Shawn Lane - Fretless Improv (NAMM, Anaheim - 18th Jan 1997)

[shredboy5000]

i was at this namm show and actually played this guitar for a couple hours when i took Shawn back to his hotel room to get ready ( Shawn didnt drive ) to go play with Stanley Jordan . Shawn never played the guitar and got on stage and played it like he owned it his whole life . it was RIDICULOUS . Frank Gambale was there at the Hilton ( I think ) and bunch of other great guitarists and everyone ( including Stanley Jordan ) was trippin on the stuff Shawn played . like I said , it was RIDICULOUS

[Iluvbuckethead1]

Ten times better than Steve Vai's fretless guitar solo

[fobsternd]

I remember PG describing Lane as the most terrifying man on guitar or something along those lines.

[killer1016]

I skipped the bass part.

[Em7arpeggio]

i was born on this very day and shawn lane rocks r.i.p

[sowhatdude1]

Not only are there no frets- there aren't any markers that I can either.

The saddest thing ever is what this guy did, letting himself go like he did, straight into the grave. With the immense talent that this guy had, it's a crime against us all~

[D61664]

Does anyone know he is playing Indian Classical Sitar Style !! Fucking Awesome !!!

[andarcalabar]

Everywhere @ once, beautiful......v

[Kebzicum]

just for 9 minutes there, i think he lost himself

[awtube869]

very eastern/sitar sounding ...would sound great with somepercussive type eastern beat ....

[ChiZ712]

my dream guitar is a 7 string fretless vigier with an added high A, I imagine I'd be forced into using octave4plus strings though.

[WhitePureMusic]

Just... Waw.

[AtmaRising]

did Frank ever hear Shawn play? He must have. And probably loved him as well.

[KhalDrogo76]

missed genius..

[BombsonBicycles]

incredible.

[ivan89705]

easter wonder

[atomicV1sion]

@ioldarnech I actually kind of like the fact that he's not perfectly on pitch. It's those slightly off pitch notes that make it sound more, i guess, human to me.

[ioldarnech]

@atomicV1sion

That's perfectly fine with me. I love one of my Coltrane lives on which he's quite awfully off pitch. The incredible energy makes up for that.

Yet I've heard Shawn play with a much better intonation than on this recording. People arguing it's "right for this style" or "his intonation is perfect" are just fools.

Saying you enjoy the music as it is... well different people, different tastes. That's ok.

[danitz56]

@ioldarnech For the style of music he's performing here, the intonation is perfect

[Hypnus9]

So beautiful...it is transcendant...

[skjoyner]

Is it me or does this almost have a Ravi Shankar sitar sounding touch to it?

[Hypnus9]

@skjoyner It very well could...your viewpoint is valid, but to me, it sounds more like the tonality of Indian classical violin.

[gip13g]

we can thank Robert Fripp for all this. Lane was years ahead of his time. too bad he couldn't live on in this world.

[MostAncientOne]

So...I've been listening to shredders shred for some 20+ years now, and it honestly has no real effect on me anymore.

But this...Shawn Lane's playing is pure beauty and soul.

[dorlandosonicNL]

@MyShawnLaneVideos

Actually, according to a guy who knows Guthrie personally, Guthrie did a live performance immediately after just playing on a Vigier Surfreter for the first time, which is crazy. I haven't seen that performance though... The comment of ioldarnech is totally justified, but unnecessary at the same time. Truth is, you just don't know whether Guthrie practiced more then Shawn did on a fretless.

Anyway, I'm thinking about ordering that exact guitar :)

[ioldarnech]

@MyShawnLaneVideos dude his intonation is off from the very start, on the easy melodies... probably just a bad day for him. Or maybe the sound on stage is bad. Dunno.

Point is, his intonation is horrible on this recording, good on others... this video just makes my ears bleed.

[Morenumbers123456789]

@ioldarnech

I think its beautiful anyway :) And couldnt it have been because it was a thicker gauge? Shawn Lane was practised with a smaller gauge, could it have been that? I usually dont even see shawns strings when he plays normally.

[Hypnus9]

@ioldarnech I thought it was beautiful.

[meowtrox]

SITAR!!!

[MrGuitardudeism]

Makes me weep! Both in it's beauty, and the fact that my hero is no longer here. May his spirit and his inspiration continue with all of us. Tomorrow, I am adding fretless to my arsenal. Because of the inspiration of Shawn, I have the belief that music is limitless. Thank you Shawn, and thanks for posting this. I MUST share this(again!!!)

[Hypnus9]

@MrGuitardudeism Dude...you're a beautiful cat.

[PIMPZproduction]

my favorite shawn lane peice

[atomicV1sion]

I felt like he was going to jump into Abstract Logic or Temporal Analogues of Paradise or something. He even plays a slowed down lick from Temporal Analogues of Paradise. And the fretless sounds absolutely amazing.

[bongolow07]

Sounds like Indian Jazz lol.

[egatt429]

AcusticDave:

Try to improvise with the lydian mode, and use some 7maj arpeggios may be you can sound like this.

This music is so fucking relaxing, I thing that´s why he plays this some times.

[cactusfarm]

I love that Shawn had such a genuine interest in Indian music. I'm often approached about playing sitar with more 'rock' style bands, and I always maintain that it doesn't really work, but ol' Shawn made some great music interpreting Indian theory ideas

[madmakx187]

The style is Hindustani classical (Indian) as many of you may know. Incidentally one of the instruments it may be played on is called a Sarod which essentially is a fretless stringed instrument.

[Scarecrow545]

Better known is the Vichitra Veena. look it up on Wiki if ya dunno what it is

[madmakx187]

Nope, the sarod is much more famous, trust me. Amjad ali Khan is one of the most respected musicians in India.

[Scarecrow545]

only in north india. it isnt used much in south. i think the sitar is a bit more famous too. And keep in mind Im FROM India...

[madmakx187]

Me too but from the north, so i guess you maybe right in a way.

[Scarecrow545]

yeah. i personally like karnatic music better if any. thrash metal is my forte

[JoesCheapThrills]

Fretless is a different experience from the fretted guitar. And it's really a newer instrument recently introduced from Turkey but Shawn Lane plays it amazingly well.

[AcusticDave]

I've always wanted to make a piece that sounds like this...

[tonyross1977]

RIP Shawn

[charvel2121]

6:34 ,,, from Maria. RIP.

[GITFIDDLEMASTER]

i think this is the first time ive ever seen him actually look at the guitar when playing it.

[gokbiter]

please try to find this guy his name is ERKAN OGUR

he is the founder of fretless guitar

[Aurelius27x]

damn fretless has to be hard to keep notes in tune

[Detoxx23]

Damn that is so beautiful... Thx Shawn, RIP

[birdiejoehoaks]

i want a vigier so badly now.

[brandon5pennies]

doesn't everybody after seeing/hearing shawn lane play?

[birdiejoehoaks]

touche sir.

touche

[JakeStraka]

what the hell does touche mean? .... mindblowing guitarplaying btw.

[streetcornerjames]

@JakeStraka from fencing it means touch

[cowboydan1991]

At the same time sad and immensely inspiring, RIP

[Despond]

You listen to all these talent guitarists and iconic "shredders", but your heart just sighs with comfort when you go back to Shawn Lane.

Not a guitarist but a genius mind and musician.

[zoso0987]

I imagine you love him for the same reason I do:

Because he played for no other reason to release that internal music that resides within us all. With his genius he was able to connect with it on a higher level then most, and blessed with a "freakish nervous system," as he puts it, he had the dexterity and technical ability to express it on the fretboard.

I am sure that, along with that freakish nervous system, he also had the genius to know how to practice, which is a skill in itself.

[Tales0fTheUnexpected]

FANTASTIC !

[adrian5b]

i love shawn

[brunopoeys]

Man, I'd love to watch more footage of Lane playin' fretless... this is the only one i've seen and it's amazing! :)

[stillborn61]

wiljay; its kenny from the MAB forum ;) thanks for posting this vid! really helping in my research, also really wants to make me play fretless!

[MyShawnLaneVideos]

Hey there... cool, glad to have been any help at all. :-)

[stillborn61]

lots of help actually! didn't know Shawn played fretless as well...what didn't he do?

[illinismitty]

Amazing. RIP Shawn.

[JoesCheapThrills]

Oh man he is a god even on the fretless his intonation is just amazing.

[Phrygian12]

is this the video that Steve Vai saw Lane and was amazed and took some ones camera and filmed it?

[MyShawnLaneVideos]

No, that was the Ibanez Allstar NAMM Jam on the 15th Jan 1993, the one with Shawn, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Vai, Andy Timmons, Reb Beach and Alex Skolnick (or Alex Scofield as the guy at the end of the video calls him, hehe). I've uploaded that video on one of my other accounts "MyGeetarVideos".

[Iguana886]

The greatest musical genius who ever lived.

[lazychump]

thanks, somehow this video dissappeared. thanks for putting it back on.

[iksadi]

simply amazing..!

[oscar7557]

his intonation is just flawless!