Guitarists Who Have Been Accused of Playing Sloppy Live 

I wish I could play half as 'sloppy' as Hendrix or Page.

Improvisation does not equal sloppy. I watched Coldplay live decades ago - sounded exactly the same as the album - pointless. Watch Jimmy Page u never get bored. Geniuses.

Page was always playing close to the edge and improving every solo. He wasn't interested in doing note for note like the record perfection every night. That's what made him one of the most exciting and coolest guitarists to ever walk the stage...

There are so many technical wizards out there that can play absolutely everything BUT cannot ever write a good, solid song! So will never amount to anything much in the music world.

Keith Richards' work on "Honky Tonk Woman" and "Brown Sugar" are why I took up the guitar.

Jimmy Page was, is and will be the ultimate god of rock and roll guitar.

If page makes a mistake, I wanna learn it

There is a realism in many players that play sloppy. If there is no soul then there is nothing. Full stop.

Page plays with his soul. Plays with what he is feeling in that moment. One of the best musicians to ever walk the earth. Led Zeppelin will forever be the best rock band of all time IMO!! 🎸

They are are the top two guitarists in Rock history, their first names begin with Jim, and I don't care what order you put them in, they were musical geniuses. To refer to them as sloppy is a sign of ignorance.

Page was sloppy because he spent more time writing than running scales if you follow their tours by the end he was def on his game.

From 1969-1973 there is nothing sloppy about Jimmy’s playing. People that say this have no clue about Jimmy’s live playing they’re just jumping on the bandwagon. Point to me where jimmy is sloppy from 69-73?!? There’s nothing to be found. It’s hard finding a show or song where he even hits a bad note during that period. His playing on The Song Remains the Same soundtrack is impeccable. And his playing on How the West Was Won is perfection. He’s probably the slickest player of all time. Eddie’s playing was sloppy af. Hendrix hit many bad notes on his live albums. They were both much “sloppier” than Jimmy. It’s just nonsense talk.

Hendrix was the innovator of how to play through feedback, distortion, wah-wah pedals & use of the tremolo("whammy")bar. He was the one chasing & making new sounds. He could've played it safe like Clapton and others but, then we wouldn't have had the advancement of musical devices & guitarists following in his path and continuing to chase sounds & advance the art of guitar playing. The list of legends who learned from the greatness & give praise to Hendrix includes Clapton, Page, Beck, Blackmore, Townshend, Farner, Trower, Marino, Uli Jon Roth, Walsh, Satriani, Vai, SRV, KW Sheppard, Lang, Zappa(Frank & Dweezil), Gilmour & many others. There's been a tour for several years called Experience Hendrix & features a variety of great guitar players from different genres who pay tribute to the man who influenced them. The tour will be taking place this year. It may open your eyes and ears to genius of Hendrix. Live Hendrix played with emotion. Checkout Machine Gun from Band Of Gypsys album.

Page is the best of all time!!

Richie Blackmore was spot on with his statement, something that the Auto-Tuning junkies will never understand.

It was and always will be about timing,rhythm,and tone. The greats always had these and throw in writing and now you have a legend.

I don't hear page being sloppy....the 2 best guitarists are named Jimmy hands down anyone would agree

Hilarious people think swagger means sloppy

I believe that the people who call them sloppy, are really just envious and jealous of them, they wish they could play like them.

Page improvised most live shows because well.. He had so many guitar overdubs on studio releases that many songs were impossible to replicate live with just 1 guitar. It's evident by watching his live performances that this could either turn out better than expected or worse.

Some might call it sloppy but I call it pushing the envelope.

Emotion + Composition > Perfection.

As far as an all around musician, singer, songwriter, performer, can play and sing at the same time, producer, author, guitarist, businessman, editor, can play any instrument at the professional level, write hit songs all by himself, that man is Pete Townshend.

Times are changed. Back in the 60 / 70 nobody cared a lot about imperfections and poor technique because music was fresh and new and relevant. Today you gotta learn the job before to start gigging and produce music that is appealing. Jimi, Clapton, Page were all pioneers and their craft might have been raw. Modern guitarists have perfected the craft but still they have to pay respect to the guitar gods.

My only problem with this is that when i play sloppy, people call me out on it and say i need to practice. When these guys plays sloppy, everyone in the comments says that it’s awesome to be sloppy and it is part of the feel for rock and is good. Which is it?

To me, those very technical guitarists are boring. Up and down the fretboard all the time, the faster they can... But there's no feeling, no emotion, in the end, very poor musicality. Music is not athletics.

Been playin 20+ years now, Id take ANY of these "sloppy" guitar players, most of them already my favorite guitarists over a perfectionist any day. And yes, they all sound the same in my opinion too. I like my guitar wabi-sabi, its imperfection actually makes it perfect.

One man who isn’t on this list but they all took from him, was the great Rory Gallagher, man could that man play with his beloved worn out Fender Stratocaster. Jimi Hendrix was once asked at Woodstock, what it was like to be the best guitar player in the world, he replied i don’t know you need to ask Rory Gallagher 🎸🔥

Really good video and excellent point from Blackmore, I mean Chuck Berry played really early foundation licks but totally his live versions of songs are awesome. My favorite live is Angus Young. studio recording vs live he is sooooo underrated. I hope to see him while he still lives. If they come to the US already lol😎🤘🏾🎸🎵PWR UP ⚡️⚡️⚡️

I always enjoyed to love renditions of Zeppelin just as much as the record. It made it souch more impressive that they could improvise as a band so well. I'm sure the same is true of Hendrix. Sometimes maybe a solo will sound "worse" than others, but that makes it special and exciting too. I find the whole idea of improvising like that, super inspiring. And if I were ever in a band, I wish I'd be capable of doing that, though likely would never be good enough to improvise such amazing songs and riffs. Kudos to all of Zeppelin!

Same thing when I do photography, I stopped worrying about perfection and my creativity soared!

Also, these guys were really High A F - wether Acid, Mary Jane or alcohol Today's clean cut un sexy guitar players need to zip it and take a bow. Not to mention they actually sought to never play the same thing twice...

“Sloppy” works for Page. For me, not so much.

I find I usually like the playing the players labeled sloppy more than the players who are always precise (to be clear not players who are a disaster, I mean guys who had real skill like Page but who people sometimes say was sloppy). If I hear a recording that isn't perfect, I don't think it is sloppy, I think it is more honest

Saying these guys are sloppy is a compliment. Rock live isn't supposed to be perfect. Only bands like Pink Floyd try for perfection and the Eagles bands like that. You see them for that reason. Zeppelin never played their songs the same way every night. I know trained musicians who play songs perfectly but it doesn't sound right. No feel to it. It's not loose and fun. Ace Frehley is another sloppy guitarist who influenced a ton of other guitarists.

I would be more than happy to see these Guitar gods play 'sloppy' it would prove that they're all human after all!

I agree in the early years, Page sounded great, later, I would cringe every time he played a lead. There’s a difference between playing a little sloppy and playing bad. That’s the difference between early Page and later Page. Page’s comments on the subject are just arrogance. And Blackmore always gets on my nerves. I remember him saying he left Deep Purple because of the lack of creativity, and then bragging he wrote 80% of their songs! Loved his playing, disliked his personality. Basically a jerk!

There’s a demonstration on RU-vid where a player shows why Page couldn’t duplicate the Stairway To Heaven solo. It was the double neck SG he used live. It only has 20 frets so he basically runs out of room. I know he could be a little sloppy and didn’t always duplicate a solo note for note but that’s the main reason there was an issue with the Stairway live solo.

When I want to hear music played to the millimeter perfectly, I listen to a symphony orchestra. Now, a guitarist who played exactly the same as the album, night after night, show after show, would be called “boring, monotonous, repetitive, tedious” and other nonsense. Rock is an explosion of energy, and without a doubt the intensity of the crowd is something that affects their emotions; a proof that they are humans, not robots. And does anyone think they care about being called “sloppy”?

Jimmy Page is my ultimate in guitar playing, his riffs, tone, soloing and arranging ("guitarchitecture") hit me in that sweet spot like no other! That said, he did have massive drug dependency during Zeps later years, of course that's going to affect his playing, especially the heroin. There's a line between "sloppy" and "loose", great players walk it!

His best is a man's true self. JP, JH, EVH, KR, are THE best.

I saw Hendrix twice. Yeah, he was a bit sloppy on both occasions. The cause? Who knows.

I have enough bootleg Led Zeppelin to say sloppy or not still THE GOAT !

It’s ok to make mistakes.

Page was often accused of being sloppy, but two things are there important. Many songs in their live repertoire are strong, rude guitar sound which is best created with sloppy playing, intentional sloppy playing. There are solos from albums who are played in that way - to sound more wild. Particularly in early albums, when distortion sound was something out of reach for usual shows. Second, not only in last few years he had sloppy and really bad playing due to heroin problems, and lack of practicing because of uncertain future of Led Zeppelin back then, in first years they were often pushed on stage directly from bus, and guitarists know that you must have warming up and whole practice to rise accuracy and speed.

Blackmore may have been as close to 'perfect' on stage of any of the major guitarists of his time, but even he admits that isn't everything. Page is so amazing that his 'slop' is out of reach of most anyone. These dudes were not in a broadway play. This is rock.

Jimmy created the most iconic solo of all time and his other solos were far behind. He was and is the Great one.

Page was terrible throughout the 80s, a little better in the next 2 decades, but still hard to watch at times. Page's performances at the ARMS show were pathetic. I still love him and appreciate the incredible artistry that has contributed to Rock & Roll.

"Play a mistake three more times, and it's a riff." - Doug Ballance -

I can’t understand how or even why anybody would have one bad thing to say about jimmy page. Sounds of jealousy to me.i think he is phenomenal! ❤❤❤

I think you have to consider the recording process as well as the live concerts. Solos in the studio might be from multiple takes to create the recorded solo. As you said, to keep it interesting and fresh the musicians improvised on their solos in concert. So what is the correct solo, the studio solo composed of many takes or the spontaneous solo of their live concerts. Certainly drugs played a part and compromised playing. Neither rock n' roll nor the blues require strict adherence to the original.

Rock musicians usually aren't trained professional musicians, they're mostly self taught amateurs who accidentally hit upon a career playing music.

RB hits it on the head with the closing statement. Contemporary guitar players are seeking constant perfection and missing out on the magic of Music by being too polished. Take chances, have a laugh when you make a fluff note and just keep going anyway.

I agree, modern playing, as well as modern (especially high-gain) guitar tone itself, has become sterile and one dimensional. With all the modeling and digital recreations, a player now has at their disposal infinite variation. You can spend the rest of your life wading through it all. But which in the end, it just dilutes the quality of the music. The star of the show is the technology, no longer the music or the musician. Less IS more and perfection bores.

Jeff Beck pioneered a lot of the “innovations” that later guitarists have been given the credit for.

ZEP, Stones, Van Halen Hendrix, all great, but I think The mighty Who are the greatest live band, certainly from 1967 (Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus) to 1975 (Pontiac Silverdome). Add Woodstock, Monterrey Pop, Isle Of White shows, Concert For New York and many more. Greatest album of all time, Live At Leeds, nuff said.

Page slop is real good . 07 was amazing !

There was so much more to Page than technique, that one would be a fool to dismiss him on technique alone. He was a visionary, master producer, master songwriter and arranger and incredibly innovative. The studio material is still unmatched to this day. Besides, Jimmy had a lot of musical real estate to fill live and I think much of that was because he was inebriated most of the time while playing live.

The only tour where EVH was sloppy was 2004. That's when he was on drugs pretty badly. He was never known for being that way on any previous tour before that or since. So to say he was known for having sloppy moments once Sammy joined is false. He never, ever had that rep, either with Roth first time or with Sammy first time. Only on that one reunion tour with Sammy in 04, and he definitely had a lot of "off" nights that tour, but that's the only one.

Stones were never a great live band, more a studio band

Steve Vai and Nuno love Jimmy Page and Hendrix, so that'S enough for me.

David Gilmour wouldn't play the same solos live, he changed solo deliveries night after night and some complain about him playing not exactly like the record, I mean he would stay in the key of the song but change the delivery and play different notes every night. Pete Townshend played drunk and in 1979-81 on heroin and cocaine but the 1982 Tour was his best playing in years as he was sober. Brian May is a health nut (never smoked or drugged, rarely drank (only Guinness)) and his solos would either be on the mark or improvise if he broke a string or had a brain fart.

What is it with this ‘Sloppy’ obsession?? Blues, rock, punk or Grunge wouldn’t have happened if all that mattered was concert level perfection. Just let it go.

The word SLOPPY regarding guitar playing mostly technique is the most overused word in the Guitar Community. I've heard Malmsteen being quoted as playing Sloppy Really!!!. I think myself some people just use the word to sound like they know what they are talking about. The thing that makes me laugh though is, I haven't seen a single person on this site or any other upload footage of them playing🤔. I wonder why???????

68 to 75 Page was the man. Broken fingers and heroin ruined his peak.

Beyond a certain level of technical ability (a good player) I would argue feel and locking in with the other members of the band members is more important. Playing with Soul is more important than hitting every not perfectly. Most of the examples in this video are the result of too much booze/drugs. Hendrix and page live for example.

I like sloppy… I don’t measure a musicians quality by how exactly he can play the album live. That’s just not a metric to me, I like to see them take chances and get flow, it doesn’t always work out, but when it does wow. Van halen as a group are a bit of a joke to me, they always had some drama going on and we’re talking crap about people.

None of them were sloppy . They were and are innovators period.

Well when you get to a certain level of fame you just don’t really care but play sloppy in a local gig everyone gonna start throwing tomatoes if u messing up that bad

Hell, he played sloppy on records too.

What they call “sloppy” is the feel that makes the song unique or gives that RnR something to many songs live especially.PERFECT is not going to do it…Hendrix had close to the ideal feel in my opinion. Not sloppy.

Seriously??? So why are these so called sloppy players put on amazing performances. It's about the feel of the moment. I've seen all of these players live except Hendrix and their shows are amongst the best live show I've ver seen (I have been to countless concerts).Oddly enough these so called sloppy players definitely have their own individual style that many players try to emulate.

Im not sure how you managed to make an entire video on this subject without including any actual examples of this sloppy playing.

Elliott Smith was always amazing live

I would rather watch Pete Townshend perform on stage than any other guitar player. I would rather watch Moonie on the kit than any other drummer. I would rather feel John Entwistles bass pound through my body than any other bass player. I would rather Roger fucking Daltrey act like a real man on stage with prowess and powerful vocals swinging that mic 40 ft out into the audience. Now that is rock n roll entertainment with high volume, lasers, craziness and musicianship all rolled into one.

To be great you have to take chances

In defence to Richards, the Rolling Stones were awful playing live lol nowhere near the studio version

Not John Lennon post 1966... because he became a studio musician...

You know what is great about music yt music channels, you can't hear the music anymore...I mean I know the reason why, but it sukks balls.

Keith Richards is only 80 years old so you're comparing them to a 20-year-old like Johnny Holmes...

Frusciante is the modern version of these guys.

Are you kidding me😂😂😂its there signature there tone there fingers 😜 no one can sound like them .they put out multiple hits still ruling today. Sloppiness is the guitarist himself. Who doesn't make mistakes. Get up there for 2 to 6 hours a night with no mistakes 😂😂😂😂❤

that’s why I hate most live music

Tell that to SRV!

Maybe the guitar critics should get their sorry asses on stage and show how it is done. They're just as bad as critics of literature. The conoscenti who can't write a lick.

To be honest I didn't hear any 'Sloppy' playing, as there was a bloke rambling on with no audio. What an absolutely pointless post.

There’s a difference between sloppy , improvising and lazy . I think Keith and Jimmy Page improvise . I’ve seen some guys live that are just plain lazy. A signature lick of a song needs to be spot on for me to enjoy the performance, I wait for it . Eddie Van Halen was extremely talented , but imo he overplayed everything .

What the hell are you talking about? Who are these people? The jealous ones?

It's rock n roll not classical music . I like it a bit sloppy

I agree. Hendrix is great, but he don't have any amazing songs. Got a few good ones. Nothing special. Just die young and u r the greatest. Give me Page anyday. He's wrote the most awesome songs.

Rory Gallagher never got accused of being sloppy 😉

Don't post it if you don't want to hear egotists criticism

He is sloppy, couldn’t touch Jeff Beck or Mick Taylor.

What about Kurt Cobain he was sloppy

GARY MOORE! THE MASTER GUITAR! 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸👈🏻🎤🎸👈🏻👩🏻‍💻 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 23-06-2024

Only sloppy guitarist I wanna hear about in this is Nick Jonas!

J.H. was perfect live! Every time! I much more like to listen his live performances than LP ones! What's whith this ,,sloppy''? Next one will be R. Blackmore and next perhaps Tonny Iommi. Next will be all 3 Kings of Blues. At the end will be Robert Johnson. And no-sloppy will be Y.M. and J.P. ? This is clickbait, low and sad.

LZ fanbois are ridiculous ...

Eddie was unbelievable but him picking Clapton over Hendrix is crazy.

The do care.