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My answer to the question is that he's underrated because he's one of my favourite musicians but not generally considered one of the best musicians of all time. For others who don't really like his music he's overrated because a lot of people speak highly of him. Neither mean anything as a general statement or are useful in any way.
It's the reason music critics would be completely useless in theory even if there weren't other things also making them bad.
I think the only useful reason to talk about music you like is as a recommendation to others who might never have heard of it. I don't know if I can think of any reason to ever talk about music you don't like - can anyone think of a reason for that?
The "new" thing for SRV was the big fat clean twangy strat sound and energetic playing
The "new" thing for JM is the subtle stuff. I've learned a few bits, and the solos need a lot more of a touch-sensitive subtle technical approach than other stars I can think of
The other new thing is the songwriting and singing. Name a famous guitarist who can sing and play at a top level, and in those styles, not a frequent combination.
I disagree. I certainly think there was a time when Clapton was an idiot and probably not a particularly pleasant person. These days, however, I think he is changed person and someone who is brutally honest. (All IMHO of course.)
Maybe you need to hear Tommy Emmanuel playing John Mayer to appreciate how good John Mayer is.
I'm not even a massive fan of JM, and having loved SRV when I was younger, I'm now much less interested in the texas blues thang. But Mayer has managed to use those skills for his own style and has put some beautiful guitar pieces together - instantly recognisable, original compositions. These sound nothing like Hendrix, SRV, Clapton etc.
Absolutely winds me up when people say Hendrix is overrated.
He is to electric guitar and rock music what James Brown is to soul. What Chuck D or Dr Dre (or insert name here) is to hip hop. What the Beatles are to pop music.
It really doesn't matter if the twat out of Dragonforce can play faster. mph is not the sum total of someone's ability to change the entire musical landscape and world of possibilities for your instrument.
I know we are supposed to say in this day and age everyone is entitled to an opinion but that doesn't mean we can't state their opinion is sillybilly and ignore just about everything else they have to say.
And don't get me started on people who say the Beatles are overrated!
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
It is - when at its best - some of the best of the last 20 years. *That* is the thing that elevates him way above his peers. Because people want to listen to songs more than anything else. I always find musicians’ obsession with just listening for guitar parts or drum lines (rather than whole pieces of music) to be quite odd.
And there’s doubting that Slow Dancing in a Burning Room has made it as a guitar shop staple - the modern touchpoint for “Strat tone”
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Even though he's no where near as skilled as Mayer, I'd argue even Cobain's playing is more influential and deffinately more original than Mayer's stuff.
Those who say there's no where else to go with guitar, need to change up their Spoitfy playlists a bit.
The fact Mayer doesn't appear in any of the respected top guitarist lists, might suggest he's not overrated by critics, perhaps only by his fans.
Anyway I'm off to listen to Daughters again to see what it is I must be missing.
I see the guitar as a band instrument first and foremost, adding to a whole unit and not being the standout instrument.
My guitar 'heros' are usually what people class as anti-heroes. I find Josh Homme much more interesting to listen to than this kinda stuff.
He is clearly very talented. The Silver Sky is also pretty damn cool.
"Merlin. Beatles. Not good musicians. Why famous?"
Made even funnier by the fact that Hungarians pronounce "Beatles" as "Beet Lees".
The whole premise of him being overrated seems to have a whiff of the straw man about it to me.
To me it really is a nonsense term, where are the “ratings charts”, who are the “raters” and what points system or criteria do they use?