While my guitar gently weeps!

  • While my guitar gently weeps maybe a classic Beatles song but no one literally creates that emotional feeling with a guitar better than Steve Hackett. I have just listened a ATOTT and that George Harrison phrase popped up in my head during the solo in Ripples. It also applies to the begining of Los Endos and many many other SH moments. The emotion he creates with his guitar is one of the reasons he's my favourite guitarist.

  • For me Steve plays pure melodies, not rock "improvisation" like others Guitar Heroes.


    For example: Every Day, Spectral Mornings or Clocks. :/

    Edited once, last by rkive ().

  • Steve does do all kinds of styles, he is a truly versatile and wonderful guitar player. I've been listening to him now for 46 years, ( not continuously) and Beatles phrase popped into my head for first time in relation to Steve whilst listening to Ripples. Can't think of anyone else that creates that sound.

  • What I still like, particularly about the earlier Genesis stuff, is that where others of that time - eg Steve Howe - would do "look how many notes I can pack in" solos Hackett played clean, elegant lines. In particular the Salmacis solo is a turning point, the real start of a specific Genesis Sound - that melodic flow over those mellotron chords. Of course we all think of FoF and I'd add in The Lamia - his work on these exemplify his approach, making the guitar almost like a voice that tells us a story rather than just trying to be virtuosic.


    He could also be quite spiky and jagged too. These approaches continued into his solo work. The albums tailed off in quality and interest for me but the whole body of work stands as testament to how good he is.

    Abandon all reason

  • What I still like, particularly about the earlier Genesis stuff, is that where others of that time - eg Steve Howe - would do "look how many notes I can pack in" solos Hackett played clean, elegant lines. In particular the Salmacis solo is a turning point, the real start of a specific Genesis Sound - that melodic flow over those mellotron chords. Of course we all think of FoF and I'd add in The Lamia - his work on these exemplify his approach, making the guitar almost like a voice that tells us a story rather than just trying to be virtuosic.


    He could also be quite spiky and jagged too. These approaches continued into his solo work. The albums tailed off in quality and interest for me but the whole body of work stands as testament to how good he is.

    For me, many Yes songs are plagued by the “look how many notes I can fit in” syndrome. As a band they seemed obsessed with individual virtuosity, whereas Genesis’ prog style was more oriented toward melody.

  • Accomplished guitarist he undoubtedly is, I don't feel any emotion from Steve's playing as he is very static on stage. It would be interesting though to hear him play While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Peter Frampton plays a great version).

  • Accomplished guitarist he undoubtedly is, I don't feel any emotion from Steve's playing as he is very static on stage. It would be interesting though to hear him play While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Peter Frampton plays a great version).

    That's an odd take. Regardless of his stage presence, when you play Salmacis or (for me especially) The Lamia, you don't get any sense of feeling or emotion from his solos? I think, compared to other guitarists, there's far more feeling in some of his work.

    Abandon all reason

  • He's such a tasteful player in my opinion. Some flashiness in the earlier albums maybe, but he was always about melody and atmosphere, more than being showy.


    The solo in Firth of Firth is a classic example of why being a great guitarist is not about notes per minute.


    And I think some of his guitar work is easy to miss, because it doesn't stand out. But it's not meant to, it's there to add to the composition. And he was great at that in Genesis.

  • God yes. On the recent Seconds Out tour, his ending of Supper's Ready was particularly uncalled for in my opinion!

    Really? What did he do?


    He was always about melody and atmosphere, more than being showy.


    The solo in Firth of Firth is a classic example of why being a great guitarist is not about notes per minute.


    And I think some of his guitar work is easy to miss, because it doesn't stand out. But it's not meant to, it's there to add to the composition. And he was great at that in Genesis.

    Excellent final point there - there was often an intertwining of his guitar and Banks's keyboards, or very subtle guitar work from him, which could both give an impression of not much involvement from him. But take him out of the mix and it'd make make a vast difference. Such a good understanding of shading and texture and it served the music so well.

    Abandon all reason

  • Really? What did he do?

    I checked on Youtube.

    He did some extra tapping, and an intense use of his Whammy pedal, along with some fast playing (think of Daryl in Firth of Fifth).


    If you're attached to the studio version, you may find it surprising.

    Los Endos is heavily modified too, with Snippets from his solo stuff ("Clocks")

    Same with IKWIL.


    Personally I don't mind some experiment.

  • That's an odd take. Regardless of his stage presence, when you play Salmacis or (for me especially) The Lamia, you don't get any sense of feeling or emotion from his solos? I think, compared to other guitarists, there's far more feeling in some of his work.

    Agreed. And I'm not sure what a players "staticness" or otherwise has to do with the playing. Wilko Johnson never stood still and I'd hardly call his work loaded with emotion.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • OK I just looked at it on youtube too. I stomached a few minutes of it before giving up, didn't like it at all. It felt like it was never going to end. It's the very antithesis of what I always liked about his work. I didn't bother with IKWIL or Endos.


    In principle I also don't mind experimentation but it has to end up sounding good, or at least interesting. That widdly-diddlying in the run-out of SR is very dull.

    Abandon all reason

  • OK I just looked at it on youtube too. I stomached a few minutes of it before giving up, didn't like it at all. It felt like it was never going to end. It's the very antithesis of what I always liked about his work. I didn't bother with IKWIL or Endos.


    In principle I also don't mind experimentation but it has to end up sounding good, or at least interesting. That widdly-diddlying in the run-out of SR is very dull.

    Don't really remember it specifically, but I do remember I really enjoyed the show, every bit. I quite like a bit of widdly diddly here and there. Definitely prefer differences when it comes to live performances. I've heard SR about one thousand two hundred and fifty times, I rarely tire of it but also prefer not hear straight copies live.

  • Definitely prefer differences when it comes to live performances. I've heard SR about one thousand two hundred and fifty times, I rarely tire of it but also prefer not hear straight copies live.

    Oh I essentially agree with not wanting to hear a straight reproduction on stage. As an antidote to the above, a sort of aural cleanser if you will, I found a NY 1982 SR and listened to it. It's the definitive live SR and Stuermer does a great job of not just recreating Hackett's lines, while still keeping it simple and thus striking the perfect balance. Ditto on the 1986 IT tour segment. The Hackett soloing on the SO show is (to my ears anyway) indulgent twaddle.

    Abandon all reason

  • OK I just looked at it on youtube too. I stomached a few minutes of it before giving up, didn't like it at all. It felt like it was never going to end. It's the very antithesis of what I always liked about his work. I didn't bother with IKWIL or Endos.


    In principle I also don't mind experimentation but it has to end up sounding good, or at least interesting. That widdly-diddlying in the run-out of SR is very dull.

    That's exactly how I felt when I was there!


    It felt like it was flashy for the sake of it, as Steve wanted to expand a section of the song where he is obviously front and centre. The shredding was totally unnecessary IMO and detracted from the rest of what he was doing.

  • As a rule I don’t like ‘look how clever I am’ solos on any instrument and wouldn’t bother to listen to them on record. Live I think is a little different, if it’s done well. I still wouldn’t like to endure some of those self-indulgent ‘highlights’ of the seventies, where the rest of the band can have a pint but in Steve’s shows it seems to me there are two or three spots where he and/or the band can stretch out a bit. The end of SR and IKWIL being the main ones. I think it’s good for Steve to let rip for four minutes or so during a two hour show and the end of SR is as good a place was any, although I think the original ‘live fade’ had to be better. And IKWIL is a nice singalong but given he has to play it every time really he might as well jazz it up and let the band of top flight musos have a little spot. I did email his team and suggest they did Twilight Alehouse on the Foxtrot tour for similar reasons and I thought including a session leftover would work well as it did with Inside and Out on his W&W tour. But generally I agree that he should avoid what we’re always the pitfalls of seventies Prog.

  • Generally speaking, I say Steve has always let the music be the boss, and so unlike some guitarists or bands, he has tailored the guitar parts to make the best music, rather than use it as a bandstand to showing off. Having just listened to the So version of SR, yes, he has overdone it there, I guess if you keep doing the same stuff tour after tour, you either feel the pressure to keep it fresh, or just want to do it for your own "avoidance of boredom". One of the reasons I'd like him to focus more on his own back catalogue.


    But if you want the best version of SR by him, I suggest the "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" 2014 disc.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!