March 16, 201115 yr Author I think that Jonny could definitely improve if he was given room for a giant guitar solo in a song, but he really hasn't had the chance. . . . Violet Hill gave him plenty of room, and to me it was a very boring solo. Didn't he say in an interview during VLV that Strawberry Swing was the most difficult song he's played? ITs not as "in your face" but I think it's technically very challenging. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Strawberry Swing was one of the first songs I learned on the guitar, so I don't think it's very difficult. It's a really great part though. I suppose I'm a little unclear on what we're using to define "skills". If we mean the most impressive showcase of his abilities, then yes, I'd agree that AROBTTH and the live tracks played then featured the most present and complex guitar work. But I seriously doubt his skills have somehow deteriorated since then, especially since we haven't seen Coldplay perform songs like AROBTTH recently. More Jonny in the future would be nice, though I don't necessarily think it has to be "more difficult" guitar. Yea, that's what I mean. I'm not trying to say he's a worse guitarist haha. He just doesn't show his skill as much and his songwriting is worse than it was back in the AROBTTH era. I think Jonny is underrated. He should do more guitar parts. He has a guitar part in nearly every song. I wanna hear more atmospheric parts :sad: Also we saw another Jonny solo in 42, Violet Hill etc... although I realise you guise probably mean album as a whole. Yea, more Rush of Blood-esque guitar work would be great. I think that's what I miss most about the 'old' Coldplay sound.
March 16, 201115 yr I'm with Josh42 on his point about Violet Hill, that was the perfect opportunity to really do something cool but he just ends up repeating that one riff over like five times for his solo. I was pretty happy with it overall though the first time I heard it I was like "Sweet, Jonny can play guitar again!" haha Did he really say that "Strawberry Swing" is the hardest thing he's ever written/played? It's beautiful and perfect for the song but if that's really true then he should probably think about taking some guitar lessons... again like above ^ one of the first songs I learned on guitar
March 16, 201115 yr I think Jonny's wonderful, I mean they don't play songs along the lines of Hendrix, Slash, Joe Perry, Townsend, ect..... I think he does a great job:)
March 17, 201115 yr since Im not musically inclined,Id like to ask if Chris is a good guitar player.???To me he sounds fine,but I really wouldnt know
March 17, 201115 yr I think Chris is a really, really good songwriter and he's definitely a much better piano player than guitar player. His guitar parts aren't that technically difficult but they are quite well done. It is annoying sometimes when you want to play Coldplay songs on guitar because he uses soo many different guitar tunings and it's a pain to keep retuning for one song, but the way he plays around with the guitar and tunings is pretty cool. We've never really seen him play lead guitar but I'm sure he could do a decent job with it. Also, about Jonny, I'm not positive about this but I'm pretty sure he's playing an Ibanez guitar which is very interesting to me. I don't know a ton about different makes of guitars but from what I know Ibanez and Fenders (esp. Telecasters) are very very different instruments. Of course you can use effects with Ibanez guitars but I don't know many musicians who play with an Ibanez that use effects for atmospheric sounds.. so maybe Jonny is moving on to a different more direct sound.. just a thought
March 17, 201115 yr I like Jonny's guitar parts in A Message, Lost and especially the remixed version of talk/god put a smile upon your face we saw on the VLV tour.
March 17, 201115 yr *enters in conversation like a burro sin mecate* Yeah, Basically he's good but nothing stands out.
March 18, 201115 yr Johnny and Guy should show Chris how to play the guitar lower on the body because it looks better there. Chris has lots of good moves onstage with the guitar, but he needs to hold it lower. Over here we have lots of jokes about guitarplayers who hold their guitar too high up.
March 18, 201115 yr A few things: #1 his playing an Ibanez, If you're refering to the black guitar he's been playing lately, it's a Moog E3. The whole point of that particular guitar is that it has some fairly gnarly built in effects, so I don't think you'll be hearing much clean tone on songs he used that for. That said, he's also been photographed playing strats and an old Epiphone Casino in the studio so you should get some new sounds. He's also not given up the Tele's though, as you can clearly see about a half dozen of them racked up at the Crisis/Vegas gigs from december, as well as in studio photos. #2 His tendinitis issues, which were apparently quite serious, started around the time X and Y were being recording and weren't fully resolved until fairly well into the recording of VLV, so this could well account for the differences in his playing style. He's not a flashy player for sure, but I think he's honestly a fair bit better than he often gets credit for. Although he will probably never go down as one of the greats, his parts usually work for the song, he has decent skills when the song calls for it (he's particularly good at slide, although he doesn't use that much anymore and at tremolo picking). Also, although his studio parts can leave something to be desired from time to time, his live work is pretty consistently decent. His only real spotlight moment in the live set is GPASUYF (when they play it in the regular configuration), and again while his solos here are not exactly Jimi Hendrix, they're nothing to be ashamed of either.
March 18, 201115 yr I personally don't think any of the guys are above "very good" in their respected positions. For example, Chris isn't Robert P., Guy isn't Flea, Jonny isn't Hendrix, and Will isn't Moon.
March 18, 201115 yr Guy seems to be the only one who gets cited by other musicians (even those who dislike the band as a whole) as a "good player". Not sure why, but I've seen his name come up a few times, and from some people who would seem unlikely to cite him.
May 21, 201115 yr To me Jonny still best guitar player.You doesn't have to do crazy solo if you genre is slow rock.To most important point is your melody and feel.Just my opinion.
May 21, 201115 yr [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Loq2Q6VrvIE]YouTube - Coldplay Liverpool Royal Court 19th December 2010 Crisis at Chrisrtmas Hidden Gig[/ame] Jay definitely knows how to play guitar! I agree that a little bit more guitar in Coldplay's songs would be great, but not too much : I don't want him to turn in one of those "look-at-me-and-how-I-can-play-all-those-weird-sounds-one-after-another-even-if-it-makes-the-whole-thing-become-ugly-as-fuck" guitarist. I like how he's able to be really discrete, it makes the "wild" moments like this one even more precious
May 22, 201115 yr Johnny and Guy should show Chris how to play the guitar lower on the body because it looks better there. gtfo
May 22, 201115 yr AROBTTH :dazzled: Yeah probably but I think he can do better, I hope he will in LP5
June 5, 201115 yr Idk what the rest of you guys think about the new songs, but certainly on Hurts Like Heaven and Charlie Brown Jonny is playing some serious guitar.. and I think I like it. New nickname idea: Jonny B. Goode ("Go, Jonny, Go!"
June 5, 201115 yr Idk what the rest of you guys think about the new songs, but certainly on Hurts Like Heaven and Charlie Brown Jonny is playing some serious guitar.. and I think I like it. New nickname idea: Jonny B. Goode ("Go, Jonny, Go!" Couldn't agree more. LP5 is where Jonny will shine!
June 5, 201115 yr Uhm I don't think so... he's had some good moments in individual tracks, like Only Superstition and the live solo of AROBTTH and Spies and.... well that's it. High Speed, Twisted Logic and 42 are decent as well.
June 5, 201115 yr Judging by these latest live performances, Jonny does indeed shine. He really does let it rip doesnt he, especially in Hurts Like Heaven! I don't know if it's because they're live and Jonny's always best live (like in that AROBTTH vid posted up earlier), but I do hope the studio versions have those amazing guitar solos too. EDIT: Ok, I just listened to the Rock am Ring version of Major Minus, and Jonny's guitar solo is some kind of awesome in that one.
June 5, 201115 yr Cemeteries of London, Violet Hill, Death and all His Friends, Yes, Strawberry Swing. Jonny's guitar was ALL OVER viva.
June 6, 201115 yr I was going to post something and then I was distracted by the signature that looks like Chris is about to vomit. ...goddamnit.
June 6, 201115 yr For realz It's even better in Postcards From Far Away haha. I like it because even the idiot that said it probably won't realize you've made fun of them. hhahahahaha. genius comment
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