Guitar Players - Michael Angelo Batio

[buster]

http://www.angelo.com/ I've heard of Satriani, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Steve Via, Eric Johnson, but not this FREAK! Click on this LINK "Speed Kills" [ June 17, 2005, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[keith]

I know of him but hadn't seen that video before. Simply incredible. Sent the video link to my guitar instructor and asked him to show me how to play that at my next lesson

 

[Drew99GT]

That guy needed a haircut a year ago But that's some of the craziest guitar playin I've ever seen!

 

[Thorn]

This thread reminds me of the scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies where one of the bad guys is swinging a sword in a very impressive display of martial arts...and then Indiana Jones pulls his pistol and blows him away. This guitar playing looks impressive, but there's not much substance to it. Try comparing it to some of the intros by scrolling down in this link to a Jimi Hendrix Blues album. I have the disc, and unfortunately, these short clips don't do it justice. Amazon Ask any of the best rock -n- roll guitar players in the world who the best guitar player is, and to a man, every one of them will say Hendrix...and it's not even close.

 

[buster]

You can't really say their is a "best" guitar player. So many styles...their are all time greats, like anything else. Put Hendrix in room with John Petrucci of Dream Theater and Petrucci would trounce him on technicality. But it's not all about that. Creatitivy is what it's all about. I think Joe Satriani is a great balance between technicality and good song writing. This guy Batia and Petrucci are shreaders. Masters of the instrument and could play anything they want, but their songs have little to be desired in many cases.

 

[Calvin]

Back in 1995 I attended a guitar seminar at a local music store and it was Micheal Angelo who was teaching this seminar. There is abit more to this guy than just shred guitar... Very sharp mind... knows music theory foward and backward.... incredable ability to play left or right handed... upside down , backwards , you name it.Speed beyond the eyes ability to see it all.... Yet despite his metal maniac looks ... seemed to be a pretty cool guy. Despite that as far as music goes I'd take Gary Moore or David Gilmour or Carlos for their ability to play fast or slow... to play rock , shred , metal , blues , ballads or easy accoustic stuff and convet actual feeling in their music , rather than just how many notes per second you can do. There are also the quiet people you rarely hear of but put out some incredable stuff.... Scotty Moore ,Steve Cropper , James Burton , Jerry Donahue ,Tommy Emmanuel ...even Glenn Campbell before he became famous was a great session guitarist.... But for pure speed Micheal Angelo is right there at the top and could give anyone a run for their money.

 

[97tbird]

True: Gary Moore used to be one of the fastest; but he can play slow bluesy stuff oh so well... I think his unofficial "teacher" was Peter Greene of the "real" Fleetwood Mac line-up... this reminds me: Does anybody know of J.J. Cale? very few I've spoken to know him. (BUT everybody knows Mark Knopfler, who copied J.J.Cale's style/tricks/sound etc.., and made a bunch of money with it)

 

[MarkC]

Speed means nothing. The test of a great guitarist is whether or not he can sound great sitting in someone's kitchen playing an acoustic guitar.

 

[buster]

Music is an art. It's also subjective. But you can compare musicians to one another in terms of music knowledge(theory) and technique. Versatility, technique, speed, theory, complexity etc. are all ways to measure or compare musicians. However, the creative element is one that cannot be taught, IMO. Guy's like Hendrix, Gilmour, Clapton are GREAT musicians. They are great song writers and are very creative. When I played drums for a few years and took lessons, my teacher said many of the studio drummers he knew that had PHD's in music theory could play anything. They could take the most complex peice of music, break it down and play it with ease and even improvise on it. However, these guys have come up with nothing on their own and usually write boring music...subjective again, but the point is, technicality is only one measure or quality of a musician. Guy's like John Petrucci, Satriani, Vai, Michael Angelo, Yngwie are virtuoso's and masters of the instrument. Does it mean they are better then Tom Petty? In some aspects yes, some no! Frank Zappa had many drummers audition for his band. The music was very complex and had many odd time signatures. Only Vinnie Colaiuta pulled off the audtion against other drummers and became his drummer for a few years. He then went on to make Joe's Garage/Shut up and play Yer Guitar which are two modern classics that raised the bar in drumming. John Bonham, of Led Zepplin, who was a drumming legend, wouldn't have been able to play the peices Zappa wrote, simply bc they are too complex.

 

[97tbird]

Buster: excellent post; great info, and great points!

 

[Drew99GT]

Great points Buster! There is a major difference between song writers and mainly intrumental guitarists. If I had to pick a guitar player that encompased all the facets of awesome instrumental guitar/song writing it would have to be Stevie Ray Von.

 

[97tbird]

Great guitar players are not neccesarily "fast" or technically "wizards". Take all those fast-playing technical wizards, but how are their creative/composition abilities? can they convey emotions with the guitar? Take David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) he's in NO way fast or a technical wizard, but look at his composing ability. I'm sure all those fast guitarists can play anything that Gilmour plays, but can they WRITE them? (ex: the solo in "comfortably numb"; it's just not playing, but he can convey feelings so accurately, a person who doesn't understand a single english word will still know EXACTLY what the song's about) Same with players like Ritchie Blackmore (Deep purple), his compositions are amazing foundations of guitar based rock music. Most of today's "guitar gods" think making all kinds of noises and fast playing is the thing. Take off all the pedals/effects away, and they're not much.

 

[buster]

97tbird I agree to a certain extent. BUT, guitar gods that are technical such as Petrucci, Vai, Yynwie etc. are amazing players with or without effects, trust me. Your point though is a good one. Usually those guys are not good composers and creative.

 

[97tbird]

i accept your point, especially when I know that one of my favourite guitarists, Tom Morello(Rage against the machine/ Audioslave), although a very good composer, also relies heavily on effects, obviously. He's one of those players that has a bit of both worlds.

 

[keith]

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkC: Speed means nothing. The test of a great guitarist is whether or not he can sound great sitting in someone's kitchen playing an acoustic guitar.

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Some of the electric gods are quite horrible on acoustic. I saw Malmsteen try to play some acoustic at Toads in New Haven CT many years ago. He was simply terrible - very poor technique and very poor sound. I've seen Knopfler, Santana, Page, Blackmore, Clapton, Trower and a bunch more I don't care for Vai, Satriani, etc. who are technically gifted but make uninspiring repetitive music. The blues underground is more interesting e.g. Coco Montoya, Tommy Castro, Smokin' Joe Kubek, Mighty Sam McLain, ... For laffs, try this list: Rolling Stone top 100 There are a few strange choices in there, but it's a good effort. I wonder if anyone voting had actually watched Kurt Cobain play guitar? His playing was at about the level of an average 2 year student and yet he is the 12th greatest guitarist of all time?

 

[TooManyWheels]

quote:

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Does anybody know of J.J. Cale?

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Yep, it least partially, through "After Midnight" and "Cocain". I hadn't realized Knopfler was a disciple, but they are both very smooth and tasteful.

 

[joatmon]

quote:

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Originally posted by keith: ..... The blues underground is more interesting e.g. Coco Montoya, Tommy Castro, Smokin' Joe Kubek, Mighty Sam McLain, ....

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Amen to that. My XM is on exit 74 all the time. With XM, it's not as underground as it used to be. Jack

 

[wileyE]

quote:

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Take David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) he's in NO way fast or a technical wizard, but look at his composing ability.

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A pbs special I heard on the radio one night made comment that Gilmour was great at starting out with a composition or sound he was after. But was often unable to ever complete or finish it. A certain stage musician freind (the name escapes me) worked out most the songs to their completion. There were whole albums done that rightly should have been credited to this guy but were not for whatever reason. Just found it interesting, not a meant to be a bash, I used to enjoy thier music myself.

 

[tom slick]

If you guys are interested there is a great video of Steve Morse jamming with a prototype guitar in the "steve in action" video on the music man website that sound lab is just down the hallway from my office. I get to listen to this type of stuff all the time.