1. He knows when to lock in as a rhythm player and when to take off as a lead player.
2. He knows when a song will benefit from NOT soloing (e.g. Then She Did - I clearly remember him saying in an interview how he felt that a solo would have contributed nothing to that song, which I totally respect)
3. When he does solo, he has the ability to find something otherworldly that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. For me, the solo in Mountain Song and that fucking high note he bends up to at the height of Obvious - makes me wanna cum.
4. He does cool little weird ideas that weave around the bass line and make the music all sinewy. Like the intro to Pigs on the XXX record or the first section of Three Days. It's like something George Harrison would do - it's so effortlessly musical and selfless in its conception.
5. He can shred, but he does his own version and doesn't sound like an 80s GIT player. I can't shred. There are moments where, in my mind it's going to go OFF, but I just haven't trained my fingers to do that. I wish I'd put in that effort when I was younger. Respect to the guy for putting in the hours.
6. He's an intuitive and creative guitar arranger - the LAYERS he brings to JA studio cuts are so well thought out, he's like the Johnny Marr of art/alt rock. Acoustic; unplugged electric; clean electric; gritty electric; facemelt-astronaut-licking-a-live-cable electric. Power chords; poly-chords; partial chords and double-stops; single note runs; chordy-solos; strummin'; harmonics; vibrator noise; delay-soaked-in-phaser; wah-soaked-in-delay; sample-like-shit etc. etc. He got some fresh ideas on TGEA that were the best things on that record. I hope he is having a meeting with Troy to get some new options for his pedal board. (Not too much though, I always liked that he didn't overdo his setup)
If JA recorded as the orig 4, with Troy, Daniel Ash and Dave having a little guitar party that would be some major guitar erection. If they toured with Troy on second guitar and maybe the odd bits of synth / keys (which he does for QOTSA) it would be spectacular. Janes could become what it threatened to be in 1990 but couldn't fulfil. I don't think Josh Klinghoffer is in the same league, he's good, he just doesn't have the artistry. Sorry.
Okay, I set that up and then went overboard before giving anyone else a shot. Come on though, what are your favourite DN moments? Let's give the dude some love
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