October 27, 2004

Cliffs of Dover "Now here's one of the most incredible guitarists around, in any style of music. Mr. Eric Johnson."
posted by Jerry Garcia 20 years ago
  • He's an American from Texas, BTW. http://www.ericjohnson.com
  • Yes, the man who can tell what brand of battery is in his pedals from the tone! I think he is doing an acoustic tour right now.
  • That last commenter is only here for the chicks. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
  • Guitar Nerd
  • Oh, wow. I love Eric Johnson, but it's been years since I've checked in on him. The last album I had was Ah Via Musicom, and then he some how fell off my radar. Great stuff, thanks for the memory jog!
  • There are chicks here?
  • Well, while we're being guitar nerds: The Mahavishnu Orchestra Song Book Dance of the Maya is pretty easy, I haven't tried anything else. There are some pretty good John McLaughlin videos here and his site is pretty cool, I like his "Past" page alot.
  • *belongs to John McLaughlin email list*
  • Please stop watering down the EJ love. Just LOOK AT THAT VIBRATO!!! If you find (or make up, like I did, a) reason start a John McLachlin thread I promise I won't hijack it with Eric Johnson links, OK? For the fans and the curious here are six mp3s straight from EJ.com... Hard Times Get to Go! Boogie King Last House On The Block Black Hole Hawaiin Punch (Live) You can't go wrong via musicom...
  • McLaughlin never did get Hendrix lie this guy did. ;-)
  • I'm only here for the chicks.
  • While I like Eric Johnson and have nothing but respect for him, I never got the connection between him and Hendrix. I imaging that Eric has a lot of WWJD (what would Jimi do?) moments but that for the most part, while he's playing he's thinking "OK, next up it the change to G. I need to shift positions with my left hand, turn on my fuzz pedal, and get ready for that lick I've been practicing." I imagine that what was going through Jimi's mind while he was playing was more along the lines of "*!"#('&#$ butterfly #&%*&#! purple zebra #&*&#! #&*$*#% #$**!"#"#$ DRAGON!!! DRAGON!!! DRAGON!!! DRAGON!!!"
  • Well, it comes out in the live 'Red House', which is pretty much transcendent. But I wouldn't put too much weight on the comparison, EJ has his own style and wasn't influenced by Hendrix more than any number of guitarists.
  • Amen.
  • Sorry. [re-reads N00B post]
  • hey, thanks jerry garcia!!!111 Someone in my highschool played this song in a talent show a few years ago, except he was playing it a little faster.....and behind his head. yeah, it was amazing.
  • Jerry you da man, thanks for the thread! ))) Re: Hendrix - it has been postulated that the power / lyricism of Henrix was split between Stevie Ray Vaughn and EJ. Listen to "High Landrouns" from Ah Via and check out the leads - they all start with that screaming bend that Henrix patented. Jimi is all over EJ's stuff, it's everywhere from the strat to the fuzz. Guitar nerd? Yeah. Fucking burn-the-house-down nukeyular sonic redemption ecstasy? Yeah. Brilliant understanding of Tones? Yeah. Crowd full of guitar geeks with bored girlfriends by their side? Yeah. EJ rUl3X0rz!!!1!
  • I respect the technical prowess... but the music is pornographic, and his faux-neo-hendrix duds are laughable. He looks and sounds like he's rockin' out on the set of a Pert Plus shampoo commercial. If you're into performance, you could do a lot better. Why not just listen to some Paganini?
  • Why not just listen to some Paganini? But where are the blue notes?
  • Why not just listen to some Paganini? But where are the blue notes? I <3 Wolof. You want Paganini, you got him. I give you the fella who replaced Eric Johnson in G3 with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani: Yngwie Malmsteen!!!! And not much more that I can hear (though I admit it has been nearly 20 years since I've listened to Yngwie - maybe he has grown beyond hyperspeed scales and arpeggios. As for fashion, well, it don't matter much to me when it comes to music). Eric Johnson, on the other hand is (IMO) one of the most original players to pick up a Strat in the last 30 years. I'm the first to admit that his records are over produced and his pop-style songwriting is just that, but his musicianship is immense and his technique and tone (the latter being what I believe inspires EJ about Jimi) are unlike any I have ever heard. Yes, he plays fast, but speed doesn't preclude grace and invention. Have a listen to the solo from "Victory" from his first solo album, Tones (the song is his "tribute" to Hendrix). Short and sweet and intense. Gives me shivers every time. As a musician who's spent hundreds of hours looking at all sorts of scores and struggling through hundreds of guitar tabs I can tell you that reading EJs lead lines is refreshing and inspiring, and trying to play them is damn near impossible unless you have the kind of control and facility he has in spades. I'll see if I can, ah, find a link to Victory. Great tune, and when you get him out of the studio and on stage he is a force to be reckoned with. For a bit of the best and worst (and a bit of Hendrix) of EJ have a listen to Manhattan. Therein is the late 70s fusion bug and overproduction (thin sound, to my ear) he's never quite gotten over in the studio but some lovely Hendixisms too and great octave playing (I wish I could find "East Meets Wes" - Wes Montgomery is another hero of his). He is a jazzer and a rocker and that is rare and hard to make work. Like I say, just my opinion, but only players like Jerry Garcia, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck are better to my ear, and only when they had their shit together.
  • To FedoraUndershirt and Wolof, sorry to shit on John McLaughlin. I was drunk at the time (wouldn't have self-linked the Johnson otherwise), and actually a friend of mine has been turning me on to Mahavishnu (Birds of Fire and I'm diggin' it). So sorry for being ignorant and offensive. He's a great musician who I've just never really grasped, kinda like Zappa. As penance I request that you suggest some more John McG albums that I should find and I will do so pronto.
  • McL and I'm glad pete_best is an EJ fan too. :-) I'm done now, gotta go work on my FPP.
  • JMcL records -- ((a)= acoustic) (w/ Mahavishnu Orchestra) The Inner Mounting Flame Visions of the Emerald Beyond (w/ Shakti) Shakti (a) Handful of Beauty (a) Natural Elements (a) (under own name) Belo Horizonte (a) The Promise Johnny McLaughlin, Electric Guitarist
  • Suitably enough Electric Guitarist is the only one available at allofmp3. I'm downloading it now. Thanks!
  • Right away I'm at home. The envelope filter on "New York on My Mind" reminds me of Garcia on Shakedown Street and many great live shows. :-)
  • Too bad that's the worst one :) "Time Remembered:John McLaughlin plays the Music of Bill Evans" is just beautiful. "Electric Dreams" John McLaughlin and the One Truth Band is one of my all time favorites. Its heavily influenced by Zen and Taoism and actually one the that sounds the most like Zappa to me. But everyone has to start with the Mahavishnu Orchestra Records, I recomend starting with "Birds of Fire" its unbelievable. "Inner Mounting Flame" was the first and that's also really good. I think McLaughlin understood Hendrix pretty well, he says he reminded him of a modern Muddy Waters. I guess he wasn't really impressed with the Jazz aspect for obvious reasons (He got his start playing with Miles).