Congratulation Jon!

[Alaric]

As I know nothing about actually playing a guitar, this is speculation based purely on visuals: Am I seeing some Eddie Van Halen influence in his fret work? Or was that always a thing and EVH just brought it to light in his particular venue?

[JonMarsh]

EVH had a Major influence on the use of hammering with the right hand- though some others like Eric Johnson were early users of the technique also, but not in such an obvious or flashy manner. Since EVH demonstrated many of the interesting things you can do with that technique that’s just aren’t possible with a conventional approach, it’s really become pretty widespread. Few guitarists have that kind of impact on the musical expression possible with the instrument.

There was a lot of evolution in various directions for guitar style in the 80’s, especially the early 80’s.

Speaking of EVH, how many folks know he was the guitarist (uncredited) on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”?

Another early 80’s lead guitar part that was seminal for the time but rarely known for it’s player was Paul Huff (Giant) on “Danger Zone”, from the Top Gun sound track.

It’s funny how that song is one of Kenny’s Loggin’s two most popular hits, but he took the job after many others turned it down, sort of a snap judgement, I’ve read, and doesn’t feel it’s at all representative of his artistic position. Happy accidents, I suppose…

[Alaric]

The Kenny Loggins story reminds me of Don Felder of the Eagles saying he hates the song Teenage Jail, on which his guitar is quite prominent. I think he called it "simplistic" at one time. Heck, the riff from Smoke On The Water is pretty "simplistic", but I'm pretty sure Ritchie Blackmore still cashes the checks.
One of my favorite musicians was Roy Clark. He had an orchestra on stage with him and would go through it and play every instrument. He was an incredibly talented musician. The only EVH story I have is an Alice Cooper interview. Vince Furnier (Alice) is local to here and still lives in the area. During an interview about Glen Campbell, after his death, Alice Cooper said that Eddie Van Halen once asked him (AC) to introduce him to to Glen Campbell because he was interested in learning some guitar techniques from him. There's an interesting documentary on youtube about The Wrecking Crew, where Glen Campbell was a studio musician for years. The popular music of the 60s and early 70s was, in large part, all performed by a handful of studio professionals whom the marquee names counted on to make them sound good.

[JonMarsh]

Yeah, I’ve heard of the wrecking crew- pretty well known in some circles- cool video link!

[FrancoB]

Another early 80’s lead guitar part that was seminal for the time but rarely known for it’s player was Paul Huff (Giant) on “Danger Zone”, from the Top Gun sound track.

It’s funny how that song is one of Kenny’s Loggin’s two most popular hits, but he took the job after many others turned it down, sort of a snap judgement, I’ve read, and doesn’t feel it’s at all representative of his artistic position. Happy accidents, I suppose…

Actually, it was Dann Huff. Now a big time country producer based in Nashville.

Late eighties, early nineties, he recorded two fantastic albums with his band Giant: 'Last of the runaways' and 'Time to burn'. Check it out.

[JonMarsh]

Thanks for correcting my aging memory!

[CADman_ks]

Thanks Scott, I'll have to run those down!

And meanwhile, for everyone after you've hunted your Easter eggs and eaten your Easter dinner (whatever that might be) here's something else by Marcin to watch which will give you a good idea of how he sets up to record- and he's wearing his nice Hoodie in this video...

https://youtu.be/Pfof8hGZIt8

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This reminds me a lot of Tommy Emanuel...