 80s and early 90s that got him some flack among some Allan Holdsworth fans because they sounded very similar to Allan Holdsworth timbrally. Rhythmically it was funkier and earthier than AH music but...he later returned to a more straight ahead jazz style in 1994 with "The Return" but has been a music teacher since.

Check it out - Connors does an AH type thing:


I have some other players to add to the list but this will do for now.

[sonicdeviant]

Jun 3, 2017 15:55:26 GMT -5 asb said:

Check it out - Connors does an AH type thing:


I have some other players to add to the list but this will do for now.

That's fairly blatant. Wow! I would've said AH just listening without knowing it was someone else. It's always better to find one's own voice.

[Infinite Ego]

There's quite a few of those AH clones on YT these days. Not the army of Yngsters but, still, for such a quirky player you'd thing nobody could cop it

[asb]

He was the first guy to do it, did 3 records in that kind of vein (where each subsequent record moved farther and farther away from the AH thing) and then stopped. He returned in 1994 with a straight ahead jazz project (no distortion, thick bodied jazz guitar) and has been a music teacher since.

Here's what he's doing now:

[asb]

Actually, now that I think about it: there was another guy who was playing a bit like Allan in the early days. The late Bruce Bowes who had a band called NOIZE - my understanding is he died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle/automobile collision but after playing in this band (and another band, BORIS) he was a audio engineer for the Disney organization.

This was recorded in something like between 1981 and 1982.

The track "A Dragon's Lament" from the demo tape "Honoring the Mystery" quotes a line from Bruford's "Sahara of Snow" between 45 and 51 seconds which was shocking in those days - I still haven't heard anyone else quote AH even to this day note for note. Then he veers into a totally different style.

That's Bowes on guitar and vocals, his brother Scott on bass, Joe Quinde on 2nd guitar, and the astonishing Lou Katsaros on drums.  



There was a website brucebowes.com that is now offline, I suspect they went to facebook like a lot of other forums.

And I was right!
www.facebook.com/NOIZandBORIS/

[sonicdeviant]

Jun 5, 2017 6:24:31 GMT -5 asb said:

The track "A Dragon's Lament" from the demo tape "Honoring the Mystery" quotes a line from Bruford's "Sahara of Snow" between 45 and 51 seconds which was shocking in those days - I still haven't heard anyone else quote AH even to this day note for note. Then he veers into a totally different style.

Very cool. Definitely not too Holdworthian. I've seen some attempts but AH had physical attributes that made it tough to totally rip him off.

[mirth]

Connors never did much for me as he always seemed like a cheap knock off of others. Didn't he have a McLaughlin phase too, before the Holdsworth one?

Also, despite some similarities I don't think Bill sounded all that much like Holdsworth.