Has Cohen forgotten to play the guitare ?

General discussion about Leonard Cohen's songs and albums
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Jinx
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Post by Jinx »

Good point...
And I thank you, I thank you
for doing your duty
You keepers of peace, you guardians of duty.
Your vision is right, my vision is wrong
I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song...
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

I know some very good guitar player who agree about two things: 1) it's like hell when you try to imitate Leonard's fingerpicking (i.e. Stranger Song, Teachers, Master Song); 2) Dylan doesn't know to play guitar.

So I am not sre is this "he never knew to play it" true...
But, that depends on tasts,e I guess, for me Hendrix is unbelievably boring.
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jurica
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Post by jurica »

linda_lakeside wrote:Well, for example, I think All Along the Watchtower wins on both levels. Hendrix' guitar and Dylan's lyrics.
hmmm... i never liked the Hendrix version. i STRONGLY prefer Dylan's. Hendrix sings the song all wrong.

Tom's guitar-playing friend is also wrong. Dylan is not the greatest guitarist in the world (just like Leonard), but he is much better than people usualy give him credit for. the guy from the site dylanchords.com, who is a PhD in musicology wrote several articles about Dylan's i-want-you-to-think-i-can't-play-guitar style of playing, and a lot of it holds true for Cohen too.

people usualy learn a chord or two, then go to the internet and find tabs for a Dylan or Cohen song, and say - hey, this is so easy! even i can play this!

then they find a Hendrix tab, and learn that they're not as good players as they figured. BUT good music is not about dificulty. it doesn't matter if the song includes 3 major or 34 maj7/sus2-4 chords. the music is supposed to reflect emotions, and in popular song - to support the feelings and dynamics of lyrics.

that's where, if you asked me, Hendrix totaly failed in his rendition of All Along The Watchtower. do you get the feeling of ancient times, God's wrath, and an old corrupted town from which you need to escape before it's too late? or you just feel like singing, dancing and not caring for what the song tries to tell you?
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