Re: Jeff Beck
Posted: 28 Oct 2010, 11:56Hey everybody.....
I saw Jeff play last night at the RAH (the night after Jim and pretty much in the same seats by the look of it! Stalls Row 10 151 & 152)...
Actually I have had something of a Guitar God week as last Saturday night I got to see Joe Satriani in Birmingham - so resisting the urge to just burn my guitars and take up knitting instead is proving difficult right now...
For myself - I was blown away by the band last night, they were like a machine and had all the grooves nailed. Totally tight and 'on it' - Rhona Smith on Bass particularly was awesome. Jeff himself, however, was a little disappointing for me....his timing was a little 'off' in places and there were more than a few duff notes. There were moments of brilliance of course - with some of the harmonic work and Tremelo arm pyrotechnics.....but when I take the whole band as a unit - he was the weakest link. He is wonderful with melody and the number that Jim mentions above was beautiful because of its simplicity... It is when Jeff tries to fit in too many notes that the songs suffer and it breaks down... It was almost like he was trying to keep up with them....
Joe - however, completely bossed the night. His band were also red hot and oh so tight - but he was the master, pulling all the strings. His playing was quite unbelieveable and the tone was supernatural at times. His timing and fretwork were from another planet - and his understanding of melody and arrangement is sublime. Sure - he can throw in a flurry of notes to amaze the crowd - but it all comes together, it is clean and there is always cohesion to the song...
I know a comparison is difficult - but there is a lot of synergies between the two guitarists, the target audience and the musical style. Certainly the audience demographic was similar... But for me - over these two gigs - Joe wins by a mile.
But - at the end of the day - for both of these great artistes. I am not worthy...
And Jim is right about the RAH - it is spectacular and has wonderful acoustics.
Now - where are the matches....
Tony.
I saw Jeff play last night at the RAH (the night after Jim and pretty much in the same seats by the look of it! Stalls Row 10 151 & 152)...
Actually I have had something of a Guitar God week as last Saturday night I got to see Joe Satriani in Birmingham - so resisting the urge to just burn my guitars and take up knitting instead is proving difficult right now...
For myself - I was blown away by the band last night, they were like a machine and had all the grooves nailed. Totally tight and 'on it' - Rhona Smith on Bass particularly was awesome. Jeff himself, however, was a little disappointing for me....his timing was a little 'off' in places and there were more than a few duff notes. There were moments of brilliance of course - with some of the harmonic work and Tremelo arm pyrotechnics.....but when I take the whole band as a unit - he was the weakest link. He is wonderful with melody and the number that Jim mentions above was beautiful because of its simplicity... It is when Jeff tries to fit in too many notes that the songs suffer and it breaks down... It was almost like he was trying to keep up with them....
Joe - however, completely bossed the night. His band were also red hot and oh so tight - but he was the master, pulling all the strings. His playing was quite unbelieveable and the tone was supernatural at times. His timing and fretwork were from another planet - and his understanding of melody and arrangement is sublime. Sure - he can throw in a flurry of notes to amaze the crowd - but it all comes together, it is clean and there is always cohesion to the song...
I know a comparison is difficult - but there is a lot of synergies between the two guitarists, the target audience and the musical style. Certainly the audience demographic was similar... But for me - over these two gigs - Joe wins by a mile.
But - at the end of the day - for both of these great artistes. I am not worthy...
And Jim is right about the RAH - it is spectacular and has wonderful acoustics.
Now - where are the matches....
Tony.