Posted by cc on August 08, 2000 at 22:58:55:
In Reply to: Anybody play guitar? posted by FujiSaki on August 08, 2000 at 18:58:28:
Keith's strengths should be obvious to most Stones fans. I would add that I really like the way he plays slide on Let it Bleed, and I wish he would do more of it. Taylor and Wood are much more traditional and technically impressive; Keith has a more idiosyncratic sound that is more interesting to me.
It would be unfair to say he's recycled some riffs when he's created so many and taken rock guitar so far. He does lean awful heavy on that open G chord to sus4 thing, though. And his soloing is inconsistent. He has some of my favorite solos ever, but too often locks into the same lick about halfway through the solo and rides it out. I also rue his traditionalism in playing Fenders virtually exclusively the past 25 years. Stones songs sound scarier on Gibsons.
I haven't really worked out which is Brian's guitar on the early stuff. I think Keith plays a lot more solos than I used to think he did (and generally much better than he does now, somehow). And then Brian seemed to lose interest in the guitar after 1965. I agree with the praise of his slide playing. Have to say that he never developed as cool a tone as Keith's.
Mick Taylor plays some of my favorite Stones licks, but he is severely limited. His attempts to branch out on his later albums were not successful, leaving him pretty much only with the fat-toned blues soloing that he does so well. He's almost too slick some times, sounding more like Jimmy Page, and his tone gets flabby. He has some real yawners on IORR, and even his playing on Exile isn't an advance over his earlier stuff. His solos on "All Down the Line" are predictable and get tedious, maybe should have been lower in the mix. He has some moments on GHS, but maybe just because of the relative void left by Keith. I for one am glad they got someone else.
Woody is great for the streamlined rock sound of the late 70s stuff. Maybe to accomodate Keith, he also switched to Fenders, giving the Stones a real quick, hard sound that really contrasts with the gooey tone Taylor has on IORR. I admire Woody's facility with a variety of guitars, though like Taylor, he's very traditional in his playing and has perhaps even less of a distinctive style than Taylor. Keith is always more unique and exciting. Woody's playing with the Faces is more bold and fresh, but he's a great foil to Keith. I don't hear the alleged decline in his recent playing as anything outside of the Stones' general decline. Maybe if he had better material to work with... his licks on Saint of Me are great. But I haven't listened to the new stuff much; maybe it's true.