Guthrie Govan Discussion

[scarified]

Hi

I met Steve Vai last night after the show he did in Miami. I asked him about Guthrie and he told me that Dweezil Zappa did indeed call him and tell him to check Guthrie out. He said he started downloading the videos but never finished :-(

The gentleman as always, he seemed very interested to hear what I had to say about Guthrie, he was particularly interested in what kind of music he played (I said 'everything' but expect to see jazz and instrumental rock on the videos).

He left with the promise to try downloading the videos again.

[frankus]

He'll be at home sticking pins in a Guthrie Voodoo oll as we speak..

"Gimmee back my gushing fans that had difficulty forming words in my presence, you limey bastard... none of this check out this guy he's quite good...[pin in eye]"



I'm curious to Guthrie's reaction to all this attention, the guy is so laid back, he makes Perry Como look like a hells angel
_________________
Fabulous powers were revealed to me the day I held my magic Suhr(d) aloft and said "by the power of great scale!"

I have the power!

[Javi]

hahahahhahaha!!
_________________
Javi

[alexkhan]

I heard from Dweezil saying that he forwarded Steve a set of DVDs and CDs with the demo tracks, but I forgot that Steve is on tour right now. I'm sure Steve would dig Guthrie a lot. It'd be interesting to see what he thinks of Guthrie. I know that music isn't a competition, but I'm sure Steve will see Guthrie as a true "rising force" (pardon the pun ) and I wonder if Steve will be willing to lend a helping hand to Guthrie as he did to Satch way back when. The truth of the matter is that Guthrie will become a rival of sorts as the public will constantly compare them and say who's better and nonsense like that.

I don't think Steve has anything to worry about because he's firmly established and he has his own fairly unique thing going. But when Guthrie hits the mainstream with the album, DVD, playing with other cats, touring, etc., the word on Guthrie will spread like wildfire (as it already is doing amongst the Internet guitar nerddom underground) because Guthrie has the ability to appeal to more than just the guitar freaks. As I've mentioned many times before, it's the very enthusiastic response of the non-guitar freaks covering wide demographics that I found very encouraging during NAMM week. That's where Guthrie stands out amongst the crowded fusion/shred crowd. He appeals to casual fans who want to be entertained and hold their interest through the songs.

Funny stuff, frankus... I've often imagined what it'd be like on a G3 jam with Satch, Vai, and Guthrie on stage together. Satch and Vai are great players and very good songwriters who have succeeded because of their ability to write memorable tunes and appeal to a crowd beyond the guitar freaks, but when it comes to jamming... Well, let's say that it's not going to be pretty: creative improvisation is definitely not the strong points of either Satch or Vai. And I witnessed the jam firsthand at the end of the Bumblefoot show. After Guthrie took a couple of turns, it was apparent that nobody really wanted to jam with him. Guthrie absolutely excels at improvisation and there really aren't many rock guys who are good at it. It's a different kind of skill than being able to rip on the guitar on prearranged solos. You notice Guthrie never plays a solo the same way twice.

That being said, it'd be great to see Guthrie play with G3, with Bumblefoot and IA, with Greg Howe and Brett Garsed, and a bunch of other great players like Scott H, Landau, Jeff Beck, etc. All the others have their own thing, as does Guthrie. Guthrie loves to jam. It's obvious that he's done an awful lot of it. When you think about it, the Fellowship is really a structured and sophisticated jam band. But he must have done a lot of jamming with whoever else in a live context and with a lot of blues and jazz players and non-guitarists. I think that kind of setting (playing with sax and piano players, etc.) is where a guitarist has to learn to really get creative and not just resort to memorized licks and patterns. Of all the rock-oriented players I've seen, Guthrie throws more at you in a space of a minute or two than most guys can do all night. Some guys have tanks and some have jet fighters, etc., but it's like Guthrie brings along the whole Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, and even the Special Forces.
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

[Mirth]

HOOYAHH!!!!
_________________
www.timmirth.com
www.myspace.com/redsidevisible
www.myspace.com/mirthfulmusic
www.reverbnation.com/timmirth

[diesel]

His mindset reminds me of Shawn Lane a lot. Shawn always said that he learned to play by playing other instrument parts on the guitar and by learning whole phases instead of licks, along with playing a lot of different musical styles. He compared it to speaking. He said that when you learn sentances instead of single words, you can speak easier and speak on a wider variety of subjects. When applied to guitar playing, you can fit into any musical situation without a lot of thinking. As we know, Shawn was a monster improvisor also.

[alexkhan]

[kabuki]

Hey Ed - who you calling a nerd???

Nice post diesel!
_________________
...the torch has been passed...

[alexkhan]

[Carlo]

yeah, I think Vai is a terrible improviser. It was really apparent during the Hoshino 90th Anniversary show with Andy Timmons. Andy totally owned Vai and Gilbert Andy is just insane, I love him

[shredrulez]

as for vai, i remain a fan although i'm skipping his live show this time around. i used to be a huge fan but i've definitely lost interest and moved on. i think he's still a very good writer but improvisation has never been his strength. all these times i've seen him, i always wished he'd play the solos differently but he'd play his recorded solos note for note every time.

i hope that he'd sign guthrie to his fv label and help him out. as you say, vai's got his own thing and gg is no threat. until they go up on stage to jam. but you can't take anything away from vai. he's written some great tunes over the years.

[M@]

Frankus, you really crack me up man... keep up the humour.

As for Mr Vai, I really love his compositional sensibilities (however, his latest release is taking some time for me to absorb). It seems that Steve Vai has had an influence on Guthrie's playing (seems most of the great musicians have also had an influence!).

Re Vai's live playing, I think he is becoming very monotonous. I've seen him a few times back in Australia and saw him live in Hong Kong last year (2004) - the HK show seemed just like a rehearsal for him and his band (not to mention that the room was rather crap from an acoustic perspective). I might as well have stayed home and saved my money by watching the "Live at the Astoria" DVD, it was exactly the same set list and moves. Shame on you Steve!!!

What was funny were the HK Rich kids who brought along their Jem 777's and started waving them around during the show - never seen that before!

[bill®]

Any word from Dweezil on what Steve thought of the Guthrie DVDs?
Three heavyweight guitar names in such a short sentence!

[alexkhan]

[treeduck]