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Let’s talk about Ritchie Sambora

Gil Bang

By Gil Bang
in Music

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 26050

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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?

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boilerhorn

boilerhorn 1399

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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.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46247

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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.

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dcbc

dcbc 14537

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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.

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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 18033

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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.

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Nole-4-Life

Nole-4-Life 804

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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.

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GhostOfTomJoad

GhostOfTomJoad 9358

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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.

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utee94

utee94 15869

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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.

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Chad Fuck

Chad Fuck 17815

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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.

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