Joe B: No Soul & Wankery? (Page 2 of 2)

I don't want to disrespect, but who cares? Just enjoy the tunes, and to heck with anyone else. Joe rocks!

to me this is rather easy to explain.....or i think it is.....lol

joe came up as a blues guy.....historically, blues artists dont have major success, have strong but meager followings and they just seem more obscure.

through talent, hard work and a great business model, Joe has found larger and larger success........look around, and for a guy that doesnt have hits on the radio, he's really sort of everywhere......dvd's, on tour all the time, jams with famous people alot, has a great following in USA and a super nice following in Europe, gets magazine covers, has a super active website and message board.

he's an artist with a "bullet".........so for some, it may be a bit of a backlash against him because Joe's fans love him so much that we are pushing his name out there all the time in conjunction with his rising popularity....so when folks hear all the hooplah they check him out and i think naturally sort of root against him because they werent part of the group that "discovered" him.  i've seen that happen to other artists as well.

and here is something else I have noticed.....alot of folks that become famous because they are "guitar gods" have lots of fans that are also players.....in fact, if you take guys like Vai, Satriani and other well known guitar folks, their audiences are overwhelmingly musicians as well.......however, Joe has found a way to tap into a market of fans that appear to not be musicians.....obviously,  he has tons of fans that play, but he has many that do not play.....but what I have noticed from time to time is that some of Joe's fans (that appear to not be players and not overly educated on guitar history), have a tendency to throw out accolades on Joe such as "he's the greatest of all time", "he blows aware eric clapton", "eddie van who",  "SRV wishes he could play like Joe".....etc.....etc....etc..... and I think it turns off some folks......

I consider myself to be pretty up on guitar rock history and while I think Joe is incredible and his body of work will likely land in the greatest of all time discussion if things continue........I find myself cringing a bit at times when I hear those super "over the top" things said.......and i freaking LOVE joe.  so i think I can understand when someone who just sort of has heard of him or is interested in checking him out stumbles into that kind of stuff could be turned off a hair.......when that happens to be one of the first things they encounter when being introduced to joe.

I agree with you.  I am guilty of being over the top about Joe but don't think I have ever said he is better than so and so....  I just say he is the best period.     I think having such a following does bring haters too.  Just my humble opinion.

Yes sir Rocket, all is well. Happy wife, happy life, a good job, and a reliable group to play music with. I am golden.

Ya know, I've found that it can be very discouraging listening to people's opinions on music. Particularly on the internet, so many people are very indignant, and feel like they have this unique take that somehow makes them superior because they put down others.

Best to just not listen to it at all. If you like certain music, great - if you don't, don't listen to it and leave it alone. The only people who can truly tell you whether or not they're playing with "soul" are the artists themselves, everyone else hears it their own way.

I don't really get into the uber-technical shred guitar playing (like a Malmsteen or Satriani), but it just doesn't speak to me - if another guitarist really feels it and it means something to them, who am I to say whether or not they have soul? My $.02

Actually from what I've read lately, TGP (it's members) has come around for the most part. Pretty supportive comments on the recent Dumble threads and stuff.

I for one and sick of the "no soul" remark made towards EVERY guitarist who is proficient on their instrument.