Frank Zappa On... The '80s Guitar Clone - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 20:57, 12 June 2026

2026-06-12T20:57:13Z

Spider of Destiny at 18:27, 12 June 2026

2026-06-12T18:27:44Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 13:06, 18 August 2021

2021-08-18T13:06:48Z

Spider of Destiny at 12:10, 7 October 2013

2013-10-07T12:10:27Z

Spider of Destiny at 11:04, 7 October 2013

2013-10-07T11:04:38Z

Spider of Destiny at 02:43, 10 December 2010

2010-12-10T02:43:01Z

Spider of Destiny at 02:42, 10 December 2010

2010-12-10T02:42:14Z

Propellerkuh at 14:06, 31 January 2007

2007-01-31T14:06:21Z

Propellerkuh at 14:04, 31 January 2007

2007-01-31T14:04:29Z

Propellerkuh at 14:02, 31 January 2007

2007-01-31T14:02:57Z

Show changes

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 '''Have the recent trends in guitar served to reinforce what you've always felt about those players?<br>
-There is no substitute for that. There just isn't. You have to remember, whatever I say about contemporary music is based on the quantity that I actually get a chance to listen to. Since I don't collect records of that nature and I don't go out to concerts of that kind of stuff, my experience is whatever happens to be on the radio in the car before I tell the person driving to turn it off, or what I will see on MTV flipping through the dial. I'm not an aficionado of any of it. I have to talk in general terms; I can't give you specifics without the technique of guitar player so-and-so with such-and-such a group. With kind of minimal exposure to it, I don't think that I'm too far off the mark in talking about the redundancy and the derivitiveness of most of the guitar work that appears in the rock videos. There is another exceptional guitar player, one of the guys that Dweezil really admires, and that's Warren DiMartini from ''Ratt.'' I've seen him play, and I think that he's excellent, too. I think he's got his own thing going.
+There is no substitute for that. There just isn't. You have to remember, whatever I say about contemporary music is based on the quantity that I actually get a chance to listen to. Since I don't collect records of that nature and I don't go out to concerts of that kind of stuff, my experience is whatever happens to be on the radio in the car before I tell the person driving to turn it off, or what I will see on MTV flipping through the dial. I'm not an aficionado of any of it. I have to talk in general terms; I can't give you specifics without the technique of guitar player so-and-so with such-and-such a group. With kind of minimal exposure to it, I don't think that I'm too far off the mark in talking about the redundancy and the derivitiveness of most of the guitar work that appears in the rock videos. There is another exceptional guitar player, one of the guys that Dweezil really admires, and that's [[Warren DeMartini]] from ''Ratt.'' I've seen him play, and I think that he's excellent, too. I think he's got his own thing going.
 '''In the same way that Olympic records are always being broken, guitar playing seems to be getting faster and faster.<br>

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 Who better to comment on the guitar's evolution in pop music than Frank Zappa? That's what we asked ourselves in late 1976, when we were preparing our 10th Anniversary issue of Guitar Player (Jan. '77). And when the question came up again for our 20th Anniversary, the answer was the same. Besides being one of rock's most prolific composers and recording artists – both as a soloist and head of the [[The Mothers|Mothers Of Invention]] – Zappa is one of the idiom's finest, albeit underrated, guitarists, a synthesizer pioneer, and an intelligent, biting satirist. In recent years he has concentrated on his first love, modern classical composition, and has been one of the country's most outspoken opponents to the PMRC's drive to give ratings to rock lyrics.
-His essay of 10 years ago, '''"Good Guitar Stuff or Stereotypifications? The Evolution Of The Guitar's Use In Pop Music: Short Version,"''' was so provocative, so priceless, so ... Zappa that we decided to rerun it in its entirety – at the end of which Frank reflects on what he wrote before, with comments about the state of guitar in the '80s. Also in this issue, an added bonus: a Soundpage recording of Frank's onstage debut with son Dweezil, playing "Sharleena "(see page 82).
+His essay of 10 years ago, '''"Good Guitar Stuff or Stereotypifications? The Evolution Of The Guitar's Use In Pop Music: Short Version,"''' was so provocative, so priceless, so ... Zappa that we decided to rerun it in its entirety – at the end of which Frank reflects on what he wrote before, with comments about the state of guitar in the '80s. Also in this issue, an added bonus: a Soundpage recording of Frank's onstage debut with son Dweezil, playing "[[Sharleena]] "(see page 82).
 <blockquote>
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 So briefly to review: I would characterize guitarism of the '50s as having, in ''its'' best cases, some real humor, style, and personality, and, in its worst cases, mechanical sterility and lack of musical interest.<br>
-I would characterize the '60s as having, at its best, exploratory qualities not possible before the advent of heavy amplification and recording studio machinery; more rhythmic interest; and, in some instances, real humor, style, and personality. At its worst, the guitarism of the '60s brought us amateur strummery; several swift kicks at the Fender Twin Reverb springs; the archetype of folk-rock 12-string swill (the predecessor of the horrible fake-sensitivity music we have today with the laid-back sensitive-type artist / singer / songwriter / suffering person, posed against a wooden fence provided by the Warner Bros. Records art department, graciously rented to all the other record companies who needed it for their version of the same crap); and the first examples of the "psychedelic guitar solo," not to mention ''Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida-ism.''<br>
+I would characterize the '60s as having, at its best, exploratory qualities not possible before the advent of heavy amplification and recording studio machinery; more rhythmic interest; and, in some instances, real humor, style, and personality. At its worst, the guitarism of the '60s brought us amateur strummery; several swift kicks at the Fender Twin Reverb springs; the archetype of folk-rock 12-string swill (the predecessor of the horrible fake-sensitivity music we have today with the laid-back sensitive-type artist / singer / songwriter / suffering person, posed against a wooden fence provided by the Warner Bros. Records art department, graciously rented to all the other record companies who needed it for their version of the same crap); and the first examples of the "psychedelic guitar solo," not to mention ''[[In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida]]-ism.''<br>
 Obviously, this is condensing and leaving out a lot, but I'm sure that all of you entirely-too-modern persons who have read this far are getting anxious for something more relevant to your lifestyle – and you're probably right! A perspective of musical history has absolutely no place in today's thrilling musical world. Yes, that's right, you heard right!<br>
@@ Line 79: / Line 79: @@
 '''You did do a video for "[[You Are What You Is (The Music Video)]]." Was that your last one?<br>
 That's the one. That's all there is. That's the only video I've made. The reason it was done was because it was financed by CBS International. They wanted it to show overseas. It didn't get showed a lot in the United States because I had Reagan getting the electric chair and a black guy dressed as a native spewing ''Pepto Bismol'' while saying the words "Mercedes Benz." I thought it was a good video.
 [[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]

@@ Line 66: / Line 66: @@
 '''Have you been influenced at all by the taste and the playing of your kids?<br>
-No, because at the point when [[Dweezil Zappa|Dweezil]] started playing the guitar when he was 12, his first idol before Eddie was actually [[wikipedia;Randy Rhoads|Randy Rhoads]], and I wasn't very familiar with Randy's playing. But if I play the guitar, I certainly do not play it in order to amuse Dweezil. And since I haven't touched it in a couple of years, I guess I don't play it to amuse anybody.
+No, because at the point when [[Dweezil Zappa|Dweezil]] started playing the guitar when he was 12, his first idol before Eddie was actually [[wikipedia:Randy Rhoads|Randy Rhoads]], and I wasn't very familiar with Randy's playing. But if I play the guitar, I certainly do not play it in order to amuse Dweezil. And since I haven't touched it in a couple of years, I guess I don't play it to amuse anybody.
 '''Have the recent trends in guitar served to reinforce what you've always felt about those players?<br>

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 Then we get to the '60s. We get there partly because R&B was being produced to death (strings on [[Ray Charles]] and [[wikipedia:Fats Domino|Fats Domino]] records, etc.) and because England was starting to ship back some recycled '50s music, played by people who were younger and cuter than the original performers, to be consumed by people who were younger and cuter than the original consumers (and who, especially in the case of [[The Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]] fans, had never heard the original recordings of their revamped [[Slim Harpo]] / [[Muddy Waters]] repertoire ... and not only that, folks; if they ''had'' heard the originals, they probably wouldn't have liked them at all, since neither of the original artists named above were as prance-worthy as Mick Jagger).<br>
-Obviously, part of the recycling process included the imitation of [[Chuck Berry]] guitar solos, [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] guitar solos, and even some abstractions of [[John Lee Hooker]] guitar solos. The guitar was becoming more prevalent in backing arrangements on singles, especially as a rhythm instrument. Solos on most white-person records of that day and age tended to be rhythmic also, especially in surf music. Almost everything that survives in popular memory (the greatest hits, in other words) was designed for the purpose of dancing – but mainly just to sell. The '60s saw the beginnings of record production as a science in the service of commerce, with heavy emphasis on the repetition of successful formulas. The best that can be said about this period is that it brought us [[Jeff Beck]] at his feedback apex, [[Jimi Hendrix]] at this overkill-volume best, and Cream, which sort of legitimized jamming a lot onstage (so long as you could prove British descent, usually by reeling off musical quotations from blues records which most Americans had never heard. [Radio programming nerds made sure you never heard any of that stuff because Negroes were playing it, and they did their best to protect the young audiences of the '50s and early '60s from such a horrible culture shock, while over in England the better musicians were lusting after vintage blues records, actually obtaining them, and having these records form the basis of their playing traditions]).<br>
+Obviously, part of the recycling process included the imitation of [[Chuck Berry]] guitar solos, [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] guitar solos, and even some abstractions of [[John Lee Hooker]] guitar solos. The guitar was becoming more prevalent in backing arrangements on singles, especially as a rhythm instrument. Solos on most white-person records of that day and age tended to be rhythmic also, especially in surf music. Almost everything that survives in popular memory (the greatest hits, in other words) was designed for the purpose of dancing – but mainly just to sell. The '60s saw the beginnings of record production as a science in the service of commerce, with heavy emphasis on the repetition of successful formulas. The best that can be said about this period is that it brought us [[Jeff Beck]] at his feedback apex, [[Jimi Hendrix]] at this overkill-volume best, and [[Cream]], which sort of legitimized jamming a lot onstage (so long as you could prove British descent, usually by reeling off musical quotations from blues records which most Americans had never heard. [Radio programming nerds made sure you never heard any of that stuff because Negroes were playing it, and they did their best to protect the young audiences of the '50s and early '60s from such a horrible culture shock, while over in England the better musicians were lusting after vintage blues records, actually obtaining them, and having these records form the basis of their playing traditions]).<br>
 So briefly to review: I would characterize guitarism of the '50s as having, in ''its'' best cases, some real humor, style, and personality, and, in its worst cases, mechanical sterility and lack of musical interest.<br>

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 If you have access to them, take the time to listen to the guitar solos on ''"[[Three Hours Past Midnight]]"'' ([[Johnny "Guitar" Watson|Johnny Guitar Watson]]), ''"[[The Story Of My Life]]"'' ([[Guitar Slim]]), or just about any of [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]]'s singles from that period. For my taste, these solos are exemplary because what is being played seems honest and, in a musical way, a direct extension of the personality of the men who played them. If I were a music critic, I would have to say that these values for me mean more than the ability to execute clean lines or clouds of educated gnat-notes.<br>
-Other examples of good guitar stuff from that era might include ''"Lucy Mae Blues"'' ([[Frankie Lee Simms|Frankie Lee Simms]]), ''"Happy Home"'' ([[Elmore James|Elmore James]] – even though Elmore tended to play the same famous lick on every record, I got the feeling that he meant it), and the work of [[wikipedia:Hubert Sumlin|Hubert Sumlin]] (and [[Buddy Guy]] a couple of times) on [[Howlin' Wolf]]'s things. I'm sure there are other hot items, but this is a short article.<br>
+Other examples of good guitar stuff from that era might include ''"Lucy Mae Blues"'' ([[Frankie Lee Simms|Frankie Lee Simms]]), ''"Happy Home"'' ([[Elmore James|Elmore James]] – even though Elmore tended to play the same famous lick on every record, I got the feeling that he meant it), and the work of [[Hubert Sumlin]] (and [[Buddy Guy]] a couple of times) on [[Howlin' Wolf]]'s things. I'm sure there are other hot items, but this is a short article.<br>
 Also, to be fair about it, there were some classic examples of sterility then, too, in the kind of rock solos on the [[Bill Haley & His Comets|Bill Haley]] singles and the obnoxious kleen-teen finger work on the New York-based R&B vocal quintet records (on labels like Gee, on the up-tempo numbers with the ice-cream-cone chord changes).<br>
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 Then we get to the '60s. We get there partly because R&B was being produced to death (strings on [[Ray Charles]] and [[wikipedia:Fats Domino|Fats Domino]] records, etc.) and because England was starting to ship back some recycled '50s music, played by people who were younger and cuter than the original performers, to be consumed by people who were younger and cuter than the original consumers (and who, especially in the case of [[The Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]] fans, had never heard the original recordings of their revamped [[Slim Harpo]] / [[Muddy Waters]] repertoire ... and not only that, folks; if they ''had'' heard the originals, they probably wouldn't have liked them at all, since neither of the original artists named above were as prance-worthy as Mick Jagger).<br>
-Obviously, part of the recycling process included the imitation of [[Chuck Berry]] guitar solos, [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] guitar solos, and even some abstractions of John Lee Hooker guitar solos. The guitar was becoming more prevalent in backing arrangements on singles, especially as a rhythm instrument. Solos on most white-person records of that day and age tended to be rhythmic also, especially in surf music. Almost everything that survives in popular memory (the greatest hits, in other words) was designed for the purpose of dancing – but mainly just to sell. The '60s saw the beginnings of record production as a science in the service of commerce, with heavy emphasis on the repetition of successful formulas. The best that can be said about this period is that it brought us [[wikipedia:Jeff Beck|Jeff Beck]] at his feedback apex, [[Jimi Hendrix]] at this overkill-volume best, and Cream, which sort of legitimized jamming a lot onstage (so long as you could prove British descent, usually by reeling off musical quotations from blues records which most Americans had never heard. [Radio programming nerds made sure you never heard any of that stuff because Negroes were playing it, and they did their best to protect the young audiences of the '50s and early '60s from such a horrible culture shock, while over in England the better musicians were lusting after vintage blues records, actually obtaining them, and having these records form the basis of their playing traditions]).<br>
+Obviously, part of the recycling process included the imitation of [[Chuck Berry]] guitar solos, [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] guitar solos, and even some abstractions of [[John Lee Hooker]] guitar solos. The guitar was becoming more prevalent in backing arrangements on singles, especially as a rhythm instrument. Solos on most white-person records of that day and age tended to be rhythmic also, especially in surf music. Almost everything that survives in popular memory (the greatest hits, in other words) was designed for the purpose of dancing – but mainly just to sell. The '60s saw the beginnings of record production as a science in the service of commerce, with heavy emphasis on the repetition of successful formulas. The best that can be said about this period is that it brought us [[Jeff Beck]] at his feedback apex, [[Jimi Hendrix]] at this overkill-volume best, and Cream, which sort of legitimized jamming a lot onstage (so long as you could prove British descent, usually by reeling off musical quotations from blues records which most Americans had never heard. [Radio programming nerds made sure you never heard any of that stuff because Negroes were playing it, and they did their best to protect the young audiences of the '50s and early '60s from such a horrible culture shock, while over in England the better musicians were lusting after vintage blues records, actually obtaining them, and having these records form the basis of their playing traditions]).<br>
 So briefly to review: I would characterize guitarism of the '50s as having, in ''its'' best cases, some real humor, style, and personality, and, in its worst cases, mechanical sterility and lack of musical interest.<br>
@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 I think the bottom line is the gymnastic aspect of it.
-'''What was it about Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing that made you appreciate him more than the rest of the crowd?<br>
+'''What was it about [[Eddie Van Halen]]'s guitar playing that made you appreciate him more than the rest of the crowd?<br>
 Well, I didn't see anybody else doing the technique that he was doing. He just had it under control so much, it didn't sound forced. It wasn't like, "Watch me throw this thing in here now." It sounded like it belonged.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 During the '50s it was rare to find a guitar solo on rock or R&B singles – it was usually the honk-squeak tenor sax syndrome taking up the space between the bridge and the third verse. When a guitar was heard (usually on the blues or country blues items I was collecting), its function bore little resemblance to today's collection of pathetic lick-spewage and freeze-dried stereotypifications. (All of you sensitive guitar fans who actually get off on our current pseudo-academic era of polished efficiency had better read another article.)<br>
-If you have access to them, take the time to listen to the guitar solos on ''"Three Hours Past Midnight"'' ([[Johnny "Guitar" Watson|Johnny Guitar Watson]]), ''"The Story Of My Life"'' ([[Guitar Slim]]), or just about any of [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]]'s singles from that period. For my taste, these solos are exemplary because what is being played seems honest and, in a musical way, a direct extension of the personality of the men who played them. If I were a music critic, I would have to say that these values for me mean more than the ability to execute clean lines or clouds of educated gnat-notes.<br>
+If you have access to them, take the time to listen to the guitar solos on ''"[[Three Hours Past Midnight]]"'' ([[Johnny "Guitar" Watson|Johnny Guitar Watson]]), ''"[[The Story Of My Life]]"'' ([[Guitar Slim]]), or just about any of [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]]'s singles from that period. For my taste, these solos are exemplary because what is being played seems honest and, in a musical way, a direct extension of the personality of the men who played them. If I were a music critic, I would have to say that these values for me mean more than the ability to execute clean lines or clouds of educated gnat-notes.<br>
-Other examples of good guitar stuff from that era might include ''"Lucy Mae Blues"'' ([[wikipedia:Frankie Lee Simms|Frankie Lee Simms]]), ''"Happy Home"'' ([[wikipedia:Elmore James|Elmore James]] – even though Elmore tended to play the same famous lick on every record, I got the feeling that he meant it), and the work of [[wikipedia:Hubert Sumlin|Hubert Sumlin]] (and [[wikipedia:Buddy Guy|Buddy Guy]] a couple of times) on [[Howlin' Wolf]]'s things. I'm sure there are other hot items, but this is a short article.<br>
+Other examples of good guitar stuff from that era might include ''"Lucy Mae Blues"'' ([[Frankie Lee Simms|Frankie Lee Simms]]), ''"Happy Home"'' ([[Elmore James|Elmore James]] – even though Elmore tended to play the same famous lick on every record, I got the feeling that he meant it), and the work of [[wikipedia:Hubert Sumlin|Hubert Sumlin]] (and [[Buddy Guy]] a couple of times) on [[Howlin' Wolf]]'s things. I'm sure there are other hot items, but this is a short article.<br>
-Also, to be fair about it, there were some classic examples of sterility then, too, in the kind of rock solos on the [[wikipedia:Bill Haley|Bill Haley]] singles and the obnoxious kleen-teen finger work on the New York-based R&B vocal quintet records (on labels like Gee, on the up-tempo numbers with the ice-cream-cone chord changes).<br>
+Also, to be fair about it, there were some classic examples of sterility then, too, in the kind of rock solos on the [[Bill Haley & His Comets|Bill Haley]] singles and the obnoxious kleen-teen finger work on the New York-based R&B vocal quintet records (on labels like Gee, on the up-tempo numbers with the ice-cream-cone chord changes).<br>
-Then we get to the '60s. We get there partly because R&B was being produced to death (strings on [[wikipedia:Ray Charles|Ray Charles]] and [[wikipedia:Fats Domino|Fats Domino]] records, etc.) and because England was starting to ship back some recycled '50s music, played by people who were younger and cuter than the original performers, to be consumed by people who were younger and cuter than the original consumers (and who, especially in the case of [[wikipedia:The Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]] fans, had never heard the original recordings of their revamped [[wikipedia:Slim Harpo|Slim Harpo]] / [[wikipedia:Muddy Waters|Muddy Waters]] repertoire ... and not only that, folks; if they ''had'' heard the originals, they probably wouldn't have liked them at all, since neither of the original artists named above were as prance-worthy as Mick Jagger).<br>
+Then we get to the '60s. We get there partly because R&B was being produced to death (strings on [[Ray Charles]] and [[wikipedia:Fats Domino|Fats Domino]] records, etc.) and because England was starting to ship back some recycled '50s music, played by people who were younger and cuter than the original performers, to be consumed by people who were younger and cuter than the original consumers (and who, especially in the case of [[The Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]] fans, had never heard the original recordings of their revamped [[Slim Harpo]] / [[Muddy Waters]] repertoire ... and not only that, folks; if they ''had'' heard the originals, they probably wouldn't have liked them at all, since neither of the original artists named above were as prance-worthy as Mick Jagger).<br>
-Obviously, part of the recycling process included the imitation of [[wikipedia:Chuck Berry|Chuck Berry]] guitar solos, [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] guitar solos, and even some abstractions of John Lee Hooker guitar solos. The guitar was becoming more prevalent in backing arrangements on singles, especially as a rhythm instrument. Solos on most white-person records of that day and age tended to be rhythmic also, especially in surf music. Almost everything that survives in popular memory (the greatest hits, in other words) was designed for the purpose of dancing – but mainly just to sell. The '60s saw the beginnings of record production as a science in the service of commerce, with heavy emphasis on the repetition of successful formulas. The best that can be said about this period is that it brought us [[wikipedia:Jeff Beck|Jeff Beck]] at his feedback apex, [[Jimi Hendrix]] at this overkill-volume best, and Cream, which sort of legitimized jamming a lot onstage (so long as you could prove British descent, usually by reeling off musical quotations from blues records which most Americans had never heard. [Radio programming nerds made sure you never heard any of that stuff because Negroes were playing it, and they did their best to protect the young audiences of the '50s and early '60s from such a horrible culture shock, while over in England the better musicians were lusting after vintage blues records, actually obtaining them, and having these records form the basis of their playing traditions]).<br>
+Obviously, part of the recycling process included the imitation of [[Chuck Berry]] guitar solos, [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] guitar solos, and even some abstractions of John Lee Hooker guitar solos. The guitar was becoming more prevalent in backing arrangements on singles, especially as a rhythm instrument. Solos on most white-person records of that day and age tended to be rhythmic also, especially in surf music. Almost everything that survives in popular memory (the greatest hits, in other words) was designed for the purpose of dancing – but mainly just to sell. The '60s saw the beginnings of record production as a science in the service of commerce, with heavy emphasis on the repetition of successful formulas. The best that can be said about this period is that it brought us [[wikipedia:Jeff Beck|Jeff Beck]] at his feedback apex, [[Jimi Hendrix]] at this overkill-volume best, and Cream, which sort of legitimized jamming a lot onstage (so long as you could prove British descent, usually by reeling off musical quotations from blues records which most Americans had never heard. [Radio programming nerds made sure you never heard any of that stuff because Negroes were playing it, and they did their best to protect the young audiences of the '50s and early '60s from such a horrible culture shock, while over in England the better musicians were lusting after vintage blues records, actually obtaining them, and having these records form the basis of their playing traditions]).<br>
 So briefly to review: I would characterize guitarism of the '50s as having, in ''its'' best cases, some real humor, style, and personality, and, in its worst cases, mechanical sterility and lack of musical interest.<br>
@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 I don't think that it's right to do it. I mean, if you do it with permission, fine, but I've put on all my records a little notice that says "Unauthorized sampling prohibited. "I think that people who go around sampling CDs really shouldn't do it.
-'''In numerous interviews, you've cited the same guitarists you mentioned in your essay as the players who really moved you – [[Johnny "Guitar" Watson|Johnny Guitar Watson]], [[wikipedia:Elmore James|Elmore James]], [[Guitar Slim]], early [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] ...<br>
+'''In numerous interviews, you've cited the same guitarists you mentioned in your essay as the players who really moved you – [[Johnny "Guitar" Watson|Johnny Guitar Watson]], [[Elmore James]], [[Guitar Slim]], early [[wikipedia:B. B. King|B. B. King]] ...<br>
-Well, you'd have to include [[Wes Montgomery]] and [[wikipedia:Allan Holdsworth|Allan Holdsworth]] in there, too, I'm afraid.
+Well, you'd have to include [[Wes Montgomery]] and [[Allan Holdsworth|Allan Holdsworth]] in there, too, I'm afraid.
 '''Allan Holdsworth seems like a far cry from [[Guitar Slim]].<br>
@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 Not only is it getting faster, but the solos themselves are becoming gymnastic routines – basically 8- and maybe 16-bar gymnastic routines that are stuck in the middle of songs about fairly common topics. The whole concept of extended improvisations that are compositions in progress is something that is pretty much gone from the pop music scene. That's one of the major losses for the '80s, I think. That's what I was addressing in the old article, talking about the process by which the kid sitting at home listens to a tape, and although he couldn't read it off the piece of paper, learns it by rote like a parrot, and winds up playing faster and faster and faster. I think that's really what's taking place.
-'''Do you think because of the climate that exists today, as far as mass-programming of radio and MTV goes, is it harder for an artist like yourself to exist? Would it be virtually impossible for a group to come along like the Mothers Of Invention in 1987?<br>
+'''Do you think because of the climate that exists today, as far as mass-programming of radio and [[MTV]] goes, is it harder for an artist like yourself to exist? Would it be virtually impossible for a group to come along like the Mothers Of Invention in 1987?<br>
 I would say the odds of a group like that appearing today and surviving would be nil. As far as me doing what I'm doing, I continue to do it. The thing that becomes increasingly difficult is for the audience to have access to it because, unless you're willing to pay off a radio station, the chances are you are not going to get your record on the radio. That's not my idea of a good time. The amount of stuff that is recorded by me that will appear on the radio is pretty small. As far as appearing on MTV, that is tied mostly to the way you look and, of course, a certain amount of promotional consideration. And the fact is, the videos are so expensive to make, one video costs more than a whole album. I'm self-financed, so I can't afford to spend a lot of money doing these things.