Talk:Jason Becker

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Contents 1 chronology 2 Tip 3 NPOV 4 "Recently" Released Material 5 5th caprice 6 Serrena 7 Year of birth (1969?) 8 Arrangements 9 Technical Virtuoso? 10 Neutrality 11 Fixed it 12 Known for playing fast/ constructing melodies 13 Need Citations 14 Serrana

[edit] chronology

thanks to whoever put this together. i don't know enough about becker to edit without research. my first reaction to the article was to question how he made an album after having to quit the DLR tour w/ALS. maybe a becker fan could rearrange the text a bit to establish when it was he was unable to play guitar any longer (including the good explanation of how he records now), and then go from there. also, there's a time discrepancy where an apparent ~7-year gap is referred to as a couple years. i'd be happy to edit if i knew the details. SaltyPig 07:30, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tip

I don't know much about becker, but mabe this information may be useful. Jason becker does not records, because he's cuadraplegic, so he only composes, music using a special computer program that lets him write songs with his eyes. I think he uses certain types of movements with his head too. He "talks" with his familiy using a language that they've invented. (i'm not sure about the last one). I hope you can use this info. 26 Octobe 2005.

[edit] NPOV

"Jason Becker's most famous stage appearance caught on tape was live in Tokyo, 1989. This video can easily be accesed through the internet. The video starts with Jason Becker playing guitar only using his fretting hand, and messing around with a yo-yo in the other. He proceeds by playing incredible sweeps, and part of one of his most famous sweeping songs(which due to copyright I cannot say) but you fans know what I am talking about. This video is worth watching to see just how amazing of a guitarist Jason Becker truly was. It is sad to think about what he could have become, but he undoubtedly would have changed guitar forever, and that's a fact."

This passage clearly lacks the necessary NPOV. I'm deleting it from the article until a suitably neutral replacement is written. dkostic.

Good call. Malmsteen Maiden 06:08, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Recently" Released Material

The "Perspective" CD took 5 years to complete, technically, and his ". . . Jam" CDs also comprise material Jason recorded before incapacity set in. According to his mother, Pat Becker, "These are pieces of music Jason has recorded throughout his life. They are improvisations, studies for compositions in the works, pieces that became songs, even some singing and playing when Jason and Ehren (his brother) secretly went to Gary’s (their father) art studio when they were 8 and 5 and recorded themselves playing and singing Bob Dylan songs."

Sammy [Source: www.jasonbecker.com, "A Mother's Perspective"]

[edit] 5th caprice

"Becker's rendition of Paganini's 5th Caprice is quite possibly the most spectacular evidence of his guitar mastery".

I don't agree with this, his rendition was very sloppy (and incorrect). His epic compositions are the greatest evidence of his talent. I will be erasing this part in a week or so unless someone has good reason to disagree.

Well, I don't know where anyone gets off saying his rendition of Paganini's 5th was "incorrect and sloppy" First of all, every note is crystal clear, unless you're listening to it through the worlds crappiest speakers and if by incorrect you mean incomplete then okay I suppose that works as he left out about 1/3rd of the piece but his rendition is at the very least on par with Malmsteens piece anyone who knows anything about guitar will agree with me on that much. Instead of deleting that section you should maybe just rephrase it.

• Kind of irrelevent, since stating anything either way isn't really NPOV. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 02:57, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Serrena

"Serrana, an extremely difficult arpeggio piece, composed by Jason Becker, is known as one of the world's greatest guitar works"

Says who? A simple progression of triads cannot be considered "one of the world's greatest guitar works" just because it is played very fast. this page needs serious modifications. Jason Becker should be presented as the talented composer he is, instead of some sloppy shredder by saying that his rendition of the 5th caprice or his fast ability to play triad arpeggioes are his greatest talents.

Ahh...you sound like one of those pious anti-shred kind of people who like to critisize players for being fast and technical. I've never met an anti shred guy who could actually play guitar worth a damn anyways, and pretty much any song ever written is compsoed of what you call "simple triads" there the building blocks of most pieces and even Mozart used them ALL THE TIME. But you're right in the sense that this little part does only represent one side of his playing ability...though I'm still not sure where you get "sloppy shredder" from. He was the farthest thing from sloppy that there could be, He plays cleaner then Michael Angelo WITHOUT the string dampner.

Agreed. I mean, he's not a mindless shredder like Yngiw Malmsteen. When he shreds, he does it damn fast, but it actually sounds like something.

[edit] Year of birth (1969?)

According to: http://www.hardrock.hu/?q=node/1049

http://territorio.terra.com.br/canais/rockonline/az/artista.asp?artistaID=Jason+Becker

http://www.viiiequilibrio.cl/articulos/becker/becker.htm

Jason was actually born in 1969. Makes sense to me. Jason Becker was asked to join David Lee Roth in 1989... And in this article: http://64.162.150.71/CrazyFromTheHeat.htm David Lee Roth says "Jason was maybe twenty, twenty-one years old" when he discovered Becker. I believe that the birth date in the main article should be changed. Eduardo Lirani

[edit] Arrangements

I actually finished doing some kind of arrangements to the article(hope so) and given some more information, I would have liked to include more quotes and other staff, but I´m not used to writing in the Wikipedia. I hope my arrangements did something positive.

[edit] Technical Virtuoso?

While there is a lot of debate over what qualifies as virtuostic, isn't calling someone a technical Virtuos unneccesary? Virtuoso usually mean high technical skill anyway. Why not just call him a Virtuoso or leave it out completely? Justinmeister 18:02, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Neutrality

I'm removing the neutrality tag, as it seems the problem has been fixed. Justinmeister 17:38, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fixed it

Last week i made some corrections on this article.

[edit] Known for playing fast/ constructing melodies

First of all for the record, I have a strong respect for both Jason Becker as a person as well as his musical works. Saying that, the comment about his ability to play fast and his emphasis on melody over showcassing his abilities is clear bias. It seems more like a potshot at other technical guitarists (More than likely Michael Batio or Yngwie Malmsteen). Since the concept of a "strong melody" is subjective, and it is easy for some to confuse fast, intricate musical passages as "showing off", it's more of a oppinion thing than anything. Justinmeister 03:34, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Need Citations

This article needs to add at least a few citations. At the present there are none. Justinmeister 04:35, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Serrana

This may be an old topic, but this passage bothers me: "The song Serrana, appearing in Perspective (album), is an arpeggio based piece that demonstrates his mastery of sweep-picking." A few things:

• While there are videos of Jason Becker playing the sweeping section of the song, and I'm not saying he can't, it is not him playing on the recording, so I'm not sure if it "demonstrates his mastery" of the technique. (It isn't even a guitar on the album, but a trumpet...)
• "Serrana" is over 8 and a half minutes long. While there is a recurring arpeggio theme, a lot of people seem to think that the sweeping section is the entire song; it is really only two sections, first on trumpet and then the same theme near the end of the song on piano. There is a lot more to the song than just the apeggio progression.

Anyone have any input? I think I'll change the wording on that section a little bit unless someone disagrees.

EDIT: The more I read it, the more I wonder if there is really a good reason to mention that song in the "Style" section at all. If it is being mentioned to direct the casual reader unfamiliar with Becker's works to a piece that will give the reader an idea of what his music is like, I think it's a poor example, mainly because a guitar is not playing the piece to begin with. Perhaps a song such as "Altitudes" would be a better choice, since it is actually Jason Becker playing on the recording. TSchellhous 21:56, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

• The arpeggio part of serrana probably is the most famous example of his sweep picking, due to the widespread viewing of the piece on the internet (bootlegged from his hotlicks video). Perhaps a rephrasing, such as: "The song Serrana, appearing in the Perspective album, was made famous by the demonstration of the arpeggio section in his hotlicks video. This demonstration, as well as in songs such as Altitudes, demonstrates Becker's mastery of sweep-picking". Justinmeister 03:54, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

• I reworded to: "The song Serrana, appearing in Perspective (album), demonstrates his mastery of sweep-picking. While the song was never recorded by Becker, his demonstration of the arpeggio sweeps during a clinic at the Atlanta Institute Of Music, which appeared on his Hot Licks video and is now readily available for viewing on the internet[1], shows his skill with the technique." The footnote is to a video of the clinic session on YouTube. Hope you like the changes, feel free to change them back if not ;) TSchellhous 08:08, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

• Pretty good edit. I expanded upon your edit by rewording it a little. I think it's alot better now but improve it if you can. Justinmeister 22:31, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Looks good, I like the changes. Only thing I changed was "he demonstrates the arpeggio section" to "he demonstrated..." to keep with the past tense of the paragraph. TSchellhous 15:34, 9 December 2006 (UTC)