Kurt Cobain as a guitarist...? ?

Question

I love Kurt and Nirvana, his lyrics were amazing.

I don't play guitar, so i wouldn't know what's good and what's not.

But some people say Kurt was a rubbish guitarist, and that he didn't deserve his rank at no 12 on the Rolling Stone 100 guitarists of all time.

So was he good or bad at guitar....?

Answer 1

Bad.

And to support my answer:

Compare him to another grunge guitarist: Jerry Cantrell, of Alice in Chains.

Jerry plays guitar really well, Kurt, not so much. Sure. He had good rhythm pieces, but his solos were just noise really.

As a lyicist, his lyrics weren't that great too. He even said himself that he just puts "fillers" in songs. Now, Layne Stayley, of Alice in Chains, was an AMAZING lyricist and singer. Listen to both bands and compare them. Alice in Chains gets it.

Now, I have nothing against Nirvana, in fact I actually really like their music, but to be perfectly honest, it was nothing special.

Answer 2

kurt admitted himself to not being the best guitarist, but somehow it just all worked.  

Answer 3

Well its funny you ask because I just turned on All Apologies lol

But there wasn't anything phenomenal about his guitar playing, it mostly consisted of powercords and I don't think he really should have earned no 12 on the 100 greatest Guitarists of all time but If it were the 100 best singer/songwriters of all time he should definitely be in the top 5!

R.I.P. Kurt Cobain ily!

Answer 4

Even Kurt has admitted to not being the best guitarist.  

Answer 5

considering he wrote some pretty cool songs and I guess was one of the innovators of grunge, and the fact that he did both playing guitar and vocals simultaneously I would say that he had some talent. they were just overrated, Kurt as a lead guitarist? Crapola

Answer 6

I love Nirvana's music & I love even the version they did of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World", so much so, I think Nirvana did a better version than the artist David Bowie's original version of it & I love David Bowie's music too, but Nirvana gave it more edge. That being said however, even Kurt knows he wasn't the best guitarist out there. I get into lots of different genres of Rock-n-Roll & especially Alternative including when Alternative started in the 1960's with Iggy Pop's Stooges, MC5, Velvet Underground to later bands like s*x Pistols, Clash, Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, to newer Punk/Noise like Candy Snatchers, New Bomb Turks, Guitar Wolf, Hives, & more & that's just the Punk or/& Noise side for a few of hundreds of examples. I get into the whole spectrum really of Alternative including Goth, Industrial, Ska, No Wave, Noise/Grunge, Punk, Politcal Rap, & a lot more, but I also like other stuff such as old R & B & old Folk Country when it wasn't so corporate, Western Swing & such, some Jazz & Blues too besides some Mozart & Beethoven. With being open minded about knowing a lot of different guitar players styles of playing, I'd say Kurt was a good or somewhat great guitarist but not the best, which sorry if the answer wasn't what is wanted to be put down, but I'm just being honest this is a fact even Kurt knew himself. For examples of my wide range of great guitarists I know of & a lot of my favorites amongst them here's a best guitarists/bassists question I had a while back, which you'll see a wide range of different styles of guitarists & bassists listed on this question--

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

I could go on & on forever about how I know so many bands & having exposure to them even to the level of friendships with band members & not just local ones or not just talking to em' on Myspace or c**p like that. What matters is what Kurt, musicians he worked with & musicians of lots of different music genres including Grunge/Noise, who's put out music there including in studios & onstage, who's loved Nirvana's music but loves other bands' music as well--it matters more of what they say & everyone of that experience being objective agrees, even with Kurt being good or even a great guitarist, he still wasn't the best there is out there.  

Answer 7

He doesn't deserve number 12. He's okay, but he isn't great. Not nearly.

Answer 8

Yeah! he's probably one of the best behind to Jimi hendrix for me anyway.

Answer 9

I love this guy but he SUCKS at guitar.Theres a large list of how many guitarist are better then him

Answer 10

You can't really trust Rolling Stone these days...

Answer 11

His guitar playing wasn't that complex if your thinking in technicalities, but it worked together with all the other aspects of the songs to create a powerful effect.  

Answer 12

he was very good.

being a great guitarist doesn't necessarily mean being a virtuoso.  a lot of his guitar playing isn't that complex, but it sure sounds powerful...  

Answer 13

He sucked.

C'mon, any dumbass can play his guitar lines.

Answer 14

He was a really s**+tty guitar player!  OK he could write good songs but he was NOT a great payer at all. Dave Grohl was the musical talent in that band as we now see.

Answer 15

He's a modern guitar player... his stuff is pretty d**n easy to play with simple riffs so I really don't understand why he made up on number 12. His music was good though.

Answer 16

He surely wasn't the best, and shouldn't have been so high in the list, but don't tell me he sucked. Look how he plays in the video (lo-fi recording).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGIUpIVvx...

Answer 17

He was a good guitar player but no way near a ranking of 12.  There are many living guitarists that are far better than him.  It is one of those celeb death things that all of a sudden they where so much better. Same thing now about Kieth Ledger, not a great actor until he drops dead.  Now it seems he was the best ever and his Joker was the greatest.  Had he not died that movie would have went straight to video, and that would have been the end of it!  

Answer 18

His songs are very easy to play but he made them sound awesome.