I always loved Mike Oldfield and his guitars. I just made a little list (in non particular order) of my favourite guitar solos and licks by him. Remember to buy his music: www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...
@@robertoreyes4258 , Nelv Gabay means that it's "criminal" that Mike Oldfield is not recognized at his real value ! Mike is not present in the guitarists charts ; it's a scandal ! es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Los_100_guitarristas_m%C3%A1s_grandes_de_todos_los_tiempos_seg%C3%BAn_Rolling_Stone
I don't think so Neiv. MO is (yet) a very skilled guitarist. But to be a good guitarist does not implies be able to play fast or play shredding, must be a good music over all. Just a example: The solo of Comfortably Numb from Gilmour is not so difficult to play, but it sounds like glory angels.
It is a mystery to me why Oldfield is so underrated and unconsidered among the general public. But not only: he's unconsidered also by the history of rock, magazines, critics, etc. I have been into Oldfield's music for all my life, and to say I appreciate him is an understatement - he matches the definition of genius in a lot of ways. As a guitarist he is one of the greatest of his times: I know what I'm talking about. Mike is a kind of virtuoso whose personality on the guitar and creativity even surpasses his outstanding technique. To be a virtuoso does not necessarily mean to be like John Petrucci, Frank Gambale or Paul Gilbert: there are different types of virtuosity, not only metal shredding or fusion scales. Mike possesses the guitar fretboard like no one of his era: when Mike came out in the early 70s no one played the guitar as he did. Metal, shredding and fast picking were yet to come. He anticipated some of what later became fast scales through his own legato style; he also has fantastic abilities on classical, acoustic and electric without losing a bit of personality. Hear 3 notes and you know it's him! And this without taking into account he can play a lot of instruments (even though he is mainly a guitarist) and is a genius of musical architectures. Yes, his greatest achievement, besides all of his virtuosity, is the music! Original, unique, creative, powerful, inspired and complex. Now tell me another guitarist that has achieved the same: you may name some even more "virtuous virtuoso's", like modern shredders and guitar technicians, but the mediocre quality of their music and their anonymous sound would surely counterbalance. Or else you may name some great composers, but their instrumental technique would again counterbalance that down. Mike is great at both and achieves a wider overall result. Let me become quantitative, which is something people may appreciate in the era of the internet: if we measure the greatness of a musician by the product of the technique times the creativity, well I'm afraid Mr. Oldfield has the widest area of all. And especially guitarists and musicians should be aware of that. How on earth does he happen to not be one of the super legends of rock? I'm talking about the top-notch names, such as Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, etc, he should be in the Olympus of the Gods together with them. How comes he isn't? Is that due to envy and jealousy among rockstars? It's a mystery I have been trying to solve for 30 years but with no success.
Apsolutly agre with you. For me MIke is the only ONE, for last 40 years. Not a dey past that I don't listen samting of his music. His music tuch my soul. Love.all if his music. Dippend of my mood diferent pises for that dey. I can weit for samting new love, love love Mike. I told my hasbend when I dai hi must put all his LP in my coffin to listen on another world. Sorry for my speling.afcorse I have all his music in duplicate . My husbend and my dother is allso huge fan of Mike
Why he hasn't the recognition we think he deserves? Maybe because his conception of music is not well understood or should it not connect with the majority of listeners? Nah! Just listen to the hits on mainstream media. No musical culture on the main audience.
In der Musikwelt gilt er als verschroben. In den 80ern hat er das Mainstream Publikum erreicht und entsprechend groß waren die Anfragen von Journalisten. Mike hasst aber generell Publicity. Er zog sich meist zurück und dann haben die Medien ihn hauptsächlich in Ruhe gelassen. Vielleicht hat msn ihn, weil er nicht sympathisch rüber kam, die Ehre verweigert, in den Gitarren Olymp offiziell aufzusteigen. Aber Mike schert es einen Dreck wer was von ihm hält. Das ist wiederum sympathisch. Er ist sicher nicht der einfachste Mensch, aber so what
He's not as proficient in the multi-instrumentalist department, but as a guitarist and composer, I'm sure Robert Fripp would surely prove to be a worthy oponent
interesting. dont tell that to mike he is so much descreet he cannot see himself so from the outside i think important thing is we like we love his music
I agree however who else would use sound effects like a mechanical typewriter or someone cleaning their teeth with a manual toothbrush or treat the human voice as a musical instrument as he does in Amarillo?
Totally agree, Mike doesn't just play guitar, he makes it speak like a human voice with emotion . The Space Movie in the mid 80s was my introduction, and Oldfield is still my favourite music i listen to !
He is, first and foremost, a composer. His music is not created to show off his guitar prowess which, I have to say, is considerable. The beautiful tones he mixes are out of this world and transcend mere concepts of melody, harmony, and rhythm. He's not there to demonstrate technique because, frankly, that's for the books and the eyes, not for the ears, the heart and mind. Others play a million notes that mean nothing to no-one but the musical snobs who think they know something, but actually adore conjuring tricksters. Oldfield works magic with a single note because he means it. Obviously, not all of his work is high art, but when it reaches the dizzy heights of his earlier works, it is exceptionally beautiful.
How dare you say Mike's guitar prowess is considerable? Mike has played many technically difficult solos. Maybe he doesn't play Vai style, but if he played like Vai i wouldn't relax to it. LET THE BELLS RING!!!
I will forever love him,my first LP from him was five miles out,I was 13 years,now im 55.Yes hes my music god and will be till i die.Hes the best,his music touches all my senses,my heart everything,He wrotes tubular bells at the age of 16,think of that!Hes a underrated genius,especially on guitar and composing.Mike Oldfield forever;)Thank you for decades of enriching my life with your outstanding composing your unbelievible music!Youre the greatest and forever in my heart.
If i got to say something about Mike Oldfield, its that he just sounds totally diferent from any other guitar player...the vibrato, the slide, all sounds really personal
Mike Oldfield is the best musician of the twentieth year. Incredible genius and multi-instrumentalist. For me the best guitarist ever. Great melodies, sonorous instruments combined with such beautiful Celtic music. I'm a musician myself and a big fan of Mike Oldfield.
As a non-musician I’m not qualified to comment on his technical ability, but the sounds he makes on a guitar (or any other instrument) have a quality that reach inside of me and connect in a way that no other musician/composer does. I’d have to pick him as my all-time favourite.
I will never forget the first time I heard Ommadawn! A great friend turned me on to the album when we were living in Italy. It changed my life forever! 😎
same here, I let the whole Ommadawn CD play for the first time, left the room and when I returned, the finale of part 2 sounded out of the speakers, it was unbelievable, I never felt such euforia from music
I've been a fan of Mike Oldfield since I was introduced to his music by my dad. He is without a doubt the best guitarist ever. He can make a guitar sing like no other and his music so beautiful. Never understood why he was so underrated.
Yes, his absolute masterpiece! Listening to it for more than 32 years now, he is a genius! Would love to have Amarok II or at least a special 30th anniversary edition but sadly... nothing there.
guitar legend....and music GOD! He touched so many styles, so many instruments, tried so many techniques, inventing his own.....AND TURNED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM INTO MUSIC GOLD!! Like nobody else
Everyone talks about Ommadawn, but no one talks about Crises (the song). There aren't many fast parts, but the sound is so clear. It's one of those when you hear it, you know it's Mike Oldfield.
I don't dislike Crises. Just as I don't dislike Taurus II, Platinum, even Incantations (think it was a shame that the segment from part four that was featured on the B side of Guilty was left off this list but oh well...) I can listen to them all, but Ommadawn was something else. I'm not really surprised that it gets so much praise over so many other bodies of work that Mike has recorded but to each their own!
On his albums it's always about the music .. not guitar pyrotechnics. He CAN play lightning fast or precise classical ... and switches to whatever the music needs. An astonishing composer, multi-instrumentalist and harmonic genius. AMAROK is the most under rated album of all time.
Mike Oldfields career is a journey. Most only think "Tubular Bells" but there is so much to be found. All might not suit everyone but just giving everything a chance might make you find many new favorites. I grew up on "Moonlight Shadow" not knowing much else.. Thought it was a "one-hit-wonder". I much later found Tubular Bells and now I have not all albums, but a big portion of them. I can't say I love them all but I like most...The more progressive things, the more "pop" and the landscapes. So glad I took a chance on him - Mike Oldfield!
My experience is close to yours. When I was a young teen, I used to hear "moonlight shadow" and "to france" a lot on the FM radio, and then a close friend of my mother lend her "ommadawn". What a revelation ! I even didn't realise it was the same musician but eventually, I bought almost all albums, first on tapes then on CD.
Actually Moonlight Shadow made me look into his music and I bought Crises then in 1983 and spend the next decade with listening to his records. Though I have to admit that the records after that don’t quite meet my taste. Anyway there isn’t much in rock music that’s anyway close to Ommadawn or Hergest Ridge for example. It’s a genuinely original and wonderful music.
Listening to all these parts gives me chills! I was 16 when I was introduced to him. I'm a guitar hobbyist and Mike Oldfield is pretty much the only one I like playing along with. Of course only the parts for us mere mortals! His guitar solos are somehow so melodic. Two songs spring to mind I haven't seen mentioned here, Pictures in the Dark and Shine. Plus all the bits in this video. I totally agree that Mike Oldfield is a modern day Mozart!
Mike's music has always been and still is a happy haven for me. It's like he's been making that music exactly for my soul, it fits it perfectly, it's like a complete understanding of his musical expression, ever since I first discovered him through Tubular Bells II and gradually through his other masterpieces...
Mike was such a great composer. I think it took the attention away from how good he actually was at the guitar. He has his own tone. The violin like sustain tone played with his long nails -:) and much much more.
Le conocí con 14 años y con QE2,,y desde entonces hasta ahora que tengo 40 años mas, soy fan total de éste genio,el mejor y mas emocionante concierto que he visto fué verle en la plaza de toros de Las Ventas ,Madrid. Tubular Bells 2..una obra maestra de un maestro..y su solo con una sola luz sobre él,nadie mas en el escenario tocando...ALUCINANTE!!! Y los gaiteros escoceses que tocaron Tattoo,ya fué la HOSTIA!!!!.grande grande!!!
Mr. Oldfield is one of my all time favorites just because of the easily recognizable guitar sound. The fact that he’s somewhat underrated makes him even better
Just what I have always thought and said, along some 45 years, but sadly many people who think they understand guitars cannot see and don't recognize... And I'm a guitarist and composer too... So, I know very well the instrument. I would like to emphasize that, just in this small selection, there are two solos that I consider almost technically impossible: the 'fast triplets' on Ommadawn's Part 1 and that just after the introduction of Incantations Part 3. Many thanks and congratulations for producing this excellent video. Best regards.
I love his music for over 40 years now. I changed my way of playing the guitar since I saw the knebworth interview. He is a great composer and guitar player. His music is immortal.
Great video, Mike is a unique guitar player, he is rarely mentioned among the "greats" no idea why!!! As you say this is just a brief sampling of his abilities, many more could be listed, good to see you included Return To Ommadawn, I think it's a great album. Amarok alone could have filled your list.
He has a very unique sound, highly expressive, with a killer vibrato and clever use of hammer-ons, sometimes with quite long, intrincate runs, but his playing is not the technically cleanest and not the most accurate either. In many of his live performances you get clearly more bum notes than many of his guitar hero peers, that's probably why. Ah, and the Alan Partridge factor.
@@philippfrogel9355 I don't have the feeling it is always the case - in many performances you have unclean - if not straight ahead botched - runs or hammer-ons, bum notes, screeches... Not the kind of stuff you play as an artistic choice. I mean, his playing his not the easiest, but since his playing is not based on pure improvisation -as in jazz or improv- I would expect that many of these mistakes are avoidable (they match the recording, can be thoroughly rehearsed).
@@gnordache4405 I would take the fact that they match the recording as you say as an indication that they are on purpose. Also I think it is more likely that a guitarist of that caliber does not have such timing problems while many lesser guitarists have not. I just thought this is part of his very individual play. But could be either way, I dont know. Thanks for your statement!
@@philippfrogel9355 I meant that the lines he played were written, not that the live performance matched the recording - hence my suspitions: no rubato, nongrace notes, just missed ones, or clumsy phrasing. He himself never claimed to be a virtuoso, but rather a very good player, anyway. Damn right, both statements.
Thank you for this wonderful tribute to the GREATEST GUITARIST OF ALL TIME MIKE OLDFIELD> I have loved him and his music all my life and it is so wonderful to come people like you who love him ass much as I do. You are right. He really is so unfairly underrated ans i could never understand why. There are so many so called "guitar gods out there, but NONE can hold a damp matchstick to him never mind a candle.
Punkadiddle from Platinum album is missing on this list. The guitar riff response to the synthesizer tune has blown my mind away for over 36 years since I first heard it
Fantastic talented musician, I never tire of listening to his unique music . Love t.b. 2003 especially. I find incantations part 3 & 4 so relaxing to listen too. Love your music Mike!
5 miles out and the live moonlight shadow solo with pepsi demaque and the extra solo ( this time perfected) as a real addition to a great song. those two are the best solos in my opinion. thanks for sharing, he really is a genuis
my favorite mike oldfield album is definitely songs of distant earth ,absalutly brilliant and ive ben listening since the first album in the early 1970s tubular bells
I don't have words to say about yr video. I can only say: thanks. Many, many, many thanks. What you say is absolutely correct. Mike is obviously a genius, namely with a guitar. Is his soul speaking to our souls. You could put more hundreds of guitar's masterpieces made by Mike. Ommadawn has perhaps the best moments. I listen them since the 70's till now... That's all.
Your comments at the end are just what I feel and think every single time I listen to him ...most people could never imagine how extraordinary good he really is ...but his taste and musicality is million lightyears ahead from other guitar virtuosos ..... The Ommadawn part always freaks me out since I was a kid trying to learn guitar... God bless him , he developed his TALENT in the most amazing way ... For me he is either an Alíen or an Angel.....or both...Love him so much !!!! Thank you for all of your divine Music , my dearest Mike , I truly love you....
As a 69 years old Oldfield's greatest fans along more than 40 years ( and someone who modestly also plays solo guitar and compose ), I fully agree. That's just what I have always thought, since the 70's. Very good selection of pieces and excerpts and excellent text in the end. Many thanks for posting, since sadly Mike has been considerably underrated regarding his guitar genius, very often not fully recognized. Best regards !
His solos and actually all of the guitar playing sound like no other. There are many great guitarists, but they all sound similar and oftens it seems it's only about speed and technique.
I listen every song of Mike in this ranking, but I never listened very carefully the Part three of Incantations.......Unbelievable!! Incredible scales with ups and downs, reaching to the very soul core there uuuffff!! 🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟
einfach nur genial, krasse Erinnerungen kehren zurück, wie ich das alles als Jugendlicher auf damals schon Beyerdynamik Dt 8xx und Sanyo Plus Series Hifi mit Sony CD-Player, Vinyl und auf Sony Kassentenwalkman bei langen Joggings und Training gesuchtet habe, Wahnsinn, was so eine "Zufallsentdeckung" dieses Zusammenschnitts an Emotionen wachruft ... wo ist meine Gitarre, ich muss spielen und neu analysieren mit heutigen Fertig- & Fähigkeiten ;-) - Danke
I rarely see mention of Mike Oldfield made in lists of "great guitarists" whether presented in print or on RU-vid videos. No musician myself, I suppose that I am not qualified to appreciate the criteria that the compilers of such rankings apply to their selections. What I do know is that I am extraordinarily entertained by the vast majority of Mike's art, have been for decades, and I personally think he is a friggin' musical genius! When one considers that Mike composed "Tubular Bells" and played virtually all of the instruments on the original recording released when he was but 19 years old can they dissuade me from my belief? As for his proficiency with the guitar, I can only say that I am amazed every time I watch his finger picking on the DVD recording of the 1981 live performance at Montreux.
You totally missed "Branches" from The Sallyangie album, which he played at only 15 years old, and yet it's one of the greatest guitar pieces ever made.
Mike was only 17 years old, when he started working on Tubular Bells.......20 years old, when it was released......he played every instrument on the album. The first album to be released on the new Virgin Records label......damn good masterpiece! Some people called it rubbish.....garbage......those are the same people that have no concept of what real music is.
