thanks george, that's definitely useful information, since I would be bringing the guitar for a semester on an island and probably wouldn't have access to new strings or anything like that.

I definitely want to get this guitar though. I remember I took classical guitar lessons for a few months as a kid with a rented guitar. And I still remember how it feels and sounds to play so i get urges to try stufff out on nylon everyonce in awhile. Do recommend any starting pieces for classical guitar (preferably one with tabs available)? (btw i youtubed that koyunbaba piece, very cool)

is it sacrilege to think his latter albums in the 90s and 00s are better than Blow by Blow and Wired ?

I don't agree, but I wouldn't call it sacrilege. I can certainly understand why someone would have that opinion. Who Else is particularly amazing.

Wired is untouchable for me personally.

I'm glad someone else prefers Wired to BbB.

Its just a lot more innovating and fresh. I love his past albums, but the new ones just pack so much punch. Id take Brush with the blues and nadia and where were you and Seasons over most of the older stuff

I always have! It's not like it's a landslide though, as both are spectacular and brilliant.

There is no other guitar performance that grabs me like Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Utterly sublime, his sense of note placement is just extraordinary.

Beck is a minimalist, and the perfect representative for the "less is more" school of guitar playing.

Some of his studio recordings are indeed perfect as far as well-placed notes go, but I find his live soloing to be much too reliant on out-of-place tapping licks and whammy abuse to be representative for a "less is more" approach. For that kinda playing, I usually turn to David Gilmour.

I remember watching this one and just not seeing the genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZhgsdJRvKE

Fortunately, many other Beck performances have shown me how great he can be, but that one stuck with me for many years and made me less than enthusiastic about his live playing.

Yeah that's definitely not among his best live performances...

On the other hand, there's brilliant stuff like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIptI2r ... re=related


I think playing with Stevie pushed him to new heights...

from a pure guitar playing perspective that is the standard opinion. in bbb the other band members are on becks level, i personally rate it as the best druming album ive heard. the album as a whole is brillaint

i haven't heard this opinion before, but it definitely makes sense. i mean, listen to freeway jam and compare it to something like hot for teacher which is 12 on ddd's performance list but 10 years after FJ and van halen used a drum machine. (the snare comping on freeway jam aslo sets it apart).

rip earl scruggs

Turns out the club where most of Time Is the Enemy was recorded is just a few hundred meters from the Kempinski Hotel Bristol where I'm staying. Gonna head over there maybe later tonight, check out the site of one of my favourite guitar performances.

whats the best Shawn lane album to get? i listened to Powers of Ten, was slightly underwhelmed. But I hear his live playing(dont know which tracks, cause they're not mentioned) and often enough love them. So is he someone he improves in a live setting ?

I was never a huge fan of Powers of Ten, I feel the use of drum machines and samples diminish the quality of the music. If he had used a band instead of playing everything himself, it would've been quite a bit better. See Powers of Ten: Live! for proof of this.

Me, I'm very partial to his albums with Hellborg, the various bootlegs in particular. My favourites are the 1995 Nancy gig, the 1996 Quasimodo's gig, the 2002 Variety Playhouse gig, and various others, most featuring Jeff Sipe on drums.

And yeah, he was better live, sometimes improvising throughout entire gigs. He was never a top jazz improviser, playing seamless lines over changes, but he had a totally unique style that worked great with Hellborg and Sipe. They usually did their songs in the usual jazz tradition where the song consisted of a main melody 'head', followed by a long improvisatory section, then ending with the same melody. They did songs like "Stellar Rays"/"Time Is the Enemy", "Rag"/"Baraji", "Rice With the Angels", "Deep Umbra"/"Hell Is Other People", and a few other standards, and the improv was similar in nature from gig to gig, depending on the song. "Rice With the Angels" usually featured the wildest and fastest guitar playing.

I wouldn't say he 'improves' in a live setting, his playing on powers of ten is great imo its the cheesy keys and drum machine that kind of bring it down a notch (i still enjoy it though). His gigs with hellborg are where he really shines, this clip is one of the reasons im a huge fan of him.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBKnYrwIP0o[/youtube]