It Might Get Loud - Name a substitute for The Edge

Why? It's immensely difficult to have your own sound as a guitarist and yet Edge does. His style is not only instantly recognisable, it is also incredibly original. Like Johnny Marr he isn't a guitar hero in the typical widdly way, yet he is a very talented player. It's not all about how easy your piece is to play, it's did you write it? Millions of bedroom guitarists can play Jimmy Page's parts but they sure as heck couldn't write them.

Edge is an essential part of the songwriting team of one of the biggest bands of all time. Whether you like his music or appreciate his playing style you can't deny his achievements. BTW the early albums were much more rock-oriented. Boy to Achtung Baby was a phenomenal run and there's some pretty tasty guitar work amongst that lot let me tell you.

 

And Cream was a wah-wah pedal band.

 

Jimmy Page and what I consider 2 rhythm guitar players... I would of rather 3 lead players.

I think Billy Corgan would of been a great inclusion...He knows gear and can play..
How about Josh Homme too.....

 

While performance wise I could agree with you, I think the look on Whites & Edges face at the end while Page is showing them riffs, says it all. They look they are at church getting messages from god.

 

That's a good point that people like Richards aren't really virtuosos either, just great players who are very comfortable with their ax, great composers of riffs, and creators of tones. Edge fits that category certainly. But I've got to say, I love some Edge, but even in the movie he basically shows you that he barely even plays the instrument. He makes a couple of strums sound like a rock orchestra thanks to his rig, which to me makes him kind of a strange choice to put next to Jimmy Page (and, uh, Jack White I guess... His stuff sounds like The Troggs to me). But maybe the point of the movie was to show "a bunch of stuff that you can do with guitars" rather than "master playing."

That said... You are right that the main reason to listen to U2, especially until around Joshua Tree, was for Edge!

 

Almost every U2 hit I can think of is based on guitar, whether in your face ("I Will Follow") or more textural ("With or Without You"). Even a more keyboard-based track like "New Year's Day" has distinctive licks and a memorable solo. What the heck.

 

I'm not so sure such a "big name" really matters when the lead vocalist is the {recognizable} draw.

Most importantly, the guitarist needs to play the part. His name is secondary to the vocalist and band name...

 

Tom Verlaine

 

And I thought I knew most influential players... Tom Verlaine?

 

Yes, Tom Verlaine...

From the Televisions...

Tom Verlaine - Wikipedia

Edit: yes, I know they are called Television and not The Televisions

 

and I thought that it would be obvious, Bob Dylan

 

Because I worked at Rolling Stone and appealing to any of their 'Top / Best Lists' makes me laugh.

 

I'll have to check them out...

 

It was an off the wall suggestion. He was a great guitarist in the punk scene. May not be the most obvious selection, but I thought it would be an interesting one

 

Huh? Rik was the lead vocalist in Triumph, mostly. Triumph just wasn't that big of an act.

Not sure what you're getting at. Jimmy Page is Led Zeppelin to some people.

Also totally disagree that a guitarist is automatically second banana to the singer, like there's a rule, or something.

 

It was actually a very good suggestion. And he was certainly heavily influential to/for following generations.

 

The joke’s on you!

Guitar playing is not exclusively all about pyrotechnical acrobatics flashy speedy runs. I have this tendancy of getting bored very easily when it comes down to guitar heroes. While the virtuosity aspect of their playing is irreprochable, it is often redundent and lacks imagination.

Page managed to issue 9 albums, in which each song were so different from each other but still watermarked with this Zep thing. Something today’s bands have a hard time to do. There’s one Heartbreaker solo, one Kashmir riff and so on...

Some would say that the Edge is your perfect anti-guitar hero but I prefer to see him as a colorist in the likes of Fripp, Manzanera, Rothery, Rypdal, Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, David Torn, Radiohead and many others. Really, what is wrong with his playing?

As for Jack White, I like his dirty guitar tone but never managed to connect with his music very much or perhaps I wasn’t listening carefuly!

 

I don't have much to add, but my take was that Jack White was also way more interesting on the set of that film than The Edge. I saw the film in a theatre shortly after it was released with a friend who has played with everybody, from Dylan to Link Wray. (In fact, it is Link that Jimmy is playing air guitar to in his London home). My friend was rolling in the aisle when The Edge essentially said he invented the power chord. Nothing against the guy- I know that they were huge, but he was the least interesting of the bunch to me.

 

I never claimed it was. Never even hinted at that.

His work is really boring and basically just mediocre rhythm strumming with layers of delay and effects. I can't think of a single bonafide riff in his arsenal. At least not one that has ever stuck with me or that I have heard others seek to emulate.

Just repetative droning chordal work drenched in layers of effects. S
ome people like it, sure. But U2 was, is and has always been Bono's Backup Band to me.

 

Eno/Fripp music was just about 10 years earlier and without a singer...

 

I don't think Edge showed off his skills at all, whether he was nervous or felt in awe of Jimmy I don't know but he could have demonstrated his techniques far better than he did. He does far more than strum and use a delay pedal to be fair. If you watch the Under A Blood Red Sky DVD it's a guitar fest. His arrangements and playing on The Unforgettable Fire were pretty awesome too and probably the best example of his guitar orchestration. I can't imagine anyone hearing Under A Blood Red Sky, The Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby then turning 'round and calling Edge a poor guitarist.

 

Page, Gilmour, & EVH...

 

Well said!