Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain_jovi
I hate being the one to say it, I don't think Jon's vocal problems is an apt comparison to Richie's playing. I don't think Jon wants to souind like that. Richie's playing got lazy. Those aren't really the same. What IS the same is if Jon is making the point that you can't go on stage unless you are able to play in which case neither of them should be up there.
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Yeah, that's fair enough. Even though the result is the same as a listener, the reasons for the decline in Jon is different. Although, if Richie's dip in quality is down to addictions and the after effects, that is also a medical problem and not a case of being lazy.
You're also correct about his playing pre-2005. He could still drive the song and lock in with Tico/Hugh. However, I was seeing things in his lead playing that were worrying a long time before that. It got worse over time, but I was seeing signs as early as 2000. Even back then when I had only been playing guitar 3 years I could spot mistakes. Nothing like the teeth pulling experience of his solos over the last 10 years, but still.
In fairness to him, he still had his monstrous tone up until around Aftermath, and his feel was still there too. His performances in 2011/2012 were much improved, but still a shadow of the guitarist he had become in the 90s. Edit to add, none of Richie's decline aside form the obvious period was bad enough for Jon to be claiming he couldn't play like it was an ongoing issue.