has billy's guitar playing gotten worse?

[Ram27]

obviously his singing and writing and everything else has, but what about his playing?

i can't quite tell

what i have noticed is that the actual tone sounds fucking shitty now. listen to how nasally the main octave chord riff in cherub rock is:

(both videos cued up)



versus a more pleasant grunge

[slunken]

He uses digital amp simulators now.

[teh b0lly!!1]

is it an axe fx ultra or a kemper? or something else entirely?

[FoolofaTook]

Takeshi's tone was so rich and evil and powerful... madre de dios!

[FoolofaTook]

Oh shit I remember he played a wrong chord in farewell.

heh. just one stroke quickly recovered and switched to the right one but he def fucked up.

[Mals Marola]

he was fuckin' up in the 90s tho too. everyone does

i always felt that Bill's guitar playing was the one thing that actually improved from the 90s to now
i mean, he was a monster in the 90s but it was almost like it was out of his control, when he went into the Geek solo or something like that it was like it was coming from a higher power and he was possessed

now it actually kinda seems like he's in control of those chops and can sort of pull it out whenever he wants to (Zeitgeist is probably the best example of this, i thought the tone for at least his leads was still pretty great there) and even still go into that "possessed" sort of mode every now and again too

[Funbags]

Originally Posted by slunken

He uses digital amp simulators now.

Say what? I've only seen him use the "Salvation Mods from Czechoslovakia" rig in recent years

[wounded]

Originally Posted by Funbags

Say what? I've only seen him use the "Salvation Mods from Czechoslovakia" rig in recent years

I do remember some interview around oceania where he was talking about his gear and he said he had them simulated. - paid like 500k or something. Is that what we are talking about?

he also bitched about acoustic guitars and said he has never found an acoustic that does exactly what he wants it to do, but did say he liked taylors. Not entirely sure what he needs an acoustic to do.

[fuzzyroes]

Ram, the sad answer is a resounding yes.

I was listening to Zeitgeist wasted tonight, and the musicianship and songs are ripping. Anyone who says Ogilala is better is nuts.

I will say to any Z haters out there, that the album really excels when you're drunk... Yes, that sounds like an insult, but when you're just jamming to it and able to overlook the production flaws, some of it is vintage Corgan.

That's the way my love is is as good as anything from Adore and on... And it's the last good Pumpkins music video... When I was 21 I used to be high as hell on ecstasy with other trendy kids and I would put on that music video and everyone dug it and I recruited some Z fans... Good luck doing that with any of his new shit.

[fuzzyroes]

Actually, there is a number of throwaway songs on Z... But the songs that are good, are good... And those songs are:

That's The Way
Come On Lets Go
Tarantula
Pomp


And that's a better clump of songs than Corgan has released since Zwan... So suck it haters... It's time we give Corgan credit where credit is due

[Brisk]

Yeah those tones he had in pretty much the entire of the 90s were fucking awesome. Just sound so hollow and boring now wtf

[fuzzyroes]

My theory is that he really doesn't give a fuck anymore... Zeitgeist was his last passionate effort, and once music critics rejected that he just said "FUCK IT".... Music is something that he rationalizes as "juvenile" now... He just continues on because it brings him attention and Linda Strawberries

[wounded]

z was okay. When it was good it was really good, but when it was bad it was, man it was bad. Again. I think some of the songs stumbled due to production. It's nice here to see Bilbo giving over the reigns to someone else and I think it paid off a bit. I think the songwriting on Oceania was pretty descent actually. I never got into Monuments.

Z was 10 years ago at this point...so he was due.

[T&T]

guitar frequencies compete with voice frequencies. so to make room for the voice, he's been sacrificing the guitar.


As for chops, I think he has refined them but just doesn't care to execute. And the 'overwhelming' guitar solos he used to give - that performance element is totally gone.

[slunken]

no need to speculate

[slunken]

fuck you dude

commit

[FoolofaTook]

Takeshi's refined his tone into the purest evil (Memento Mori).

Wata is strong as fuck. She can play death metal (Czechoslovakia ).

[slunken]

did someone leave the window open again?

there are fucking flies everywhere

[Brisk]

I was more interested how someone with that much money could not buy something that fit his belly.