Trey Anastasio... All the posts I've read on here have been nagative regarding my man trey. I may be biased as a fellow Vermonter, but I don't understand all the trash talk people on this forum have put out. First off, I AM NOT A DAMN HIPPY! I can't stand 90% of the people that follow my favorite bands, but I don't hold it against the artists. I'd like to say that trey is an inspiration to me, he helped me see what can be done with six strings, and helped me realize that you can't put a limit on what you can acomplish. He's an excellent musical composer, (Just listen to some of the fucked up timings on Junta) an obvious euipment fiend, and a devout personality. Les Claypool said in an interview whil playing with OysterHead (Featuring Trey and Stuart Copland) that although it wasn't sa big fan of phish's music, he had admirations for the band devotion to a rigid practice schedual. Trey(IMHO) tried a lot of things with effects that people hadn't really caught onto yet, alhtough now its starting to be overdone by other AnaWannabes. As a player, I think it is really a matter of taste. I've heard shows that rival any SRV/Henrix/Garcia recoring I'm farmiliar with. HOWEVER, I'm ABSOLUTLY POSITIVE that I could hear a recording tommorow that would blow away any trey recording I've heard, and the next day it could all change again. Virtuoso Guitarists are at a point where there's no longer any point in comparing anymore. I've met guitar teachers that could play faster, or at least as fast as steve vai, but that doens't mean he or steve vai are better players than one another. You just get to a point where you know you can play just about anything you can imagine in your head, you have the confidence to play it right, and the humility to keep your mouth shut when you're done. I suppose I'm getting away form the point though. My point regarding trey/phish is that they play a lot of different styles of music, some ocvers, mostly originals, they are a band that experiments (musically) a lot in a live setting, which as we all know, sometimes wont always work as well as we like. Sorry if this a bit ranty, but I hear a lot of people talk shit about trey, and its not like I make fun of the shit that you listen to!!

Szabo

BTW, I saw a post complaining how phish only plays stupid covers of dead songs and songs like "GEttin Jiggy Wit it." All you people need to shut your fucking mouths. Just because a bunch of smelly dead heads went on tour with phish when jerry died doens't mean they are anything like the dead. They covered MAYBE 7 different dead songs in their career and I'm pretty sure that none of those songs have been in setlists since the early - mid 90s. So before you complain about stupid shit that you don't know anything about, just remember that there are people out there that take it seriously and are gonna tell you you're a dumbass.

I saw him on SNL and he has to have the largest pedal set-up ever. Plus rack effects I saw in the background- not sure if they were his. But still, I couldn't fathom why he needed what looked to be the equivelent of 3 full pedalboards surrounding his mike stand in a somewhat U shape.

I've not seen the Trey bashing. Not sure why someone would. Here's a guy who can play a ton of styles and textures while creating some damn unique tunes on the way. Any redhaired, glasses wearing geek that can get that funky if fine by me. I dare someone to see him and not have fun.

Let's all try to face reality and grow up. Trey is amazing!! I am 18 years old and am not afraid to say that Trey is most likely THE BEST GUITARIST OF MY TIME. Trey is a phenomonal guitarist, composer, teacher, and human. Listen to songs like Divided Sky, You Enjoy Myself, and his new orchestrated album Seis de Mayo and see what the hype is about. He can play anything from jazz, blues, good old rock n roll, funk, and country. Trey is flat out amazing and I nominate him as the best guitarist of my generation.