Michael David McCready is the Jesus Christ of guitar playing

metsfan wrote:

if you don't like his "boring" solos then stay home and relive the 90's where he had solo's that were sloppy and going nowhere

mike comes from the hendrix and srv backround which is all bout improvising on the guitar


if all your doing is trolling or looking for a fight then please log off and go elsewhere cause that's all it looks like your doing here

It seems like several people in this thread agree with the "trolling", so to me it just seems like a discussion and not one person's negative opinion. I agree that the solos are not as terrific as they used to be. I've thought this for years. I still enjoy the concerts, and still enjoy Mike's playing. I don't mind that Mike improvises every solo, but we can't compare Mike's abilities to Hendrix or SRV.

Pearl Jam has tons of songs without guitar jams, and more and more of them in the recent albums. (Insert - would Led Zeppelin or Van Halen keep their legends of guitar on the bench for 90% of the albums?) People don't need to stop going to shows because they get bored during four songs out of the 30 (Even Flow, Alive, Porch, and Rearviewmirror). RVM is not really a Mike solo, but is easily considered noodling after 1 minute.

As a side note, I don't think we've heard all that Mike can do, I think the band's music as a whole somewhat limits his playing style. For example, Mike's solo in Ain't Talking Bout Love included a lot of Metal soloing and finger tapping. I would like to hear more of that, but PJ's songs don't call for it.

Also, you might not find as much "trolling" if people on this board stop saying Mike is the "Jesus Christ" of guitar playing, or the "Jimi Hendrix of this century", or that Mike is better than Hendrix, Page, Van Halen, SRV, etc....

metsfan wrote:

bootlegger10 wrote:

It seems like several people in this thread agree with the "trolling", so to me it just seems like a discussion and not one person's negative opinion. I agree that the solos are not as terrific as they used to be. I've thought this for years. I still enjoy the concerts, and still enjoy Mike's playing. I don't mind that Mike improvises every solo, but we can't compare Mike's abilities to Hendrix or SRV.

As a side note, I don't think we've heard all that Mike can do, I think the band's music as a whole somewhat limits his playing style. For example, Mike's solo in Ain't Talking Bout Love included a lot of Metal soloing and finger tapping. I would like to here more of that, but PJ's songs don't call for it.

mike's abilities are nowhere near hendrix or srv, that wasn't my point. my point was you can hear alot of hendrix, srv and ace from kiss in his solo's. his ssb is hendrix note for note but that still doesn't take away from mike's ability to pull it off and not sound like a hack guitarist. mikes best years were 94-98, that's just my personal feelings. his evenflow, alive and black solo sound like shit cause he knows his craft with pearl jam and what pearl jam fans want. his cover of voodoo child in a previous post of mine shits on anything his ever done with pj and i can honestly say that.

i would love to hear more of mike's metal work and wish he would make shadow 86 more of a side project instead of a one off thing or create his own metal band side project. he does awesome on black diamond and ain't talking bout love. i saw black diamond live at msg 2 08 and right after it the band did alive and i was more blown away by him and ace trading solo's.

With you 100%.

Eilian wrote:

metsfan wrote:

if you don't like his "boring" solos then stay home and relive the 90's where he had solo's that were sloppy and going nowhere

mike comes from the hendrix and srv backround which is all bout improvising on the guitar


if all your doing is trolling or looking for a fight then please log off and go elsewhere cause that's all it looks like your doing here

This is a forum. I have expressed an opinion. This is what a forum is for.

Pay particluar attention to how my opinion actually illicited an empathetic response from someone else with a similar opinion. You should note also, that everyone else who disagrees with me has made a joke of it,...Yours is the first confrontational post in this thread.

If this is a typical reaction to a diplomatically expressed opinion that differs from yours, then please log off and go elsewhere.

well sorry for being confrontational. it's how i am and will always be. if you don't like it then ignore me and don't respond back to me simple as that.

i didn't make a joke of it cause i respect your different way of thinking and cause i'm not some fanboy that think's pearl jam is the greatest band ever.

when you just blurt things without specific solos or certain songs people will get down your throat very fast and "attack" you. have certain songs to back up you claim and maybe people will accept your different way of thinking. maybe like show a black solo from the early days and one from 2010 and explain why you think all he does is "noodle" these days.

Eilian wrote:

SolarWorld wrote:

Eilian wrote:

Truth be told i don't think he's as capable of improvisation as most people here do...and don't understand why he insists on trying.

You have not seen a Flight to Mars show, obviously.

You really don't have much evidence to back this up with other than your poor taste. I have no idea where he "rates" among the best. I don't really care. I dare you to listen to the whole Temple of the Dog album, where most tracks where done on one take, and say the same thing. Where is your evidence?

Poor taste? Where's YOUR evidence beyond your unbelievable pretentiousness?

Would I really be on a Pearl Jam forum without being intimately familiar with Temple of the Dog,...haven't I already said about a million times that his studio efforts are AWESOME for the most part?

is anybody else genuinely horrified at how some people on this board cope with different opinions on very subjective matters, regardless of how carefully they're expressed?

Don't get down. Hang in there.

[/quote]

well sorry for being confrontational. it's how i am and will always be. if you don't like it then ignore me and don't respond back to me simple as that.

i didn't make a joke of it cause i respect your different way of thinking and cause i'm not some fanboy that think's pearl jam is the greatest band ever.

when you just blurt things without specific solos or certain songs people will get down your throat very fast and "attack" you. have certain songs to back up you claim and maybe people will accept your different way of thinking. maybe like show a black solo from the early days and one from 2010 and explain why you think all he does is "noodle" these days.[/quote]

I did mention certain songs, the solos of which bother me live.

Yellow Ledbetter
Even Flow
Why Go (Not that he noodles forever, just that the recorded take is perfect)
Immortality (I found this painful live)

And i certainly never said that ALL he does is noodle. I've sufficiently sucked his dick for his contribution to the records to avoid the hostility, or at least i thought i had.

Can we make a rule where if you only post the link to YouTube you have to also indicate what song and what show for those who are reading at work and YouTube is blocked (or for those who don't want to have to watch it or go to the YouTube website)? I would like this rule.

I think Jesus Christ is the Mike McCready of saviors.

Why hasn't anyone who is arguing on behalf of Mike just done this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2HTn_Ps ... re=related

Of The Earth - Dublin
Case closed

and Immortality is excellent live

Eilian wrote:

Can't believe i'm risking it but,...

McCready's lengthy live noodling really annoys me.

I LOVE his contributions to the records, because they're considered and are nearly always as perfect a fit to the song as you could write. So then, when he strays from them to mindlessly, and often in my opinion uncomfortably fret wank his guitar for 20 minutes I can't wait for the vocals to kick back in.

I reckon some of the recorded solos are so amazing that playing anything different live is fucking mental,...Even Flow, Why Go, Immortality and Yellow Ledbetter spring to mind. Those solos are outstanding and the things he does live instead of them confuse me no end,...the live tone of Yellow Ledbetter is horrible and jarring compared to the recording also.

Stone however,...is ALWAYS bang on the money live.

If he played the same songs with the same notes, it would get real boring, real quick. Mr. McCready bleeds his emotions out through his fingers. He is not some dancing monkey that exists for your amusement.

Its like complaining that Jesus turned your water into a midget instead of wine.