Sloppy but Famous Contest

The last time I saw Steve Howe play live was maybe 12 or 13 years ago and he was spot on. I was completely floored and hadn't seen him since 1983. Not sure about now but he might have arthritis as is so common amongst pickers.

Nancy Wilson (Heart) once said,"I was a better guitar player when I was younger. Sheesh, I just don't get it".
I saw David Lindley the other night at Mccabe's Guitar Shop. I heard him cover his ass by playing the same thing twice. Anyone who can do that in a nano second is great in my opinion. That's the way it goes in music and it's fine by me.
Cool post, thanks,
-John

Onhwy61, well, most of our beloved musicians are in their 60's or even 70's and most don't trip several times per song...
Haven't heard neither Fripp, Belew, Scofield, Mclaughlin, Holdsworth play sloppy lately for some reason.
I guess some famous musicians may count on their previous glory and play sloppy in their 60's and some not.

On guitar there's a difference between primarily plectrum style linear/chordal alternation such as McLaughlin would play versus the fingerstyle counterpoint of Kottke or John Williams. As difficult as what McLaughlin does is to do (at his level) the contrapuntal style is difficult to do at any level--and extremely difficult at the level of John Williams, Manuel Barrueco, etc.
Not to take away a thing from Mclaughlin, Tony Rice, et. al.
I can't come close to doing what any of those guys at the top do!!!

Tostado,

I play primarily fingerstyle and couldn't agree with you more! It explains so many of my shortcomings.

OTOH, most of my favorite fingerstyle players are getting on a bit, but they're still on top of their game. John Renbourn is 70, Richard Thompson and Lindsey Buckingham are both 65, and Tommy Emmanuel is 60. It can be done!

Notwithstanding all that, IMO your comment is squarely on point.