"Plays guitar like a man"

[SpiderWars]

I heard Tom Bukovac use those words to describe Steve Morse. Gary Moore, SRV, Hendrix, etc...some guys just seemed to strangle and wrangle whatever they wanted out of a guitar neck. Often these guys had Orangutan hands but even little guys like Randy Rhoads and Steve Howe played with an aggressive, muscular approach. Anyways, listen to the pre-Allman Brothers part of this. Plays guitar like a man indeed. Who else "strangles and wrangles" the best out of a guitar?

 

[gtrwun]

Rory Gallagher……dude was amazing.

I’ve always admired players that have the strength to subdue the guitar and make it sing.

I realized a long time ago that the players I loved had a light touch and I tried to go down that path. There are many ways to approach the guitar and I’m just as impressed watching SRV as I am Holdsworth.

 

[Monkey Man]

Who else "strangles and wrangles" the best out of a guitar?

Paul Gilbert would have to be up there, surely.

 

[PDC]

SRV

Angus Young

Early Zakk Wylde

 

[Green72]

Dimebag

 

[8len8]

I do. I sometimes end up with cuts on my hands after a show. I’m surprised the 9 strings I use stay in tune. People notice though - I get compliments on how I play with passion.

 

[SBlue]

SRV, Andreas Kisser and Philip Sayce are some of the heaviest hitters I've seen to this day.

 

[Chubbs]

Rory and Gary are king in my opinion. I’d add Sykes and the guys from testament.

 

[Ventura]

 

[Chubtone]

And it isn't just hitting hard with your right hand, it is an aggressive left hand too. Players who play like that have so much more fire in their playing IMO. Early Van Halen is also him showing the guitar who the boss is and you can hear it.

 

[Racerxrated]

Gary, EVH….guys with meat hooks for hands. Gary like action 1/2 inch off the strings to accommodate his hand/finger size. A buddy of mine met EVH years ago when he worked at a hotel in Mpls. When he shook his hand Ed’s engulfed his.

 

[SBlue]

EVH was a short dude. I'm 5 10 and when I met him he was way shorter than me. Have to consider he still had hip issues, and he could not stand perfectly straight. Still, not a big dude at all.
His hands, were really big for his body size, but smaller than mine. His hand grip tho, was one of the strongest I've felt to this day.

 

[DanTravis62]

Me

All the tan pants on TGP call my playing "ham fisted"

Theyre probably right, what with their socks and birkenstocks.

 

[Luca79]

Nuno, Kotzen, Landau.

 

[braintheory]

SRV, Andreas Kisser and Philip Sayce are some of the heaviest hitters I've seen to this day.

Sepultura had some really mean guitar tones. Surprised they don’t get talked about on here

 

[SBlue]

Sepultura had some really mean guitar tones. Surprised they don’t get talked about on here

And Andreas played his guitar so hard live, that I could not understand how he could have that much speed, plus that much force at the same time. The dude was a beast.

 

[braintheory]

And Andreas played his guitar so hard live, that I could not understand how he could have that much speed, plus that much force at the same time. The dude was a beast.

Yeah that sounds like a recipe for tendonitis for most guys

 

[Bardagh]

Steve Morse picks in a really unconventional fashion too. He alternate picks arpeggios that most would sweep pick. I inadvertently learned to play guitar holding the pick very much like he does and I don’t understand how he can play the way he does.

Over the past couple years I have consciously developed a more conventional “thumb on pointer finger” grip that looks like that weird gesture Bill Clinton always did while giving speeches. It has helped me a lot with things that my old self taught grip made more challenging than need be - but I still switch to the Morse
Style grip at times. It lifts your hand up over the strings differently and allows you to hit the strings at a different angle and with a different kind of control over the pick. He’s a different breed for sure.

 

[Smash]

Sepultura had some really mean guitar tones. Surprised they don’t get talked about on here

I talk about them. They have the best guitar tones

 

[rottingcorpse]

I used to play like an abusive boyfriend. Does that count? Only playing when I wanted. Never taking the guitar anywhere fancy. Just plugging her in and beating the shit out of her. Never changing strings,just changing guitars when I busted a string. Throwing them back into their cases covered in spilled liquor and sweat. Just a big stack of cases with nasty smelly guitars all begging for attention,only to be forgotten about for months on end...eventually dropping them off at the shop to get restrung and cleaned up just to repeat the cycle of violence over and over again.