Into Guitar? Then Download This FREE New Album From Buckethead

mysterioustranger
reply to post by Fylgje

 

This guy can play anything. And there is a backyard video of him just sitting with friends and playing something for them. He goes from blues, to jazz to country, to metal, fingerpicking, tricks and scales, classical to traditional songs I can even comprehend all in a medley with a little amp outside and its absolutely amazing....and Ive been playing and teaching 40+ yrs.

If I find it again, Ill post the link. Shut your eyes and listen. I dare ya...

here it is

www.youtube.com...

he was like 18. he does the theme from halloween and star wars. running through other scales.
he can also play bass and banjo. he is a strings virtuoso.

i think people find his appearance off putting. also when guys play technical runs like that it is hard for a lot of people to enjoy because they do not know what they are listening to.

check this one out. he was doing a clinic at a guirar store.

www.youtube.com...

i can understand people not liking the sound but to say he is mediocre at best. i dont see how someone can honestly feel that way.
not liking the music is one thing but it can not be argued that he technique is superior to most and hit music theory knowledge is extensive

buckethead also jams with a lot of killer musicians.

jammed with les claypool in the group colonel claypools bucket of bernie brains.

also 'praxis' with serj tankian

jams with bootsie collins a lot. bootsie is one of the best bass players of all time.

he has done a lot of soundtracks too. he was on the ghosts of mars soundtrack. so was steve vai and scott ian. i saw a video of them in the studio recording it and of course the bucket has his mask and bucket on.

i think he is so cool. i would love to meet the dude and hang out with him.

he was not in guns and roses for very long. i dont think he was a good for for that band. he is too technical.

i heard the story of how he joined up. buckethead collects toys and somehow axl and bucket met. axl was talking about needing a guitarist for the band. i think this was at axl's house. axl had some toy that buckethead was coveting for a long time. i think it was a joke type offer but axl said he would give him the toy if he joined so he did.

i know he also auditioned for ozzy. ozzy told him to take the mask and bucket off so he came out with an alien mask. ozzy said he was too wierd even for him.

he is very eccentric but very, very talented. has released something like 70 cd's.
he hands out toys at his concerts. he is a huge fan of michael jackson. after mj died after one of buckets concerts he put on a different mask and came out and did some strange dance to thriller. its on youtube.

at one of his shows he had a toy phaser gun and he started doing trills with his left hand and was shooting the phaser gun at his pickups and it was resonating through his amps. that would have been cool to see.

edit*

here is the thriller dance
www.youtube.com...

He got his start by dropping off a cassette tape of his playing with an editor of Guitar Player magazine when he was a teen. His parents brought him to their office in San Francisco. He joined a band called The Deli Creeps, and lived with this editor in his home for a brief period during the time (chronicled in the Young Buckethead DVDs). He would up getting signed to Sony Japan after the Creeps as a solo performer. He has released over 65 albums, 28 this year!

Anyway, I hope some of you that don't know of him, and those that do, download the album. I'm glad to hear about all the other guitar players you enjoy, I know and appreciate every one of them.

reply to post by eggman90


i am definately a huge fan. i am not a fan of the deli creeps but i like most all of his other stuff.
he is definately a strange cat. a lot of people speculate that he has aspergers syndrome.

tons of videos out there claiming to have him unmasked.

this vid is low quality but i think this is him. this is supposed to be when he was about 18. all the info i got reguarding this vid adds up.
from the vids/pics i have seen i think this is him.
his posture and even his playing style from this vid along with his posture. assuming this is him you can see he is already super talented.

www.youtube.com...

i would love to meet this dude. his whole persona. love of all types of music, toys, martial arts, horror/sci fi/monster movies. just seems like an awesome guy. i hope he keeps pumping music out cause there are fans out there that want to hear it.

i am in northern ohio and there is a place called nelsons ledges. its a huge fairground type spot that puts on concerts and for some reason bucket plays there a lot. im not sure why. his website does not put up too much advance info about his touring. i will look all the time cause the ledges are not too far away and nothing will be posted. then a couple months go by and i hear that he was just there.
i think he kind of just shows up. he has played with a band called ecoustic hookah there quite a few times.
only thing about the ledges is it is a stoners paradise. huge crowds of the exact type of people i try to avoid. i have a difficult time around people and if they are all geeked out its even worse but i may have to make an exception to go see the bucket.

reply to post by CardiffGiant


Can't believe you found that there were a few of his performances with this band and for a while they were removed from youtube. I became friends with the editor I spoke of and learned lots of interesting things about Young Buckethead. A quirky and unique personality, his Secret Recipe DVDs are also fun to watch.

reply to post by eggman90


i freaked when i first saw it because i spent a lot of time digging into him. i found some early deli creeps vids and even those had the blurr over his face. of course i cant prove this is him but i think it is. there is a picture floating around from about the same time of him in the newspaper as a winner of a guitar competition. he has the same puffy/curly hair. put that with the playing style and lanky robert johnson type fingers and i just think its him.

when he plays with claypool is magical. they are two of the great improvisers on their instrument and when they get in the groove its like nothing i have ever heard

CardiffGiant
reply to post by eggman90

 

i freaked when i first saw it because i spent a lot of time digging into him. i found some early deli creeps vids and even those had the blurr over his face. of course i cant prove this is him but i think it is. there is a picture floating around from about the same time of him in the newspaper as a winner of a guitar competition. he has the same puffy/curly hair. put that with the playing style and lanky robert johnson type fingers and i just think its him.

when he plays with claypool is magical. they are two of the great improvisers on their instrument and when they get in the groove its like nothing i have ever heard

Yes, it's him. And the newspaper article pic with the extended pinky length (lol) that's him too, the Guitar Player editor took the pic (he told this to me personally).

hey eggman. pike 34 was released today. im going to look for it now. if i find it i will link it here. i dont know if its going to be a free download but i will get it reguardless.

you reignited my buckethead kick. im listening to his ODB tribute now. ha

reply to post by CardiffGiant

im thinking buckethead can play anything by page or hendrix but not the other way around.
im sure of that.

Musicianship is not the ability to play a series of notes.

Buckethead is certainly able to play with great fluency, facility and speed, but his music — to my ears at least — is bland and devoid of expression. A bit like that mask he wears, really.

Astyanax
reply to post by CardiffGiant

 

im thinking buckethead can play anything by page or hendrix but not the other way around.
im sure of that.

Musicianship is not the ability to play a series of notes.

Buckethead is certainly able to play with great fluency, facility and speed, but his music — to my ears at least — is bland and devoid of expression. A bit like that mask he wears, really.

i know what musicianship is.
my point is he is a technician. a virtuoso.
i dont know if it was you but someone said he is mediocre at best. thats incorrect and that is the point i was trying to make.
just because it is not good to your ears does not mean its mediocre.

the virtuosity is very much there.
also, he does more than just play a series of notes.
there is a lot of technique and theory there in his music

reply to post by CardiffGiant

The only comments I made about Buckethead are the ones you quoted.

he does more than just play a series of notes.
there is a lot of technique and theory there in his music

Theory and technique are not musicianship either. That's precisely the problem with people like Buckethead.

Sort of the opposite of the Kenny G problem, I guess.

Astyanax
reply to post by CardiffGiant

 

The only comments I made about Buckethead are the ones you quoted.

he does more than just play a series of notes.
there is a lot of technique and theory there in his music

Theory and technique are not musicianship either. That's precisely the problem with people like Buckethead.

Sort of the opposite of the Kenny G problem, I guess.

edit on 27/11/13 by Astyanax because: of an unqouted

dictionary.reference.com...

noun
knowledge, skill, and artistic sensitivity in performing music

^^^^^
he may not have the most sensitivity by definition but his knowledge and skill are second to none.

whats your definition?
someone like hendrix or page may have more 'sensitivity when it comes to their expression but what about their skills? technique? talent? theory?
see what i mean

i am not trying to turn you into a fan. not by any means.
im sorry if i thought it was you that said he was mediocre. i just think his skill should be recognized.

if you think friggin billy joe from green day is the best, then he is. thats how it works.
if so and so makes the best music to your ears then they are the best.


if theory and technique are not musicianship then how do you define it?
does the guitarist from the ramones have the best musicianship even though he knows a total of 3 chords, 2 power chords and a small chunk of a pentatonic scale.
how does it work for you?

i am seriously interested. not to debate. just to know how other think about it

reply to post by CardiffGiant

It doesnt matter to me if Im into Rock, Standards, Metal, Alternative, Sinatra, or Django Reinhart....because I can appreciate talent. Wherever its found....
(and I like everything...due to being a multi-string-instrumentalist....AND keyboardist since 1963)

Gotta give credit to Buckethead...whether you like his image or not.

mysterioustranger
reply to post by CardiffGiant

 

It doesnt matter to me if Im into Rock, Standards, Metal, Alternative, Sinatra, or Django Reinhart....because I can appreciate talent. Wherever its found....
(and I like everything...due to being a multi-string-instrumentalist....AND keyboardist since 1963)

Gotta give credit to Buckethead...whether you like his image or not.

you said it. i like everything too. i just think buckethead(and guys like him) deserve credit.

i love all kinds of music. im into keyboards too. do you like tony macalpine? he is a keyboardist and strings virtuoso.
i can appreciate all music. i just think with guys like bucket, lane, gilbert, becker, etc, people do not give them their proper credit because a lot of their playing is super fast. i also think a lot of people dont understand what is being played. they think it is just random notes that dont mean anything. that is not the case.

sure, when you see them warming up or vids of the 'fastest' playing they are just running through scales at a crazy pace. in the songs though, they are still blazing through the scale but they are switching modes, dropping octaves. they are sweep picking. this is all technique and theory.
bucket calls it octave displacement.

can most people realize what gilbert is doing? can they hear the picking involved? the lack of legato runs...

i am not saying you have to be a music theorist to understand or enjoy what is being played with these guys. its just that a lot of people think it is fast and thats it.
i hear guys.."he plays fast. so what."
it is so much more than that.

from the holdsworth article

His phrasing almost always features striking yet subtle transitions between notes that often work contrary to the listener's expectations of consonance and dissonance, with wide and unpredictable intervallic leaps.

Another of his most identifiable traits is the use of rich, fingerpicked chords (often awash with delay, chorus and other complex effects), which are articulated and sustained using volume swells to create sounds reminiscent of the horn and saxophone

^^that is more than playing fast.
however, the 'average' listener does not like it.

does that mean holdsworth is 'better' than hendrix or page? absolutely not
does that mean holdsworth has more skill and technique? of course yes
in the end, it does not matter.
if something sounds good to you then it is awesome. its really as simple as that

who am i to tell you that what you listen to sucks? im nobody and if i said something like that i would be wrong.
i might not like it. it might not sound good to me. so what?

skill is skill.
also, a lot of these 'shredder' or virtuoso type players are multi instrumentalists.
on their own they compose, arrange, and play all of the music. a lot of others do not

reply to post by CardiffGiant

whats your definition? ...i am seriously interested. not to debate. just to know how others think about it

So am I. And I have been some kind of musician for a very long time.

I see you are a musician too. So first... a word about theory.

Both standard minor scales contain a major seventh interval, so to say 'minor major seventh' is redundant. I would think of the scale you're talking about (if I thought of it at all) as a C major scale with one note moved a half-tone to fit it into the key of F minor. The notes are F, G, G#, B, C, D, E — the notes of the C major scale with a dropped sixth played over an F minor chord. How hard can that be to play? You just move one finger. It sounds complicated when you talk about it, I'll grant you that.

If you make your music out of scales you're probably barking up the wrong tree. That doesn't mean you shouldn't know the scales, and theory certainly helps you play in tune. But unless you're a composer, that's about the only use it is, seriously. Theory helps you play fewer bum notes.

an ability to recognize such complex scales in chord form with voicings up and down the neck, with each note being a member of a "family".

Nah, you don't have to know the names of any notes or scales or chords to do that. You just need an ear, and a fairly well-developed sense of melody.

You taste the music. Jimmy Page used to drool on stage. Though maybe there were other reasons for that, too.

someone like hendrix or page may have more 'sensitivity when it comes to their expression but what about their skills? technique? talent? theory? see what i mean?

No, actually. Sensitivity, and the ability to express it, are what musicianship is all about. The rest is just the stuff that surrounds it. It expands your vocabulary, but it doesn't give you anything more to say. That part you've got to supply yourself.

i am not trying to turn you into a fan. not by any means.

No chance. I can't go for that, as Hall (or was it Oates?) might have said.

i just think his skill should be recognized.

Well, he has his admirers. Though the live performances I just watched on YouTube to educate myself in the mysteries of Mr Buckethead did seem to be somewhat sparsely — though enthusiastically — attended.

What is music? I don't know. I know it when I hear it. I'm sure you can, too. I'm grateful to those who created the system — many systems, actually — of analysing and defining it. You can break it down all sorts of ways. Musical notation. Psychoacoustic components: melody, harmony, rhythm and tempo, timbre or tone colour. Being a guitar player with a weakness for wah and modulation effects in general (and an ex-physics student) I would definitely add 'phase' to this, since it's now such an important variable and we have become so conscious of it. I notice Buckethead uses a lot of modulation effects, including a touch wah that he switches on and off from the toggle just next to the tailpiece on that very heavily wired and preamp-ed axe of his.

I don't use them like he does. As I told someone once, the trick with wah is to learn to disconnect your pedal foot from your right hand — and from the drummer. Though connecting them can also give you a great buzz, like it gave Hendrix on the solo in 'All Along the Watchtower'. They didn't have sequencers and click tracks then to make it all seem a bit too easy.

if you think friggin billy joe from green day is the best, then he is. thats how it works.

Man, I don't think anyone is the best, or the worst (except me — and it can go either way, depending on the notes I just played). There are a lot of great guitar players I admire.

if theory and technique are not musicianship then how do you define it?

Brian Eno, producing the Talking Heads, once got so excited listening to a track they were making he unzipped his fly, stuck a banana into into it and went on conducting the band, crying 'This is giving me the horn. This is giving me the horn!' For my present purpose, I can't think of a better definition than that.

does the guitarist from the ramones have the best musicianship even though he knows a total of 3 chords, 2 power chords and a small chunk of a pentatonic scale.

Full barres, not power chords. And all downstrokes, man. Johnny only picked south.

Back in the day some idiot asked me for Joey Ramone's autograph.

Though I think I look more like Paul Reed Smith...

reply to post by CardiffGiant

I think the way I was raised...an aunt was a professional jazz singer in the 40's-50's for NBC radio...I had a love for anything musical.

I think in all my years, successes and travels...Ive just come to accept ANYTHING musical....good , great or terrible...as what it is...music.

And, I dont have to like it to accept it. And Ive said before in referrence to "shredders"...Clapton or Robert Johnson...even B.B. King...can say more with 3 notes than with 30.

mysterioustranger
reply to post by CardiffGiant

 

I think the way I was raised...an aunt was a professional jazz singer in the 40's-50's for NBC radio...I had a love for anything musical.

I think in all my years, successes and travels...Ive just come to accept ANYTHING musical....good , great or terrible...as what it is...music.

And, I dont have to like it to accept it. And Ive said before in referrence to "shredders"...Clapton or Robert Johnson...even B.B. King...can say more with 3 notes than with 30.

there is nothing to accept. your reference to shredders an opinion. the fact is 'most' of the time, those types of players have more knowledge of their instrument. they have more technique. that is the fact.
the opinion comes in about how they apply it and the emotion that goes into it.
as i have said, there is nobody else that can play like robert johnson.

Astyanax
reply to post by CardiffGiant

 

whats your definition? ...i am seriously interested. not to debate. just to know how others think about it

So am I. And I have been some kind of musician for a very long time.

I see you are a musician too. So first... a word about theory.

Both standard minor scales contain a major seventh interval, so to say 'minor major seventh' is redundant. I would think of the scale you're talking about (if I thought of it at all) as a C major scale with one note moved a half-tone to fit it into the key of F minor. The notes are F, G, G#, B, C, D, E — the notes of the C major scale with a dropped sixth played over an F minor chord. How hard can that be to play? You just move one finger. It sounds complicated when you talk about it, I'll grant you that.

If you make your music out of scales you're probably barking up the wrong tree. That doesn't mean you shouldn't know the scales, and theory certainly helps you play in tune. But unless you're a composer, that's about the only use it is, seriously. Theory helps you play fewer bum notes.

an ability to recognize such complex scales in chord form with voicings up and down the neck, with each note being a member of a "family".

Nah, you don't have to know the names of any notes or scales or chords to do that. You just need an ear, and a fairly well-developed sense of melody.

You taste the music. Jimmy Page used to drool on stage. Though maybe there were other reasons for that, too.

someone like hendrix or page may have more 'sensitivity when it comes to their expression but what about their skills? technique? talent? theory? see what i mean?

No, actually. Sensitivity, and the ability to express it, are what musicianship is all about. The rest is just the stuff that surrounds it. It expands your vocabulary, but it doesn't give you anything more to say. That part you've got to supply yourself.

i am not trying to turn you into a fan. not by any means.

No chance. I can't go for that, as Hall (or was it Oates?) might have said.

i just think his skill should be recognized.

Well, he has his admirers. Though the live performances I just watched on YouTube to educate myself in the mysteries of Mr Buckethead did seem to be somewhat sparsely — though enthusiastically — attended.

What is music? I don't know. I know it when I hear it. I'm sure you can, too. I'm grateful to those who created the system — many systems, actually — of analysing and defining it. You can break it down all sorts of ways. Musical notation. Psychoacoustic components: melody, harmony, rhythm and tempo, timbre or tone colour. Being a guitar player with a weakness for wah and modulation effects in general (and an ex-physics student) I would definitely add 'phase' to this, since it's now such an important variable and we have become so conscious of it. I notice Buckethead uses a lot of modulation effects, including a touch wah that he switches on and off from the toggle just next to the tailpiece on that very heavily wired and preamp-ed axe of his.

I don't use them like he does. As I told someone once, the trick with wah is to learn to disconnect your pedal foot from your right hand — and from the drummer. Though connecting them can also give you a great buzz, like it gave Hendrix on the solo in 'All Along the Watchtower'. They didn't have sequencers and click tracks then to make it all seem a bit too easy.

if you think friggin billy joe from green day is the best, then he is. thats how it works.

Man, I don't think anyone is the best, or the worst (except me — and it can go either way, depending on the notes I just played). There are a lot of great guitar players I admire.

if theory and technique are not musicianship then how do you define it?

Brian Eno, producing the Talking Heads, once got so excited listening to a track they were making he unzipped his fly, stuck a banana into into it and went on conducting the band, crying 'This is giving me the horn. This is giving me the horn!' For my present purpose, I can't think of a better definition than that.

does the guitarist from the ramones have the best musicianship even though he knows a total of 3 chords, 2 power chords and a small chunk of a pentatonic scale.

Full barres, not power chords. And all downstrokes, man. Johnny only picked south.

Back in the day some idiot asked me for Joey Ramone's autograph.

Though I think I look more like Paul Reed Smith...

scales are the base of the songs. the more you know about them the more of a base you have to start with. people like frank zappa, buckethead, etc are composers.
i would call the jack whites song writers. when frank zappa writes/composes its a guitar piece and also parts for 12 other instruments. thats a composition.
i only used ramone as a generic example. a lot of players that play like him make a career out of power chords and a couple of standard chords.
only down strokes? i didnt know that. i would call that a lack of skill or technique.
you have players that pick up/down, alt, sweep, skip, etc.
those are all techniques that take time to master.

hey astyanax.
my wife and i are sitting here listening to the ramones right now. she is a big fan.
anyway, i just read the wiki article on them and on johnny.
time and rolling stone put him pretty high up on their list of greatest guitarists of all time. i generally dont like to put musicians on a list because so much of it is subjective. in your opinion, why do you think he was reguarded as such a good guitarist?
i mean obviously he was good at the 90 second rythem and down stroke deal but what else?

in your opinion how does someone with such a limited repertoir of techniques/chords get such recognition?

reply to post by CardiffGiant

Your opinion well taken. Another example of a "showy" shredder with amazing dexterity is Michael Anglo Batio.

He plays two guitars (both on one guitar with one neck to the right, another neck to the left) in harmony left and right at the same time, double harmony leads. He then switches them right to left and vice versa..only upside down....and does the same thing. Lots of amazing stuff.

I mention him because he's an incredible speedy schredder with one fretboard...but can do it in two directions with two hands playing 2 different parts in harmony...at the same time, flip them around...and do it that way as well.

Like him or not, with technical proficiency, dexterity, and ambidextrous accuracy...thats talent.