Pete's guitar work

["Andy C" <thekindpad@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As a guitarist, it seems silly to pretend that PT could do no wrong. He is 
not very technically proficient (not nearly as much as JAE for instance) but 
he does more than make up for this in his style and his writing. Many of the 
greats were not up to scratch technically (John Lee Hooker, or Clapton for 
example) but have an original sound that no one can copy. Among guitar 
players, PT will most likely be more remembered for the following 
contributions:
100 watt amp stacks
the 4x12 cabinet
feedback
the power chord (2 note chords with no third hence no tonality, nicked from 
Purcell)
the WINDMILL and guitar smashing (of course)

as far as his speed goes, he's simply not that fast. He can be fast one hand 
at a time but he's certainly not 'pyro-technic' when it comes to lead 
playing. He reached a point years ago where he just wasn't going to get any 
faster. Remember, back in 66 London when Clapton was god and Hendrix was 
baba PT just sort of gave up on becoming a guitar god. he started to look at 
composition as a big issue. There are almost no guitar solos on "Tommy" but 
the guitar work is brilliant mainly because of the song context. He's 
definately gotten better in the past few years with all the practice on 
stage with the Who. He can be fast but not too 'precise' I suppose. He can 
never seem to get both hands moving equally fast and his right hand is 
definately quicker than his left. The tremolo picking in the WAY acoustic 
break proves as much as well as the furious strumming tendencies. And again, 
as far as Eddie Van Halens statement goes, they were friends and at the time 
(mid-80s) were planning on recording together. I'm kinda glad they didn't 
but...anyway, dont' *jump* all over Eddie (pun intended), he's got enough 
problems trying to decide what color to paint his guitar.

PT:
"I dont' even think I approach being a lead player; I think I'm very much 
part of a band and a riff-maker. I enjoy backing people up and letting 
people ride on top...I'm musically happiest when I'm driving everyone else 
to do good things, when I'm not being the pin man."

having said all that, I would rather hear PT play on his music rather than 
Gilmour or anyone else. And stylistically speaking, Pete is one of the 
greatest ever IMO.
I mean, Eddie Van Halen like it or not is the most influential guitarist of 
his generation. Its unfortunate that most of his imitators missed the point. 
I love Eddie but I can't stand when people try to copy his style. I do not 
put VH in the hair band catergory, they are certainly more blues based than 
say Poison and Eddie never wore hairspray. Funny enough, I just put on VH's 
cover of WGFA. Eddie calls this a 'pretty goofball take'. Its probably the 
best I've ever heard Mike Anthony sound! Hearing Eddie play it, you can hear 
how PT influenced him and Eddies variations on Petes style. What ruins it 
for me is hearing Sammy Hagar totally murder the lyrics (among other things, 
he actually pronouces the 's' at the end of the primal scream!)
and, oh yeah, It's not the Who.
Come to think of it, I've never heard really good Who cover.
peace

Andy

"I don't talk to musicians...
 they might influence me."
    - Pete Townshend
      Mansfield, Mass  7/26/2002

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