Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 55 Location: Cambridge, UK
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:27 pm Post subject: Govan, Garsed & Howe
I know the popular G3 type line up much mooted around here is Guthrie with Bumblefoot and Eklundh; but having been mucho playing Brett Garsed's Big Sky CD recently - plus the last two Greg Howe releases - I and a couple of fellow guitar teachers/players reckon that this would be an even better fit - and the above name seems to sound pretty "right" as well.
personally, i would much prefer the GGH lineup over BEG. BEG is more about "stunt" guitar, GGH would be about great playing with great music with tasteful phrasing and such. but GGH would seem too cerebral to some while BEG would be viewed as just cutting-edge pyrotechnics. i saw the BEG lineup briefly at tm last week during a bbf jam, and not much materialized. when it came to creative improv, it was rather clear that gg stood out from the pack.
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:16 am Post subject:
shredrulez wrote:
personally, i would much prefer the GGH lineup over BEG. BEG is more about "stunt" guitar, GGH would be about great playing with great music with tasteful phrasing and such. but GGH would seem too cerebral to some while BEG would be viewed as just cutting-edge pyrotechnics. i saw the BEG lineup briefly at tm last week during a bbf jam, and not much materialized. when it came to creative improv, it was rather clear that gg stood out from the pack.
Yeah, I was a bit disappointed that not much more materialized from the much awaited BEG jam on Jan 22 Sat. Mattias IA left soon after Guthrie joined on stage to make way for some Bbf fans waiting on the wings and Bbf soon took to playing the bass. Guthrie decided not to burn (just simmer) and focused more on funky comping with a clean sound. I think what it comes down to on jams is not chops, because so many people have awesome chops, but creative ideas that can be unleashed on a whim over the same ole tired blues vamps. With Guthrie, it's about his vast vocabulary and his ability to put that vocabulary to work spontanenously and creatively. I think there are plenty of guys who could hang with Guthrie on physical chops alone (well, maybe not plenty ), but when it comes to using mind chops and improvisatory chops, he'd be a really, really tough person to hang with.
Now, Greg Howe and Brett Garsed, those guys can improvise with the best of 'em. I haven't really heard them improvise over the kind of jazz changes that Guthrie routinely plays over with the Fellowship stuff, but from an improvisational sense, Greg and Brett would be very interesting to see along with Guthrie. I actually asked Greg's friend, Lee Wertman, if Greg may be interested in jamming with Guthrie on the Fellowship set and Lee said that Greg doesn't have experience playing in that sort of a setting. On the other hand, when someone asked Guthrie if he'd like to jam with Greg, Guthrie just shivered saying, "Oh, no, no, no..." and tried to squirm out of such a thing happening as quickly as possible. I tell you, I definitely sensed mucho mutual respect form right away between Greg and Guthrie.
It was a special moment introducing Greg to Guthrie backstage before the beginning of the Jan 20 Thu gig. Greg is such an unassuming nice guy and smiled broadly as he shook Guthrie's hand and said, "I heard so much about you." And Guthrie replied, "I'm a big fan of yours." I could tell that Guthrie was definitely somewhat star-struck and I really think it subconsciously freaked him out somewhat and affected his playing on the first set. How would you feel if one of your heroes showed up just before your gig? I know that I wouldn't be able to handle that very well. That's pretty scary. Kudos to Guthrie for going up there and working through the jitters and the frazzlement of the cameras and the first day of NAMM. Guthrie recovered and put on an absolutely smoking performance on the second Fellowship set. _________________ Ed Yoon
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.strandberg* Guitars USA
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BEG is more about "stunt" guitar, GGH would be about great playing with great music with tasteful phrasing and such...
Though I agree that Govan, Garsed & Howe might be a better stylistic fit, I disagree that an evening of Bumblefoot, Freak Kitchen and Guthrie Govan should be written off as only being about "stunt" guitar. That just plain wrong IMO.
I'm not a big fan of the G3 concept. It's just too much for my taste, no matter who you put on stage together. I'd be happy just to see Guthrie or any of these guys jamming with their bands.
i don't know if Greg can blow through the kind of changes Guthrie does with the Fellowship....and I seriously doubt that Brett could. I know Brett has admitted on a few occasions that he is more of a rock fusion guy than jazz. Brett has a very personal style but I think if you place these guys in a setting that everyone would be comfortable with....there will be fireworks all over the place.
But I guess it's hard to say since I never heard Greg or Brett play outside their usual settings. Though one thing is in common, all these guys have incredible tasteful chops but are too modest for their damn good!
Satriani's always liked his G3 jams to have songs that everyone can easily play through. It's all about putting a fancy show
Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 65 Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 8:57 pm Post subject:
I'll have to agree with the GGH lineup. That would be an amazing show. Those are three of my top favorite players right there. I would have loved to see Govan and Howe meet for the first time, sounds pretty funny. In a good way. It's great to see such amazingly talented guys be so damn modest! _________________ http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/noiseepidemicmusic.htm
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:07 pm Post subject:
Edovinus wrote:
shredrulez wrote:
BEG is more about "stunt" guitar, GGH would be about great playing with great music with tasteful phrasing and such...
Though I agree that Govan, Garsed & Howe might be a better stylistic fit, I disagree that an evening of Bumblefoot, Freak Kitchen and Guthrie Govan should be written off as only being about "stunt" guitar. That just plain wrong IMO.
I'm not a big fan of the G3 concept. It's just too much for my taste, no matter who you put on stage together. I'd be happy just to see Guthrie or any of these guys jamming with their bands.
I agree with you, Edo. These are all monster players with their distinctive styles. I'm not really into the G3 concepts and mindless jams either. I'll post more thoughts about this later. Have to leave for now... _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:51 pm Post subject:
Noise Epidemic wrote:
I'll have to agree with the GGH lineup. That would be an amazing show. Those are three of my top favorite players right there. I would have loved to see Govan and Howe meet for the first time, sounds pretty funny. In a good way. It's great to see such amazingly talented guys be so damn modest!
I just spoke to a customer who was here to see the Jan 20 show and he said he overheard Greg talking with people afterwards and he not only said, "Time for me to practice!", but also said, "Man, I just got beat down!". All the great players can see what Guthrie's all about. And Guthrie loves so many great players as well and has the highest respect for them. On Jan 23, I was speaking with Scott Henderson about the previous nights at the shop and I mentioned to Scott that Greg Howe was over on Jan 20 and 21. Scott said that Greg is a great player and then without me mentioning anything else, he said, "I also like Guthrie a lot. He's a great player." I was like, "Woah!" Scott doesn't pay those type of complements very often. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:10 am Post subject:
Edovinus wrote:
shredrulez wrote:
BEG is more about "stunt" guitar, GGH would be about great playing with great music with tasteful phrasing and such...
Though I agree that Govan, Garsed & Howe might be a better stylistic fit, I disagree that an evening of Bumblefoot, Freak Kitchen and Guthrie Govan should be written off as only being about "stunt" guitar. That just plain wrong IMO.
I'm not a big fan of the G3 concept. It's just too much for my taste, no matter who you put on stage together. I'd be happy just to see Guthrie or any of these guys jamming with their bands.
Getting back to what we were talking about, I'm definitely not all that into the G3 concept either. It's one of those things that look great on paper but never live up to the promise in reality. Actually, having more than one virtuoso on stage playing together, trading licks, or even just playing as a band rarely produces anything truly great. It's kind of a fun thing to imagine EVH and Yngwie on stage together, of Jimi and Jeff Beck together, of McLaughlin with Metheny, of Guthrie with Greg Howe, etc. but the sum of the parts most likely won't equal the whole and the whole most definitely won't be greater than the sum of its parts.
I don't think a bunch of electric guitars on stage (or even in recordings) mesh well together. When you think about it, there were very few truly great two-guitar bands in the history of rock and most bands that had two great players were complementary - i.e., one lead and one rhythm and they were all song-oriented bands. Making it work with more than one virtuoso is a tall order. We're talking about it actually having some musical substance and not just some flashy solo trading. I love the contrast of Guthrie trading solos with Zak in the Fellowship. That's a nice contrast and it's good to take a break from the sound of a blaring electric guitar and absorb the sound of the sax. The thought of Guthrie trading solos with another monster guitar player in that sort of a format (or any other format, for that reason) really isn't very appealing over the course of an hour or more.
I think someone like Guthrie playing with Greg Howe, or Bumblefoot, or Scott Henderson, or whoever else, is interesting to contemplate, but what would be the musical whole of such unions? I think it'd have to be complementary and they'd have to work out things beforehand for a long while to make some really interesting music instead of just soloing endlessly and trying to "outdo" the other. I've seen a lot of All-Star jam sessions and all of them were never musically very interesting. The Bbf jam on Jan 22 was silly fun at best. It really had no redeeming musical value to speak of. It was guys just jumping up onstage having fun, but I couldn't take anymore of if after about 10 minutes. People started filing out big-time in the middle of it.
It'd be nice to see someone like Guthrie work something out with players like Howe, Henderson, Bbf, etc. beforehand and so something that creates a bigger whole, but how does one find the time to do that and for what artistic purpose? I think acoustic guitars speak to each other very well in duets, trios, even larger groups, etc., but electric guitars just don't seem to do that very well. Like you, I'd much prefer seeing all these guys on their own doing their own thing. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
BEG is more about "stunt" guitar, GGH would be about great playing with great music with tasteful phrasing and such...
Though I agree that Govan, Garsed & Howe might be a better stylistic fit, I disagree that an evening of Bumblefoot, Freak Kitchen and Guthrie Govan should be written off as only being about "stunt" guitar. That just plain wrong IMO.
no disrespect intended with the "stunt" guitar comment. ia and bbf don't strike me as improvisors. they're amazing players and i have much respect for them both and they're very creative players besides being monster chops players, but they don't really strike me as improvisatory soloists. i suppose guthrie is really into bbf and ia not just because of their chops, but their ideas. it's just that ia and bbf strike me as players who work things out well in advance and execute them note-for-note later in performances.
well I'm not always crazy about big jams as it can get messy really easily....but I'll make the exception with Howe and Garsed. To me whatever they touch turns to gold.....guys who I don't mind wanking endlessly....hehe
Big Jams seem duff to me too... Paco De Lucia, Di Meola and McGlaughlin has flashes of good stuff, the rest seems like 3 highly gifted individuals trying to mesh live on stage... it'd be far better to let them get it together and make collaborations. _________________ Fabulous powers were revealed to me the day I held my magic Suhr(d) aloft and said "by the power of great scale!"
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2005 10:45 pm Post subject:
And guess who the latest celebrity guitarist is that wants Guthrie DVDs? The son of a rock icon... Yes, Dweezil Zappa, another LA-area guitar heavyweight wants to see the Guthrie DVDs! Dweezil advised me that he's putting together a band to perform his father's music in the not-too-distant future. It'd be cool if Dweezil could carry on Frank's legacy through live performances of his music. Anyone agree Guthrie would be an ideal guy to play some of those "impossible guitar parts"? _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Anyone agree Guthrie would be an ideal guy to play some of those "impossible guitar parts"?
Well I can think of noone it'd mean more to , there seem few fresh professional players who'd be capable and as motivated.
GG to play stunt guitarist in a Zappa band .. bloody hell that'd rock .. damn where's my English reserve.. ahem..
yes, I think that would be a rather splendid proposition, more tea? _________________ Fabulous powers were revealed to me the day I held my magic Suhr(d) aloft and said "by the power of great scale!"
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