I was not a big fan of YouTube. To be honest, in the beginning I could not understand what is all the fuss about. Some people uploading their stupid videos with their dogs at the pool or some idiots drinking Cola while eating Mentos…
That was in the beginning. Now I heavily use YouTube for watching cool concerts, songs, videos and guitar lessons, I almost all the time find something interesting to watch there and my most important (like 95%) usage of YouTube is for music.
I have seen there a lot of wannabes, a lot of people trying to play the guitar like their idols, I have seen people trying and people failing and also some of them succeeding. But what really impressed me is this guy, Gustavo Guerra!
When I have first seen him on YouTube I couldn’t believe my eyes. Or ears. Really! He seems to be in absolute the same league as Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen, Gilbert, etc. He plays guitar with an amazing easiness and feeling, speed and technique. Using specific electric guitars for specific artists made him look more than cool and built him a brand image. He must have money and a lot of passion for electric guitars, since he owns custom models of famous artists, playing Satriani on Ibanez Joe Satriani models (I have counted about 3 of them, including the chromed model), Vai on JEM model, Malmsteen on his scalloped Fender, Eric Johnson on his model, damn, he seems to have them all, he must feel like a child in a toy store, really.
What I could observe also is the tone. He uses the exact same tone that the original artist uses. Try to pay attention to his tone when playing Vai and Satriani and see the tone, 1 on 1. I know that playing on the exact model that the original artist uses gives him an advantage because of the pickups but this is only one step, for the rest you need a musician year. Using a Fred pickup and a JS Ibanez model does not give you Satriani’s sound, otherwise everybody would sound like Satriani. But he really sounds like him. And Vai. And Johnson…
An other observation I had when listening him is the fact that he is highly versatile. It is not easy to study Steve Vai and play like him since he has particular formulas given by his unique style. But jumping from Vai to Malmsteen and then to Eric Johnson, now, that is an adventure since there are 3 totally different styles and you need great versatility for this.
When seeing him, I immediately asked myself why is he not famous. Maybe he lost the period when playing the way he does would make you famous. Or maybe he has a certain fame in Brazil that gives him enough recognition (see him playing along with Paul Gilbert on stage and you will agree that he received enough recognition there to play with Paul Gilbert)
Anyway, I looked for him on the internet, I have found some information about him, he seems to be a teacher, teaching guitar students, somehow the way Joe Satriani did and I have also seen he has musical record history, some recordings on a Brazilian label.
However, I think that he is the best guitar player on YouTube, a guitar player that would need an international career. If I would have something to say in the record company that signed Joe Satriani or Steve Vai, I would sign him immediately and lead him to glory, because, boy, this guitar player has glory written all over him.
Laurie Monk from ThruthInShredding also posted about him here.
What do you think?
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16 Responses to “Gustavo Guerra, the best guitar player on YouTube?”
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Ovidiu OprescuRomania, 31 years
Playing the guitar since 17 and enjoying every moment of it!
Come meet me also on Mixx, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Digg, MySpace, MyBlogLog, Twitter, BlogCatalog
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agatzebluz
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Well maybe he is is not well known because he is not original and only plays other peoples songs, exactly like their authors do !!!
He plays good nevertheless.
admin
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Thank you for commenting on my blog, agatzebluz
Well, you may have a point. I have also thought about it also, but I don’t think that this is all he does. See, I think that playing these songs is just a matter of social proof. I can do it like those guys! And everybody says, man, he is THAT good!!! Next he needs to prove himself with his own songs. He has a record, I think, Iris danger or something but I didn’t get to listen to it.
Tim
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Thanks for stopping by my site.
I hadn’t heard this guy play before but I enjoyed it. I’ve added him to my vodpod and I added your site to my Links. Guitar Blogs need to stick together!
admin
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I haven’t heard of him until a few weeks but he is really good, indeed. Just that I would like to see his own work also.
Thank you for adding me, I will add you too. indeed, guitar blogs need to stick together.
agatzebluz
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
You’re welcome. I know what it’s like to wait for comments
Keep on blogging.
Pachelbel’s Canon in D guitar madness | Guitar tabs,electric guitars,acoustic guitars
April 10th, 2008 at 10:49 am
[…] here’s Gustavo Guerra’s version of Canon song, a version that I adore, since compared to other versions, he has […]
Terry Weadock
May 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
This guy is way good. I wonder if he has any originals. Great tone, soul and feel. Thanks for the heads up.
taw
Ovidiu
May 6th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
He has his own music, go to his page on MySpace and see there, I was also interested about this because I couldn’t understand why is he not famous.
morten
May 18th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
try some searchs on youtube. he wrote some amazing songs on his own. include these titles in your search : Na Veia, Big Foot , Sunset 1030, Até Cubanos, A casa caiu, Iris , Dadiva.
Also if you like his work and you can spare the time,please register and vote for him on Guitar idol 2k8! he’s currently in a tie for the first place.
http://www.gtridol.com/gustavo-guerra
it just takes a minute and some clicks.
let’s see him open the joe satriani show next month in london, he certa deserves it.
dfds
June 21st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
he also makes his own songs, and he just won guitaridol 08
GGuerraFanSite
June 26th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Great words! Gustavo is trully amazing!
Anyone who has a Youtube account should check out the official Gustavo Guerra Fan Site and subscribe to it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/GGuerraFanSite
Ovidiu
June 27th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Gustavo Guerra is indeed a great guitar player and he deserves to be world known. I promised myself to watch him over years.
The Omniscient One
July 25th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I don’t see what all the hoopla is about this guy. Yes he is indeed a fantastic player. But why is he rated over others like Cesar Huesca or Ozielzihno or David Valdes? Valdes being, in my opinion, truly the best amateur guitarist on youtube. Or anywhere really as far as instrumental rock is concerned. He has two original albums and a shred style that rivals Jason Becker. No shit, he is that good. The difference I see here is exposure. For some reason alot of you dorks love GG’s gooffy smiling face and his signature guitars. While I think that is very cool that he has them, it’s bullshit that you’d take him over another better player just because he plays a Jem or whatever. My point is if you all really have a trained ear in this shred style you’d understand the nuances of the covers that he’s performing and hear that it is not perfect. At all. With the exception of his Far beyond the sun cover (with the red guitar not the yngwie model) almost all of his songs have flaws in the phrasing or just flat out improvisational changes to key lines. For example, his surfing with the alien cover is wack. For one, that song isn’t even hard to play. Second, he butchers the intro tapping section to the solo by moving way too fast through the scale. Hello, satch’s playing is based on melody not yngwie styled hyper tremolo picking. Then during the middle part of the solo where there are distinct artificial harmonics, he doesn’t hit any of them. I don’t mean to nitpick but this guy is annoying. Especially when youtube morons claim that he can tap better than Reb Beach on Black Magic. It’s just simply not true. I think it’s great that alot of you who can’t play this well or have’nt seen anyone play this well before think that it’s the greatest thing ever. But come on now? It’s not. He just has the advantage of some brazilian studio heads making great videos for him. Most players don’t have such a sophisticated set up for video. That doesn’t make them inferior players, just lower quality to the ignorant viewer. In closing I would just like to say that GG should concentrate more on his composing skill rather than ripping off guys like the great Vinnie Moore. It would suit him better if he wants to have a real career. Cause we “real” shred afficianados will call bull$hit if he continues to steal rhythmic structures and/or lead lines from famous compositions. Well known or not. And for the record I will be getting vids up on youtube as soon as possible to back up all the shit that I talk. But for now, unfortunately, my music can only be heard on this site: godofwarmusic.us
Ovidiu
July 25th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Well, I don’t know what all “the dorks” appreciate, I will only tell you what one one of them really appreciates. First of all, a good attitude and politeness from the person commenting on my blog.
Then, speaking about Gustavo Guerra, he has a very nice fluency in his playing, he feels the guitar, is one with it, he never seems to lose control over the guitar and has a very good control of it.
Then, the phrasing, I like the way he structures his playing, and I don’t speak about cover songs but about original songs. His covers are very good, even if he doesn’t follow them note by note, maybe the notes that are different are his way of participating to the song as a whole.
I love the sound, he has a very professional sound, what not a lot of guys have, listen how complete his sound is. I am after such a sound since a long time and I never managed to find it.
Anyway, regarding the other guys, thanks for pointing me to them,I will try to cover them here as well.
The Omniscient One
July 26th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Nice response to my comment. I didn’t expect a lot of class to come back my way considering the immature nature of the people who generally comment on youtube. I appreciate a genuine and intelligent response. My gripe was never that GG is not a great talent. He is. My gripe is simply this consensus that he is a “best” on youtube player. With all the serious talent that I’ve seen on there from various Death Metal players to great jazz fusion guys I find it ludacris that he continues to get this favorable view. As if none of these other players exist. A moron once replied to me about how GG is much better because of how many views he garners on a particular video. My response was simply, of course he’s gonna have more views if all he does is cover Satch and Vai. Two of the most popular icons of the shred/instrumental rock idiom. To dismiss a player like Huesca or Valdes based on that logic is fucking stupid. I notice how you admire the hell out of his sound. I don’t see all the fuss about this. First, as was noted, he uses some of the best electric guitars in current production. Second, I’ve read him reply to a comment about his tone and I recall him simply stating that it was some line 6 type of computer port processor that goes directly into his computer and monitors. Thus, creating very precise tonal options at a low volume ideal for close up audio and video. I don’t see anything special about this and have heard other players who have just as good a sound. Plus by using only backing tracks one is allowed more freedom to phrase out of time or improvise. Thus, not truly showcasing a note for note performance. And believe me “dorks,” you can’t call a performance “perfect” if it is not note for note in it’s entirety. Once again in closing I will say that he is very good and I think the best thing about him is that he does have great versatility within the genre. He does Yngwie, Vai and Satch well, but also can play Reb Beach and Dweezil Zappa stuff. I appreciate that in his game and think that is what should be recognizable about him. Not all this he’s perfect and the best n’ stuff. He’s very good at playing different guys styles while others are more specialists. Such as: Huesca/Steve Vai or Ugardruven/Satch. Keep working those originals and he should prosper.
Ovidiu
July 28th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Well, about the sound, I am not against digitized productions, like a Line 6 processed sound. I think that this can only help the sound, I am actually a small fan of Line 6, I have ordered a Variax guitar myself.
He may not be the best on all the songs he plays, I will not argue on that but I think this guy is a true professional, compared to a a lot of amateur guitar players. I am not very familiar to Cesar Huesca and the rest but I promise I will do my best to watch them and listen them and maybe we will have again a discussion on this later.