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Steely Dan = Greatest Band Ever

Boumtje-Boumtje

By Boumtje-Boumtje
in Electric Guitars

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Muddslide Newbie

Muddslide

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meh. not feelin ya.

 

 

I agree. The musicianship of the various bandmembers over the years has been stellar and they have a sophisticated songwriting approach which I appreciate. They have a handful of songs I absolutely love ("Pearl of the Quarter" is tops for me) but overall it's just too smooth and polished for me. Too fusion-y. Too much jazz, not enough rock for the most part.

 

I actually like dissonance, ragged edges and even amateurism in my rock.

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soulstrat88 Newbie

soulstrat88

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I enjoy their music quite a bit, the musicianship is excellent, and they have a distinct sound.


But I don't think they're even in the discussion for greatest band ever.

 

 

You can't really compare Steely Dan with any other bands out there. In fact, they haven't been an actual band for a long time, sometime in the early 70s they split up their touring band and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker went to record a bunch of studio albums with session musicians. They have a regular touring band now. Steely Dan in any form is excellent, and every album they've recorded has some monster guitar work. My favorite albums are "The Royal Scam" and "Aja" which both feature great guitar playing by Larry Carlton, one of the greatest session players ever.

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Doctor49 Newbie

Doctor49

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Steely Dan in any form is excellent, and every album they've recorded has some monster guitar work.


:wave:
IMHO if you want to find out about inversions, scales, modes or anything that needs more than two fingers and three strings, take a listen.

I spend happy hours figuring out how they do it...not so much the notes but the fingering. Classic bits from Reelin', FM, Josie, Aja will really get you thinking and understanding.

Clever stuff from a pair of perfectionists and a bunch of the best musicians around.

I can understand why some people don't get them though.

I like edgy stuff as well.

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Doctor49 Newbie

Doctor49

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I'm a kind of Leslie West/Billy Gibbons guitar player and the reason I love Steely Dan as one of the greatest makers of albums ever is that their music is a total mystery to me, I could never play like that and that's the attraction. I love the way they make it sound so easy.



That's exactly the reason I spend so long trying to figure it out.

There must be an easy way!:facepalm:

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Professor Tom Newbie

Professor Tom

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That's exactly the reason I spend so long trying to figure it out.


There must be an easy way!
:facepalm:



I got a Steely Dan chord book complete to Aja and I worked out the chords for Aja but it was {censored}in' hard work remembering the chords and the alien chord shapes. I've forgotten most of it now. What I remember from seeing them live a few years ago was that some of the chords are made up of a couple of keyboard notes, two guitar notes and one horn note. I thought to myself "They cheat". Great live band !

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