Here’s my last bit of thoughts generated during the long, fun night opening for Richard Lloyd and The Donuts recently. As I watched some Richard Lloyd videos leading up to the show, thought about past live performances I’d seen of his, and then watched him live that night, it occurred to me that his guitar stance in no way supports the cool licks he whips out. He wears his guitar pretty high, which some might argue is automatically uncool. He often holds the neck up, Bill Wyman style, which almost everyone agrees is uncool. What I find is most uncool about the neck pointing up is what it does to the elbows: it crowds them into the check. A cool, rockin’ stage stance should be about expansion, about owning the stage. Cramped elbows do not promote ownership. Check it out.
It’s easy enough to pick on a musician for poor stage presence, and that’s not my point. What I really want to do is celebrate artists like Lloyd and Wyman for managing to play super-cool stuff while lacking an even remotely cool stance. Lloyd may have the stance of a Weekend Warrior, but he plays a mean guitar! Are there other artists, on whatever instruments, deserving of this recognition?
I think a good example would be Fripp, with his professorial Look, seated on a high stool holding that black Les Paul close as if it were a classical instrument.
And btw, speaking of gear, I still can’t believe Lloyd takes that vintage strat out on the road. That thing must be worth $20,000.
I’m glad you proposed Fripp. I was thinking of including him in the intro, but I wasn’t sure if his guitar “stance” was so uncool that it was actually cool.
Uncool gear is more annoying than uncool stance. A P-bass played up too high is better than a Dean bass slung low.
A line 6 guitar amp on stage and I run for the exit,before the band plays a note.
Good points, JL2. Personally, I run for the exits at the sight of a Paul Reed Smith guitar.
Where does RTH stand on the Rick Danko Stance, i.e. holding the bass somewhere below the chest. If this look is uncool, I don’t want to know what cool is.
http://www.stevecarawayimages.com/albums/thebanddylan/Rick_Danko_1.sized.jpg
I’m not a guitarist, but I have something to say about gear snobbery: I get a little down about the idea that there are only four approved guitar makers. Personally, I get a little tired of seeing Strats and P-Basses on stage all the time, so I occasionally welcome an unlikely axe. This is not to say I’m a fan of Paul Reed Smith or Steinberger, but I also don’t freak the fuck out if I see one of those Hamers that kinda look like Gibson hollowbodies. And, remember, at XTC’s peak, Andy Partridge played an Ibanez much of the time.
I should amend this. I sometimes get tired of this, and welcome a little variety from time to time. On the other hand, the cool bass stance of Martyn P. Casey of the Bad Seeds gave me new appreciation for Fender’s handiwork.
Oats, cdm and I discussed the paunch-positioned guitar that Danko uses and I use as well. cdm claimed that the guitar must be positioned low enough to cover the brisket; that a paunch-positioned guitar was not cool. I disagreed, first of all because this would have made me less cool than I already am, but also because the paunch is as good a launching pad for a guitar player as the brisket. Another important thing, from my perspective, is freedom of elbows – and not just freedom but intrusiveness of the guitarist’s elbows. Those bad boys need to space. What’s one of the most distinctive things about Danko’s stage presence? His pumping elbows, of course! Playing from a low-slung position would leave him extended, affording him less room to pump. In a sense, this creates the converse of the difficulty that a constricted guitarist in high-slung position, like Lloyd, faces.
Finally, come to think of it, why cover the brisket? Maybe The People want to see what you’re packing? Do guitarists favoring the low-slung approach have something to hide? Please explain, cdm!
JL2, you have raised a most interesting question. I’ve put up a new poll to gauge The People’s feelings on this important manner. I will say in advance that, depending on the poll results, the votes for “Cool rock stance” and “Cool Look” may have to be combined, just in case anyone answered “Cool Look” when they meant to answer “Cool rock stance.”
Wearing the guitar low is less a “cool” thing and more a pragmatic one.
When you’re playing guitar in a club, you have both hands occupied and are presumably distracted by playing your guitar, thus leaving your meats totally exposed. Wearing the guitar low allows you to protect your meats and focus on the task at hand.
I would also add that in the 25 odd years that I’ve been playing in bands, I’ve never once sustained a shot to the nuts. You can’t argue with a record like that. Safety first, people!
Not playing anything I can say I only head for the exits right away if there’s no drums or guitars at all. If it’s a bunch of buttons and knobs and a few mics I’ll go in search of guitar firepower to bring sanity back to this world.
I couldn’t care less what kind of guitar someone plays. I always feel good when I see Fender because I just like the way they sound, but in a club, I can’t really tell the difference what a guy is playing because it’s usually so loud. Keith Richards plays ten different guitars a night and they all sound exactly like Keith Richards, so I really don’t know why he bothers. I think if he had an electric banjo it would still sound like the riffs in Honky Tonk Women. I don’t care what kind of equipment a band uses nearly as much as how good their songs are. Hell, Paul Westerberg went to a Wal Mart and bought a First Act guitar to play and smash and ended up liking it and didn’t smash it for a long time. It sounded like a real guitar to me.
That gangly stance can look cool, but again, look at Keith Richards. It leads to too much one handed guitar playing, and it really takes two hands to make them work right.
Holding the bass low makes the most sense if you play overhand-style with your fingers. Like this dude from Disturbed:
http://www.orlandofloridaguide.com/tampa/concerts/Disturbed%20-%20Fuzz%200340.jpg
Danko played mostly with a pick, so the chest-high hold makes more sense for him. What I never understood was overhand players who held the bass way up high. Like Jaco:
http://pixhost.ws/avaxhome/91/6d/000a6d91_medium.jpeg
Perhaps Jaco wanted to show off his apron.
Comfort, habit, personal quirks. I’m a brisket player. If I raise the geetar too high, I can’t get a proper palm-mute and downstroke going on.
For all that, no 2 players are/were any cooler than Rick Danko and Richard Lloyd.