The guitar is a strange and wonderful instrument. From its earliest days, it has been the instrument of shepherds and kings alike. It has been used in almost every musical style from chamber orchestra to folk to jazz to court music to rock ‘n’ roll. And every time a new player picks up an axe, he’s going to do something with it that’s never been done before.
The great thing about the guitar is its dynamics. Give two people the same guitar, and they’ll each play something completely different on it. With the advent of the electric guitar, rock music and the concept of the guitar star, this concept has been accelerated. The key in judging how great a guitarist someone is, because of rock music, has become the guitar solo. Countless lists of greatest guitarists and greatest guitar solos have cropped up because of this, but they miss the point. The entire concept of guitar isn’t how technically well it can be played but how expressively it can be played and how well it integrates into a musical concept. So:
Casey’s Top 5 greatest works of guitar
1. “Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic on “Maggot Brain” – This song is pure emotional expression in musical form, and it hasn’t an actual lyric to be found. The song is essentially just one long solo. But, can a song with no other elements really be classified as a solo? I think not. Before he pressed record, god of funk George Clinton told guitarist Eddie Hazel to play a song as if he had just found out his mother died. Ten minutes and 20 seconds later, Hazel had banged out what could be considered the most emotional piece of music ever recorded, and he did it with nothing more than six strings and a wah pedal. It has yet to be topped.
2. “Reclamation” by Fugazi on “Steady Diet of Nothing” – Fugazi is probably the most notable band of the “DIY” musical movement – a punk-genre offshoot that praises self-reliance, minimalism and unfettered expression. “Reclamation” is little more than a simple drum and bass rhythm with two guitars continually assaulting chords over each other. The reason this guitar tune is of note is the way the guitarists go about their assault. Each chord is grinded upon with painstaking precision, and each chord layers itself over the rest of the song so that, on top of the face-melting distortion, there are actual overtones, making a band of four sound like an entire orchestra of destruction. All that with guitars held together with duct tape.
3. “Bad Anna” by The Limbs on “Boo the Villain” – Speaking of DIY, here’s a guy who has taken it to the next level. The Limbs is a one-man band composed of vocalist, drummer and guitarist John Mazzucco. He plays and sings every part of his Tom Waits meets Bad Brains songs just as well as every other part. At the same time. Mazzucco plays guitar like an even more demonic Tony Iommi, and the great part is his entire style was developed around the complex, coordinated movements it takes to play a drum kit and a guitar simultaneously while singing. Watching him perform is like watching a tornado hit a volcano. It’s awesome as hell, and it will probably kill you. Mazzucco doesn’t care how well you can play “Stairway.” He is not afraid of you, and he will beat your ass.
4. “Sex Machine” by Sly & the Family Stone on “Stand!” – One of the biggest parts of guitar-ranking formulas is speed. It is generally assumed that the faster one can play, the better one is at playing. False. Here we have a song that goes through more guitar styles in one song than a jam band’s entire set, and it creeps along at the dirtiest, sexiest pace imaginable. Utilizing more pedals than a 12-seat bike, Sly’s entire family soulfully slinks right into the dirtiest place of your mind, and refuses to leave for nearly a full 14 minutes. With not an understandable lyric in the entire song, the shifting guitars themselves tell a love story so profane, the FCC probably would have told them to remove the lyrics anyway had there been any. The power of the guitar to mold emotion is hot and heavy here with no intention of turning it down or hurrying up.
5. “Brotherman” by The Final Solution on “Brotherman OST” – “Brotherman” isn’t so much a song as it is a story that is equal parts tragic and uplifting. The year is 1975. You’re in a small, unknown Chicago soul band called The Final Solution, and you don’t even realize the dark implications of that name. One day, two film producers come into the bar you’re playing at and ask you to make the soundtrack to a “Superfly”-esque movie they’re making. They’ll pay you. You pour everything you have into the soundtrack. You sell everything you own to finance the recording. You play the best you can. They scrap the film and shelve all your tracks, paying you a grand total of nothing. This is the story of “Brotherman.” The men in the Final Solution were so broke, they didn’t have the money for replacement strings. They played the entire soundtrack with guitars that belonged in dollar-store dumpsters, but a spark is still there. Here, we have a group of men who poured their all into their playing. The equipment, conditions, circumstances and consequences didn’t matter. They gave it their all. The film was never made, and the album wasn’t released until over 30 years later, but their legacy shall now live. That’s what guitar is all about.
Casey Welsch is a junior broadcasting major. You can reach him at caseywelsch@dailynebraskan.com.
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