Is Mike McCready an underrated guitarist

2-feign-reluctance

Solider Field 1995 - Porch. Look into it. It's longer than 8 seconds, so have a seat while you listen.

mfc2006

2-feign-reluctance wrote:

Solider Field 1995 - Porch. Look into it. It's longer than 8 seconds, so have a seat while you listen.

:thumbup:

stickfig13

Foriginal Sin wrote:

RiotZact wrote:

BinFrog wrote:

I think Mike is underrated by the general public because all they think of is his work in PJ. There's no mention of Mad Season, or even more obscure stuff like his Hendrix tribute shows or the Star Spangled Banner. He's deeply rooted in the blues and has great feel. I agree he tends to play too fast sometimes these days, but the man can really bare his soul like few others. Listen to certain versions of Black (L02L for example) or Immortality (3/5/98 or Hartford '08 come to mind)...and you "get" it.

I think he's underrated by the general public because they don't even know who he is, my dad and stepdad have been fans since 10 and have each seen PJ multiple time but they still don't even know who he is, so what does that say about the people who just hear PJ on the radio every couple days?

Yeah I agree. I love how the band talks about being like Pink Floyd in PJ20, how you don't know anyone. The problem is he might have made a name for himself if Eddie wasn't SOO BIG, soo fast. Mike, Stone, Jeff and Matt are unknowns to people outside this forum TO THIS DAY. Not saying nobody has heard of them, but nobody relates them to Pearl Jam. We all know who plays guitar for ACDC, GnR, Van Halen (obviously), etc. It makes sense, the general public, imo, didn't know who David Grohl was until he created the Foo.

I think it's because none of the guys in PJ are ego maniac D-bags. They don't care if you know who they are.

scratched vinyl

cydonia wrote:

I know it's probably been said before, but I still have the intense memory of mike playing the song deep at manchester arena on 21st june 2012 , the improvisation during the verse is just mind blowing and listen to it endlessly on the bootleg.There were many great guitarists from the 90's, Kim Thayil(soundgarden), Gary Lee Connor(screaming trees), Kurt Cobain and Jerry Cantrell(alice in chains), but never seem to get the kudos they deserve.I suppose being born in the era of mtv can take away some credability, but hendrix and clapton would have done the same. It's just good to see a guitarist play for the song and not the ego, echoes of comfortably numb can be heard in nothing as it seems and even flow just keeps evolving. I rank him as one of my favourite guitarists and that gig will always be fresh in my mind.

I think the guitarists who get the most props these days are the one who find a unique sound, which no offence to Mike, isn't really him.
Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, John Frusciante. Even Slash has a very unique tone. These guys all get more wide spread acclaim based on having such a unique voice on guitar, even though their fingers don't move as fast as Mike's. I personally think it comes down to originality. So I don't think he's under rated, he just doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before.
Again, I don't mean it as offensive, cause he's still a ridiculously good guitar player, just not overly original.

reedrothchild

DewieCox wrote:

Nope, and around here he's ridiculously overrated. He's a great player and I wouldn't want another lead guitarist in PJ, but he's one of the least unique guitar players in a major band that I can think of. When I check out top guitarist polls there's always tons of unique players, and while they could easily find a spot for him I don't think it's a big travesty when he's left off. And he's always getting props in the comments below said lists.

I find Stone to be underrated here and outside of the board. Great groove, great one of a kind sound and a very unique feel to his leads.

Ed's a solid guitar player, but most of the stuff he does is incredibly simple.

This is spot on. I dig Mike in PJ but he really just plays too fast these days. Also his tone is pretty terrible as well. I've never heard a guitar player from a big as big as PJ is with such a weak sounding tone. I will say mike from say 91-98 was pretty great though. Especially those old porch and even flow solos.

concertaholicshirt

Mike is an insanely great guitarist, and is tremendously underrated. To be clear, there are MANY who are 'better' than he, but I personally NEVER hear him mentioned outside PJ circles, and thus think him highly underrated.

That said, the person with significant fame who unquestionably, in my opinion, is by far the most underrated guitarist evah is someone who I didn't hear mentioned in this thread either, despite the several names thrown in: Prince

jge pearl jam and ten club

I totally agree with your post. Mike should be for sure in the top 20 of all players currently active ' best guitarists " polls..Maybe top 10.....Mike is in the top 10 of my poll!