United Guitars is the slightly crazy project of Ludovic Egraz, editor-in-chief of Guitare Xtreme magazine. The album is the work of a passionate electric guitarist who cannot resolve to see the demanding practice of his favorite instrument give way to the ever-increasing accessibility of new technologies in the service of music. For him, the observation is irrefutable: "the electric guitar is losing a lot of ground and is gradually becoming the accordion of modern times" (sic). It is difficult to know if this statement is based on facts or feelings. Certainly the electric guitar is the instrument of rock and rock is considered by some as an old man's music. But paradoxically, Youtube is full of young talents with impressive technique and online guitar lessons are legion.
More than the decline of the electric guitar, it is the marginalization of guitar heroes that is at stake here and that Ludovic Egraz deplores. That being said, some of the handle stars of the 80s have sought it out by often favouring supersonic range descents over music in the approach to their instrument. The survivors of this era, such as Joe Satriani or Steve Vai, all have one thing in common: they are musicians and melodists above all. And as if by chance, the most melodic title of this first volume of United Guitars, 'United Anthem', is composed by Saturax, youtubeur and great specialist of Satriani.
But United Guitars is not a project for the past. Ludovic Egraz has an encyclopedic knowledge of the guitar and wanted to bring together guitarists from all horizons with very different influences and styles. It would be tedious to name them all here, on the one hand because 24 six-string players, mainly French (except Gus G), are credited on the album, and on the other hand because the booklet presents them all and indicates the exact timing of their interventions on each song.
From then on, the album takes up several challenges with flying colours: allowing each musician to express himself in respect for others, proposing original compositions and not covers and tackling very different styles and therefore very different approaches to the instrument, ranging from blues ('Back To Earth') to metal ('Us Vs Them') via rock ('Swedish Sausage Fest'), jazz rock ('Tourette Syndrome') or even neoclassical ('As Years Go By'). Depending on his knowledge of instrumental guitar, the listener will have fun identifying the style of playing of each speaker, some of whom are very recognizable, such as Neogeofanatic's artificial harmonics, another well-known youtubeur and new ADX guitarist ('Melody For Beggars','ExOgen'), the exceptional touch and phrasing of Youri De Groote ('In Stages') or the bluesy interventions of Norbert Krief or Axel Bauer ('Vaisseau Admiral').
But United Guitars' main interest is above all to show the evolution of playing styles. And the most interesting titles are often the most modern. This is the case of "Symbole", composed by Kadinja's guitarist Pierre Danel and supported by the impressive djent rhythmic of Morgan Berthet, drummer of Myrath and Kadinja. This well named piece symbolizes the current approach to the electric guitar, developed elsewhere by virtuosos like Plini, Richard Henshall, Tosin Abasi (Animals As Leaders) or Jakub Zytecki (ex-Disperse). No, guitar heroes have not disappeared, it is the way to approach the instrument that is simply not the same as it was thirty years ago.
A jawbreaking project par excellence, United Guitars is ultimately a winning bet that highlights the rock fetish instrument while showing the evolution of its practice. However, it is not sure that this first volume will be understood by the uninitiated because some compositions are demanding and technically quite sophisticated. A melodic effort would probably have been necessary to attract those who did not play the instrument. This may be the case for the following albums. Ludovic Egraz plans to release one volume per year. The electric guitar still has a bright future ahead of it!