I ran out of time last night.
It's taking me ages to answers to Kev's adroitly crafted arguments.
:dr evil:
BTW, I would point out that Dime Bag Darrel was a little known guitar player in popular music, but he was ALL OVER guitar magazines because of technical talent.
Yep, he was. Although I wouldn't ever call Pantera a little known band or Dime a little known guitarist. As far as magazines and professional guitarist testimonies go, you've got the deck stacked well and truely in your favour. Few magazines and even fewer guitarists will ever say/write anything negative about a player who is at least competent. Nobody is going to say/write, "Page is good but he's technically not as good as these other 100 guitarists", even if it's true (which it is). Magazines and players don't necessarily disagree with me. They just don't print or say anything like the things I'm claiming. Partly because most people don't care.
And again, I point out that people out there PLAYING the music professionally are listing guys you call "average, objectively" as their professional idols.
So what? What's your argument here? That because professional musicians idolise a player, then that player must be of above average technical ability? As I said, obviously people select their idols based on how *they* feel about the music those idols create, how appealing *they* find that idol's originality, etc. rather than simply on technical ability. As long as someone is competent enough to write and play a song that is musical, they can be an idol to someone. People choose their idols subjectively, and so their choices are of no use in this debate. Also being a professional doesn't instantly grant you knowledge of all techniques and knowledge of all the guiatrists out there. So, even if a guitarist was idolised by a few professionals solely for (what they thought) was brilliant technical ability, it doesn't automatically make them exceptional.
Where is BB King in all this? Buddy Guy?
Or are we classifying them under "innovation, not objective skill" ?
Yes, I would. Their skills have been surpassed many times over. They deserve their place in history, as does Page, but by the current standards, their technical ability isn't all that impressive.
-Kev
