The guitarists..

[Assman]

I really enjoy how the band sounds at times and especially how great Axl sounds. That voice has been missing for too long. BUT what?s wrong with Bumblefoot and Richard Fortus? I?m  not talking about the technical capability, that is obviously covered. But do they think that technical capability is everything? Bumblefoot doesn?t have any feeling and is really boring on stage. Fortus is such a poseur that its embarrasing. He isn?t gonna be a new guitar hero, he isn?t interesting enough.

Finck on the other hand is the only one who is interesting to look at when Axl runs off stage. So what do you think?

[Mandy.]

Why do you need to look at a guitarist when Axl runs off stage?

There's always Pitman...

[Origen]

Maybe you shouldn't be all into "how the band look" and focus on more how they sound. Robin in your opinion might be the nice one to look at on stage but ron and richard are both far superior technically then him and imo both ron and richard play with emotion, all though at the end of the day they are playing someones elses music/riffs so they can't be fully into it by doing someone elses guitar parts.

[Voodoochild]

From what I've heard, everybody can play with feeling in this band. Ron is most likely shredding, but he sure can play with feeling too. Richard too, just listen to his The Blues or Madagascar solos.

Hell, even Bucket could play with feeling. IMO, TWAT is a nice example of that.

[Lucky]

who says having feeling is a nice thing?

[MeanBone]

i agree robin is the showman of the three. but to call richard a poseur? man i actually take that as an insult, cuz i love the guy and so do millions, if you don't like him, it's your right, but that takes absolutly no merit off richard, he has a great sound, an amazing stage presence. and just that hard strumming on the string he always does with his right hand makes him look like a fuckin rock star.
bumble i agree. he doesn't have showmanship, or stage coolness sort to speak. he wears the les paul way to high and looks like a metalhead instead of a rocker most of the time, still that causes me no harm, cuz the guy is so down to earth, so fuckin cool, he gives it his best, he is loved by many fans and he is very very humble about everything. as a person he's great, and it shows. so given that and his undeniable music talent, i don't think he's anything but worthy to be in that band. still i'd make him look at jimmy page a joe perry live and show him some serious guitar players stage moves, but that's all his lacking, and i do believe his sound makes up for it.

so bottom line, yes. they are both fit for the job and they do it like no one could.

[WhatIsItMan]

No way!  Check out Bumble headbanging during Better at Download Festival!  He fuckin' rocks!

[MeanBone]

he does get into the songs. but he still looks like a metalhead to me, maybe it's because he said his all time favorite band was manowar. wich still gets me everytime i see him. i like manowar to, but that's now what u'd expect from the guitar player in gn'r ahah. funny though

[fishyguy]

Its funny how people always talk about "feeling" without knowing what the hell it is.

[Mandy.]

he does get into the songs. but he still looks like a metalhead to me, maybe it's because he said his all time favorite band was manowar. wich still gets me everytime i see him. i like manowar to, but that's now what u'd expect from the guitar player in gn'r ahah. funny though

His all time favourite band is The Beatles...

[MeanBone]

manowar is his fav hard n heavy band.

[mikegiuliana]

I do think robin is interesting, not what I want but he's talented... As for fortus and even Ron they do nothing for me, but that's probably more because it's billed as gnr and I get something else

[jameslofton29]

cuz i love the guy and so do millions,

Thats fucking hilarious. Only people who know who Fortus is post on these forums. Most people dont know who he is and dont give a damn. Only recognizable people in the band outside these forums besides Axl is Dizzy and Stinson. To a certain extent maybe BBF. The rest could be substituted with Joe Blow and nobody would notice or care. Finck might be recognizable to casual fans if he didnt change his look everytime GNR crawled out of the cave.

[Assman]

Its funny how people always talk about "feeling" without knowing what the hell it is.

Well I for sure now about it. Guitar solos that have feeling goes out to more people than just the guitar nerds that read "Guitar player". For example Slash?s solos. Technique can be in it, but when it just comes to showing off how many hits per minute you can do, it doesn?t reach out beyond the nerds. Then of course there are different tastes. But don?t tell me to listen to the band. That?s just a stupid  comment, of course I listen to the band. I?ve listened so many times to old and new gnr, but going to a concert is different. There the band has to present something interesting visually too. When Axl runs off, its apparent that he?s so great and that these other guys have to fight for their lives just to be a 1/100 as interesting.

[Slipdisc]

I really enjoy how the band sounds at times and especially how great Axl sounds. That voice has been missing for too long. BUT what?s wrong with Bumblefoot and Richard Fortus? I?m? not talking about the technical capability, that is obviously covered. But do they think that technical capability is everything? Bumblefoot doesn?t have any feeling and is really boring on stage. Fortus is such a poseur that its embarrasing. He isn?t gonna be a new guitar hero, he isn?t interesting enough.

Finck on the other hand is the only one who is interesting to look at when Axl runs off stage. So what do you think?

Well I for sure now about it. Guitar solos that have feeling goes out to more people than just the guitar nerds that read "Guitar player". For example Slash?s solos. Technique can be in it, but when it just comes to showing off how many hits per minute you can do, it doesn?t reach out beyond the nerds. Then of course there are different tastes. But don?t tell me to listen to the band. That?s just a stupid? comment, of course I listen to the band. I?ve listened so many times to old and new gnr, but going to a concert is different. There the band has to present something interesting visually too. When Axl runs off, its apparent that he?s so great and that these other guys have to fight for their lives just to be a 1/100 as interesting.

You seem to be one of those people to whom emotion in music is very much dependant on what you see, hence a great deal of your post evolves around how something looks. However, music is an art form and therefore all about interpretation. Emotion is a SUBJECTIVE INTERNAL EXPERIENCE being just as subjected to interpretation as music itself. Clearly you enjoy (live)music mostly with your eyes, and who am I to tell you any different, you have every right to view it that way.

However, there are many people who choose to judge an aural art form like music, and it?s emotional qualities, with the part of their body where it?s primarily made for, their ears. Many (certainly not all, because it still remains a matter of personal definitions) of the latter group have absolutely no problem in hearing the emotional aspect in Richard?s or Ron?s playing and consequently see it as well. Emotion in music, to me, isn?t defined by stage antics (even in a live setting).?Everything going down on the stage will always be secondary to what I hear.

Say what you want about how many boots you have listened to, your posts clearly show that you very much depend on visual stimuli. I don?t care whether it?s live or not, it?s still music: an aural art form. What?s "interesting" and "apparent" to you isn?t necessarily the same what others get out of it. To you it might seem like they have to fight to be a 1/100 as interesting as Axl, I really don?t share that view.

-PEACE-

[Assman]

I really enjoy how the band sounds at times and especially how great Axl sounds. That voice has been missing for too long. BUT what?s wrong with Bumblefoot and Richard Fortus? I?m? not talking about the technical capability, that is obviously covered. But do they think that technical capability is everything? Bumblefoot doesn?t have any feeling and is really boring on stage. Fortus is such a poseur that its embarrasing. He isn?t gonna be a new guitar hero, he isn?t interesting enough.

Finck on the other hand is the only one who is interesting to look at when Axl runs off stage. So what do you think?

Well I for sure now about it. Guitar solos that have feeling goes out to more people than just the guitar nerds that read "Guitar player". For example Slash?s solos. Technique can be in it, but when it just comes to showing off how many hits per minute you can do, it doesn?t reach out beyond the nerds. Then of course there are different tastes. But don?t tell me to listen to the band. That?s just a stupid? comment, of course I listen to the band. I?ve listened so many times to old and new gnr, but going to a concert is different. There the band has to present something interesting visually too. When Axl runs off, its apparent that he?s so great and that these other guys have to fight for their lives just to be a 1/100 as interesting.

Say what you want about how many boots you have listened to, your posts clearly show that you very much depend on visual stimuli. I don?t care whether it?s live or not, it?s still music: an aural art form. What?s "interesting" and "apparent" to you isn?t necessarily the same what others get out of it. To you it might seem like they have to fight to be a 1/100 as interesting as Axl, I really don?t share that view.

-PEACE-

Please don?t tell me how I experience something. You don?t have a clue who I am or how I experience things. Fine, you are entitled to your opinion about music, but you don?t know how I experience and appreciate music.

Anyone going to a concert is interested in hearing the artist, BUT when the artist is visually present, the way they look and act and perform onstage has an influence in how the show gets through.

The problem with guys who have been sitting for ten years and practicing scales is that they have this as the only way to get through to the audience. They are in a way like circus artists. "wow he?s really fast" and "I wonder how he does that". Instead of guitar riffs and solos that more than guitar buffs enjoy. The version of "Beautiful" between Fortus and Finck is a good example of playing with a lot of emotion. The version of "Don?t cry" and the rest of Bumblefoots solo is a good example of a guy just showing of his technical skills.

[Gargh!]

manowar is his fav hard n heavy band

Gun N' Roses should cover Power of thy Sword

The version of "Don?t cry" and the rest of Bumblefoots solo is a good example of a guy just showing of his technical skills.

What the hell?  So if he's a good technical player he can't also be playing with emotion?

[strattao]

I saw GnR live in 2002 and was mesmerized by Robin. He is a great live performer, and Bucket was simply amazing. I still like to follow his live stuff and actually went to one of his shows in town last year.
Anyhow, I still haven't been blown away by Ron yet. I'm seeing GnR in October, so hopefully seeing Ron live will give me something to get excited about.

[estrangedpaul]

I agree that most people talk about feeling without knowing what it actually is. Didn't you ever think that BBF's style of guitar playing is his way of expressing himself? Fortus rarely shreds in his own solos or in his versions of the original solos. He can shred when he wants to but he rarely shows it. When people start talking feeling they don't even know what they're talking about. Assuming that some guy plays really fast so he doesn't have feeling or emotion is rediculous. Besides, songs like Nightrain and Paradise City aren't about playing with emotion. They're about rocking out and having a good time. Particularly on the jam parts of PC and Nightrain, where the guys are basically allowed free reign to the play they want to. That comes across to the audience. Forcing Ron Thal to play Nightrain outro the way Slash did would undermine him.

I think when most people critisize shred and talk about emotion and feelings, what they really mean is structure. That's why I love Slash. The way he structures his solos is genius. How fast he plays is irrelevant. It's the dynamics. November Rain outro is just classic, an amazing but simple to play lick, interspersed with some genuinely fast licks. SCOM, Civil War, Rocket Queen, You Got No Right there are numerous examples of this. The problem I sometimes have with shredders is not the lack of emotion or feelings, which is nonsense in a hard rock band, but the lack of structure in the solos. Kirk Hammett can shred but his solos are brilliantly structured so it doesn't look like a circus act. But I do think in the outros to PC and Nightrain, Ron Thal is improvising, making it up on the spot, I don't see any problem with loadsa shredding. It's fun and sounds amazing. Remember they are mostly playing someone else's solos. It's very hard to express feelings and emotions in someone else's solos anyway. So they come up with their own version. The easiest way to do that is shredding. Finck has the opposite way of modifying the old solos. He plays less notes, normally holding bends longer than in the original. For the most part this sounds really bad, eg. November Rain at Rio.

However, my favourite of the new guys is Robin Finck. Why? Because of the new stuff. His solos on TWAT, Better and The Blues are brilliant. Great structure, overall great vibe. I can't judge Ron Thal coz he hasn't played on any of the new stuff. Fortus hasn't played many solos on the new stuff other than the Blues so he is also hard to judge. Buckethead was amazing. His solo on TWAT is a great example of structure. And, the shredding parts of the solo are crucial to that.

Finally, shred is clearly an important part of Axl's vision of the GnR, so you better get used to it. Personally I trust his vision, coz he's way more talented than I or any of you will ever be. I actually like the fact that nearly every new song has one shred solo from Buckethead, although now played by Thal, and another more bluesy solo played by Finck. That dynamic of having one bluesy player and shredder has never really been tried before. It's a brilliant idea and the results so far have been? excellent. Considering solos have become redundant in rock bands of the last 15 years, this should be a great way to bring them back once and for all. And with Finck and Thal, we get the best of both worlds. And Fortus as, well who's a bit of both. It's one of the things that make this band so interesting.

[Jim Bob]

I do think robin is interesting, not what I want but he's talented... As for fortus and even Ron they do nothing for me, but that's probably more because it's billed as gnr and I get something else

damn man you really let the name of the band ruin it for you.  if you can look past a name, its a kickass band.