Could The Edge be one of the 5 greatest guitarists of all time?

[LemonMacPhisto]

Originally Posted by last unicorn Edge has created atmosphere and emotions with his sounds that no one had done before and a lot of other musicians are copying him. Technically he might not be among the best, but he certainly is a pioneer and a genius in his way and I'd place him higher on that list.

Tom Verlaine and Roger Gilmour may beg to differ.

[PopFly]

Considering that list doesn't have Malkmus, Prince, the Pearl Jam guys or Slash, (not to mention some of the baffling placements), I wouldn't put a ton of stock in it.

[Bottle Bono]

The thing is each individual artist suits the music they are playing because that is the person performing the music. You don’t hear the The Edge try and play Queen Music and you don’t hear Brian May try and play U2 music. If you did then you might be able to make a comparison. But they are only known by their own original sounds.

[hasin73]

Originally Posted by Screwtape2 In my opinion, no. Edge is not in the same league as these guys. Best Guitarists: 1. Todd Rundgren 2. Steve Hackett 3. David Gilmour 4. John McLaughlin 5. Pete Townsend

You missed my point. If EDGE can play Street Mission solo in 1978 before U2
even started officially, then if he wanted IMO he could be above the league
of those guiterists you mentioned.

But EDGE mentioned in an interview he would play same note over and over if it makes the song beautiful or serve the song best.

Anyway based on what solos EDGE have done until now, i want to know everyone's opinion about his quality.

[The John Tree]

As a guitarist, I would definitely put The Edge in my top 5 guitarists list, based on pure creativity alone. The Edge, much like Townsend (who I don't rank in the top 5, btw), is the ultimate song serving guitarist.

Whenever someone asks me for an example of how good The Edge is, I point them to With Or Without You. Not the Infinite Guitar during the verses, but the simple, echoing, shimmering chords he plays after Bono's last falsetto to close out the song. So simple, yet so perfect for the mood of the song. He could have broken out into a huge, overblown solo at that point, like most guitarists would have, but that would have meant turning it into a cheesy overblown power ballad. Instead, the Edge kept it minimal and classy, true to the song.

He's not only come up with a style of playing that is undoubtedly his own, but he's been copied by so many (listen to any of these new "alternative" bands with Bonoesque singers and guitarists with high, shimmering notes).

He's also taken the guitar, and his band, into new sonic territory. The dirty guitar before the third verse of Discotheque sounds like it came from a different planet. The high, screeching wail during Mofo sounds like a powerdrill letting off a nuclear bomb.

No one touches The Edge when it comes to atmosphere on the guitar. See: "Love Is Blindness". See: Guitar solo of "If You Wear That Velvet Dress".

Is he the best technical guitarist? No. He can't play a million miles a minute. But most guitarists who can don't make music worth listening to. With Edge, you can honestly say that every note counts, and that's so important and influential to me as a musician.

Definitely top 5 in my eyes.



(P.S. Tom Morello owes his life to The Edge.)

[hasin73]

Originally Posted by The John Tree As a guitarist, I would definitely put The Edge in my top 5 guitarists list, based on pure creativity alone. The Edge, much like Townsend (who I don't rank in the top 5, btw), is the ultimate song serving guitarist. Whenever someone asks me for an example of how good The Edge is, I point them to With Or Without You. Not the Infinite Guitar during the verses, but the simple, echoing, shimmering chords he plays after Bono's last falsetto to close out the song. So simple, yet so perfect for the mood of the song. He could have broken out into a huge, overblown solo at that point, like most guitarists would have, but that would have meant turning it into a cheesy overblown power ballad. Instead, the Edge kept it minimal and classy, true to the song. He's not only come up with a style of playing that is undoubtedly his own, but he's been copied by so many (listen to any of these new "alternative" bands with Bonoesque singers and guitarists with high, shimmering notes). He's also taken the guitar, and his band, into new sonic territory. The dirty guitar before the third verse of Discotheque sounds like it came from a different planet. The high, screeching wail during Mofo sounds like a powerdrill letting off a nuclear bomb. No one touches The Edge when it comes to atmosphere on the guitar. See: "Love Is Blindness". See: Guitar solo of "If You Wear That Velvet Dress". Is he the best technical guitarist? No. He can't play a million miles a minute. But most guitarists who can don't make music worth listening to. With Edge, you can honestly say that every note counts, and that's so important and influential to me as a musician. Definitely top 5 in my eyes. (P.S. Tom Morello owes his life to The Edge.)

Exactly.
I forgot to mention LOVE is BLINDNESS live solo. S-O-O-O beautiful.

[Bottle Bono]

Yes lets have more U2 songs like "If You Wear That Velvet Dress". It is a gem. Next time get Bono to sing the lyrics rather than mumbling them.

[GibsonGirl]

Originally Posted by The John Tree Whenever someone asks me for an example of how good The Edge is, I point them to With Or Without You. Not the Infinite Guitar during the verses, but the simple, echoing, shimmering chords he plays after Bono's last falsetto to close out the song. So simple, yet so perfect for the mood of the song. He could have broken out into a huge, overblown solo at that point, like most guitarists would have, but that would have meant turning it into a cheesy overblown power ballad. Instead, the Edge kept it minimal and classy, true to the song.

I see someone has been watching Classic Albums!

Originally Posted by The John Tree He's not only come up with a style of playing that is undoubtedly his own, but he's been copied by so many (listen to any of these new "alternative" bands with Bonoesque singers and guitarists with high, shimmering notes).

Edge did what musicians have been doing for a long time now - that is, he mashed bits of other guitarists' styles together to form something slightly different. You can hear bits of him in Tom Verlaine (of Television) and Bernard Sumner (of Joy Division) - particularly that high, minimalist, arpeggioed style of playing that he has used throughout his career. You can also hear bits of Edge in David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd) - namely in the atmospheric, technical delay setups. You might think, ah! Edge was the first guitarist to combine delay with atmospheric minimalism! But alas, his contemporaries (Will Sergeant of Echo & The Bunnymen and Alan Gill of The Teardrop Explodes, for instance) were also churning out similar sounds and styles of playing in the early 80s. Sergeant continues to play with that early style, much like Edge does, and is sometimes rather bizarrely accused of ripping Mr. Evans off...even though Echo & The Bunnymen's debut came out several months before Boy did.

The reason why so many people think that The Edge basically reinvented the guitar is simple - U2 are a quite bit more popular than many other bands are, including their contemporaries and their precursors. Most people don't know who Tom Verlaine is. Most people don't know who Bernard Sumner is. Some do though. And when they are inspired by these guys (say, for instance, Interpol - big Joy Division fans) people wrongfully insist that they must have been inspired by U2 and The Edge!

Don't get me wrong, Edge is a brilliant guitarist and he has written some mind-blowing stuff. I personally think he has every right to be on a top 100 list. However, it just frustrates me to no end when I see people insinuating that Edge is completely 100% original, that he was the pioneer of his sound, and that any guitarist using delay and/or high, shimmering notes has automatically been inspired by him.

Originally Posted by The John Tree No one touches The Edge when it comes to atmosphere on the guitar. See: "Love Is Blindness". See: Guitar solo of "If You Wear That Velvet Dress".

This is very subjective, of course, but...

See: "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"

YouTube - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (part one) by David Gilmour

See: "Marooned"

YouTube - Marooned-Pink Floyd.

See: "Sorrow"

YouTube - Pink Floyd "Pulse" Tour - Sorrow

See: "Is There Anybody Out There?"

YouTube - Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There? (Live)

(By the way, the high-pitched squealing before the acoustic guitar comes in - which is not unlike the sound Edge gets with his Whammy pedal - was something that Gilmour discovered by accident loooong before Digitech designed the Whammy...he set up his wah pedal backwards, and that sound came out.)

[GibsonGirl]

Originally Posted by Salome Frank Zappa should be in the top 1 even

Truth.

Zappa was fucking amazing.

[Screwtape2]

Originally Posted by hasin73 You missed my point. If EDGE can play Street Mission solo in 1978 before U2 even started officially, then if he wanted IMO he could be above the league of those guiterists you mentioned. But EDGE mentioned in an interview he would play same note over and over if it makes the song beautiful or serve the song best. Anyway based on what solos EDGE have done until now, i want to know everyone's opinion about his quality.

Todd Rundgren, Steve Hackett and David Gilmour's solo's serve the song and are gorgeous. John McLaughlin songs are essentially just a long solo. These guys serve the song with their solo's while Edge's while great don't always feel like the natural progression of the song. Do yourself a favor and listen to Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire and Inner Mounting Flame. Listen to Selling England By The Pound. Listen to Dark Side of The Moon and Animals. Then listen to Todd Rundgren's Treatise On Cosmic Fire of Iniation and these songs by Utopia: Utopia Theme, Communion With The Sun, Singring and Hiroshima. You hear what it really means for a guitar to sing. None of Edge's solo's can compare to that.

[Screwtape2]

Originally Posted by last unicorn Edge has created atmosphere and emotions with his sounds that no one had done before and a lot of other musicians are copying him.

I think a couple guys would disagree with you:

Steve Howe for instance with one of the most atmospheric peices ever written:
YouTube - Yes - Soon (Live 1.975)

Steve Hackett with a peice of cinematic music:
YouTube - Steve Hackett-Fly on a Windshield

Steve Hackett again with perhaps the most beautiful guitar solo ever:
YouTube - Steve Hackett - Firth of Fifth Solo (Budapest 2004)

Todd Rundgren with this rock masterpeice:
YouTube - TODD RUNDGREN UTOPIA COMMUNION WITH THE SUN DEMO

David Gilmour and his friend Eugene:
YouTube - Pink Floyd - Careful With That Axe Eugene

[The John Tree]

I think you can name anyone's influences and predecessors and make them seem unoriginal. Obviously, there were other pioneers of guitar sound, but I feel like the Edge deserves a place among any of them.

Though, I do have to admit, and this will most likely make you completely disregard any opinion I have, but I've never been a huge Pink Floyd fan. I like some of their stuff okay, but as a whole, I never really got into the band. Not my style.

And sure, other artists may have used those high shimmering notes and Whammies and whatnot, but in my humble opinion, they didn't use them to create songs on the level that The Edge did.

Of course, the reason I'm here is because U2 is my favorite band, so obviously I'm going to feel this way.

[lorenzo]

know who really is missing on this list?

1. Stuart Adamson - Big Country, The Skids
2. Nils Lofgren
3. Mike McCready - Pearl Jam

Without these 3 guys such a list is of no worth

[COBL_04]

Originally Posted by LemonMelon My top 10 all-time: 7. Mick Ronson

Good to see some Gilmour love as well. I like him better than I like Roger

[U2girl]

Brian May, anyone ?