Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

For sure, this dude got some Grade-A Pussy. But as a guitar player, how do you rate him?

 

He was definitely good showman, and was the ideal fit for that band at that time.

 

I put him about two notches below Mike Campbell. What do y’all think?

Posted

May be bullshit but I remember hearing that his and john’s acoustic (12 string maybe even?) version of dead or alive on…mtv music awards?… was the inspiration for mtv unplugged. So that would be a nice notch in the belt for him as that series produced a ton of great content. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted


Sambora will never be confused for Hendrix, Van Halen, Clapton, Slash, etc., but he was definitely influential.  He did break a little ground with the voice/guitar effects in "You Give Love a Bad Name," even if he did overuse it at times.  In addition, Wanted Dead or Alive is a different level from most other BonJovi songs.  The acoustic intro is strong and memorable and the electric solo is one of best from that era.  In fact I think I can hum it from memory even today.

In terms of overall influence, as @Pato del Muerto notes, was the decision to play Wanted... live and fully acoustic.  If it did not kick off The Unplugged series, it certainly added tons of credibility to it.  And Unplugged from that era was fantastic.

If you were an aspiring musician of any sort, Sambora was a decent musical role model at that time.  His riffs were clean, catchy, and accessible.  If nothing else, if you mastered Sambora's riffs, you were ready for something more challenging.

Posted

I hold the fact that Sambora hitched his wagon to a "capable" but utterly pedestrian songwriter/performer against him.  Add in the asinine vocal/guitar crap, which should have been buried along with Peter Frampton's career, and he's a solid "no" for me.

  • Like 2
Posted
12 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Even at Bon Jovi’s peak, no kid ever said “I want to play like Ritchie Sambora”.

A guy I knew who played drums, when we were in middle school, broke out a Tico Torres instructional video.  So this hits close.

Posted
3 hours ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

Bon Jovi was good at one thing…they knew a commercially successful hook when they heard it. 

I hadn't heard a single Bon Jovi song since whatever was the follow up to Slippery When Wet.  Because of this thread, I listened to the latest album. In hindsight, Bon Jovi came up with one hook and it was repeated 12 times on that album. Honestly, you could have just switched out the lyrics between songs and all of them would sound about the same.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
On 4/10/2022 at 12:41 PM, boilerhorn said:


Sambora will never be confused for Hendrix, Van Halen, Clapton, Slash, etc., but he was definitely influential.  He did break a little ground with the voice/guitar effects in "You Give Love a Bad Name," even if he did overuse it at times.  In addition, Wanted Dead or Alive is a different level from most other BonJovi songs.  The acoustic intro is strong and memorable and the electric solo is one of best from that era.  In fact I think I can hum it from memory even today.

In terms of overall influence, as @Pato del Muerto notes, was the decision to play Wanted... live and fully acoustic.  If it did not kick off The Unplugged series, it certainly added tons of credibility to it.  And Unplugged from that era was fantastic.

If you were an aspiring musician of any sort, Sambora was a decent musical role model at that time.  His riffs were clean, catchy, and accessible.  If nothing else, if you mastered Sambora's riffs, you were ready for something more challenging.

Peter Frampton broke that ground about 30 years earlier.

Posted
On 4/10/2022 at 2:08 PM, South Austin said:

Meh.

 

On 4/10/2022 at 8:14 AM, CooterBrown said:

Even at Bon Jovi’s peak, no kid ever said “I want to play like Ritchie Sambora”.

This stuff

Posted

gotta say...on the most pedantic board of one of the most pedantic websites on the internet, i can't believe no one has pointed out that his name is Richie Sambora.

Posted

One of these days I'm gonna find out the story behind Southside Johnny's liner notes for his album "Better Days" (damn solid comeback attempt from a career fringe guy) thanking Jon Bongiovi for some background vocals and referred to him as "Melvis."

That is the perfect description of Bon Jovi.

Posted

You people need to learn this, live this:

And I walk these streets, a loaded six-string on my back
I play for keeps 'cause I might not make it back
I've been everywhere, still I'm standing tall
I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all

  • Hook 'Em 4
Posted
20 hours ago, Steel Shank said:

You people need to learn this, live this:

And I walk these streets, a loaded six-string on my back
I play for keeps 'cause I might not make it back
I've been everywhere, still I'm standing tall
I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all

This has got me thinking about some snatch.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Posted
On 4/10/2022 at 7:14 AM, CooterBrown said:

Even at Bon Jovi’s peak, no kid ever said “I want to play like Ritchie Sambora”.

Acktually...I had a friend at UNT who fit this mold.  He went to the grocery store and bought those shiny star stickers out of the gumball machine and put them on his fretboard in homage to his guitar hero Ritchie Sambora.  I could not make this shit up, so you know it's true.  

He had a hard time with the fingerings, but he did not lack for enthusiasm.*

 

*Something a girlfriend at the time may've told me.

Posted
I have an uncle that used to do custodial work at the Omni in Atlanta.   One of the main benefits was he got to see the talent change and shower after their gigs.  Apparently sambora was packing a hog.   Off topic but so was Gary Coleman. Rip

giphy.gif
  • Haha 1
Posted
1 hour ago, closetohumping said:

I have an uncle that used to do custodial work at the Omni in Atlanta.   One of the main benefits was he got to see the talent change and shower after their gigs.  Apparently sambora was packing a hog.   Off topic but so was Gary Coleman. Rip

Heather has a type

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
22 hours ago, Rip76 said:

I would say he’s right there with Terry Kath, or Brian May.

Wait, wut?

 

Comparing Terry Kath to Sambora and May?  I must have missed the sarcasm icon.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
14 hours ago, Horn Draoi said:

Comparing Terry Kath to Sambora and May?  I must have missed the sarcasm icon.

I was comparing Sambora to Kath and May.

Straight sarcasm.

Posted

I won’t pretend to know the first thing about Richie Sambora’s guitar playing, but if you haven’t belted out “WANTED” with his echo chorus after the guitar solo during Dead or Alive, do you actually feel music?

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...