Your Worst Musicians Of All Time

ICBM

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Marc Bolan's guitar playing: He was competent enough at what he did, but he could do very little. That would put him way down in the pecking order of "good" guitarists, but I'm not sure whether it qualifies him for a "worst" nomination.

I agree - terrible guitarist, but a good musician. He could write catchy songs and had a great rhythm groove and feel, which is why he had several hit records.

Good guitarist, terrible musician… Yngwie Malmsteen.

In my opinion .

Antique_Guitars

Mike Patton

Gassage

Actually on the great guitarist/terrible musician thing

Doyle Bramhall- dreadful.
Steve Vai (there I said it- the master of bland shredding)

richardhomer

There's a definite difference between virtuosity and musicianship to me. The word 'taste' springs to mind.

I find players like Mike Campbell or Robbie Mackintosh - who play 'for' the song, rather than trample all over it - far more musical than any shredder.

I can admire the hard yards the likes of Vai/Guthrie Govan/Malmsteem, et al must have put in - I just can't bear listening to them. I suspect non-guitars players don't buy their records....

close2u

The keyboard player in this band ... don't you just want to kill him!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCXEn9zvbfA

Gassage

Is there an integral butt plug in that stool?

ICBM

Gassage said:

Steve Vai (there I said it- the master of bland shredding)

A while ago I bought a Vai anthology from a charity shop out of curiosity - how far wrong can you go for £2? - and was very surprised and pleased to discover I had been wrong about him. Yes, some of it is what I would describe as bland shredding, but a large amount is much more interesting, tasteful, humourous and just plain musical than I ever expected. I wouldn't say he's my favourite player, but I do genuinely like some of it.

It's 'The Infinite Steve Vai', if you haven't already made up your mind!

I haven't come across the equivalent Malmsteen album yet, but it wouldn't actually totally surprise me if I was wrong about him too.

Gassage

ICBM

My dislike of Vai stemmed from the Seville Guitar Legends concert-

When May, Satch and Vai shared the solo from Alright Now, May just blew Vai off the stage for phrasing and vibrato....

You may beg to differ...YMMV etc..

ICBM

No, I don't disagree! It's awful. To be honest, the whole thing is, like most multi-guitarist live shows… even May is not that good.

Just don't write off Vai because of it - he's actually much better than that.

EricTheWeary

ICBM;344940" said:

Gassage said:Steve Vai (there I said it- the master of bland shredding)










A while ago I bought a Vai anthology from a charity shop out of curiosity - how far wrong can you go for £2? - and was very surprised and pleased to discover I had been wrong about him. Yes, some of it is what I would describe as bland shredding, but a large amount is much more interesting, tasteful, humourous and just plain musical than I ever expected. I wouldn't say he's my favourite player, but I do genuinely like some of it.

It's 'The Infinite Steve Vai', if you haven't already made up your mind!

I haven't come across the equivalent Malmsteen album yet, but it wouldn't actually totally surprise me if I was wrong about him too.

I think Vai is someone who likes to push his boundaries, not my favourite musician but to see him just as a shredder is missing the point of what he does. I'd put Flex Able by him as one of my favourite albums - some great raw guitar and some non guitar wackiness.
Malmsteen I don't find very listenable but I saw him live a few years ago and was totally blown away, just this force of nature.

10thumbs

Steven Seagal , thinks he is a blues guitarist , he`s even on tour with his band - LOL

Check him out on youtube if you want a laugh - you won`t watch it to the end.

He`s worse than me. :-?

ICBM

10thumbs said:

Steven Seagal , thinks he is a blues guitarist , he`s even on tour with his band - LOL

He thinks he's an actor too, so that doesn't come as a great surprise.

lasermonkey

Nunogilberto said:

Anybody who's championed by NME and has a daft name, like We Are Scientists, I Am Kloot, The Pidgeon Detectives and Yourcodenameismilo...

Etc.

I Am Kloot are actually really fucking good!

Phil_aka_Pip

close2u said:

The keyboard player in this band ... don't you just want to kill him!!

I couldn't hear what he did wrong. I was expecting him to splat the track with unwanted keyboard sounds and he didn't, he just did some BVs and added what must have been some very subtle sound to the chorus. The only thing he did wrong (apart from bouncing on his stool) was ignoring the main vocalist  who came to join him on the last chorus.

close2u

Phil_aka_Pip said:

... (apart from bouncing on his stool)

How can you relegate that that bouncing to a mere 'apart from'? That bouncing is the very essence of what I was getting at.

Phil_aka_Pip

close2u said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

... (apart from bouncing on his stool)

How can you relegate that that bouncing to a mere 'apart from'? That bouncing is the very essence of what I was getting at.

so you'd rate him as a "worst musician" for that despite him not having done anything musically wrong? Or were you being "ironic", as I have recently been accused of not recognising it?

Bucket

Gassage said:

Worst musicians? you are having a laff. You just mean that you don't like them. Sambora does great solos for that kind of material. 

Are you insane?

Yes they're the Kylie of Metal but Torres and Sambora are virtuosos for sure. Utterly brilliant musicians.

Never said they couldn't play, but as I said - I'd rather be thrown down a well than ever listen to them again.

Although admittedly it's mostly Jon Bon Jovi's voice which makes me feel that way.

dogload

monquixote said:

It depends what you mean. 

Do you mean the three worst musicians who have achieved significant fame?

If not then I'm going for these guys:

That is awesome!

Reverend

I'll take Malmsteen over Vai and Satch as those earlier albums are actually really good records. Not sure how ground breaking he was but certainly one of the best known exponents of that Swedish style.

Phil_aka_Pip

I've got those Malmsteen records. There's some good stuff on them, once you've ignored the vocals.