PbZepplin wrote:
I spotted an article recently. Rolling Stone has compiled a list of who they consider the top 100 guitarists of all time.
I was rather pissed off about it. My reasons:
By guitarists, one must assume this includes guitarists of all genres and guitar types:
electric, acoustic, base and classical (& any others that I may have left out). First of all, all their 'experts' who compiled the
list are knowledgeable on Rock music, and not necessarily on other Genres. I think Rolling Stone should define what they mean as
'top guitarists' as being primarily rock guitarists. I would argue that classical guitarists are the most technically correct and skilled guitarists. My reasons:
With which I shall take issue, though that doesn't imply disrespect of the classical guitar or classical players.
1. The history behind formal classical guitar technique is hundreds of years old.
Well... sort of. Probably not as many hundreds as you may think. All current forms of guitar have evolved from earlier instruments like the ud and the lute (the lute having evolved from the ud) and the current form and number of strings is comparatively recent. If you're ever in Oxford (UK) then go the Ashmolean museum and have a look at some of the "guitars" they have there. One in particular - made by Stradivarii and nothing like a modern guitar - smaller bodied, shorter scale, gut strings, gut
frets, 5 courses of paired strings....
Last year Richard Thompson teamed up with some musicians from the globe theatre in London to do a short tour in which they played renaissance songs. He played with a guitar pattened on surviving guitars from that era. Here it is....
Tuned differently than a modern guitar (and the whole ensemble tuned to a different pitch, the reference "A" note was pitched at 392 Hz, about a tone below the current 440 Hz)
Also a lot of the technique and theory of the 6 string guitar would apply across styles of guitar and styles of music.
Though there's no one universal set. Segovia didn't know much about playing in DADGAD, two-handed hammers and pulls, hybrid picking or whammy bars.
2. Classical guitar technique has evolved to be the most efficient use of movement for guitar, both on the right hand (for plucking the strings) and the left hand (which works the fret board).
Some truth in that, but see above.... there are things that classical guitarists never have to do.
Classical guitar technique limits extraneous movement of either hand. The left hand forms a claw, with fingers spaced to be over individual frets, which then act to 'hammer on' to the frets. The technique for the right hand emphasises that each finger is reserved for a particular string, fingers are thrown back, and the thumb does not buckle. Classical guitarists also learn to 'prepare' on the right hand, with fingers being placed on the strings before being played in anticipation. These techniques emphasise an absolute minimum of extraneous movement, which results in experienced classical guitarists being able to play very fast, confidently, and with the minimum of mistakes.
Well who says jazz or rock or bluegrass or flamenco or whatever players can't play like that?
Think of the techniques that have evolved around the plectrum (another thing classical players don't have to bother themselves with).
There are many players outside of the classical world who have taken classical lessons, or who seek to make their movements economical in order that they may play fast and accurately.
Heard of Martin Simpson? Not a classical player. Brent and I have both seen him playing live, and he's a fantastically accurate and exact player.
Look, it's an argument worth having, but it's not one that anybody is going to emphatically win. For every technique of Segovia's you can point at I can propose something from other genres. I could show you the famous video of Jerry Donahue demonstrating his array of string-bending techniques, including behind-the-nut bends and another technique he has where he simultaneously bends one string a tone and another a tone-and-a-half.
It seems to me that it's better to take in as much as you can of the world of guitar techniques and absorb all of those that will help you fulfill your musical vision.
