apophenia

[apophenia]

Nevertheless ... Steve is a true guitar god ... this is technique 'gone beyond' ...

BLUE POWDER - live ...

 

[YmirGF]

 

[DreadFish]

Frank got a little intimidated by Steve Vai's technical skill - he almost stopped playing guitar because of it !

Understandable ... but NO-ONE had more authentic personal flavor than Frank ...

I definitely prefer Frank's style to Steve's.

Like here, Steve definitely playsa lot of technical, quick riffs, but they just don't seem as methodical as Frank's. I guess a lot of it just seems like shredding to me.

 

[DreadFish]

I have been fortunate enough to see Frank and the Mothers live - twice.

AbsoFu^^^ingLutely insane !

I'll post a few of my favorites .... they are on youtube now, after years of his publishing company doing everything they could to take them down ...

This one's pretty good; never heard it.

Yeah, I remember all over the internet, people talking about cease and desist orders everywhere Zappa was played without his estate's permission. Unless it's changed, people aren't even allowed to cover one of his songs without permission.

Personally, I dont think he would have cared. There's an interview with him right before he died where he says he doesn't care if anyone ever remembers him or anything like that.

 

[apophenia]

I definitely prefer Frank's style to Steve's.

I do too.

I can listen to Frank for hours, because his playing is so communicative and full of flavor. It stands as a testament to the power of individuality with integrity.

Steve Vai is a masterful technician, but a bit dry.

Frank had 'psychic stuff'' to say, whereas Steve primarily had chops to demonstrate. Those chops are quite amazing, and occasionally quite beautiful, but lack the sense of a real living person that Frank communicated.

Steve definitely playsa lot of technical, quick riffs, but they just don't seem as methodical as Frank's. I guess a lot of it just seems like shredding to me.

Steve went the Galbally/Satriani speed picking path, Frank mainly took chord shapes and juiced them.

On a vaguely similar tack, Frank said (after he released 'Jazz from Hell') that he loved computer music, but the one thing computers lack is eyebrows.

BTW ... do you know about the effects devices Frank developed around the time of Uncle Meat ? Extraordinary. He had tape-based machines which could alter pitch without altering the timing. Think about that ... I'll give you some time to see if you can come up with how he did it (or how his engineers did - not sure whose idea it was) ... if you can't, I'll explain it later. It's good to do some problem solving sometimes.

Steve got to use all Franks effects when he recorded Flexable, his first solo album. Worth listening to just for the sonics.

Also - I've overshot my 9 Gig limit on my phone plan, so I may get shut down 'til February. I got an email asking me not to use my account, because the company don't have a way of dealing with that yet

I'm ignoring that today.