underated? No! He won Guitar Player poll a million times. I love much of Al's music and technique but you can say the same as you mentioned about John Mclaughlin! Who has a wider legacy even than Al.
Hey I saw him play 20 years ago live, flawless, I remember 1 mistake, and 1 mistake he saved, impressive, with so many keys, scales and notes. It really was one of the best shows I have ever seen, you have to see him live to truly appreciate him. Finding gaps can only happen when your playing in the pocket constantly, we are suppose to as musicians, he just lets you know.
What a great version of a great song by Al. Al even makes his acoustic guitar sing like one of his Les Pauls. The fact most of the musicians on the stage are reading from charts shows how professional and accomplished of a musician and composer Al is.
The secret to some of his infamous live performances is credited to Gumby Ortiz, the percussionist. They have been playing together for over twenty years. 😊
He is in my opinion, one of the greatest musicians/guitarists of all time. I saw him live years ago back in the early 90's and he blew my mind. Definitely opened my mind to what was out there as far as how performers play the levels of this.
Man, he is so great... It takes a lot of technique and lots of talent, and much of other factors to play different folks, like Al.... I mean, from all the jazz guitarists Al differes, because he can play Spanish, Bossa Nova, egyptian, lots of mediterranean coast folk music.... Last time i heard people comapring Al with rock guitarists like Hendrix, or Vai.... This guy is way better...
Well, in his books which I have studied, he actually advocates learning all possible scales in all combinations. But what he plays does not rely too much on those. That is where extraordinary talent comes in, where extraordinary amounts of deliberate practice and rehearsal time make a huge difference.
this is a wonderful rendition of this song! al di is truely one of the greatest of all time. I mean, look how he started his career... return to forever??? how epic
Al Di Meola is a magician on the strings. His tone, speed, and feel are second to none. It's always a pleasure hearing him play the guitar. This is a terrific tune. It's so exotic and full of passion.
I saw Al in NY at Stonybrook University during the black cat shuffle tour I was 16. This was a mind bending experience at 16. I only played guitar for 3 years at that point. I remember leaving the concert thinking WHY BOTHER PLAYING THE GUITAR ANYMORE. That is how good AL was ! I have never been to a concert since that was so cool. I remember he had a Marshall half stack and a Mesa Boogie half stack side by side on stage. He sounded awesome. Recently I saw him perform in Raleigh NC. Wow !
I think he is both the best guitarrist and composer for that instrument. Astonishing how intelligent, complex but easy listening his music is if you know it. I have listened to his early work from around 1975-1978 know and then for more than three decades. However his second album was even better and, believe it or not, his first solo album Land of the Midnight Sun must be one of the best LP ever recorded !.
The new UA-cam commenting changes are totally and completely screwed up. If I want to see the comment somebody replied to it opens up a new page for no apparent reason. Just slows everything down. How do you reply to a comment? The reply buttons are gone. It worked fine the way it was. It's like this on every website, they insist on making changes which only screw everything up. Take Yahoo for instance, please. And don't get me going on Ebay's changes. Aghhhhh!!!!
I would describe it as 'compositional jazz' - not much improv, but astonishing discipline in the arrangement. The creativity comes in with variations in the instrumentation with each performance. This is master class. Some of those guitar phrases and figures probably only Al can deliver. And on this version his playing is even more complex than the original recording, if that's possible.
Hey gets a great electric sound out of that Ovation for his solos. Excellent control over his dynamics and tone with both his technique and the use of the volume pedal. As always, his sense of rhythm is amazing.
yes MF is not my fav player...so its gambale and matheny or benson...;D anyway...ever hears of al trying to play blues? hes always on that "i can fusion jazz with flamenco" but he alwyas get owned by de lucia and mclaughlin...or birelli....he's just a nice players for the begginners that had not explore jazz fusion very well...
eh...friedman left metal long ago...he actually plays a very similar style to al... with all that oriental wave...i've listened to both...but it semms you have just listened to marty on metal...so you are not very able to compare... and please don't say al has mastered electric...he sucks on electric guitar...and sucks bad
beatillica, You Post the most awesome guitar players! Have you ever heard of Phil Keaggy. Rated #6 in guitar players magazine in 1982.? Thank you for posting this!
Al is one of my favorite composers and guitarists, love this version too..But in all honesty, I like his melodic sense and phrasing most, I mean the actual song. The guitar playing is great, but to my ears his bends always sounds stressed and not very musical. Cant have everything I suppose
yeah i apologise for not making this comments years ago... ppl got to stop thinking al is the "greatest" musician ever... he can't even play a decent acoustic guitar...so he has to play an ovation xD sad anway...im glad we both consider him now a total noob :)
which are "my shredders"...saying that you may refer i actually like shredders, and that sould be a mystake...the only guitarist that i like and may be considered a "shredder" its marty friedman...and (and i know most of you will disagree) i consider him a more complex musician than al...
and actually, shredding is not like p,laying without sense...there are guys shredding out there like gambale or bill connors, or allan holdsworth...even george benson likes shred and they all assrape al
al dimeola is also very repetitive...he does always run between melodic minor or prhygian mode...so he's not the best example of a "big musical vocabulary"
I thought that J. Butler had been pioneer in his use of acoustic guitar as a electric one. AL dimeola has been throughly visionary throughout his career...
ovations suck big time. there sound just happens to go with his style of music though which is why he uses one. im pretty sure he is the only person with a signature ovation anyways.
in order to be 1000 times better than Al , your man naudo needs to be original . he is good but playing tired songs worn out by so many others ... ha ha 1000 times better than AL .. that"s killing me bro ... good one ..
I like malmsteen a lot and I really enjoy his music...but you just can't compare rock/metal players with jazz players..jazz players are simply better...jazz is an own religion.!!! greez andy
I love the music, not his technique. There are a lot of al's compositions that are much more difficult than this. I was surprised when people whom i showed this were disappointed.
C'mon, you just don't understand! Try to listen it in other way than you listen Zeppelin, where Plant say it all in his lyrics! P.S. I'm Zeppelin fan too!!! peace =)
@MrBumpoo13 he uses a pick the majority of the time to articulate notes better but some songs like "Azzura" he plays with his fingers, preferring a softer tone
not my cup of tea, he's very talented but not into progressive music I was looking at old guitar player mags and saw an article on him thought i'de look it up :~}
Im a zep fan, al is AWSOME! and some people are music snobs who critique other peoples taste in art. Bet they have an ugly spouse! lmao at snobs! JRC3ky
***** ну в принципе да. Сатч мелодист классный, такие красивые и интересные мелодии сочинять из небольшого количества ладов (в осн. пентатоника, нат. минор и дорийский лад - это искусство), однако похожий лексикон можно найти у многих гитаристов. Говоря про Эл Ди Меолу, я имел ввиду, что у него музыка не похожа ни на кого, у него неповторимый звук, намного опередивший свое время и неповторимое муз. мышление.
SCUMBAG FATHER? NY Daily News: Al Di Meola got three gold albums, but the guitar virtuoso doesn't want to pay a penny in child support for his 8-year old son, Kyle. Di Meola allegedly has visited his son only once, according tomother, Magda Barreca.Di Meola Productions rakes in millions but he claimed to have a salary of $49,000 in Family Court & defaulted on $122 per week payments. Di Meola has a $Multi-million dollar Colonial mansion in N.J., a condo in Miami, Land Rover & Mercedes SL 600.
53 dont like? This is pure Jazz Rock genre and more challenging art of all time, unfortunately, the music is dead because of TV and DJs who mix music teachers failed abortion and other abominations house metal musicians whose music has nothing to do see, these teachers and listeners should expect to clean the toilets. Learn and study groups such as Wheater Report, Return to Forever, Brand X, UK. and a few others.
@Eradicateify The first metal song was by black sabbath. I think it is the song of the same name and that riff sounds nothing like blues. That is the proto metal riff. Anyways metal can take as much skill and knowledge as you want it to. You can incorporate anything into it. Most of it comes from blues but bands like meshuggah don't really have much of that in it. Progressive and jazz influences really show with them. Or malmsteen who uses massive amounts of classical theory in his stuff.
@smufmigeifmig He CAN play that stuff and as a fellow musician he probably DOES. But the reason you don't play metal or rock is because its just a branch of blues basically. Jazz from all the way to afro cuban to rag. Its really immense stuff. And its HARD to play you show up at a music program and audition with tunes and scales your not gunna play metal because it doesn't take as much knowledge as jazz or classical.
No need to debate who the greatest guitarists are- just be happy to live in a world with so many, and access to them through You Tube. I wish it had been around when I was picking up the guitar 35 years ago. For the record- Tommy Emmanuel is the only guitarist I've seen live who compares with Demeola's passion and speed (I saw McLaughlin with Shakti, so he was more subdued than usual. Steve Howe on a good night is also amazing.
Why the fuck are people talking about Kurt Cobain on this? Sure, Nirvana is fine, but not very good guitars. Kurt would have even admitted that. Also, stop comparing Al to Clapton and Hendrix. They are totally different styles with different goals in their music. Al tends to be more technical and exotic, Clapton is bluesy and melodic (while being technical and somewhat artistic)a, and Hendrix....well, Hendrix is just Hendrix, can't argue with that.
dude do you know knothing clearly in i doubt some one whos been playing for six months could play in bloom go see the solo and say person who has been playing for 6months can play that and 2nd jimi can out play this guy dude maybe you need to do research in him and his technique somethings clearly wrong espcialy if you think clapton should be there and jimi should not you seriously need to look closer at your guitarist dude
First, some punctuation would be awesome. Al could play hendrix under the table any day of the week. I mean, its hard to compare them in the first place because they play very different styles of music, but technically, Al's got Jimi beat. And in rebuttle, Cobain is shit on guitar, name one riff that he wrote that can't be played by someone who's been playing guitar for more than 6 months.
So!....You have arrived at the dubious conclusion that, these people who collaborated with Al D., did it for reasons of "Pablissity", without any reason to believe that...And that it could, by no means be related to their appreciation of his past work....Let me ask you then; why would they want their name affiliated with someone that other people thought....Sucked?!...How fucking dumb would that be?!...Did ya ever think that they could possibly, just possibly now, actually like his work?!
..Cont..Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Zappa, Jean Luc-Ponty, Steve Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and many others players from around the world, all kinds of styles of music, he's mastered both Electric and Acoustic, studied at The Berklee school of music.(Friedman?..Plays metal, and is self taught.) All this, and you find friedman to be more, "Complex."..Are you taking this comedy act on the road?..Because, if you are, let us all know.. ..It's very funny!
O.K. We're comparing a playing who plays one style, and one style only,(Friedman, Metal) to a guy who has played with the foremost musicians..Just listen to some of the cross-over musicians he's worked with, and then go sit down and be quiet... Paco Delucia, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, John Mcloughlin, Paul Simon, Steve Gadd, Jan Hammer, Eddie Gomez, Jaco Pastorius, Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Larry Coryell, Les Paul, Steve Vai, Jimmy page, Ingwe malmsteen,...Cont...
When constructing an actual "Song" some amount of repetition is required...All great musicians utilize repetition..It's how it's used that matters. His repetition is deliberate in it's placement, and presentation ... It's called a composition....He is not like one of your "Shredders", (You use this term when referring to your own guitar heroes, don't you?!...Tell the truth!) who are all fluff, and no stuff, meandering all over the place, exhibiting no direction in their music...Amateurs.
just different music styles. None is "better" than another. If we're talking technique I'd say guys like Guthrie Govan or Greg Howe or Shawn Lane would wipe the floor with Al Di Meola since the're more complete but who cares? In the end it's about the music. If it was a technique contest Francesco Fareri and Rusty Cooley would be the kings o the world. Let's cherish the variety of styles and guitarists :)
I'm looking at the influences of my influence (dad was inspired by DiMeola, and I'm inspired by him... still can't play though) I know nothing of odd time signatures; I don't really listen to Latin or Jazz; I'm not looking for tips on technicality (because I can't play more than 5 chords) so explain why I still think this dude is the shit? now, If you don't like, you don't like it, oh well. Time to move on and whatnot.
i'll admit i have listened to zeppelin enough to last a lifetime but i'm not musically illiterate. i play guitar and trumpet. i know how to read music, i have played in obscure time signatures. i see the value of this but all its gonna do is influence people to play technically well. when people do music like this it gets boring because its nothing but the more obscure side of music.
i'm not really saying i don't like it, but its very uncommon. don't get me wrong, i know of odd time signatures, i listen to and play very odd time signatures in some of the music i play. maybe what i'm trying to say is not that i don't like di meola, but rather that i don't like his ideas of what is good musical structure. yes its music, but its not something that will ever be highly regarded for anything other then technicality.
yea exactly. don't get me wrong. i would love to get some tips from him about playing but his music makes no real sense. it doesn't really have any structure. its like he said "pick a key, and we'll play for hours in that key with no time signature. just a constant beat." its impressive but there's just nothing that makes it really enjoyable... just educational. i'll admit, i did learn a lot just listening to it.
Essentially, what he's advocating is learning all those scale with the intent of learning how they sound and how you can relate them to one another. Done properly, you'll eventually begin ignoring your conscious inclination towards scales and begin playing with their sounds in mind, but without any kind of arbitrary restrictions that some people think a scale entails.
No problem. There's a bit of a semantic difference between the two. Just for reference, when I said "simple scales", I actually should have more correctly said "scales of any kind". His music isn't composed by throwing scale patterns together and hoping for the best, but by following his own melodic impulses without letting scales prescribe what notes he plays.
I remember about twelve months ago when he had a show planned for Canberra. I drove a long distance from my rural town only to find out the show had been cancelled. Needless to say, I was very upset. Never did find out why he cancelled. I imagine it was because not many tickets were sold due to the fact that a small tub of yoghurt has more culture than Canberra.
@Eradicateify Though this is true, the lines between fusion jazz and progressive metal tend to blur... so there's some metal bands (e.g. cynic, death) apply the musicality of jazz on a metal sound (or vice versa^^). Listen to some solos by Meshuggah (for example Sublevels) and by Allan Holdsworth back to back and you'll know what I mean.
@B:Paradox of ensemble playing: You must listen to fellow players to be 'in the same space', & yet -not- listen to them, to stay true to the course you've (been) chosen to follow. There are other, very different versions of this situation: Louis Armstrong, often played -so- freely, that if his rhythm section listened too closely to him, they'd never be able to keep time : - )
I would not like to play with Al Di Meola. Not because he is not a genius, but he is a genius at time. If you can't have impeccable timing Al will throw you off with his rhythmic shenanigans. He has a knack for finding gaps...i just would be thrown off so much...but then again it would bring my playing to another level.
wow are you seriouse hendrix could out play this guy if he was alive dude and cobain was not a shity guitarist no one can play like hindrix he can make his guitar sound better then this guys even when he is playing behind his head or behind his teeth we can take it to some sort of good threads and you can hear other peoples opnions as well and we will see how they stack up
The original was on his Casino album from '78(?). Elegant Gypsy from the same era. Friday Night in San Fransisco with Paco DE Lucia and John McLaughlin. Passion Grace and fire with the same Trio. You might like Aziza Mustafa Zadeh which he collaborated with in the '90's. There's a lot of great musicians out there. Frank Gambale, Alan Holdsworth. Too many to name.
Why are people arguing over Paco versus Al? That's ridiculous. This is meant to enjoy. Just sit back and appreciate it. I don't care what anybody says, Al Dimeola is one heck of a guitarist. His style is one of a kind. Sure he's probably composed more complex tunes than this? Complex or not, he's awesome. ( ^ _ ^ )
i do listen to jazz and latin. this is completely different. and another thing, you talk of me not understanding this... do you? not many people do understand this kind of music. most of the people attracted to di meola are guitarists looking for the influences of their influences. they wouldn't understand this.
First I saw thumbnail of Al with that acustic guitar and I wasn`t very atracted to this, even Al is playing good on acustic g. too, cos I like electric sound of this song. But is electric. Surprise, surprise. This is by me the best his song forever. After all Vinnie Moores, Jason Beckers, Andy James etc. he is still in ligue.
Here's the difference, man. Ever watch an orchestra, or a symphony? Where the ENTIRE show's sole purpose is the music? They sit. There you go. Not that there's anything wrong with rocking out and getting into the music. Different genres are just different, that's all. Apples and oranges.
@pityisz the feel. he is probably play that guitar for so long, and know its like the back of his hand. changing over to electric would take a little time, because the next is not as thick, different strings, and maybe the tone of the acoustic fits the his songs better even though it has distortion
@GivenWillingly I write in Progressive/fusion they blur because your taking elements of everything you can find its amazing. But yeah, i do listen to meshuggah and metal 1ce in awhile been listening to periphery metal, actually really good prog metal. They have very nice polyrhythms
@Eradicateify i didnt say that because i think he cant play it, i said it because i think they could make an awesome instrumental together (not all nile song are superfast. they have some awesome athmospheric slow stuff) also karl sanders puts out solo albums (check out of the sleep of ishtar) peace
yngwie malmsteen??!?!?!.... i like malmsteen but he only can play minor scales...you can't even compare this two guys they are way different...and here with Al Di Meola you got more musical things and more interesting sounds.... sometimes in music speed its not all sorry for my bad english
Pablissity?!..Does this mean "Publicity?"...And no..It is never, ever a negative thing to work with other people....If in Pablissity, you mean publicity, who gives a shit why he does it?!..What can that possibly have to do with the developement of ones skills...C'mon guys!..Be real!
I love Al di Meola, he's nuts - the good way - love his music to bits but just to please my ear (and he ain't writing music for me is he? lol) he could just a tad bit slow down with the complexity - we all know yer a genius - now hold a rhythm for a bit :)
i saw a reply on an other video of somewone that axcually liked this guy better than pat metheny, ok his guitar skiills are great, but does it sound good. I really think that half of it doesn't sound that good at the time its played
Please, comment what u preach Dou u both play guitar my friends? I´m neoclasical and jass guitar teacher and i´ve studied so much Meola, Malmsteen, De Lucia and others. And advice to u before u comment something: I practice what i preach. Do u?
![Al Di Meola - The Grande Passion - Live in Warsaw, 2000 [1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jyRi7eaZ9mo/mqdefault.jpg)
Al Di Meola... in my humble opinion, the most under-rated guitarist/musician in modern history. This guy has rocked me for 45 years! love him!
Yeah but .. like.... I think that much more people know the name "Hendrix" than "Dimeola"...
underated? No! He won Guitar Player poll a million times. I love much of Al's music and technique but you can say the same as you mentioned about John Mclaughlin! Who has a wider legacy even than Al.
Al is why i started guitar at age 20. saw him live in ‘06 in DC. el magnifica 💃
Hey I saw him play 20 years ago live, flawless, I remember 1 mistake, and 1 mistake he saved, impressive, with so many keys, scales and notes. It really was one of the best shows I have ever seen, you have to see him live to truly appreciate him. Finding gaps can only happen when your playing in the pocket constantly, we are suppose to as musicians, he just lets you know.
What a great version of a great song by Al. Al even makes his acoustic guitar sing like one of his Les Pauls. The fact most of the musicians on the stage are reading from charts shows how professional and accomplished of a musician and composer Al is.
Awesome!!! It's funny how I am a Pianist, yet I enjoy the guitar more!!!! This guy is great! Love the music!! :)
The secret to some of his infamous live performances is credited to Gumby Ortiz, the percussionist. They have been playing together for over twenty years. 😊
He is in my opinion, one of the greatest musicians/guitarists of all time. I saw him live years ago back in the early 90's and he blew my mind. Definitely opened my mind to what was out there as far as how performers play the levels of this.
Man, he is so great... It takes a lot of technique and lots of talent, and much of other factors to play different folks, like Al.... I mean, from all the jazz guitarists Al differes, because he can play Spanish, Bossa Nova, egyptian, lots of mediterranean coast folk music.... Last time i heard people comapring Al with rock guitarists like Hendrix, or Vai.... This guy is way better...
I love how Al incorporates a sythesizer with his Ovation! Also, I love Egyptian harmonies!!!!!!!
Brilliant, one of my favorite compositions by Al. He's a genius.
You have to hear Al di M. Paco da Lúcia John McLaughlin awesome magic of three geniuses 🎸🎸🎸🖤🖤🖤
I glad you saw Mama live! My father saw Genesis here in Sao Paulo Brazil, after Peter Gabriel!
Well, in his books which I have studied, he actually advocates learning all possible scales in all combinations.
But what he plays does not rely too much on those.
That is where extraordinary talent comes in, where extraordinary amounts of deliberate practice and rehearsal time make a huge difference.
I Think Al Di Meola & Paco de Lucia are just 2 awesome guitarrists... Nothing can compare to them..
now I understand from where Steve Vai took the idea to create Bangkok song, from Fire Garden album....
je pense aussi que Steve Vai s'inspire aussi beaucoup de Al Dimeola
@Talkin Bout Nawlins bien vrai!
this is a wonderful rendition of this song!
al di is truely one of the greatest of all time. I mean, look how he started his career... return to forever??? how epic
Al Di Meola reminds me Bill Hicks. Also his signature guitar is fucking expensive. 7000 $ or something!
I know. I saw him live in Lithuania about one year ago and I was very shocked listening to acoustic and distortion at the same time.
I think he is using pedal to the acoustic guitar to sound like electric guitar
One of my favorite cuts off of the Casino album. The first fusion album I ever bought. Changed the way I thought of music for the rest of my life.
Even to this day, it is hard to imagine anyone better than this artist.
J.Satriani
holydiver11 Carlos Santana
HA HA HA ! ! !
I really enjoy his music.
That's why i love my Ovation, nothing else sounds like them.
i think this is the best version live, with the sitar effect he has on the acoustic guitar
Al is quite possibly the most "in the pocket" guitar player ever. It's nigh impossible to trip up this man's rhythm.
so hot he needs a table fan to cool him off..............
Hair transplant and leather trousers looking good... That synth is annoying though isn't it?
Incredible guitarist for sure. I saw him at the Morris Stage in NJ in 1977 and he was tremendous. :)
Al Di Meola is a magician on the strings. His tone, speed, and feel are second to none. It's always a pleasure hearing him play the guitar. This is a terrific tune. It's so exotic and full of passion.
that wasn't just great...it was freakkkin EPIC....don't know how some ppl disliked this video...
I saw Al in NY at Stonybrook University during the black cat shuffle tour I was 16. This was a mind bending experience at 16. I only played guitar for 3 years at that point. I remember leaving the concert thinking WHY BOTHER PLAYING THE GUITAR ANYMORE. That is how good AL was ! I have never been to a concert since that was so cool. I remember he had a Marshall half stack and a Mesa Boogie half stack side by side on stage. He sounded awesome. Recently I saw him perform in Raleigh NC. Wow !
wonderfoll .virtiöz.. süper.. performans..
I think he is both the best guitarrist and composer for that instrument. Astonishing how intelligent, complex but easy listening his music is if you know it. I have listened to his early work from around 1975-1978 know and then for more than three decades.
However his second album was even better and, believe it or not, his first solo album Land of the Midnight Sun must be one of the best LP ever recorded !.
The new UA-cam commenting changes are totally and completely screwed up. If I want to see the comment somebody replied to it opens up a new page for no apparent reason. Just slows everything down. How do you reply to a comment? The reply buttons are gone. It worked fine the way it was. It's like this on every website, they insist on making changes which only screw everything up. Take Yahoo for instance, please. And don't get me going on Ebay's changes. Aghhhhh!!!!
I would describe it as 'compositional jazz' - not much improv, but astonishing discipline in the arrangement. The creativity comes in with variations in the instrumentation with each performance. This is master class. Some of those guitar phrases and figures probably only Al can deliver. And on this version his playing is even more complex than the original recording, if that's possible.
Hey gets a great electric sound out of that Ovation for his solos. Excellent control over his dynamics and tone with both his technique and the use of the volume pedal. As always, his sense of rhythm is amazing.
yes MF is not my fav player...so its gambale and matheny or benson...;D
anyway...ever hears of al trying to play blues? hes always on that "i can fusion jazz with flamenco" but he alwyas get owned by de lucia and mclaughlin...or birelli....he's just a nice players for the begginners that had not explore jazz fusion very well...
eh...friedman left metal long ago...he actually plays a very similar style to al...
with all that oriental wave...i've listened to both...but it semms you have just listened to marty on metal...so you are not very able to compare...
and please don't say al has mastered electric...he sucks on electric guitar...and sucks bad
wow, he is a great guitar player. not many people can play like that and have such a clean sound. he does not get sloppy at all.
beatillica, You Post the most awesome guitar players! Have you ever heard of Phil Keaggy. Rated #6 in guitar players magazine in 1982.?
Thank you for posting this!
Al is one of my favorite composers and guitarists, love this version too..But in all honesty, I like his melodic sense and phrasing most, I mean the actual song. The guitar playing is great, but to my ears his bends always sounds stressed and not very musical. Cant have everything I suppose
yeah i apologise for not making this comments years ago...
ppl got to stop thinking al is the "greatest" musician ever...
he can't even play a decent acoustic guitar...so he has to play an ovation xD sad
anway...im glad we both consider him now a total noob :)
which are "my shredders"...saying that you may refer i actually like shredders, and that sould be a mystake...the only guitarist that i like and may be considered a "shredder" its marty friedman...and (and i know most of you will disagree) i consider him a more complex musician than al...
Hey first! Proto shredder!!!!! That right hand man!!!!
Al di Meola is a great inspiration!!! He is amazing! What a beautiful, colorful song!
and actually, shredding is not like p,laying without sense...there are guys shredding out there like gambale or bill connors, or allan holdsworth...even george benson likes shred and they all assrape al
this guy is absolutely amazing.
al dimeola is also very repetitive...he does always run between melodic minor or prhygian mode...so he's not the best example of a "big musical vocabulary"
the first minute was enjoyable...then he got repetitive....as always...thats the trademark from al...being repetitive
Al Dimeola - what can you say?
He is my all time favorite.
THE most underrated artist!
I thought that J. Butler had been pioneer in his use of acoustic guitar as a electric one. AL dimeola has been throughly visionary throughout his career...
ovations suck big time. there sound just happens to go with his style of music though which is why he uses one. im pretty sure he is the only person with a signature ovation anyways.
in order to be 1000 times better than Al , your man naudo needs to be original . he is good but playing tired songs worn out by so many others ... ha ha 1000 times better than AL .. that"s killing me bro ... good one ..
Even the applause is musical....
I like malmsteen a lot and I really enjoy his music...but you just can't compare
rock/metal players with jazz players..jazz
players are simply better...jazz is an own religion.!!!
greez andy
I love the music, not his technique. There are a lot of al's compositions that are much more difficult than this. I was surprised when people whom i showed this were disappointed.
C'mon, you just don't understand! Try to listen it in other way than you listen Zeppelin, where Plant say it all in his lyrics! P.S. I'm Zeppelin fan too!!! peace =)
This is among the most unique performances i've ever heard in my life.
He is better than rock band guitar player but them play popular music and ranked higher than al in guitar magazine list
@MrBumpoo13 he uses a pick the majority of the time to articulate notes better but some songs like "Azzura" he plays with his fingers, preferring a softer tone
not my cup of tea,
he's very talented but not into progressive music
I was looking at old guitar player mags and saw an article on him thought i'de look it up :~}
You should have just watched and left...No need for your opinion.
Im a zep fan, al is AWSOME! and some people are music snobs who critique other peoples taste in art. Bet they have an ugly spouse! lmao at snobs!
JRC3ky
Мастер! Имхо его стиль, его понимание импровизации, мышление музыкальное на две головы выше, чем у Вая, Сатриани, и прочих "мальмстинов".
***** ну в принципе да. Сатч мелодист классный, такие красивые и интересные мелодии сочинять из небольшого количества ладов (в осн. пентатоника, нат. минор и дорийский лад - это искусство), однако похожий лексикон можно найти у многих гитаристов. Говоря про Эл Ди Меолу, я имел ввиду, что у него музыка не похожа ни на кого, у него неповторимый звук, намного опередивший свое время и неповторимое муз. мышление.
+Yurii Guitarist Много "лишнего". иногда теряется сама нить мелодии. Сам подход интересен, но не актуален. Скорее "не оригинален".
SCUMBAG FATHER? NY Daily News: Al Di Meola got three gold albums, but the guitar virtuoso doesn't want to pay a penny in child support for his 8-year old son, Kyle. Di Meola allegedly has visited his son only once, according tomother, Magda Barreca.Di Meola Productions rakes in millions but he claimed to have a salary of $49,000 in Family Court & defaulted on $122 per week payments. Di Meola has a $Multi-million dollar Colonial mansion in N.J., a condo in Miami, Land Rover & Mercedes SL 600.
53 dont like? This is pure Jazz Rock genre and more challenging art of all time, unfortunately, the music is dead because of TV and DJs who mix music teachers failed abortion and other abominations house metal musicians whose music has nothing to do see, these teachers and listeners should expect to clean the toilets.
Learn and study groups such as Wheater Report, Return to Forever, Brand X, UK. and a few others.
@Eradicateify
The first metal song was by black sabbath. I think it is the song of the same name and that riff sounds nothing like blues. That is the proto metal riff. Anyways metal can take as much skill and knowledge as you want it to. You can incorporate anything into it. Most of it comes from blues but bands like meshuggah don't really have much of that in it. Progressive and jazz influences really show with them. Or malmsteen who uses massive amounts of classical theory in his stuff.
@smufmigeifmig
He CAN play that stuff and as a fellow musician he probably DOES. But the reason you don't play metal or rock is because its just a branch of blues basically. Jazz from all the way to afro cuban to rag. Its really immense stuff. And its HARD to play you show up at a music program and audition with tunes and scales your not gunna play metal because it doesn't take as much knowledge as jazz or classical.
No need to debate who the greatest guitarists are- just be happy to live in a world with so many, and access to them through You Tube. I wish it had been around when I was picking up the guitar 35 years ago. For the record- Tommy Emmanuel is the only guitarist I've seen live who compares with Demeola's passion and speed (I saw McLaughlin with Shakti, so he was more subdued than usual. Steve Howe on a good night is also amazing.
Why the fuck are people talking about Kurt Cobain on this? Sure, Nirvana is fine, but not very good guitars. Kurt would have even admitted that.
Also, stop comparing Al to Clapton and Hendrix. They are totally different styles with different goals in their music. Al tends to be more technical and exotic, Clapton is bluesy and melodic (while being technical and somewhat artistic)a, and Hendrix....well, Hendrix is just Hendrix, can't argue with that.
dude do you know knothing clearly in i doubt some one whos been playing for six months could play in bloom go see the solo and say person who has been playing for 6months can play that and 2nd jimi can out play this guy dude maybe you need to do research in him and his technique somethings clearly wrong espcialy if you think clapton should be there and jimi should not you seriously need to look closer at your guitarist dude
First, some punctuation would be awesome. Al could play hendrix under the table any day of the week. I mean, its hard to compare them in the first place because they play very different styles of music, but technically, Al's got Jimi beat.
And in rebuttle, Cobain is shit on guitar, name one riff that he wrote that can't be played by someone who's been playing guitar for more than 6 months.
So!....You have arrived at the dubious conclusion that, these people who collaborated with Al D., did it for reasons of "Pablissity", without any reason to believe that...And that it could, by no means be related to their appreciation of his past work....Let me ask you then; why would they want their name affiliated with someone that other people thought....Sucked?!...How fucking dumb would that be?!...Did ya ever think that they could possibly, just possibly now, actually like his work?!
..Cont..Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Zappa, Jean Luc-Ponty, Steve Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and many others players from around the world, all kinds of styles of music, he's mastered both Electric and Acoustic, studied at The Berklee school of music.(Friedman?..Plays metal, and is self taught.) All this, and you find friedman to be more, "Complex."..Are you taking this comedy act on the road?..Because, if you are, let us all know.. ..It's very funny!
O.K. We're comparing a playing who plays one style, and one style only,(Friedman, Metal) to a guy who has played with the foremost musicians..Just listen to some of the cross-over musicians he's worked with, and then go sit down and be quiet... Paco Delucia, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, John Mcloughlin, Paul Simon, Steve Gadd, Jan Hammer, Eddie Gomez, Jaco Pastorius, Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Larry Coryell, Les Paul, Steve Vai, Jimmy page, Ingwe malmsteen,...Cont...
When constructing an actual "Song" some amount of repetition is required...All great musicians utilize repetition..It's how it's used that matters. His repetition is deliberate in it's placement, and presentation ... It's called a composition....He is not like one of your "Shredders", (You use this term when referring to your own guitar heroes, don't you?!...Tell the truth!) who are all fluff, and no stuff, meandering all over the place, exhibiting no direction in their music...Amateurs.
just different music styles. None is "better" than another. If we're talking technique I'd say guys like Guthrie Govan or Greg Howe or Shawn Lane would wipe the floor with Al Di Meola since the're more complete but who cares? In the end it's about the music. If it was a technique contest Francesco Fareri and Rusty Cooley would be the kings o the world. Let's cherish the variety of styles and guitarists :)
I'm looking at the influences of my influence (dad was inspired by DiMeola, and I'm inspired by him... still can't play though) I know nothing of odd time signatures; I don't really listen to Latin or Jazz; I'm not looking for tips on technicality (because I can't play more than 5 chords) so explain why I still think this dude is the shit?
now, If you don't like, you don't like it, oh well. Time to move on and whatnot.
i'll admit i have listened to zeppelin enough to last a lifetime but i'm not musically illiterate. i play guitar and trumpet. i know how to read music, i have played in obscure time signatures. i see the value of this but all its gonna do is influence people to play technically well. when people do music like this it gets boring because its nothing but the more obscure side of music.
i'm not really saying i don't like it, but its very uncommon. don't get me wrong, i know of odd time signatures, i listen to and play very odd time signatures in some of the music i play. maybe what i'm trying to say is not that i don't like di meola, but rather that i don't like his ideas of what is good musical structure. yes its music, but its not something that will ever be highly regarded for anything other then technicality.
yea exactly. don't get me wrong. i would love to get some tips from him about playing but his music makes no real sense. it doesn't really have any structure. its like he said "pick a key, and we'll play for hours in that key with no time signature. just a constant beat." its impressive but there's just nothing that makes it really enjoyable... just educational. i'll admit, i did learn a lot just listening to it.
HAHAHA You've never seen Robert Fripp, have you? Silly goose.
Essentially, what he's advocating is learning all those scale with the intent of learning how they sound and how you can relate them to one another. Done properly, you'll eventually begin ignoring your conscious inclination towards scales and begin playing with their sounds in mind, but without any kind of arbitrary restrictions that some people think a scale entails.
No problem. There's a bit of a semantic difference between the two. Just for reference, when I said "simple scales", I actually should have more correctly said "scales of any kind". His music isn't composed by throwing scale patterns together and hoping for the best, but by following his own melodic impulses without letting scales prescribe what notes he plays.
I remember about twelve months ago when he had a show planned for Canberra. I drove a long distance from my rural town only to find out the show had been cancelled. Needless to say, I was very upset. Never did find out why he cancelled. I imagine it was because not many tickets were sold due to the fact that a small tub of yoghurt has more culture than Canberra.
@Eradicateify
Though this is true, the lines between fusion jazz and progressive metal tend to blur... so there's some metal bands (e.g. cynic, death) apply the musicality of jazz on a metal sound (or vice versa^^). Listen to some solos by Meshuggah (for example Sublevels) and by Allan Holdsworth back to back and you'll know what I mean.
@B:Paradox of ensemble playing: You must listen to fellow players to be 'in the same space', & yet -not- listen to them, to stay true to the course you've (been) chosen to follow. There are other, very different versions of this situation: Louis Armstrong, often played -so- freely, that if his rhythm section listened too closely to him, they'd never be able to keep time : - )
I would not like to play with Al Di Meola. Not because he is not a genius, but he is a genius at time. If you can't have impeccable timing Al will throw you off with his rhythmic shenanigans. He has a knack for finding gaps...i just would be thrown off so much...but then again it would bring my playing to another level.
wow are you seriouse hendrix could out play this guy if he was alive dude and cobain was not a shity guitarist no one can play like hindrix he can make his guitar sound better then this guys even when he is playing behind his head or behind his teeth we can take it to some sort of good threads and you can hear other peoples opnions as well and we will see how they stack up
The original was on his Casino album from '78(?). Elegant Gypsy from the same era. Friday Night in San Fransisco with Paco DE Lucia and John McLaughlin. Passion Grace and fire with the same Trio. You might like Aziza Mustafa Zadeh which he collaborated with in the '90's. There's a lot of great musicians out there. Frank Gambale, Alan Holdsworth. Too many to name.
Why are people arguing over Paco versus Al? That's ridiculous. This is meant to enjoy. Just sit back and appreciate it. I don't care what anybody says, Al Dimeola is one heck of a guitarist. His style is one of a kind. Sure he's probably composed more complex tunes than this? Complex or not, he's awesome. ( ^ _ ^ )
i do listen to jazz and latin. this is completely different. and another thing, you talk of me not understanding this... do you?
not many people do understand this kind of music. most of the people attracted to di meola are guitarists looking for the influences of their influences. they wouldn't understand this.
First I saw thumbnail of Al with that acustic guitar and I wasn`t very atracted to this, even Al is playing good on acustic g. too, cos I like electric sound of this song. But is electric. Surprise, surprise. This is by me the best his song forever. After all Vinnie Moores, Jason Beckers, Andy James etc. he is still in ligue.
Here's the difference, man. Ever watch an orchestra, or a symphony? Where the ENTIRE show's sole purpose is the music? They sit. There you go. Not that there's anything wrong with rocking out and getting into the music. Different genres are just different, that's all. Apples and oranges.
@pityisz
the feel. he is probably play that guitar for so long, and know its like the back of his hand. changing over to electric would take a little time, because the next is not as thick, different strings, and maybe the tone of the acoustic fits the his songs better even though it has distortion
@GivenWillingly
I write in Progressive/fusion they blur because your taking elements of everything you can find its amazing. But yeah, i do listen to meshuggah and metal 1ce in awhile been listening to periphery metal, actually really good prog metal. They have very nice polyrhythms
@Eradicateify
i didnt say that because i think he cant play it, i said it because i think they could make an awesome instrumental together (not all nile song are superfast. they have some awesome athmospheric slow stuff)
also karl sanders puts out solo albums (check out of the sleep of ishtar)
peace
yngwie malmsteen??!?!?!.... i like malmsteen but he only can play minor scales...you can't even compare this two guys they are way different...and here with Al Di Meola you got more musical things and more interesting sounds.... sometimes in music speed its not all
sorry for my bad english
Pablissity?!..Does this mean "Publicity?"...And no..It is never, ever a negative thing to work with other people....If in Pablissity, you mean publicity, who gives a shit why he does it?!..What can that possibly have to do with the developement of ones skills...C'mon guys!..Be real!
I love Al di Meola, he's nuts - the good way - love his music to bits but just to please my ear (and he ain't writing music for me is he? lol) he could just a tad bit slow down with the complexity - we all know yer a genius - now hold a rhythm for a bit :)
i saw a reply on an other video of somewone that axcually liked this guy better than pat metheny, ok his guitar skiills are great, but does it sound good. I really think that half of it doesn't sound that good at the time its played
Please, comment what u preach
Dou u both play guitar my friends? I´m neoclasical and jass guitar teacher and i´ve studied so much Meola, Malmsteen, De Lucia and others. And advice to u before u comment something: I practice what i preach. Do u?