omar rodriguez

=/ i wasnt using that to make him sound cool. 

anyway, he confuses people, so i give him thumbs up on that

i love he's guitar style, he has own style to play it. especially live hes notes sometimes go little bit wrong and sometimes too much jamming but all that matters to me are the albums de loused and frances and they are really great !! 

It's strange. I too have asked guitarists (ranging from amateurs to professional) and while some of them do not necessarily like TMV, they all agree that he's a formidable guitarist.

Manunkind wrote: 70sSoundquality wrote: The Ryan wrote: Everytime I ask a local guitarist what they think of the Mars Volta's guitarwork they tend to say it's nothing special or it's disappointing. I wonder what this means in terms of the Mars Volta growing more of a fanbase (perhaps of actual musicians, not kids who listen to MTV), and also I'd like to hear someone try to recreate what Omar does - Never heard anyone. Im just on a negative trail today. I will be as neat and clean about this as possible. The reason why Omar's guitar playing bothers me is because he doesn't have technique. As mainly a guitar player and a keyboard player, I know what it means to be able to solo well and to ALWAYS have licks up my sleeve, licks that ABSOLUTELY fit, and to be able to have these licks at any given time- no matter what set of notes a bassist throws to me. I do not feel safe with omar, I do not feel that he could keep up with disciplined musicians so I agree with the "nothing special" opinion. See, this seems to be the problem - do you have to feel safe with a musician to consider his/her playing good? What I mean is, take John Petrucci - he's got his bag of combat-tested tricks and licks and you nearly always know where you stand with him. I love his playing, but this bag of his is quite limited, no doubt about it.  Now take Allan Holdsworth - many people don't get his music, it sounds unpredictable, but I'm pretty certain he has his own assortment of tricks, much wider than Petrucci's, and he can make use of those tricks in a much more creative way - hence the 'unpredictability'. I'm not implying that Omar is up there with Holdsworth, but I'm sure he's searching and trying to expand his arsenal. He isn't always finding, of course, but in the context of TMV's music, which seems to revolve around the concept of disintegration, even his mistakes and exaggerations sort of make sense, IMO.

Luckily I never said my opinion, as I have not yet made up my opinion. Professional/amateur musician's opinions will not set my mind one way or the other.

The Ryan wrote: Manunkind wrote: 70sSoundquality wrote: The Ryan wrote: Everytime I ask a local guitarist what they think of the Mars Volta's guitarwork they tend to say it's nothing special or it's disappointing. I wonder what this means in terms of the Mars Volta growing more of a fanbase (perhaps of actual musicians, not kids who listen to MTV), and also I'd like to hear someone try to recreate what Omar does - Never heard anyone. Im just on a negative trail today. I will be as neat and clean about this as possible. The reason why Omar's guitar playing bothers me is because he doesn't have technique. As mainly a guitar player and a keyboard player, I know what it means to be able to solo well and to ALWAYS have licks up my sleeve, licks that ABSOLUTELY fit, and to be able to have these licks at any given time- no matter what set of notes a bassist throws to me. I do not feel safe with omar, I do not feel that he could keep up with disciplined musicians so I agree with the "nothing special" opinion. See, this seems to be the problem - do you have to feel safe with a musician to consider his/her playing good? What I mean is, take John Petrucci - he's got his bag of combat-tested tricks and licks and you nearly always know where you stand with him. I love his playing, but this bag of his is quite limited, no doubt about it.  Now take Allan Holdsworth - many people don't get his music, it sounds unpredictable, but I'm pretty certain he has his own assortment of tricks, much wider than Petrucci's, and he can make use of those tricks in a much more creative way - hence the 'unpredictability'. I'm not implying that Omar is up there with Holdsworth, but I'm sure he's searching and trying to expand his arsenal. He isn't always finding, of course, but in the context of TMV's music, which seems to revolve around the concept of disintegration, even his mistakes and exaggerations sort of make sense, IMO.    Luckily I never said my opinion, as I have not yet made up my opinion. Professional/amateur musician's opinions will not set my mind one way or the other.

+1

Although I like to learn other people's opinions on music and art in general, especially the opinions of artists themselves. They rarely influence my enjoyment, but they provide different perspectives, something I'm interested in.

Petrucci can have all the techniques in the world but there's a thing he doesn't have: Feeling. And Omar has it all the time he plays at every concert.

 

Edited by Tholomyes

omar's guitar style i think combines the punk "just have fun" aspects with prog technical aspects of "how technical can i make this?"

its something new, and i enjoy it

Tholomyes wrote: Manunkind wrote: Tholomyes wrote: Petrucci can have all the techniques in the world but there's a thing he doesn't have: Feeling. And Omar has it all the time he plays at every concert.   Ah yes, there's that subjective term again, worn meaningless from overuse.  really subjective... but yes! ...but Omar still has that worn term in his veins.

This is a thread on Omar, so I'm just going to say this - try to play a Petrucci solo, even a fast one, while having your muscles stiff (a prerequisite for 'emotionless' playing, as far as I understand) and doing your best to focus on nailing the solo. Good luck. Then try to play the same solo relaxed and not thinking of anything in particular. You'll get closer, but this is still not going to be it. 

As for Omar - not to dis him (I love his playing), but is he doing something really new? On the whole, his approach seems quite similar to 60/70s' psychadelic bands. Even the accusations of the opponents are similar - 'meandering', 'random cr*p' etc..

70sSoundquality wrote: Im just on a negative trail today. I will be as neat and clean about this as possible. The reason why Omar's guitar playing bothers me is because he doesn't have technique. As mainly a guitar player and a keyboard player, I know what it means to be able to solo well and to ALWAYS have licks up my sleeve, licks that ABSOLUTELY fit, and to be able to have these licks at any given time- no matter what set of notes a bassist throws to me. I do not feel safe with omar, I do not feel that he could keep up with disciplined musicians so I agree with the "nothing special" opinion.

ok, after reading this, i have to post again. sigh...
i am 16 years old (not that it matters) and i have a pretty large group of
friends, some of them that don't hang out with the others, but we all are
friends because of mainly one subject; music.
we don't play in the school band or anything we play on our own merits
and our own terms. we jam alot. A LOT. it is seriously like going to my
friends house with my other friend, i grab my geetar, my friend grabs his,
another grabs the bass and the 4th grabs the drum sticks and literally,
the first riff played, or rythym, or whatever, starts us on our jam. we are
constantly learning from each other and playing off of each other. we
experiment with delay pedal on the recording (delaying the drums and
guitar) and with crazy effects all the time...highly influenced from omar.
now when someone says that they don't like omar, i can understand.
weird music to say the least. because he plays sloppy, well yeah i
suppose but that's his style, i suppose that could turn you off. but when
you say that you don't feel safe with him because he doesn't have a bag
of tricks ready to throw out cuz he's knows sounds good is just a
complete sheer example of closed mindeness and ignorance.
he likes to experiment, to grow. would you call john fruiscante an
undisciplined musician? would you call any of the mars volta
undisciplined musicians? they are all VERY accomplished muscicians. i
remember reading an interview with omar where he said their practice is
basically 5 or 6 hours of jamming sometimes. do you think he would be
content having a hundred licks and reusing them over and over again
because he knows they sound good? whats the point? sure he'll resuse
stuff because it fits, but wheres the PROGRESSION? sorry but your
reply bothered me a little because its a bit...non progressive. for me at
least. i view progressive...well i already said it in an earlier post in this
string. i could be totally wrong, this is just the vibe i was getting from
you, that you kind hang around the same thing...i could be wrong. let me
know if i am. but in the meantime, oooopppeeenn your mind. or don't
listen to me, either one works.

well since there ARE no other bands to put them in their place, or none that could, shouldnt we give them props for trying something new? i say yes. i dont know many other modern musicians who would even try to do the stuff that the mars volta does, not technically, but all around. other jam bands sure, but can jam bands make concept albums with a 20 page story behind it? doubtful.