The seemingly new fad of acoustic guitars... Thanks Andy Mckee!

Foxxy66

Member
Ok, now don't get me wrong, the guy is pretty damn good at guitar, whether it be his own material or otherwise. And I know he isn't solely responsible for this, but it seems that ever since he got popular around my area with 'Drifting', slapping the strings for harmonics and hitting the guitar in beat is the next best thing. I know of course that it isn't exactly new, but am I the only one that finds it incredibly annoying? I mean, it can only last for so long. How many songs can you write with your hands upside down and slapping beats out on the wood? (Bad choice of words perhaps...)

At least in my area, I hope this phase comes to an end... Is anyone else suffering from this, or is it in fact a widely accepted act of acoustic guitar?

To help point this out, here's some guy I know who's recently fallen into this... He's very good at guitar, but I don't know... I just don't know...
http://www.youtube.com/user/dylan96unearth

Opinions on all this then?
 
I suppose we could blame Michael Hedges - but I actually think he was pretty good. You're right, it is a 'fad' and often flash over substance. It's a good sound, but if you want to kill something you do it a dozen times.
 
Yeah, not a huge fan of that style either. When used as an effect, it can sound cool, but basing whole musical pieces (or a whole career) around it gets a bit tiring.

How about some Tommy Emmanuel instead?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ahGOzE0l9U

Agree. Tommy's brother, Phil, is no slouch either. I saw them play together a few times and they are very hot players. Very traditional but very dexterous and clean.
 
Some totally awesome stuff there guys. Discussing it with a friend today, we basically pinpointed it as the people learning new songs, (Drifting!) and trying to emulate that style without putting in much compositional thought. However, the guy I posted before put up a new track which isn't as heavy on that technique, which has just become sickening to my ears... Check it out and see what you guys think. I think it's not bad, but I suggested that perhaps a step away from the tapping and slapping would be more... Bearable, heh.
 
Thanks but I'm not Andy, Jacob's the name. Just a friend and fan who helps out with publicity stuff when I can. I also am an admin on his forums. I get google alerts on Andy and this one came up, so I thought it was worthwhile trying to defend him a bit.

Anyway, he is genuinely one of the nicest people I've known (25+years) and a creative and versatile guitarist. Hopefully you'll see that through the videos I posted.

Jacob Martin
 
Huh. Sorry, I guess I should have focused more on the fact that this song started it all. I know the guy rocks, i never said he was rubbish, nor that that style is all he does. I recently saw a video of him doing the solo for innocence faded, dream theater? Blew me away, the guy rocks. So I should have been more specific. But fair play to you anyway.
Nothing against him at all, he truly is brilliant.
 
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