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Post by Helmut83 on Aug 31, 2016 6:55:29 GMT
Someone had made a similar thread on the old forum, so I'll revive it (or more like reincarnate it).
As we all know, the bearded brummie genius we admire so much was not just ELO's songwriter, producer and main voice, but also it's guitarist, a role in which he has been far less analyzed than in the others. So let's get to it: what do you think of Jeff Lynne as a guitarist/guitar player? Is he good? Is he technical? Does he play with feeling? Do you think he feels confident in that role? Do ELO songs feature enough guitar solos or would you have liked them to have more? What are his best bits playing this instrument?
Answers by both guitar players and sheer listeners are welcome.
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Post by Horacewimp on Aug 31, 2016 14:13:31 GMT
As someone who isn't musical and can't play the guitar, Jeff's ability to me seems very good verging on excellent.
The stand out songs seem to be the older ones to me like Do Ya or Ma Ma Ma Belle, however most if not all of the tunes on Alone in the Universe seems to have a guitar break in them.
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Post by Chippa on Aug 31, 2016 20:40:34 GMT
He's good, but not flashy. I guess his somewhat quirky style partially stems from the fact that he learned to play on a one string guitar, with a coin as a pick.
Favorite solos? Tough question, but "Showdown" has to be near the very top, along with the underrated "Take Me On And On".
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Post by Helmut83 on Sept 1, 2016 6:23:43 GMT
In my opinion he is a very decent guitarist, better than he thinks. He's not the technical virtuoso kind but plays with feeling, and always plays things which go along very well with the mood of the song.
I think he might have some lack on confidence in himself as a guitar player, as ELO songs have too few guitar solos (well, they have to few instrumental solos of any kind in my opinion), but several of those are great and enhance their songs a lot.
The best examples in my opinion are two songs from Zoom (he improved a lot with time): "Easy Money" and "Ordinary Dream". The solos from those songs are brilliant in a rowdy way, really energetic and full of feeling. From the old ones, I think "Birmingham Blues" features a great solo.
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Post by Helmut83 on Sept 1, 2016 6:25:28 GMT
The stand out songs seem to be the older ones to me like Do Ya or Ma Ma Ma Belle, Wasn't Marc Bolan who played lead guitar on "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle"? Do Ya's riff is epic. |
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Post by Horacewimp on Sept 1, 2016 7:32:03 GMT
The stand out songs seem to be the older ones to me like Do Ya or Ma Ma Ma Belle, Wasn't Marc Bolan who played lead guitar on "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle"? Do Ya's riff is epic. I think it was Marc Bolan but Jeff wrote it  |
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tl77
Full Member
Posts: 62
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Post by tl77 on Sept 1, 2016 12:59:09 GMT
I think he has a nice vibrato, but I don't always know which ones are Jeff and which ones are Richard. Apparently the lead guitar bits in Shangri-la and Strange Magic are Richard. I guess the more "raunchy" leads are always Jeff, but the mellower ones could be either one. Anyway, I think Jeff considers guitar just a tool to execute his songs with, but he can do nice things with the guitar. It's hard to play slide pitchwise, but Jeff seems to have no problem with it.
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Post by wilko on Sept 1, 2016 22:33:36 GMT
I think he's actually quite underrated as a guitarist. He's always given credit for his singing/songwriting/producing but rarely for his instrumental skill.
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, but we're OK. 
Apparently it's quite hard to see them with the naked eye, you need to be looking through a camera or other type of lens?