jack white (finally)

So.

I have an entire list of musicians and bands I should like <or … at least everyone thinks I should>. This list is made up musicians I really want to like and I have tried you like … but I just don’t.

Jack White <and the White Stripes> was on that list. But I now <finally> can write about him <positively>.

Let me be clear.

Sure. He is an amazing guitar player … absolutely amazing.

And maybe the most amazingly bad singer since the lead singer of AC/DC <either one … the dead one or the current one>.

Anyway.

It has taken me a while to figure out what I do like about Jack White but it is this … he may be the sparsest playing complex guitar player alive today.

And I mean that as the ultimate compliment.

It is my problem that I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around a full Jack White song <parts … but not a whole> no matter how hard I have tried … not his.

I imagine Raconteurs “steady as she goes” is the closest I could get. And I do have the song on my mp3 player: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7aOWIFgIZQ

<by the way … having the cow upfront and moo-ing in the video is awesome … and I love the way the video is filmed>

And his newest single ’16 saltines’ <what is up with that name?> guarantees I switch the radio channel as soon as I can.

Ah.

But then I heard ‘Freedom at 21’ … well … he is still a bad singer but he plays the simplest riff and hook you have ever heard … and I am maybe slightly amazed I have never heard it before. Because it is so simple I think I could play it. And it sounds awesome.

<side note: that … the “why hasn’t someone does this before” phenomena is pretty consistent … think about it … how often have you heard that perfect new song on the radio and because the melody is so frickin’ … well … right … you think why didn’t someone think of this brilliantly simple music before? … it just takes someone to write it down and play it.>

Ok. Here is the song <and the riff>.

Jack White’s Freedom at 21: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s92smjLq_38

I would bet every single guitarist <bassist included> know the awesome riff in Seven Nations Army but this one in Freedom is just as awesome … and just as sparse.

This seems to be his true gift. The riff. Okay. The sparse memorable riff.

Because the riff he wrote <beginning at :42> in Icky Thump is something you wish you could just hear more of as well as the others.

Icky Thump: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5roz5-wdjBg&feature=relmfu

I seriously doubt I will ever buy a Jack White cd. But I also doubt I will ever get tired of his sparse spectacular riffs. They are as good as it gets from a guitar.

Written by Bruce