How do you rating Marc Bolan as a guitarist?

I was enjoying this performance of T-Rex classic album cut Buick Mackane. I have to say Bolan was a much crunchier guitarist live when he was let off the leash than when having to battle the other instruments on his sometimes over produced albums.

While he was viewed as a rather mediocre player at the time listening to his scronking solos on this I am reminded of the approach of artists like Robert Quine, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jnr. I am not saying his style was purely intentional, I think a lot of it was down to lack of technique (Tony Visconti said a lot of the coolest bits of Bolan's songs were often down to mistakes or his unconventional technique) but it is strange how these things get absorbed into popular culture over time.

For me he always had a cool tone, played what was needed, wrote killer riffs and on record his solos were always memorable. Live he got lost and probably all the cocaine didn't help but overall he is probably much more influential than 70s player with much better technique, for example Alvin Lee or Robin Trower.

Thoughts?

 

Kind of an inspired amateur.

 

He was an okay player during a time of great players, so nowadays that would make him great. He' s probably as good as Jack White currently.

 

Jack White is a much better player. It's not even close.

 

In terms of technique, yes, definitely.

 

He plays a sloppy lead, which has its charms.

 

Amateur, but who cares its rock n roll baby

 

The primitive guitaring in "Elemental Child," especially starting at the 2:05 mark, reminds me of the White Stripes.

 

Have you hear Mini Mansions' "Creeps"? It totally has a T.Rex vibe going on, right down to the Bolanesque lead guitar.

 

He was great in that he came up with hooks, grooves and riffs that were compelling. T. rex is fantastic and the guitar work is fundamental to the music.

That said, he was no virtuoso.

 

I think he got better towards the end (didn't he get some lessons later in his career? I think I read that somewhere). His solos could be all over the place, every now and then he'd throw in a random bend etc. lol. He was often out of tune and Tony Visconti would sometimes tune up his guitar . So I would not be suprised if he'd be thought of as a ****ty player by musos because technically, he was not a shredder.

That said, my favourite guitarists have a distinctive approach, something primal or brutal in their playing, instinctive, and I'd recognize them in two bars. Bolan definitely falls in this category. I love his playing, no matter how messy or nonsensical it could be at times. It was very bold I see his guitar playing like his hair (before he cut it, that is)...

 

Mick Collins is a very raunchy guitar player and this song is soooooooo T.Rex. I absolutely love this band.

 

This version is all over the place and it's great for what it is, it's like a tribal pagan rock n' roll fest or something, it's so raw (and it was probably LOUD).
But wow, does Marc get lost in it! He's totally off beat with the rest of the band from 9:10 onwards (Steve Currie appears to give Bill Legend's the 1-2-3-4 at 10:15 so that they stay locked in). Either he was too concerned about showmanship to bother about this , had appaling monitoring (mentions the monitors a lot during this show actually) or he had a lousy sense of rythm

 

Not amazing, but he made what he had work for him, and besides, he was a great frontman and writer, so he didn't have to put it all on the sox string anyway

 

I think he was competent player for his style of music, a bit wayward live sometimes as noted, but good enough to put his songs across.

 

He was great for the music he played. He had great style and tone which made up for anything he was lacking. Unique singer and songwriter, as well. Went great with his guitar playing.

 

I'm gonna go jam out to T Rex now

 

He's better than The Seeds' guitarist. And The Seeds were AWESOME!

 

Marc fancied himself as something of an Eric Clapton. He unfortunately didn't have a good sense of his own talents or limitations. In a live setting, these perfect 3 minute pop songs would often be stretched out to 8 or 10 minutes, with him noodling amateurishly on the guitar. I don't rate him very highly at all.

 

I'm gutted. Wish I didn't watch that video of Buick Mackane.

 

I love his guitar playing. Raw and gutsy.

 

Jack White may be a better player but he was clearly influenced by Bolan.

 

That's a thing i've been wondering about. The audiences showed up with polished well produced, layered pop songs in mind and they ended with a short setlist made of stretched jammed out versions of hits and guitar solos . I wonder what they thought walking out!

Funnily enough, whenever I watch "Born to Boogie", I think "Kurt Cobain". Something in the raunchy approach and pop sensibility, i don't know.

 

Oh yeah, I hear some Kurt now that I think about it. Granted, I can't recall if Kurt ever talked about T Rex, but I see that

 

This sums up my own feeling. He is pretty tight and accurate in his rhythm playing while he sings though, not sloppy/approximate at all. His soloing is something else, but he seemed to have a good imagination which was hindered by lack of chops (practicing or whatever).

Great tone indeed!