Side topic (might deserve its own thread) but what do people think about the Youtuber Social Media guitar people like Beato and Joe Banamasa etc who now are only really famous cause they nerd out about guitar and music theory on the internet? Like do they actually make good music I’ve never heard? Also seems like they all are very centralized around the Nashville country scene. Like maybe I just got caught in an algorithm vortex one day and there’s a version of these guys that actually are in the music scene I can appreciate. If there are better music nerd channels I’m all ears. Thoughts? (side note: Rig Rundown (also a Nashville thing) is the sh$t though)
Every so often, a song comes on or gets stuck in your head and it is just pure perfection (at least in your eyes). "What a Fool Believes" came on the Spotify on Sunday and I had forgotten how much I liked this song. To quote one person about Michael McDonald - "I never could understand what he was saying or singing but his voice is just sublime."
I don't play so I don't have the ear you do, but I've listened to a little Bonamassa here and there, and only recently heard him talk music and guitar. I know he's played with Clapton, played at the Kennedy Center, played w/ Beth Hart (who most people probably don't know but I like), been at least nominated for a Grammy, and probably sold a ton of records. But his sound is extremely sterile to my ears. Combine that with his stage presence and all I think is meh. But that's me. Today. He could well be a favorite of mine five years from now. I doubt it, but anything's possible. He sounds like a really cool guy though. Nothing like I expected.
Yeah that's my feel too, and I just wonder if his thing really is how he's a gearhead with a social media presence more than anything. I know he's recorded a ton, and has sold some records. He's a hell of a player as evidenced by his social media licks, etc. but it's interesting how being the greatest guitar person in the world in terms of playing ability, and gear doesn't really equal what is or isn't good about music. Alot of people don't like them, but I do enjoy Khrungbin whose guitar player owns and plays one standard strat from 2001, and a couple regular Boss effects. His playing is nothing special from a technical standpoint, and the guy imo is head and shoulders more interesting musically as a guitar player than anything Bonamassa has done. I just find these guys interesting, and the crazy how this small crew of social media guitar guys got so big from just being present where other musicians are not in the youtube/Tick Tok/Instagram world.
Have you listened to I'd Rather Go Blind with Joe and Beth? Innnncredible. That said, I'm not a huge fan though I absolute recognize his talent as a guitarist. HOWEVER, he does these Blues Cruises in the Mediterranean and I am dying to go to one. Only problem is they're like $10k minimum and I am poor. Check out this video with him and Eric Gales (another phenomenal guitarist that plays a right handed guitar left-handed -- like Jimi).
This is an absolute masterpiece of songwriting. Good song for the 4th of July, and every time i pay attention to it, I genuinely just come away a little sad that ill never make anything this perfect in my life. Most of the struggle with "classic rock" is seperating yourself from the ten million times youve heard it before and trying to hear it again as if it is new, but its as close to a "perfectly constructed song" as I can think of.
MD's a great musician and vocalist, but, as a fan of the earlier 70s DB, I just wish he hadn't had to join the DB and instead had founded his own band as something like MMB (Michael McDonald Band) which could still have been as successful as him as one of the Doobies.
Winger - self-titled (actually a very good hard rock album no matter what Beavis and Butthead say!) Stryper - To Hell With the Devil
