Why Kurt Cobain!?

One of my all time heroes (and I devote 9 of his songs on stage) is Bon Scott.
Bon Scott is always at or near the top of the 'best vocalist/frontman ever' polls.
I'm afraid Bon Scott just stood on a stage singing and he hadn't exactly got a great voice BUT he influenced many many people and will never be forgotten.
By default he too is a great vocalist/frontman.
 
Am i alone in not seeing the whole appeal of buckethead and thinking he is vastly over rated? If he hadn't played for G 'n' R for a wee bit nobody would know or care about him, and even then i am pretty sure Axl said the guy was a bit of a div.

Kurt Cobain isn't one of my top 5 or even top 10 guitarists ever, but he sure as hell would be in my top 5 musicians of all time. The whole Nirvana thing was right in my era and nirvana where my favorite band at the time.

What makes a great guitarist? Is it the number of notes you can play per minute?
Defining, argueably, at least a decades worth of music with your sound?
Having great technical skills?
or just writing and playing great tunes on guitar?
 
Id say the best guitarist is defined as someone who can play very technically, and has the ability to play anything thrown their way.

I dont think a great guitarist is someone who can write good guitar songs, all that does is add to their appeal as a musician not a guitarist.

The main reason i dont like Kurt Cobain in these lists is because hes not exactly skilled at guitar, he can play songs, songs that people like.

I agree with nitefly, if he was just a guitarist would we remember him? no, i highly doubt it, hed just be that guitarist from Nirvana who shot himself.


I dont mind you guys not liking buckethead :p
The only thing is though a lot of people either seem him as the guy from Guns n Roses, or the guy who plays really weird music. However hes more of an experimenter, he plays all different kinds of music, some more technical than others. Some very melodic, some very random and some that sounds like plain old noise.
Thats the reason i believe he's the best, because he tries everything, he dosnt limit himself to one genre. He could play pretty much any song given to him.

Kurt Cobain didnt. He just played some grunge/rock then died and became even more famous.

This thread wasnt to complain that Buckethead wasnt in the top lists. Its not about buckethead at all(i just slipped the comment in the OP as a wee joke). It was to point out that people seem to be mistaking someone influential for someone who can actually play guitar very well.
 
Protoman said:
Id say the best guitarist is defined as someone who can play very technically, and has the ability to play anything thrown their way.

I dont think a great guitarist is someone who can write good guitar songs, all that does is add to their appeal as a musician not a guitarist.

The main reason i dont like Kurt Cobain in these lists is because hes not exactly skilled at guitar, he can play songs, songs that people like.
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But in that arguement i would personally say, The Edge should be in the top 5 guitarists of all time (least in my list) but i think he might struggle trying to play a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan's faster stuff.
And at the same time, i don't think Jimmy Page could play the stuff Tom Morello plays.
Look at BB King, i dare say not many people on here would say he wasn't a great guitarist, or one of the greats, but to quote him 'I'm horrible with Chords' so he wouldn't be able to play anything thrown at him, and would lose points on technical skills.

Personally i also think a guitarist who is one of the greats is a true artist, and as such writes their own material. Same way i don't think someone can be classed as one of the great painters if all they do is paint someone else work, you know?
 
It's always funny to me when people use the phrase "Best guitar player in the world". There are too many variables such as technique, uniqueness, emotional investment in the notes, etc. But If I had to pick one, it would be Tommy Emmanuel. Watching him perform can be a study in artistic and virtuosic human achievement.

- Steve Vai, Guitarist and Co-Owner of Favored Nations
 
Yeap i don't think there is a best guitarist in the world ever, only a 'most peoples favorite person who played guitar' ;)
 
Protoman said:
id say the definition of a great guitarist is someone who can play guitar to an extremely high level of efficiency and skill. e.g buckethead, slash, jimi hendrix, joe satriani, steve vai...etc

not someone whos cool and can play guitar to a listenable level.
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I completley 110% disagree with that statement my friend. People like Kurt Cobain/Nirvana (amongst others...the Beatles for instance) re-defined music and proved that you don't have to be technically amazing to write a life changing song. That's not to say the above players you mentioned aren't special - they are, its just that technical proficiency isn't the be all and end all.
On a personal note, music like Steve Vai's bores the living **** outta me. I'd much rather listen to an imaginatively crafted song with great hooks than listen to someone play 'technically well' for an hour. In a nutshell, fret-****ing and long solo's are BORING!!
 
It's hard to say who the best guitarist is, I know I've got my favourites but there are certainly far better players in terms of technical ability. But whatever way you look at it, Cobain shouldn't be in the top 50 (Mind you, neither should Buckethead. That's 4 minutes and 53 seconds of my life I'll never get back!). I'd rate higher players who were breaking new ground could play a variety of styles and were able to get across the 'feeling' of their songs in their playing. That's probably why my favourites have always been Jimmy Page and James Dean Bradfield. Oh and I don't think Cobain has been that influential a musician, certainly not in this country anyways. The only real Nirvana influenced band I can think of at the moment are Biffy Clyro and their guitarist/singer is far superior to Cobain.
 
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sist_si said:
I completley 110% disagree with that statement my friend. People like Kurt Cobain/Nirvana (amongst others...the Beatles for instance) re-defined music and proved that you don't have to be technically amazing to write a life changing song. That's not to say the above players you mentioned aren't special - they are, its just that technical proficiency isn't the be all and end all.
On a personal note, music like Steve Vai's bores the living **** outta me. I'd much rather listen to an imaginatively crafted song with great hooks than listen to someone play 'technically well' for an hour. In a nutshell, fret-****ing and long solo's are BORING!!
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Sometimes long solos can be great, listen to a live Zeppelin bootleg, it's not just an endless derivitive session of fret widdling!
 
penski said:
"standing above the crowd, he had a voice that was strong and loud, and I swallowed his facade 'cause I'm so eager to identify with someone above the crowd, someone who appeared to feel the same, someone prepared to lead the way in, someone who would die for me..."

*n
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never more appropriate.
 
As charismatic as Kurt Cobain appeared to be to then teenagers he was nothing more than an average immitator. Until Seattle boys invented grunge bandwagon for him to jump on he would perform complete rubbish and drivel (take Bleach as prime example). He wasn't neither technically good nor well leading guitarist and what's more important nothing in the manner he played defined sound of Nirvana - if the job of strumming was given to Dave Grohl he it would sound the same, maybe even better when you consider that as a drummer Grohl appears to be much better guitarist Cobain ever was. None of this makes Cobain less influential or charismatic frontman or composer, but as a guitarist he doesn't belong on any top list - neither as technical player, virtuoso, inventor or influential player. He didn't influence anyones technique - people player in detuned muted hack bars long before him and long after him, he wasn't even first to play badly sounding grunge in his area. If people picking instruments is counted as achievement in guitar playing, then I guess we should see Bob Dylan or even Elvis on top of "best guitarist" charts. The reason why we don't is because their fans realise guitar was merely means to achive expression in their case, wheras with Cobain the fans are just stuck - it could just as well be a haircut competition and he would be on the list too.
 
Baker said:
Shame he was an absolute moron though. Committing suicide is bad enough, leaving a wife and kid behind is another.

Songs such as 'I hate myself and I want to die' just sum it up really - a complete loser. The man who had almost everything and he hated it. We have him to thank for the emo **** we have now.

"They totally mess things up and then they sit back and look at what they messed up and then try to figure out how they can fix it, whereas we mess things up and just dwell on it and make it even worse." - Kurt Cobain on Guns n Roses; you really were an idiot weren't you Kurt? Thanks for 'inspiring' a generation to do absolutely **** all.
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I agreed with you up until the emo bit. Emo was around before Nirvana even existed.
 
dmpoole said:
For me a great guitarist is somebody who can make 1000's of kids pick up a guitar and want to play.
For this reason Kurt Cobain, Johnny Ramone (Ramones), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) etc all fit the bill.
None of these are remotely 'GREAT' guitarists but are certainly influential and by default get the monicker.
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Woody__ said:
I agreed with you up until the emo bit. Emo was around before Nirvana even existed.
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Firstly 'Emo' didnt really have a name before Nirvana, whilst I would agree they probably influenced the current Emo bands but unwittingly so. The difference with Nirvana was they actually felt what they were singing - there was no false 'emotion' a la Pearl Jam/Nickleback etc. I am sure Cobain would be turning in his grave at the thought of these awful 'emo' bands that followed.

v0n said:
As charismatic as Kurt Cobain appeared to be to then teenagers he was nothing more than an average immitator. Until Seattle boys invented grunge bandwagon for him to jump on he would perform complete rubbish and drivel (take Bleach as prime example).
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Drivel. You really think he just jumped on the band wagon? Do you know anything about Nirvana, they were totally against commerciality, an actual authentic band - something that is lacking in a lot of music nowadays. Imitator?? Everyone is an imitator of sorts, what he did is create heavy rock songs combined with Melody on top of raw passion. Ok, you couldnt say he was the best guitarist in the world but as a songwriter/performer he was well up there.

he didnt influence anyone? - what utter claptrap, he influenced a generation of people to pick up guitars. How can you rationally make that comment apart from merely disliking them.
 
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v0n said:
He didn't influence anyones technique -
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Perhaps not technique but like Buddy Holly, Hank Marvin, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, EVH and countless others before him, he made 1000's upon 1000's of young men pick guitars up.
Just for the record I'm not a Nirvana fan but respect is due.
 
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