Alex Skolnick Trio - Tom Sawyer

[Th3Guitar3st]

He is the only person I have ever seen to make a hollow-body guitar look cool. THAT takes skill. the music can be taught. (coming from a Jazz guitarist)

[Mockingbird5150]

paying homage to the greatest power trio. all hail: Rush

[06honda919]

Alex graduated! He earned a BFA from New School University's jazz program (class of 2001) Great player!

[moucon]

@06honda919 That explains a lot. After hearing this I'm a new Skolnick fan - had no idea he had this kind of musical knowledge. The jazz players I've known can all sight-read like a mother, they know the rules of the road (theory)- AND they have a great ear and great chops. And they can write and arrange - the whole thing. It takes formal training to get there for most players.

[themrchimpie]

wow, this is real music, nothing like metal!

[ElFrankus]

@themrchimpie said the Justin Bieber fan. BTW, Fuck You.

[Kosmaty87]

O V E R T H E W A L L ! ! !

[fruitywheelz]

jazz is the most educated form of music :D

[mzmadmike]

@fruitywheelz Well, actually, no, it's not. Pretty much the opposite, though a bunch of pretentious pricks sometimes think otherwise.

But, this is a great performance, and would be no matter what genre they played in, because they're good.

[followthehatecrewild]

His chordal ideas are very cool, kind of like Joe Diorio, but beyond that his phrasing and licks scream rock/metal. And I know a lot of people are exposed to "jazz" or whatever you want to call this but there's a lot more to it, this is the extreme end of what I would call jazz. I'm trying to find a video of him not playing a rock cover song or some fusiony tune

[termite98th]

The best!!!

[hennesseybrown2]

Alex (Sloknick)'s playing is nice in itself, but without Geddy and Neil on bass and drums doesn't really equal Rush with Alex (Lifeson). I think this is a problem many virtuosos have: Finding others of equal ability to play with.

[goingwithzed]

Alex is one of the most passionate guys I've ever seen as far as broad spectrum music goes... 

[Bobbin4Bloggin]

sounds a bit like DnB.. awesome!

[z850615]

seriously? hammet versus skolnick. you gotta be kidding..

[redskullz124]

Alex Skolnick is all kinds of awesome, but this highlights the differences between metal and jazz. I've rarely heard Skolnick play anything that doesn't sound fluid when he's rocking out, but some of his phrasing here sounds a bit clunky and lacks the fluidity he brings to Testament, Savatage or TSO.

[4578a]

Well if your comparing Kirk hammett and Alex skolnick in the role of Thrash guitar player then your gonna have a tough time figuring that one out. Kirk was around before him and set a standard for all players.

[esky15]

@4578a Just because Testament's first release was in '87, doesn't mean they weren't around before. Legacy started out around '83.

[4578a]

@esky15 Yeah,they were both Bay area lead guitar players on the cusp of the Thrash metal revolution. I'm sure their not sitting around saying i'm better than you! No,i'm better. That kinda talk is for people like you apparently.

[inferno0666]

@4578a What standard? As far as lead guitar playing goes, what Hammett plays is not that interesting.  When Metallica were making a name for themselves it was Hetfield who invented and recorded those riffs.

[4578a]

@inferno0666 Yeah, i realize Kirk hammett wasn't Metallica's first lead guitarist. I don't really give a fuck about arguing over who's better, their both great. To say that Kirk isn't that interesting though is kinda stupid. Well that's your opinion yeah but their not that different(like worlds apart). Anyway, i prefer the Guitar team of Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt personally.

[inferno0666]

@4578a Ok, let me rephrase it. Kirk's lead playing does not sound interesting or refresing to me, and I do not like his vibrato. His choice of notes and phrasing don't do it for me. To my ears Skolnick and Hammett do sound very different. But hey, to each his own. From what I understand Hammett is a nice guy who never says a bad thing about other guitarists. In the December 2008 issue of Guitar World he had nothing but praise for the Alex Skolnick trio. You can look it up on the internet.

[RaidenNoKishi]

I have never heard a jazz guitar played through a wah pedal before, but it sounds pretty awesome.

[plectrumthepickypick]

Music is relative whether you're playing jazz or metal it's all the same thing just a different way of approaching each style.

[mullen2105]

Alex was the reason I started learning Jazz over classical. My teacher said it would pay off more and after see this it is true.

[sweetgyy]

oh brother

[74LesPaul]

Love this stuff . . refreshing mix. . great playing. .

[Geetman]

Listen to a bunch of Testament and then this and you'll see EXACTLY what I mean when I say Alex Skolnick annihilates Kirk Hammett on a guitar

[4578a]

@Geetman There is no better or worse when you get as good as these 2 players. Get there and you'll find out. That's only bullshit for inferior players to talk about.

[vaulterman24]

I saw these guys opening for rodrigo y gabriela and they were amazing. I bought their cd right after they were done.

[DonnaPeck]

Tom Sawyer as arranged by the outstanding bass player "NATHAN PECK"!!!

[DonnaPeck]

Tom Sawyer as arranged by the outstanding bass player "NATHAN PECK"!!!

[HurricaneTBag]

Holy shit, I can barely here the original track. Pretty sweet stuff. I dig it.

[fishwaxer]

tom sawyer my ass.

[SpineBuster]

This sounds NOTHING like Tom Sawyer. Not even a little bit.

[mcj3691]

it's not supposed to sound like the original. it's the same chords/melody. he's just using different tones and grooves and he's improvising on it.

[VioletFox19]

@mcj3691 thanks for educating those other assholes hah. thumbs up!!

[jxh040294]

mas o menos

[DarkWarrior450]

watching Alex convinced me to learn jazz

[samaaelhansen]

me too

[Geetman]

@DarkWarrior450 jazz is awesome, but there is A TON of theory behind it. My guitar teacher graduated from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor's degree in professional songwriting and he said the exact same thing, that jazz has way more theory behind it than a lot of genres do.

[bigmonkeyman44]

@Geetman nah...jazz is what u feel cant be taught.

[mullen2105]

@Geetman I mean if you look at any chord or progression playing one scale can't serve a real purpose it's just wanking like guitar players today. Real jazz = real thought.

[snubbs741]

@DarkWarrior450 haha right on thrash is sick but theres only so much you can do with power chords and tritones haha

[DarkWarrior450]

@snubbs741 Exactly :) So learn all sorts of music and then incorporate them into whatever type of music you're trying to play, be it Jazz, Thrash, or you name it! :D

[snubbs741]

@DarkWarrior450 yeah, jazz is a pretty good foundation for any kind of music you want to do.

[armanpour335]

he was joe satriani`s student in the early 80`s.

[skateracl]

satriani is insane

[4578a]

@skateracl Steve Vai is better than Joe Satriani

[Nofuture91]

yeah, him and kirk hammett took lessons around the same time i think. Alex studied harder.

[rapidtranq]

hahaha good one!! Kirk flunked out of that class...with his repetitive wah-drenched pentatonic licks!!

[travirjir]

wahhaha...that cracked me up! lol

[Geetman]

@Nofuture91 I know this is probably gonna spark an argument that I'm not gonna contribute to, but Kirk Hammett doesn't have shit on Alex. Alex could kick his ass any day of the week on a guitar

[4578a]

@Geetman What is this the Kirk vs. Alex competition. How did it get to that.? This is a fucking jazz video.

[H057IL3]

@Nofuture91

Alex also happens to be better :P I'm not a Hammet fan.

Skolnick, Hammett, Vai, as well as a few others were tought by Satch.

[MoshersRage]

@Nofuture91 no shit...kirk sucks balls compared to alex

[2Funky4me]

@MoshersRage

Kirk sucks balls compared with almost any other metal guitarist xD

[4578a]

@2Funky4me You suck balls i bet

[2Funky4me]

@4578a

got offended? you deaf fanboy

[4578a]

@2Funky4me I'm offended for all of humanity that we have so many idiots like your self here. Fanboy? What the fuck does that mean?. So if you like something then your a fanboy now? I wouldn't be surprised you'd say something stupid like that. What's that i hear? Your momma calling you! Bitch!

[4578a]

@MoshersRage You suck balls compared to the guy from Disturbed

[MoshersRage]

@4578a i've been playing guitar for shits and gigs for probably a year...i'm mostly a drummer...and i still doubt that the guy from Disturbed is better...show me a solo better than Disciples of the Watch or Over the Wall and i'll consider believing you

[mrmahavishnu]

@Nofuture91 actually alex went studying again after quiting from testament the first time... Jazz that was:D HERO!

[grantg5]

My guitar teacher was taught by Alex.

[asurpnibal]

is this a cover right?

but if this is a cover which band plays the original one?

[RealityBend]

Knowing this song is a must, Its tom sawyer by Rush.

[CardinalInfected]

haha, ok, so this is a must done lol

thanks about the info

[gunsnroses742]

seriously how do you not know tom sawyer by rush?

[asurpnibal]

i am sorry, i have to listen more about rush, that's true, i use to listen oftenly another bands like yes, dream theater, king crimson, guitarrist like zappa (father and son), etc. but rush is one of the bands forgottens to me

i will solve it!

[portanoia]

have you ever heard "Rush"? Tom Sawyer, the first track of Moving Pictures...

[asurpnibal]

i have listened about them but not so deeply like they deserve

[asurpnibal]

i haven't heard this song from Rush, firstly i heard alex skolnick playing this

[nancy33]

My father played guitar (a looong time ago) and he would have LOVED this stuff!

[metalandmore1]

i love this stuff it is so good

[EthnHayabusa]

Great stuff.

[flubug2]

This is great - what a inventive cover! Very glad to come across this. Fantastic guitar playing.

[skyshiptrooper]

me too,just happened to stumble across this vid,dude's an absolute beast of a player.I'm definitely a new fan who's gonna check out some of his stuff.....

[imbored888]

awesome but i can barely hear tom sawyer in there anywhere

[datdoodnick]

It's pretty clear dood.

From the beginning of the video starting with the bass to the very end.

[JustusFriedolin]

i can hear it clearly, why cant u?

[666quebec666]

this is amazing.

[RustInPeace23]

lmfao dosent this guy guitar 4 testament now????

[666quebec666]

yes man ;)

[metallica910]

yeah, he started with Testament, left for a while, then came back. Him coming back, was the best thing ever for Testament. The original bassist Greg Christian came back too. LONG LIVE TESTAMENT!

[RTG91]

He's always been with Testament, he took a break from them for a while while he did his jazz stuff and TSO though.

[blommen]

he also played briefly in savatage

[RTG91]

Yeah, he did the leads on Handful Of Rain and the tour that followed.

Though I'm not sure if he had left Testament at that point or not, since it was kind of a last minute request from Jon Oliva. I'm reasonably sure that lead to his departure if he hadn't already left by then.

[Stask1701]

Edward Van WHO? Alex is GOD!

[horrorfan35]

i totally agree

[Carlosbassman9886]

nice cover, i like the upright sound, really cool, and amazing guitar phrase solo

[Spacemutha]

amazing!love how they jazz up this classic, I'm a huge rush fan and a huge skolnick fan ! best of both worlds!!

[guitarfreak98391]

great guitarist

[jawadahmad77]

That was great! Skolnick's technique reminds me a bit of Tuck Andress.

[martyman5000]

Great musicians...doesn't really sound like Tom Sawyer most of the song...I'm 42 and grew up with Rush, Canadian and drink beer and my two best friends are drummers and got lost in this mess.

[imtormentor]

Alex is definitely the man

[vplamondon]

Shut up you faggot

[4578a]

@vplamondon You suck dick?

[patrissimo]

This is the coolest Rush cover I have ever heard.

[hawkram]

These guys are great, and Alex is so diverse. Great to see him show this side coming from Testament!