I am a huge Ronni fan from back when KOTNT was first released. He has been one of my main influences for years. When Knights was released I felt that Ronni was going to be the next Randy Rhoads. His playing on that album has so much fire and such incredible phrasing. A perfect balance between stun guitar and composed solos that sounded like songs within the songs. His tone was killer too. Maybe a touch too much "bite" or "cut" but nearly perfect.

On "Tell No Tales" the band got more polished sounding and Ronni may have achieved one of the best recorded heavy rock guitar tones ever. His solos still had this composed vibe to them and the phrasing was still great.

"Intuition" came out and it was more of the same. Great tone, great solos, great songs.

"Realized Fantasies" still had great tones and the songs were good but Ronni seemed like he was winging his solos more.

Now, I own the Vagabond CD's, the Bad Habitz CD, the Rypdal Tekro stuff, Magica Lanterna, the regrouped TNT stuff etc. basically almost everything Ronni has ever recorded including the original META RUNS instructional cassette!!!!!!

Anyways I'm trying to say that there are not many bigger Le Tekro fans out there than me. But I have to say this, Ronni's lead style has just seemed to get lazier and lazier to me. It's like all he has been doing for the last 15-18 years is machine gun licks followed by ultra fast, repeated, very cliche blues licks while freaking out on the wah pedal. There's no phrasing anymore. No sense of melody or structure or sense of composition. It's like Ronni won't spend the time to sit down and give us a solo that has ALL the elements that made Ronni such a rising star for the first few albums.

I get it, the machine gun thing is Ronni's creation. GREAT! I love it! But it's really more of a sound effect than a musical sound. Use the hell out of it within the context of a great solo that has some other elements of Ronni's old playing to it. On Knights Ronni didn't sound like a clone of anybody else. Why he chose to only focus on those few TRICKS and make those his entire playing vocabulary as his career went on is beyond me. Still, I buy every new release, hoping that Ronni will play something that sounds like he means it, and feels it and cares what he is putting down on CD instead of like a machine gun picking robot on autopilot.

Sorry, I love Ronni's playing but has anyone else noticed this?

Maybe he is just getting old?
Or lazy?

I don´t know. But yes, you´re right.
Something changed recently.

But he is still better than 99,9% of the other guitar players out there!!!!!!

Hmmm... Listen to magica lanterna and the radiosong... It's a matter of exploring other compositions rather than pure playing. I wouldn't presume to use the word lazy at all in reference to Mr. Le Tekro. I am really looking forward to when the Kingdom of Norway will be released.

But if anyone would want an example of how the once "mighty have fallen", well, click here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vmo_ePVGGI

JustaGirlieGirl2 wrote:

I wouldn't presume to use the word lazy at all in reference to Mr. Le Tekro.

Oh sorry!

I just typed it in without thinking about it...
Was more meant as a joke...

Ronni is of course not lazy at all.
TNT, solo album, rock school, book.

Regarding the video:
Schenker drunk as a skunk
That is really a sad story.
He was THE guitarist in the early 80´s, together with Randy Rhoads (rip).
I really hope Rudy takes care about his younger brother and sends him to rehab.

Quote:

Schenker drunk as a skunk That is really a sad story

Yeah... it is very sad about Schenker. That video makes you want to cry actually. Just a few months back, I went to an MSG show. He was so sloppy (not like that youtube though) that my friends refused to stay so we walked out... Yikes!

No, I used the word lazy first. I don't regret using it either. It SOUNDS like Ronni just goes in to the studio and just wants to get his leads done so he can go home and play XBOX 360.

Schenker being a drunk is not relevant. Ronni has been very prolific with his recordings over the years, but the only reason people from all over the world are still talking about him is because of the guitar work he unleashed on his initial recordings. I have no problem with him branching out all over the place and composing in all different style. I just want to hear him record some guitar solos that sound like he still cares about playing guitar. Not on every song, but the TNT stuff and the solo stuff is begging for it and instead we get blur pick - wah freak out blues lick- blur pick - freak out blues lick. etc etc etc. There is nothing memorable MUSICALLY in Ronni's HARD ROCK guitar work anymore.

The Schenker video simply illustrates someone who has wasted a great talent.

I think Ronni actually does care about how he plays guitar because it seems to me that when he plays live, he doesn't screw up or cheat, but I understand your judgment is based on different criteria. As for things being memorable, I still find what he does, while maybe not trailblazing in a pure guitarist sense, very interesting and memorable.

Actually, I wonder whether or not Ronni presently desires to wear that mantle of being on the vanguard of guitar innovation. Perhaps "Kingdom of Norway" will provide the answer.
;-)

Michael Schenker played quite well on Sweden Rock Festival 2006. That was of course before his band once again had enough and left. You need a few hands, toes and whatnot to count the number of people he has played with over the years. That doesn't mean he isn't one of the most influential guitarists during the many years he has been active.

The comparison to Ronni however, I resent 100%. He has consistently over the years played very well live. The recent years, and of course the current TNT concerts, reviews have always been favourable, including both press and fans.

Memorable moments in his music is a subjective opinion that each and everyone of us are entitled to have. Personally I am very fond of the Vagabond albums.

PeSt

I kind of feel the same way. I'm not really familiar with anything outside TNT, so I can only talk about that. From Firefly and onwards, it certainly sounds like he didn't spend as much time composing his solos any more. On the albums up to and including Realized Fantasies, he combined chops and unique techniques, as well as a more and more prominent eccentric phrasing. After this, I also feel he relied more and more on the machine gun technique. It is cool, but in itself it is little more than a fancy trick, one that you shouldn't rely too much on.

Then again, I don't care too much for the later albums myself. My Religion is the exception. That one was good, but Ronnie's solos didn't sound as inspired as they used to to me either. I think this is something that happens to many guitarists after a while. Ronnie, Michael Schenker, Zakk Wylde, Alex Lifeson, Vivian Campbell, Yngwie Malmsteen, Gary Moore... the list goes on and on. It seems like many guitarists, as they age, either lose the fire that made earlier works great, or feel the need to reinvent themselves in a new direction, often thrashing everything that made them great in the first place. Ronnie isn't among the worst here, but it is a bit disheartening to see how he can still cut through all the old solos, but not make as consistent today (to my ears, this is).

By the way guest, you aren't a member of the Dinosaur Rock Guitar forum? I've heard someone over there using almost exactly the same phrases. Oh, that is a place that all guitarists here should check out.

well the word lazy dont fit too Ronni,I dont think there so many people who are working so hard with their music..he got a lot of project going on,and he is very creative,so I dont think you should judge a person before you know what you are talking about.

Easy now, I/we are not attacking Ronni on a personal level. He certainly is hard working. With "lazy", we are talking about his approach when it comes to recording solos. As it seems like at least a few of us feel that Ronnis best work as a solo guitarist was in his old days, and that the guitar solos that have been cut to tape in the last 15 or so years sounds more rushed and less worked through.

I just LOVE everything Ronni does with his guitar.
You never know what's next.

But I gotta say that the best solo's, in my opinion, are on INTUITION.

So well arranged.
So beautiful sound.

...and no-one can ever do it like he did.

Number 1 baby !!!!!!

I think we can agree that Ronni has changed over the years and why wouldn't he? The discussion can go whether or not one like the changes, and that would be a matter of taste. Ronni has said that he plays what he feel, and that people with oceans of time can analyze his playing to bits afterwards. It doesn't at all change how he plays or feels about the music he makes and plays.

Now, certain elements in his solos will always have that Ronni-feel to them. Why wouldn't they ? I believe that there is more to Ronni's music than TNT. So listen "outside the box." The two Vagabond albums are brilliant, the last one in particular. If you want to hear both technique and feelings in the music. The Rypdal/Tekro albums are showcasing his skills of improvising in a different setting than rock, and his solo albums just mirrors the music he wanted to play at that time.

We can argue up and down about what he plays and why, but it all boils down to individual taste. We're all entitled to our opinions, but it will have no impact on the main person himself.

PeSt

Sirion wrote:

By the way guest, you aren't a member of the Dinosaur Rock Guitar forum? I've heard someone over there using almost exactly the same phrases. Oh, that is a place that all guitarists here should check out.

Hey Sirion, yeah it's me.

As for not knowing what I'm talking about vikingtr, I disagree completely. I don't care how many projects Ronni is working on. When he does a TNT project he needs to give it his all. If he doesn't have time to give it his all, why do it? We don't need 15 projects where we get 80% of what Ronni is capable of. We need fewer projects with 98%.

As for "he plays what he is feeling at the time", this is exactly what I am talking about. On those early solos, there is NO WAY that he is playing what he was "feeling". He sat down and spent hours COMPOSING those brilliant solos. He didn't just wing some half-assed solo off the top of his head and say, "it's good enough because that is exactly what I am feeling at this time". How can anyone ever criticize his playing if he throws out the "That's what I was feeling at the time" defense? I for one don't care what he is feeling at the time, because his "feelings" are too one dimensional anymore. Do you mean to tell me he is "feeling" that machine-gun lick everywhere? While that trick is incredibly cool, it is probably one of the least "feeling" sounding licks in the history of rock guitar.

Do you think Gary Moore was "feeling" that "Shapes of Things" solo?

Do you think Yngwie was "feeling" that "Far Beyond The Sun" solo?

Do you think Randy Rhoads was "feeling" that "Over The Mountain" solo?

Do you think Van Halen was "feeling" that "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" solo?

Do you think Ronni was "feeling" those early solos?

No, no, no, no, no. These were all composed solos and Ronni was one of the best at composing solos.

I mean for F%&*'s sake, the solo on "End of the Line" has as much "feeling" as any rock solo possibly EVER recorded. Did Ronni just play what he felt on that solo? Hell no! He had a custom guitar built to play that one.

[Moderated by Pest. Edited inapropriate references]

Quote:

As for "he plays what he is feeling at the time", this is exactly what I am talking about. On those early solos, there is NO WAY that he is playing what he was "feeling". He sat down and spent hours COMPOSING those brilliant solos. He didn't just wing some half-assed solo off the top of his head and say, "it's good enough because that is exactly what I am feeling at this time". How can anyone ever criticize his playing if he throws out the "That's what I was feeling at the time" defense? I for one don't care what he is feeling at the time, because his "feelings" are too one dimensional anymore. Do you mean to tell me he is "feeling" that machine-gun lick everywhere? While that trick is incredibly cool, it is probably one of the least "feeling" sounding licks in the history of rock guitar.

I know after showing Ronni some of Shredder's videos on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/hibbsey) that he said : "I can't believe they spend so much time analyzing my improvised solos". This wasn't any of the later stuff, it was "Seven Seas", "10.000 Lovers", "Sapphire", "Tonight I'm Falling", "Caught Between the Tigers"... All considered classic TNT and Ronni stuff. So if his improvised solos was better in your ears before, that is your opinion. "He play what he feels" is just what he do, has done and always will do. The rest is in the eyes (or should I say ears) of the beholder.

PeSt