After watching this again I think Vai won.
Watched "CROSSROADS" Again. And I'm Mad at Steve Vai.
- Thread starter plangentmusic
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65refinyellow
Squier-holic
I didn't recognize shredders as a separate thing until I heard "Sails of Charon" then I realized that shredding was more than fast blues licks with too much distortion. Then there was Eddie and he kicked it up a notch with "Eruption".
What really made me accept this as its own thing worthy of recognition was "Surfing with the Alien". Guitar was changed in a way that I had never heard in my life.
I later found out Satch taught Vai and it all made sense.
What really made me accept this as its own thing worthy of recognition was "Surfing with the Alien". Guitar was changed in a way that I had never heard in my life.
I later found out Satch taught Vai and it all made sense.
John L Rose
Squier-holic
Me neither. My motto is "Just because you can doesn't mean you should". I'm more of a Gilmour, Hendrix, and Knopfler fan.
That 8 or 9-note looped guitar riff at the end of Queen's "We Will Rock You" has more guitar awesomeness (to me) in a few seconds than hours of shredding. (I made it my ring tone.)
Likewise Mike Monarch's lead in Steppenwolf's "The Pusher". It's slow, but it soars.
65refinyellow
Squier-holic
That sound really blew me away. It later inspired me to be a techie.
I was like, "Is that a guitar, is that a synthesizer?" In those years I also heard the intro for The Who's "Who are you" and I had to get me some of that sound, too.
When I got my Schultz rockman, I was already pretty aware of where those settings were used before. Great memories.
Ironically, I am setting up my Eurorack to try and replicate the Townsend sound with either Korg K-35s or Curtis 3340s.
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Seems like I'm the odd man out, but I didn't like the ending at all.
The film starts with a cocky young know-it-all Juilliard student who was a technically proficient guitarist, and yet knew nothing about music.
As the film progresses, he gains life experience and begins to understand that music is about speaking from the heart, not about reading notes from a piece of paper.
He learns that music is not about how many fancy notes you can cram into a bar, but how much meaning you can squeeze out of a single note.
At one point, Willie Brown gives him a Coricidin bottle to use as a slide, in order to physically disable the fancy fingerwork, and thus force him to focus on elegance, economy, and expression.
The whole premise of the film is to contrast the idea of playing simply and with meaning, with the soulless reading of notes on a page, being repeated and learned by rote.
In fact, the movie focuses on "soul" to the point of taking it quite literally.
In the end, in the climactic scene where he's put to the test in an epic battle with the devil, he puts on his slide and gives it his all, using everything he's learned throughout the course of the film, with the devil's ringer easily coming out on top.
When it seems like all is lost, he takes off the slide and wins the day by falling back on playing a technically demanding Paganini Caprice that he had learned by rote at Juilliard.
The entire message of the film was just flushed down the toilet.
.
The film starts with a cocky young know-it-all Juilliard student who was a technically proficient guitarist, and yet knew nothing about music.
As the film progresses, he gains life experience and begins to understand that music is about speaking from the heart, not about reading notes from a piece of paper.
He learns that music is not about how many fancy notes you can cram into a bar, but how much meaning you can squeeze out of a single note.
At one point, Willie Brown gives him a Coricidin bottle to use as a slide, in order to physically disable the fancy fingerwork, and thus force him to focus on elegance, economy, and expression.
The whole premise of the film is to contrast the idea of playing simply and with meaning, with the soulless reading of notes on a page, being repeated and learned by rote.
In fact, the movie focuses on "soul" to the point of taking it quite literally.
In the end, in the climactic scene where he's put to the test in an epic battle with the devil, he puts on his slide and gives it his all, using everything he's learned throughout the course of the film, with the devil's ringer easily coming out on top.
When it seems like all is lost, he takes off the slide and wins the day by falling back on playing a technically demanding Paganini Caprice that he had learned by rote at Juilliard.
The entire message of the film was just flushed down the toilet.
.
65refinyellow
Squier-holic
Agreed with your analysis 100% percent!
It was meant to be fun. I don't think there were any continuity people on this movie and certainly no big message was meant to be transmitted.
BB King could have played three notes and wiped them off the map.
The first time I realized it was all about feeling was when SRV did one of those I am not worthy to tie his shoes praise
about his mentor Albert King. I got it then.
plangentmusic
Squier-holic
Interesting. I get what you're saying but I think you're choosing to see things in a negative light. You're seeing the classical skills as lacking soul, and the study of it as just reading notes on a piece of paper and "not knowing anything about music." I see using his classical skills as, reverting to a part of who he is. We all have that "something" that is unique to us and although it's great to expand one's knowledge by going outside our comfort zone there comes a time when you have to rely on your strength. And that was the whole point. At least, that's the message I believe it was making.
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Believe it or not, for those so inclined, it's something than can be learned, to some extent. The best teacher I've found for this type of emotional playing is Ronnie Earl. This DVD is awesome, so worth the fifteen bucks, even if only to make a few simple distinctions. It's one of my favorite all-time lessons.
Ronnie Earl: Blues with Soul
I like Joe and Via and have allot of respect for Malmsteen but when I saw Malmsteen live it was cool for about 5 minutes. Small doses when I'm in the mood otherwise it just seems like arpeggios ongoing forever. That said he is an amazing player.
Hu War Yu
Squier-Meister
Kinda feel the same way about shredders in general, but I have no problem listening to an Alvin Lee riff for 15 minutes
I learned how to play listening to Satriani and Vai and am influenced allot by them but after getting into Blues my style has changed allot. I don't fit into any genre anymore.. My music is all over the place.
Hu War Yu
Squier-Meister
I hear ya, when I was a teen and young adult, I only listened to classic rock and british invasion blues. I boycotted the whole grunge era. But after a while I started to expand into other styles.
Thanks for the link, gonna check it out!
Yeah I use to say pretty much anything but Country music. Now that's what is always on in my car when I'm driving most of the time.
Hu War Yu
Squier-Meister
I hated country because that was all my dad listened to. I can tolerate most of it now but it's not what I go searching for.
One of my favorite bands is Marshall Tucker, they did such a good job of fusing rock, blues, jazz, country, and Appalachian folk.
65refinyellow
Squier-holic
These days I like the note choice players versus the play every note fast crowd.
But in my 20s, I had the Kahler, Floyd, and Washburn Wonderbar and the extreme trem use thing I loved was influenced by the shredders.
My roommate became one of the big players in the Shrapnel and shredder universe that put California on the map during those years in instrumental music.
I like him well enough as a person, but sometimes it's too over the top for my tastes. But if I want to hear shredder that moment, then I grab the CD with his screaming guitar backed by Atma Anur (shredder drummer). If I also want vocals and have a little more pop into the mix, Mr. Big is a good compromise.
But usually I am more in a Pat Metheny or Joe Pass mood but even then I prefer guitar more as a spice, not the main course so instrumental guitar CDs usually collect dust. I don't respect them any less but I have changed and these days lately, I like atonal, analog Eurorack music.
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Welcome back to this thread. Believe it or not I got back to this from watching "This is the End", a hilarious Seth Rogan ensemble comedy, that culminates with the boys being welcomed into heaven to "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum. Then I started playing it and quickly realized it was a simple Blues with psychedelic fuzz. My wife chimed in, "Go Chachio." Yikes; her sisters' and girlfriends' nickname for me when I was in my twenties, as in, if Chachi from Happy Days and Ralph Macchio had a baby. I always hated that, because both guys were dopey waifs. Anyway, I got her reference and asked my TV to play Crossroads, and it came up on Freevee.
Not a great movie, although it seems Roger Ebert enjoyed it. He wrote a very favorable review upon the film's release. I enjoyed it too. Ry Cooder played the Blues guitar parts. Nice. The Robert Johnson lore popped up enough amid the fantastical to make the journey compelling. Macchio was just not the boy for the job. John Mayer would work.
This got me to thinking about the best guitar movies ever. I think we may need a thread.
Not a great movie, although it seems Roger Ebert enjoyed it. He wrote a very favorable review upon the film's release. I enjoyed it too. Ry Cooder played the Blues guitar parts. Nice. The Robert Johnson lore popped up enough amid the fantastical to make the journey compelling. Macchio was just not the boy for the job. John Mayer would work.
This got me to thinking about the best guitar movies ever. I think we may need a thread.
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