I have always wondered (not always but until I saw how someone should play guitar to reach a good grade )
I know that Axel Rudi Pell is a professional guitar player.
I liked him very much and this won't change the fact that he was a part of my life.
He is influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, I haven't seen lessons of him on this website.

But anyway, what do you think of his playing, if you didn't know it was a professional guitar player?
Some think he is a sloppy guitar player. I am in no position of judging his playing, but many of you are, especially the instructors on this website.

What do you think?
How would you rate the way he is playing?

I think he's got a great vibe. It's a bit loose but that's his style. He's taking a bit of a Modern blues approach. Not every guitar player has to play like a scalpel. It's sometimes refreshing to hear a player willing to let go a bit and just go with the feeling.

I've used to listen to some of his albums when I was more into Neoclassical Shred. I've used to enjoy more his songs than his solos (which is not a bad thing at all!).

Some weeks ago I noticed that we don't have lessons covering his style, so maybe I can go for it!

As we are talking about neoclassical rockers, let me share with you my favorite from Argentina:

Walter Giardino (Rata Blanca, Temple)

You mean to create a lesson in the style of Axel Rudi Pell?

yes!

Ok, great!
I am looking forward to it!

What's your favorite solo by him?

His style remained almost the same through the years if not exactly the same.
It's very hard to pick only one but I will try:

This one has many elements:

And I will try to classify them.

1. The Curse Of The Damend (This is a long ballad with slow and fast guitar).



2. Magic ( I will classify as number one)


3. Ashes from the Oath ( I will classify as number one)



4. Oceans of time (Slow Ballad)


5. Prelude To Moon ( a more neoclassical approach)

https://allthatshreds.com/axel-rudi-pell-fk...zAshYjRc3_JYWh4

Axel Rudi Pell: “F**k You, I’m Not The German Yngwie”

Has anyone compared you to Yngwie?

ARP: In the beginning about 20 years ago, they said you’re the German Yngwie. I said, fuck you. I’m not the German Yngwie and I’ll tell you the difference. Years ago, my intention was to be one of the fastest guitar players in the world. This is absolute bullshit because Yngwie writes the solo and does the solo around the song. When I write a song the solo is part of the song. I don’t sit there and be like let’s see how fast I can wank on the fretboard. Sometimes you can say more in three notes more than a bunch.

Who influenced you the most to play the guitar?

ARP: Definitely Richie Blackmore. His notes and style are excellent.

I mostly see him like a German Blackmore.

Yes, like he said and also like I said he is influenced by Blackmore very much.

But I think that technically Blackmore is a better guitar player.
What do you think?

When talking about art, it's impossible to say that one artist is better than the other. This means I can't say that any guitarist is better than other one. Each guitar player has its own voice, and even when we notice big influences, there may be differences based on personality, tastes, experiences, and so...

One thing that I can assure that Blackmore has been more influential because he was part of one the most popular hard rock bands ever.

Yes, art and music is subjective, that's why I said technically.

I like both guitar players very much, but still there are objective things that can be said about playing guitar, that's why it is possible to rate someone's play.

Id say he's way more technical than Blackmore just in general. Then again, Blackmore was never really a very technical player IMHO. He is more of a 'RIFF GOD" type of player than a "SOLO GOD" type of guy it seems to me

Maybe by current standards but in the early 70s he (Blackmore) was the prototype and ground zero for everything speedy in rock lead guitar that followed. And he did it without a lot of gain on a Strat with vintage output pkups.
Check him out starting at 3:45. Cool harmony, great bending, beautifully composed 'neo' classical melody years before anybody even called it that, unique phrasing and then that string of 16th note pull-offs that doesn't let up for 20 full measures. He had to play that all in one pass. No snapping to the grid or microscopic punch-ins back then.

Yes, but even rating is subjective. If we talk only about technique, there are so many elements to consider like alternate picking, legato, vibrato, dynamics, timing, groove, articulation, cleanness, hands sync, tone and I could continue...

I should go really deeper with the analysis between both them to define if any of them is better than there other "technically". In some sense they come from the same 70s standards (as klassaine said), so they may be very close (again) technically.

As I don't know Axel's stuff deeply, so I can't say too much, but I wonder if there is 1 solo by him that amazes me as much as Highway Star or Burn.

I suspect that your question is more related to shredding (fast passages). If you compare them to newer shredders, these standards have changed, since EVH appeared, then Malmsteen, and then guys like Gilbert and Petrucci. Their picking is more precise and cleaner, but this doesn't make them "better players"... they play a different style or represent a different guitar era.

By the way, I feel that comparing guitarists like Blackmore, Hendrix, Beck, Page and all those legends among them and with others doesn't take anywhere. Enjoy the guitarists that you love, learn from them.





This solo is a masterpiece by itself...

Not too mention, can you write a song or a solo or be part of a band that is still revered 50 years after the fact - ?

Well, I left some songs from Axel in one of my previous posts here, so maybe you will find a solo there that amazes you as much or maybe not.



When I was first picking the guitar and learning I listened a lot to Axel Rudi Pell among other guitar players which I like very much.

I saw some opinions about Axel playing sloppy and with an awful vibrato and I started to listen closely and I am not sure if they are right or not.

I image what will happen if Axel will enter the REC zone which is tough by the way, but that's a good things because there is room for improvement.

But I feel that his picking is not so precise, and this helps me to understand which picking is precise and clean or if my playing is precise and clean and to continue improving.

I've watched that video carefully and I can say that I hear pitch issues here and there, and that many fast lines don't sound clean. It seems that his hands don't go totally synchronized during fast sections.

Personally I don't enjoy when guitarists play without considering the chord progression sounding in the background, and that's what I hear is happening here. Following the chords is not only a jazz approach, all my favorite blues/rock/metal guitarists do it (consciously or unconsciously) most of the time when soloing.

That is impressive! it's the most technical thing I think I've heard from him. Then again, there is a LOT of his work that I have just never heard. You have a good point on the moving of the goal post. Standards and techniques, style, etc. are in constant change so comparing guitarists of different decades can never be apples to apples. More like apples to orange juice. Very tough to compare. I just based it on what I had heard from him in a general sense. I had no idea he was the PETRUCCI of his day to be honest. Which seems now more like what he was.

Now I see why Gabe was reluctant to generalize about it. I tried it was just flat out wrong. Live and learn

Todd





Yeah, I watched it just now and I heard the pitch issues as well and he seems like he's just doing random shredding in spots. It's not tied to anything in the backing or the rythm, just detached sorta shreddy bits. Can't hear h is pick attack so even though he's playing fast in bits, it's really hard to hear. I think he would have a tough time in REC if he put this up as his take


Todd

Yes, Highway star is a great example, so it is Burn, played by Ritchie Blackmore and guitar isolated.












Yes, but maybe it was not fair to analize a live playing of Axel, it's different from studio song.

This is the studio version and contains 2 solos, one in the middle and an ending solo.
Middle Clean Solo: 4:17, this clean part remainds of the ending of the burn solo.
Middle Heavy Guitar Solo: 5:06
Ending Solo: 7:10




But I feel that even in the studio his hands are not in sync at fast speeds.

That is interesting for me, because when I first played guitar I did not pay attention to this details, this is how I thought it should sound.

Cool tune! Yeah, studio stuff usually sounds a bit better than a live recording. Ideally, one should be able to be John Petrucci/Steve Vai and play just as well live or recorded but most of us are not those guys Still, it's a goal worth reaching for. Here is our fave young Russian player doing a recorded version of racer x tune SCIT SCAT WAH which is a very complex bit of shreddery. He came up in another thread as well.




Here is MAX doing his thing LIVE with another classic racer X tune (these two songs are sorta the Racer X 2fer/party piece things that shredders almost have to learn at some point) MAX does a great job live and in the studio. He's a really good example imho of a regular guy, well semi regular guy, who can do both pretty well. His live one has a few glitches, but not for a 15 year old kid in front of a huge audience of fellow Russians

Yes, Max is an amazing player, not to mention that if he had 15 years old he did he had time to practice to become so good?


Take a look at this one:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Ritchi...ckmore-Style-2/

This contains:
- Blackmore style riffs,
- Bending in the style of Blackmore, how does he do that?
- And picking on one string as fast as Blackmore does

This is amazing!

Even if Axel is influenced by Blackmore I think he has his own personality like Gabriel said that each guitar player has his own voice, personality, and I think he deserved a lesson "In style of Axel Rudi Pell".

Good question on MAX. I have no idea how he got so good so quick so young, other than he must have started very young and practiced his brains out!

I"m guessing a RUDI PELL lesson will show up in REC at some point! I was surprised not to find one.

His playing is much more precise in this studio version. There are not pitch issues at all, the fast parts sound consistent, with his dirty style but without the hand sync issues that I noted in the live clip, and the parts sound good composed and more connected with the chords.