Rock vs Jazz virtuosos

[lloop9]

Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, George Lynch, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Richie Kotzen, Randy Rhoads, etc.

VS

Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, John McLaughlin, Mike Stern, Allan Holdsworth, Al Di Meola, etc.

Which camp do you think will come out tops if they were to come face to face?

I've been listening to some jazz albums and I've been constantly amazed at the depth & complexity of jazz compositions, something thats somehow missing from rock albums.

Granted, those jazz cats may not be doing 16th notes at 200 bmp often, but man, those chord progressions are wicked!!!

Wat do u guys think?

[lyconxero]

I'd say that it's a fairly even toss-up. You can find just as much playing technicality in either genre, it just depends on the player. And very rarely you'll find a player who breaks through all of the genres who can just do it all.

[nuno]

rock for me, thanks. no time for jazz yet... ;-)

[Dr. Funkenstein]

Originally Posted by lloop9

Granted, those jazz cats may not be doing 16th notes at 200 bmp often, but man, those chord progressions are wicked!!!

You listed Al Dimeola in there - he plays 64th notes at 500bpm, on an acoustic!
lol.

I think there's awesome guitarists in both camps. If I were stuck on a desert island I would definitely need 'Verve' by Dimeola, McGlaughlin and DeLucia but I'd also want Vai's PAW, and probably Holdsworth's Secrets. Pat Metheny's live 'Road To You' is also one of those albums that makes the hair on my neck stand up. If I had to choose an outright 'best guitarist' it would be Dimeola purely for his compositional and improvisational skills, but they're all about a zillion times better than I'll every be and they all stand on the same pedestal in my eyes! All awesomely creative people and I salute them all.

Cheers,

Dave

[Dr. Funkenstein]

On a slight tangent, I forgot to add that my all time essential desert island CD is Stevie Wonder's 'Songs in the key of life'. That man is wayyyyyy too talented to be human!

[dangomles]

Jazz maestros forever!
Listen to Jimmy Bruno, his ideas are so original, his improvisation is out of this world, and that guy, can run like hell!

[fettouhi]

A little bit of both more me or the combo fusion .

Regards

André

[jim777]

Originally Posted by dangomles

Jazz maestros forever!
Listen to Jimmy Bruno, his ideas are so original, his improvisation is out of this world, and that guy, can run like hell!

Exactly, throw 'Burnin' or 'Sleight of Hand' in your CD player and listen to that man fly! He's such a great, great player. He's also a regular contributor to rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz for the Usenet addicted.

[Tom Gilroy]

Niether. And some people really can do it all. And one of those people is Eric Johnson.

[Azrael]

Originally Posted by Tom Gilroy

Niether. And some people really can do it all. And one of those people is Eric Johnson.

Yeah , but he is not human......totally out of this world

[Tom Gilroy]

I know. An amazing player. Everyone can learn from him.

[Flobanez]

Eric Johnson is the reason I started wanting to learn jazz. Manhattan is a great
example of how you can incorporated blues into jazz or jazz into blues.
Allan Holdsworth is awesome as well but Eric Johnson is my favorite rock, blues and jazz player.

[pawel]

Originally Posted by lloop9

Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, John McLaughlin, Mike Stern, Allan Holdsworth, Al Di Meola, etc.

Apart from Pass, Metheny and maybe Scofield, the guys in your list are/were fusion players who emerged mostly by playing music that had the harmonic complexity of jazz and the energy and sound of rock. It would be interesting to mention more "straight-ahead" players, like Pat Martino or Jimmy Bruno (both monster players). They could give any shredder a run for their money in terms of technique (and speed) while blazing over the most complicated of standards...

I enjoy all the players in the jazz camp much more, while I got tired of Al DiMeola, I have been on a big Metheny and Holdsworth kick lately, and I like Scofield and Stern a lot as well. McLaughlin I had a hard time getting into until I heard the original Shakti album...

I do however like players who do a bit of everything, like Nguyen Le or David Fiuczynski.

[Dr. Funkenstein]

Originally Posted by pawel

Apart from Pass, Metheny and maybe Scofield, the guys in your list are/were fusion players who emerged mostly by playing music that had the harmonic complexity of jazz and the energy and sound of rock.

That's interesting. I always considered Dimeola a flamenco player first and fusion a very very far behind second. His stuff with Delucia et al is for me some of the finest music ever played - 3 acoustics, not a note of fusion in sight. Not just the speed thing I admire - their compositions are truly beautiful.

Dave

[pawel]

Originally Posted by Dr. Funkenstein

That's interesting. I always considered Dimeola a flamenco player first and fusion a very very far behind second. His stuff with Delucia et al is for me some of the finest music ever played - 3 acoustics, not a note of fusion in sight. Not just the speed thing I admire - their compositions are truly beautiful.

Dave

I enjoy his acoustic music much more than the electric stuff as well, but DiMeola did come into the spotlight by playing a Les Paul through a Marshall in Chick Corea's Return to Forever...