Buckethead: Greatest Guitarist Of Our/All Time?

[AgeOfOddz]

Ive recently started getting into this eccentric guy and am extremely excited about him. His technique is absolutely fantastic and of those videos i have seen of him he barely ever messes up. Some criticize him for being robotic or emotionless, i completely disagree as his music puts me through so many different moods.
Give him a listen

[blastingas10]

I just saw him a few months ago, one of the best shows I've ever seen. And I'm going to see him next month. He's really pretty old, 43 to be exact. I think he's certainly one of the greatest of his time and has put out some of the best guitar work of the last 20 years. Him and Derek Trucks are my favorite newer guitarists. As much as I love him, I admit some of his work is too robotic and void of emotion for me. But he's capable of covering all ends of the spectrum. He can do the extremely technical, he can cover so many genres, he can do some very unique experimental stuff, some real heavy stuff and he can play some very beautiful melodic stuff. I can't wait to see him next month.

This off one of my favorite albums,"Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot". I love how he goes from very melodic and pretty to some heaviness and then back to the pretty stuff. Such a bad ass.


Buckethead - Ghost Host (Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot) - YouTube

[Mrd00d]

I'm on board. I drift towards his melodic and funky half, though I appreciate his shreddy/robotic side.

I own everything he's ever put out solo/side project wise and love the whole spectrum. Blastingas really said all that needed to be said. Nice song choices fellas.

Check my review of the criminally slept on Buckethead box-set "In Search of the..." here: http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ye-vision.html

Here's one of my favorite Buckethead tunes, off aforementioned box-set, Blue Marbles Moon

[mr dave]

I'd give the nod on 'our' time, he definitely embodies a substantial amount of what it is to be a celebrated musician. I especially like how he's created a recognizable persona independent of his own individuality without needing to resort to gimmicky shocks to maintain public awareness. I'm not a huge / well versed fan but I've enjoyed his work with Praxis as well as any clip I've seen of him performing with Les Claypool.

Though he's not topping Jimi Hendrix in my book for 'all' time yet.

[blastingas10]

Originally Posted by mr dave

I'd give the nod on 'our' time, he definitely embodies a substantial amount of what it is to be a celebrated musician. I especially like how he's created a recognizable persona independent of his own individuality without needing to resort to gimmicky shocks to maintain public awareness. I'm not a huge / well versed fan but I've enjoyed his work with Praxis as well as any clip I've seen of him performing with Les Claypool.

Though he's not topping Jimi Hendrix in my book for 'all' time yet.

I'm with you on that. He may be a better shredder than Hendrix but that doesn't make him a better guitarist. I'm sure buckethead would agree with us, he was Influenced by Hendrix. And he does the best Hendrix covers out there. I love his cover of machine gun that he does with praxis.

[Guybrush]

I like Buckethead a lot and think his playing is impressive. I like that he "dares" keep things simple when they sound good that way, yet he has a big bag of tricks that he can draw from. What I don't like about him is some of the music seems overly simplistic and gets old fast. Drum machine and soloing on top of chords. That's okay, but when it seems he commits every musical idea that strikes him to record, it gets a bit predictable and there's a lot of material that I personally am not that interested in. Finding a truly great Buckethead song is like trying to find a diamond in a pile of coal.

Here's one of my favourites which I believe I've yet to see posted in any thread yet.

[Mrd00d]

Originally Posted by tore

I like Buckethead a lot and think his playing is impressive. I like that he "dares" keep things simple when they sound good that way, yet he has a big bag of tricks that he can draw from. What I don't like about him is some of the music seems overly simplistic and gets old fast. Drum machine and soloing on top of chords. That's okay, but when it seems he commits every musical idea that strikes him to record, it gets a bit predictable and there's a lot of material that I personally am not that interested in. Finding a truly great Buckethead song is like trying to find a diamond in a pile of coal.

Here's one of my favourites which I believe I've yet to see posted in any thread yet.

I'm with ya besides the bolded, which seems a bit harsh. I can agree in saying that about his older projects, such as El Stew, Cornbugs, Death Cube K, etc., but I think its more 50/50 than one track here, one track there. I realize this is definitely just opinion vs. opinion, but would you say that was a hasty remark?

[Guybrush]

Originally Posted by Mrd00d

I'm with ya besides the bolded, which seems a bit harsh. I can agree in saying that about his older projects, such as El Stew, Cornbugs, Death Cube K, etc., but I think its more 50/50 than one track here, one track there. I realize this is definitely just opinion vs. opinion, but would you say that was a hasty remark?

Well, yes, a bit exaggerated I guess. It depends heavily on what album we're speaking of. For example from Crime Slunk Scene from 2006, I love his song Soothsayer, but everything else on there is a bore or even irritating to listen to to me. Albums like Population Override, Electric Tears, Colma and Shadows Between the Sky have a higher ratio of good to bad tunes, but I do feel like overall, he puts out a lot of mediocre material with a few truly good songs sprinkled here and there across his discography.

[Mrd00d]

Originally Posted by tore

Well, yes, a bit exaggerated I guess. It depends heavily on what album we're speaking of. For example from Crime Slunk Scene from 2006, I love his song Soothsayer, but everything else on there is a bore or even irritating to listen to to me. Albums like Population Override, Electric Tears, Colma and Shadows Between the Sky have a higher ratio of good to bad tunes, but I do feel like overall, he puts out a lot of mediocre material with a few truly good songs sprinkled here and there across his discography.

I can get behind that... But since you brought up Crime Slunk Scene, I must ask you to re-evaluate "King James", "Fairy and the Devil", and maybe "Gory Head Stump 2006" and "Electronic Slight of Hand", if for no other reason than a personal favor. Please? I really dig King James and Fairy and the Devil. Out of the 11 tracks, I have those + Soothsayer at 5 stars, which is almost half, which goes with my 50/50.

But to your point, I can agree. Not every album is gold by far, but many are. Let me do the opposite of what I usually do and find a couple examples of his work I don't enjoy...

Bermuda Triangle (2002). From 19 tracks, I can only listen to three. But those three are not only superb but very different from his usual. For reference, those are "Bionic Fog", "Splintered Triplet", and "Whatevas".

Bucketheadland (1992) I can barely listen to this pile of demos and b-sides. Theres like ... 2 for 33. Park Theme and Home Run Derby are all I can stand. Same with Bucketheadland 2 from 2003... hardly but two tracks out of a bunch that I can stand. So in this case, your original point rings true. Luckily he's got ... 35 solo albums and overall, about 100 albums he's an active member of to choose from and listen to; to pick and choose the style of Buckethead that is up your alley.

Day of the Robot (1996) Not up my alley. Only 5 tracks, but none of them stick in my book. It's a skipper. Not bad, per se, but not my style.

Forensic Follies (2009) Weird album. I can only enjoy a couple off this release. And they're bizarre. But in general, it's not a bad release, just not my style.

Etc. etc.

So I see your point. Sometimes, depending on the album, a good song is "a real diamond in the rough" [2009 - sweet BH album] and others are 50/50 and some are god damned perfect.

P.S. I enjoyed your last avatar, but missed the rats. Glad to see the Rat King is back.

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by AgeOfOddz

Ive recently started getting into this eccentric guy and am extremely excited about him. His technique is absolutely fantastic and of those videos i have seen of him he barely ever messes up. Some criticize him for being robotic or emotionless, i completely disagree as his music puts me through so many different moods.
Give him a listen

I've known about Buckethead for around 5 years now because a friend unfortunately loves his music. I agree with you that Buckethead's technique is fantastic, but I hate the style of music he plays. It usually sounds frenetic or overly-slow, with songs sometimes meandering aimlessly and at other times being much too repetitive. Overall his music sounds pointless to me. The only mood it puts me in is irritated.

At best, he kind of creeps me out, so that's something positive, I suppose. I'll try listening again to one of his songs from start to finish, but I find them so boring and devoid of what I value in music that I don't know if I'll be able to unless someone pays me.

Originally Posted by mr dave

I'd give the nod on 'our' time, he definitely embodies a substantial amount of what it is to be a celebrated musician. I especially like how he's created a recognizable persona independent of his own individuality without needing to resort to gimmicky shocks to maintain public awareness. I'm not a huge / well versed fan but I've enjoyed his work with Praxis as well as any clip I've seen of him performing with Les Claypool.

Phhhbt. Like a bucket on your head isn't a gimmicky method??? Phhhbt. I hate his stupid bucket.