Elidroth
07-23-2003, 09:54 PM
OK.. so I admit it.. I'm (musically) a child of the 80's and 90's. I cut my teeth on the heyday of shred. While most lacked anything but random streams of 32nd notes.. there were SOME that stood out and lived on.. Guys like Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big), Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Still others never got to see much commercial success. I recently came across some old songs by one of my all time favorite guitarists.. someone who in my opinion leads this class of undiscovered wonders..
Ronnie Le Tekro. His band TNT was easily the best (musically) of the hair bands of the late 80's and early 90's. I went to high school with their singer Tony Harnell though I didn't really know him all that well.. he was a SINGER afterall.. which meant he was an asshole (which he was) and we guitarists only tolerated them cause a good front man got the girls to come to the shows. He had a fantastic voice though..
Anyway.. I digress.. Ronnie Le Tekro had it all, SCARY speed, perfect technicality, and yet.. FEEL.. something so many of his contemporaries didn't have at all. He was John Petrucci before John was.. if that makes sense. He was SO flexible in his style too.. incredibly fluid legato like Malmsteen, to the almost percussive notes al la Al DiMeola, the guy had it all. Most guys wrote songs as an excuse for their solo break. Ronnie seemed almost uninterested in playing solos. Most are short.. and to the point.. but DAMN.. when he let loose.. it was a thing to hear.
His solo on 'Tonight I'm Falling' is so short you almost miss it.. yet it fits the song really well.
The instrumental piece Sapphire while only 1:16 long is pure fire.
I was fortunate to see him live several times.. and I was never disappointed. Didn't matter if he was playing to 5000 or 50 people.. he played his ass off. And he pulled off EVERYTHING on the records to perfection.
So anyway.. that's my start. Who do you think belongs on this list?
Here's a sample.. I'll add more as soon as I re-encode some stuff to fit on my crappy 5mb of free space.
Sapphire (http://home.san.rr.com/c4web/sapphire.mp3)
Still others never got to see much commercial success. I recently came across some old songs by one of my all time favorite guitarists.. someone who in my opinion leads this class of undiscovered wonders..
Ronnie Le Tekro. His band TNT was easily the best (musically) of the hair bands of the late 80's and early 90's. I went to high school with their singer Tony Harnell though I didn't really know him all that well.. he was a SINGER afterall.. which meant he was an asshole (which he was) and we guitarists only tolerated them cause a good front man got the girls to come to the shows. He had a fantastic voice though..
Anyway.. I digress.. Ronnie Le Tekro had it all, SCARY speed, perfect technicality, and yet.. FEEL.. something so many of his contemporaries didn't have at all. He was John Petrucci before John was.. if that makes sense. He was SO flexible in his style too.. incredibly fluid legato like Malmsteen, to the almost percussive notes al la Al DiMeola, the guy had it all. Most guys wrote songs as an excuse for their solo break. Ronnie seemed almost uninterested in playing solos. Most are short.. and to the point.. but DAMN.. when he let loose.. it was a thing to hear.
His solo on 'Tonight I'm Falling' is so short you almost miss it.. yet it fits the song really well.
The instrumental piece Sapphire while only 1:16 long is pure fire.
I was fortunate to see him live several times.. and I was never disappointed. Didn't matter if he was playing to 5000 or 50 people.. he played his ass off. And he pulled off EVERYTHING on the records to perfection.
So anyway.. that's my start. Who do you think belongs on this list?
Here's a sample.. I'll add more as soon as I re-encode some stuff to fit on my crappy 5mb of free space.
Sapphire (http://home.san.rr.com/c4web/sapphire.mp3)