Bucket is a few steps higher...ask those guys themselves and they will tell you too.
I love Buckethead, he?s one of my favorite musicians, but it?s absurd to downsize Ron in any regard when compared to him. I?m a longtime fan of both (and Guthrie for that matter) and find both your praises concerning Buckethead as your criticism towards Govan and Thal pretty shallow?
Concerning Ron and Buckethead (apart from personal taste):
- Buckethead uses more patterns, where Ron is the diametric opposite of a pattern player. Able to come up with more complex and/or innovative improvisations and concepts, he has much more versatility in his chops;
- Ron (successfully) explores more genres than Buckethead and explores them deeper, in using less clich? patterns that are omnipresent in the various styles, sounding more authentic;
- Ron?s music contains more advanced and innovative dynamic, rhythmic, melodic, non diatonic, harmonic concepts and overall theory manipulation (truly amazing hybrid picking, two-handed polyrhythms and thimble licks);
- Ron's music is more multidimensional, he has an ?avenue of expression? on all ?levels?; music, production, vocals and lyrics;
- Ron has active "absolute pitch" and a photographic memory for music;
- Ron has a better trained fretting hand, due to extensive (high quality, -in comes absolute pitch-) fretless playing. Resulting in ultra clean(er) and fast(er) playing on a fretted (conventional) guitar (speed & articulation = relevant in reference to Buckethead);
The one who would set a huge contrast to this bunch of players would be Nuno Bettencourt. I really don't see how he (overall or not) shoud be considered a better hard rock player. He's a decent hard rock player yes, but eons behind any of the others on all aspects ? except (past)popularity (which in turn, isn?t indicative for quality). He?s simply too limited by his rigid boogie/funky approach. As for his solo stuff, sure he incorporates some Arabic and Slavic style modalities, but none of it comes close to the depth what these genre crossing musical chameleons (BBf and Govan) are doing. Technically speaking it?s no big secret Bettencourt?s a complete Vai rip-off, copying exact licks, where people like BBF and Govan are much more innovative than that (?that? includes Vai as well).
-PEACE-
Author