I've said this before:
"Comparing musicians for competition (who aren't knowingly and willingly in open competition) is impossible because that type of thing is saved for sports. And comparing musicians in different styles is like comparing a hockey player to a basketball player. Their skills are different and aren't relevant or related.
...let me elaborate. You gotta do what you gotta do. Pick something you're good at, and let it ride. You can't worry about what the other guy is up to. I've seen recent comparisons of me vs. Alex Webster; and me vs. Sean Malone. I know these guys personally, and trust me...we're not concerned with who's better than the other. We play different styles in different realms of music. I mean Sean is like a mathematician, so calculating and precision precise in his articulation, his knowledge of the theory of music is massive. Alex is like a speeding train that will stop for nothing, pounding relentless pistons of madness are his fingers keeping up and sometimes passing up blurring guitars and blasting drums, he's a total die-hard metal death metal head who is loyal to his path. I'm like the crooked old bag lady digging in the garbage out back, scrapping and patching together anything I can find trying to make something work. I have just enough musical theory training to remind me that I don't know shit, and I'm self taught enough to have all those bad habits and many dead end days. I don't feel I have one particular style, I'm more prone to go with the flow...in other words I become inspired with the material I'm working on. I'll put in my personality on the song I'm working on - but it's fed by the mood of the tune and the encouragement of the composer. I only bring my hippie-like rag-tag tendencies to a project, but the end result is always different, sometimes it's interesting - sometimes a real let down.
Perhaps you can pretend that what Sean or Alex would play instead of me on something that I've done would be a lot more entertaining than my lines; perhaps not. Could I play something more interesting on a Cannibal Corpse or a Gordian Knot album? I don't think anything even close. I think we're respectively the best at what each of us do in our own realms. I hate to compare, it's so limiting. The good thing about the three of us, and everyone else for that matter, in being so different...is exactly that!
I'd like to put a big gap between the significance of these oft mixed up sayings: "The best" and "My favorite". I'm trying to stop you from comparing in the spirit of competition, and encourage you to share and talk about who and why you prefer. It's all entertainment, not a contest.
Thank you, I hope your lips fall off.
SD
"Comparing musicians for competition (who aren't knowingly and willingly in open competition) is impossible because that type of thing is saved for sports. And comparing musicians in different styles is like comparing a hockey player to a basketball player. Their skills are different and aren't relevant or related.
...let me elaborate. You gotta do what you gotta do. Pick something you're good at, and let it ride. You can't worry about what the other guy is up to. I've seen recent comparisons of me vs. Alex Webster; and me vs. Sean Malone. I know these guys personally, and trust me...we're not concerned with who's better than the other. We play different styles in different realms of music. I mean Sean is like a mathematician, so calculating and precision precise in his articulation, his knowledge of the theory of music is massive. Alex is like a speeding train that will stop for nothing, pounding relentless pistons of madness are his fingers keeping up and sometimes passing up blurring guitars and blasting drums, he's a total die-hard metal death metal head who is loyal to his path. I'm like the crooked old bag lady digging in the garbage out back, scrapping and patching together anything I can find trying to make something work. I have just enough musical theory training to remind me that I don't know shit, and I'm self taught enough to have all those bad habits and many dead end days. I don't feel I have one particular style, I'm more prone to go with the flow...in other words I become inspired with the material I'm working on. I'll put in my personality on the song I'm working on - but it's fed by the mood of the tune and the encouragement of the composer. I only bring my hippie-like rag-tag tendencies to a project, but the end result is always different, sometimes it's interesting - sometimes a real let down.
Perhaps you can pretend that what Sean or Alex would play instead of me on something that I've done would be a lot more entertaining than my lines; perhaps not. Could I play something more interesting on a Cannibal Corpse or a Gordian Knot album? I don't think anything even close. I think we're respectively the best at what each of us do in our own realms. I hate to compare, it's so limiting. The good thing about the three of us, and everyone else for that matter, in being so different...is exactly that!
I'd like to put a big gap between the significance of these oft mixed up sayings: "The best" and "My favorite". I'm trying to stop you from comparing in the spirit of competition, and encourage you to share and talk about who and why you prefer. It's all entertainment, not a contest.
Thank you, I hope your lips fall off.
SD
