LB VS Carlos Santana ?
 

Hello

Quick question.

Carlos Santana & The Band Santana. I have always thought, and by all means I am no expert, nor a polished player-so I may not be too schooled on the dynamics. But, I have thought that Carlos Santana is big time over rated. And what I mean by over rated, is his overall rating, I agree he is a great Guitar player for sure, but I am unaware that he does anything else such as producing, writing, arranging, etc. I got into a big time argument, where I said that LB is a better musician than CS is, by far. Am I wrong? I just think CS is a guitar player and that is all. Also, he pretty much only had hits when he played with big time people, meaning he had help. But, is LB a better overall musician than Carlos Santana?

Also, in terms of BANDS, isn’t FM way better than Santana? As one of my arguments, was that it has been AGES since Santana has had a hit album, etc on the charts, etc., and decades since they have been relevant.

Am I correct ? if not, I would be interested to see the arguments , and also the thinking. I just have always felt this way

David

I like Santana but have been an FM/LB fan forever. I think LB is a more versatile guitarist than Santana as to me a lot of Santana's solos just sound the same. On the collaboration albums he's brought out recently I really don't think he alters his style enough to suit each song. Smooth however was one of the best singles by anyone in a long time and I loved the guitar on that. Overall LB gets my vote.

I may be wrong, but has Carlos written a song once?

The day Lindsey makes an album with other current popular musicians singing on, then I'll consider Santana on equal ground with LB. So the day that Lindsey "jumps the shark", I guess will also be the day that pigs fly and Hell freezes over.

To be fair, it's hard to rank the merits of one guitarist vs. another since, at the end of the day, it all boils down to a listener's personal preference. In my opinion, to be a great guitarist, one must not only have technical proficiency, but also a strong musical sense and the ability to transcend the inherent limitations of a stringed, fretted instrument. One must also be an innovator with a distinctive, recognizable sound. If you think about it, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of guitarists currently in the world of pop/rock music. But how many of these guitarists can you recognize instantly? How many of these guitarists have the versatility and the ability to create different moods that complement the song? Not many. In this sense, I think U2's The Edge is perhaps one of the greatest guitarists in history. What he plays is technically not difficult at all. But he truly innovated the use of guitar effects and has easily the most recognizable guitar sound in the world. But most of all, his melodic, lyrical use of the guitar provides the perfect emotional context for U2's songs. The Edge makes beautiful music. My other favorite guitarists are Joni Mitchell, Steve Howe and Jonny Buckland (Coldplay). Again, not the flashiest guitarists with dazzling technical precision, but guitarists with good musical instincts and innovators in their own way.

As for Lindsey vs. Santana... There is no doubt that Carlos Santana is a proficient guitarist. And he is very distinctive- that yelping, piercing Latin-fusion "noodling" style of single and bent notes is/was unprecedented in rock music. But as far as I can tell, that's all he does, no matter what type of song it is. If it's a straightforward pop song, it's full of Latin-fusion noodling. If it's a bluesy tango, it's full of Latin-fusion noodling. If it's a hip hop-flavored song, it's full of Latin-fusion noodling. The man does Latin-fusion noodling. And nothing else. In that sense, I think he fails badly. On the other hand, Lindsey is a much more musically-intuitive player who has a repertoire of styles to fit the mood. But the real beauty is that even though he plays in multiple different styles, one can still tell it is Lindsey Buckingham playing. I personally think Lindsey is the innovator of the one-note guitar solo, e.g., "The Chain." A less confident guitarist would feel the need to fill the void with profusions of different notes up and down the neck. But Lindsey plays that one note through several measures, creating a menacing build-up of tension that finally explodes at the end as the song gets really amped up. I also marvel at the melodic, understated fills he places in strategic spots in "Sara"- adding a lot of interesting color to what would otherwise be yet another maudlin two-chord Stevie song. At the end of the day, the difference between Lindsey and Santana is that Lindsey's primary focus is the song; Santana's primary focus is being Santana.

I might not really know what you mean and this might not be an example of it at all, but when I read that, I immediately thought of Soldier's Angel. There's that one pluck that goes a long way towards creating the ominousity that Stevie spoke of. It's stark, isolated and portends things left unsaid, unplayed, just hanging in the air, waiting to fall. Things don't finally explode as they do in The Chain. They're suspended. The sound is repeated throughout the song and to me it's like, just when you thought the danger had receded, you're reminded that it's still there. It's like that car alarm that is suddenly silent and you think your neighbor must have turned it off, but then, nope, it chimes again. That single pluck creates unease through its very constant simplicity.

Michele