Schon v Santana

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

Schon everytime. Nuff said. The fact that Santana does not acknowledge what Schon brought to the party really sucks - was not aware of this till i read the interview with Jeff.

[Ehwmatt]

Incomparable in my ears. Neal's style that defined his career is so different from Carlos's signature style that to call one better than the other is a reach. Santana's tone and phrasing are among the best ever. He might not have the ability to burn as much as Neal, but he's a very cerebral player who knows his way around the fretboard. Europa never gets old.

[conversationpc]

Incomparable in my ears. Neal's style that defined his career is so different from Carlos's signature style that to call one better than the other is a reach. Santana's tone and phrasing are among the best ever. He might not have the ability to burn as much as Neal, but he's a very cerebral player who knows his way around the fretboard. Europa never gets old.

Well, tone doesn't necessarily have anything to do with being a technically brilliant player. I love the guys in Metallica as far as rhythm playing goes, for instance, but their tone is horrible, in my opinion.

[Saint John]

To these ears Santana's guitar whines and Schon's sings.

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

Incomparable in my ears. Neal's style that defined his career is so different from Carlos's signature style that to call one better than the other is a reach. Santana's tone and phrasing are among the best ever. He might not have the ability to burn as much as Neal, but he's a very cerebral player who knows his way around the fretboard. Europa never gets old.

Maybe a fair point but its obvious too that Neal lit a fire under Santana's ass that went when Neal did. There were moments certainly but few and far between. Carlos is certainly the easier to cover thats for sure - but i know that doesnt make him a lesser player. Still prefer Neal tho - and Neal can throw jazzy licks around when in the right company - christ, he can do pretty much anything.

[conversationpc]

To these ears Santana's guitar whines and Schon's sings.

I love both of their playing. Carlos is just much less versatile, in my opinion.

[Ehwmatt]

Incomparable in my ears. Neal's style that defined his career is so different from Carlos's signature style that to call one better than the other is a reach. Santana's tone and phrasing are among the best ever. He might not have the ability to burn as much as Neal, but he's a very cerebral player who knows his way around the fretboard. Europa never gets old.

Well, tone doesn't necessarily have anything to do with being a technically brilliant player. I love the guys in Metallica as far as rhythm playing goes, for instance, but their tone is horrible, in my opinion.

No it doesn't, but it certainly makes one's playing a lot more palatable - otherwise guitarists wouldn't be out there spending 1000s on gear all the time.

[Tito]

Santana is an outright communist.

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

Incomparable in my ears. Neal's style that defined his career is so different from Carlos's signature style that to call one better than the other is a reach. Santana's tone and phrasing are among the best ever. He might not have the ability to burn as much as Neal, but he's a very cerebral player who knows his way around the fretboard. Europa never gets old.

Well, tone doesn't necessarily have anything to do with being a technically brilliant player. I love the guys in Metallica as far as rhythm playing goes, for instance, but their tone is horrible, in my opinion.

No it doesn't, but it certainly makes one's playing a lot more palatable - otherwise guitarists wouldn't be out there spending 1000s on gear all the time.

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

[conversationpc]

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

Hands down...Eric Johnson, followed by David Gilmour.

[Ehwmatt]

Maybe a fair point but its obvious too that Neal lit a fire under Santana's ass that went when Neal did. There were moments certainly but few and far between. Carlos is certainly the easier to cover thats for sure - but i know that doesnt make him a lesser player. Still prefer Neal tho - and Neal can throw jazzy licks around when in the right company - christ, he can do pretty much anything.

Don't get me wrong Gordon, Neal is my #1 inspiration on the guitar. But Carlos was pretty inspirational for a lot of guitar players. I'm sure like all great relationships, the learning went both ways - you can hear the Santana influence in Neal's playing on songs like Livin to Do. Carlos definitely doesn't acknowledge Neal's contributions. Neal alludes to this in his Les Paul demo that can be found on YouTube. But still, I love listening to Carlos. It's just different from what Neal's work typically sounds like. His approach is just totally different and although I've spent countless more hours listening and watching Neal Schon play guitar, Santana is great in his own right and not really easily compared to Neal.

I'd almost go so far as to say I might be more inclined to compare Neal to someone like Joe Satriani or even Brian May.

[RedWingFan]

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

Hands down...Eric Johnson, followed by David Gilmour.

One word!!!!!Richrath!!!!

[conversationpc]

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

Hands down...Eric Johnson, followed by David Gilmour.

One word!!!!!Richrath!!!!

Johnson teaches Guitar Tone 101. Richrath is in Remedial Tone comparably.

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

Maybe a fair point but its obvious too that Neal lit a fire under Santana's ass that went when Neal did. There were moments certainly but few and far between. Carlos is certainly the easier to cover thats for sure - but i know that doesnt make him a lesser player. Still prefer Neal tho - and Neal can throw jazzy licks around when in the right company - christ, he can do pretty much anything.

Don't get me wrong Gordon, Neal is my #1 inspiration on the guitar. But Carlos was pretty inspirational for a lot of guitar players. I'm sure like all great relationships, the learning went both ways - you can hear the Santana influence in Neal's playing on songs like Livin to Do. Carlos definitely doesn't acknowledge Neal's contributions. Neal alludes to this in his Les Paul demo that can be found on YouTube. But still, I love listening to Carlos. It's just different from what Neal's work typically sounds like. His approach is just totally different and although I've spent countless more hours listening and watching Neal Schon play guitar, Santana is great in his own right and not really easily compared to Neal.

I'd almost go so far as to say I might be more inclined to compare Neal to someone like Joe Satriani or even Brian May.

Do you know who Neal's favourites are? I know he went thru a phase where he loved EVH's playing and i know he was a Brian May fan too - and obviously Clapton - but other than that i am in the dark....

[jrnyman28]

[ love both of their playing. Carlos is just much less versatile, in my opinion.

I agree completely with this.

I really like Carlos' playing and many times I have heard his influence on Neal. But Neal has the ability to play so many different styles WELL. I can't imagine Carlos playing anything different from what he does.

[Ehwmatt]

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

Hands down...Eric Johnson, followed by David Gilmour.

How bout top 15?

Neal - Evolution era, with single coils, or today's live tone (don't care for his studio tone lately)
Tom Scholz - Revolutionary tone
Eric Johnson
Mike Aquinos (Aquino?) (the guy from Pride of Lions... love his tone for some reason. Very meat and potatoes but with a touch of processing that mixes really well with the keys)
Randy Bachman - underrated tone master
Larry Carlton
John Petrucci
Steve Rothery of Marillion
Mark Knopfler
Gary Richrath
Stevie Ray
Steve Lukather
Terry Kath
Don Felder
David Gilmour

Honorable mention: Phil Collen + Vivian Campbell sound pretty good live these days... nice use of delay/chorus/floyd rose etc

[Don]

Incomparable in my ears. Neal's style that defined his career is so different from Carlos's signature style that to call one better than the other is a reach. Santana's tone and phrasing are among the best ever. He might not have the ability to burn as much as Neal, but he's a very cerebral player who knows his way around the fretboard. Europa never gets old.

Well, tone doesn't necessarily have anything to do with being a technically brilliant player. I love the guys in Metallica as far as rhythm playing goes, for instance, but their tone is horrible, in my opinion.

No it doesn't, but it certainly makes one's playing a lot more palatable - otherwise guitarists wouldn't be out there spending 1000s on gear all the time.

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

No Rik Emmett?

[Ehwmatt]

Do you know who Neal's favourites are? I know he went thru a phase where he loved EVH's playing and i know he was a Brian May fan too - and obviously Clapton - but other than that i am in the dark....

Wasn't Neal into some of the older blues too? Albert King maybe? I know he wasn't a HUGE fan of jazz, but I also think he enjoyed people like Wes Montgomery. I think you're absolutely right about EVH - I think a lot of the 80s shredders had a lot of influence on molding Neal into the player he is TODAY. I think that's why you get some fans lamenting for the Neal of old. Neal has evolved quite a lot. A lot more so than most of his contemporaries.

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

Hands down...Eric Johnson, followed by David Gilmour.

How bout top 15?

Neal - Evolution era, with single coils, or today's live tone (don't care for his studio tone lately)
Tom Scholz - Revolutionary tone
Eric Johnson
Mike Aquinos (Aquino?) (the guy from Pride of Lions... love his tone for some reason. Very meat and potatoes but with a touch of processing that mixes really well with the keys)
Randy Bachman - underrated tone master
Larry Carlton
John Petrucci
Steve Rothery of Marillion
Mark Knopfler
Gary Richrath
Stevie Ray
Steve Lukather
Terry Kath
Don Felder
David Gilmour

Honorable mention: Phil Collen + Vivian Campbell sound pretty good live these days... nice use of delay/chorus/floyd rose etc

No real argument apart from Steve Rothery - always had a nice simple clean tone - pretty basic - strat with a hint of chorus - but his dirty sound always sounded weak to my ears....

[Ehwmatt]

No real argument apart from Steve Rothery - always had a nice simple clean tone - pretty basic - strat with a hint of chorus - but his dirty sound always sounded weak to my ears....

I'll have to listen to his distorted tones a little better. I never found them weak. His use of delay rivals the artistry of Edge's too imo.

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

No real argument apart from Steve Rothery - always had a nice simple clean tone - pretty basic - strat with a hint of chorus - but his dirty sound always sounded weak to my ears....

I'll have to listen to his distorted tones a little better. I never found them weak. His use of delay rivals the artistry of Edge's too imo.

This might be a cliche - but i still think the best use of echo/delay in a song is Brian May on the live version of Brighton Rock - also a great acoustic guitarist Gordon Giltrap does amazing things with it - he is phenomenal.

[Rhiannon]

I love the guys in Metallica

I love Nine Inch Nails... and Crossfade... and Linkin Park. I love the melodic rock sounds... but sometimes one just needs to thrash.

And Schon is greater than Santana to me. Carlos is talented, just not as multi-dimensional as Neal.

[Gordon from Edinburgh]

I love the guys in Metallica

I love Nine Inch Nails... and Crossfade... and Linkin Park. I love the melodic rock sounds... but sometimes one just needs to thrash.

And Schon is greater than Santana to me. Carlos is talented, just not as multi-dimensional as Neal.

Yes, if i get the need for loud i goto ac/dc motorhead and metallica

[jrnyman28]

I am, to this day, so surprised by Mark Knopfler. I hated the "Money For Nothing" era of the band, and honestly at that time didn't care for what little earlier stuff I knew...but NOW! Gawd, I love their stuff before MFN and his solo work!!

[conversationpc]

I am, to this day, so surprised by Mark Knopfler. I hated the "Money For Nothing" era of the band, and honestly at that time didn't care for what little earlier stuff I knew...but NOW! Gawd, I love their stuff before MFN and his solo work!!

There are some good tunes on "Brothers in Arms", especially the title track, which is my favorite DS tune.

[jrnyman28]

Sadly, due to my disdain for MFN, I never gave the rest of the CD a chance. I DO remember Brothers In Arms and forgot that was the same CD. Too bad MFN and Walk Of Life got all the real attention. To me, this is another case of "video killed the radio star".

[conversationpc]

Sadly, due to my disdain for MFN, I never gave the rest of the CD a chance. I DO remember Brothers In Arms and forgot that was the same CD. Too bad MFN and Walk Of Life got all the real attention. To me, this is another case of "video killed the radio star".

"Brothers in Arms" is just a great tune. Knopfler's guitar just sings in that tune and it's so dark and moody.

[FishinMagician]

Interesting idea for a top ten....who has the best guitar tones?
Neal
Bryan May
Slash
Gary Moore
George Lynch
EVH
Blackmore
Trevor Rabin
John Sykes
Steve Lukather....

Hands down...Eric Johnson, followed by David Gilmour.

ditto

[S2M]

Count me for a vote for Craig Chaquico....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PwG69620WA


Enough said!

[mistiejourney]

To these ears Santana's guitar whines and Schon's sings.

Thank you. That's exactly what I hear.

Oh my, I've agreed with you twice today!