Most expressionate player ever

I saw Robin Trower back in the 70's - at the time he was, IMO, pigeon-holed by the music press as nothing more than a Hendrix copyist. I think he's a wonderfully expressive player, with a fluid touch and a great sense of dynamics. I actually had the honour not long ago of being one place above RT in the Soundclick charts, although his MP3 did finish a lot higher than mine.

Another guitarist I think gets less than his fair share of kudos is Gary Moore - again, someone I rate very highly. GM was actually touring with BB King a couple of years back, but sadly I didn't get the chance to see them.

Glad you enjoyed the gig, Adam - I'll have to keep an eye open if he's this side of the Pennines, I wouldn't mind seeing RT again.

BTW - Holmfirth - isn't that where "Last Of The Summer Wine" was filmed?

:D :D :D

Vic

wow I had never heard of robin trower before your post but i checked him out. Pretty sweet.

Thanks for opening my eyes to another great guitarist man.

Well I've seen Gary Moore live and I think he gets rated enough but a lot of people don't even know who Trower is but what an amazing player.

I think "where the heart is" is filmed in Holmfirth so last of the summer wine probably has been shot there.

Trower got a lot of word-of-mouth coverage as a guitar god in the mid to late 70's -- mostly by the same people who were uh ... "groovin'" to Dark Side of the Moon. Bridge of Sighs usually was sitting right under DSOTM in the record stack.

Gary Moore got -- and still gets -- his kudos regularly in the guitar player rags. Can't say how many times I've picked up a mag and wondered who IS that crazy old woman (think Ann Ramsey in 'Throw Mama from the Train') playing guitar in the cover shot. And it's always Gary Moore. He should get an award for the meanest playing face. Now that's expressive!

def: expressionate adj masterful in the art of expressionage

B.B. King sure would be a contender for this category. Sometimes way too expressionate though..

David Gilmour also expresses quite well. Whatever he bends on the strings is generally on his face.

Note - I am not including hippies in this category - eg. Hendrix.

def: expressionate adj masterful in the art of expressionage

LOL! :lol: :wink:

Jack White.

Trower uses (or used) Fulltone pedals. Lately I'm very interested in those pedals. This quote is from the Fulltone webpage:
Hear the OCD on Tour with Robin Trower, here's a song from 6-29-06 in NY. Notice how incredibly well the OCD cleans up...he never turns off the pedal, doing the entire range of sounds with the guitar's volume knob.

It is a comment on the OCD, an overdrive. The Fulltone webpage has a link to a part of a Trower's song (Daydream) in that concert.

My stepfather introduced me to Robin Trower back in the 80's when I found the Bridge of Sighs album in his collection. I can remember "groovin" (to borrow your word gnease) to it quite often in my misspent youth. There's no telling how many cigarettes got rolled on that album cover.

Can someone please tell me what that's supposed to mean? How would you know if they are playing with expression, by the faces they make?

I keep hearing this argument and to me it's a bunch of non-sense. It might the listeners interpretation of what he's hearing but the guitar player is playing a bunch of notes.

Sorry?

The feelings shown on your face are indeed "expressions".

Here are some common ones:

:D I am happy, or while playing guitar: I am happy while playing guitar.
:( I am sad. or while playing guitar: I must be playing something in D minor.
8) I am cool, or smug, or stoned, or while playing guitar: I am playing jazz...or Robin Trower.
:oops: I'm afraid I made a mistake, or while playing guitar: I am not getting lucky now, that's for sure. Dammit, I shouldn't have played so much Robin Trower.

Unless we are all talking about expression as it applies to the production of milk. In which case we would be talking about an all girl band, something completely different.

For instance:
:roll: Please stop staring at me while I feed my child and play guitar.

All perfectly good guitar expressions.

Sorry?

The feelings shown on your face are indeed "expressions".

Here are some common ones:

:D I am happy, or while playing guitar: I am happy while playing guitar.
:( I am sad. or while playing guitar: I must be playing something in D minor.
8) I am cool, or smug, or stoned, or while playing guitar: I am playing jazz.
:oops: I'm afraid I made a mistake, or while playing guitar: I am not getting lucky now, that's for sure.

Unless we are all talking about expression as it applies to the production of milk. In which case we would be talking about an all girl band, something completely different.

For instance:
:roll: Please stop staring at me while I feed my child and play guitar.

All perfectly good guitar expressions.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Can someone please tell me what that's supposed to mean? How would you know if they are playing with expression, by the faces they make?

I keep hearing this argument and to me it's a bunch of non-sense. It might the listeners interpretation of what he's hearing but the guitar player is playing a bunch of notes.

What he played was touching me emotionally I think you have to really be there to appreciate it, watching a video probably would never quite do. Have you never listened to a piece of music and felt the notes? From classical music (Barbers adagio for strings, Beethovens moonlight sonata etc etc) to rock music such as Hendrix, Robin Trower etc. There is definately a difference between musicians who play with passion and expression and those who don't know how. I'd say though that generally people hailed as great guitarists have great expression anyway even a lot of the more technical players.

But have a listen to this...... here is a MIDI of barbers adagio for strings....

http://www.skally.net/stuff/platoon.mid

And the real thing on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g

You must hear the difference there one has feeling and one doesn't. I would say the midi is very static but when it's played by real musicians there is feeling.

Theres something in the way its played by humans that makes it much more expressionate so it isn't nonsense.

fleaaa,

I think I understand what you are saying but I think you are placing those emotions on the wrong side. In the end the artist played some notes, how he playerd them is really irrelevant but the end result was that it hit YOU emotionally. There's a difference their to me.

What if another person listens to that same piece and feels nothing? Does that invalidate the artist and is he not playing with expression and emotion?

The feelings you describe the music having on you is an internal reastion by your sub concious mind, but everone thinks and feels differently which has no bearing on how the artist played the piece.