I’ve had the opportunity to hang out with Eric many times in different settings and I’d like to say that Eric Johnson aside from being one of the most unique original greats ever, that he is a perfect gentleman. I personally believe that what makes Eric so humble and non-egotistical, is because he himself was humbled by the greats. The guy is as friendly and down to Earth as anyone you could ever meet. These days most musicians have a backstage shutdown clause in their contact when they arrive to do a festival or whatever. Eric on the other hand will form a line of all his fans outside his bus and shake every hand before he leaves the show. Pure class. Eric if you’re reading this, in a world where everybody is always trying to out cool everybody else, thanks for being a perfect example of what COOL really is. I LOVE YA ERIC...LONG LIVE ERIC JOHNSON!!!!
I’ve seen Eric live twice, both times standing there with my mouth pretty much hanging open, or smiling very broadly. Great to hear he’s a nice guy, too.
A very big factor in EJ’s approachability is the fact that he is a Texan. it’s our culture not to be jackasses like artists from New York and California. or Europe.
Love Shawn...cool to hear Eric talk about him. I'll add that when i lived in Austin 93-96 i had Bob Gjika refret an old 50s strat. He was making amps for Shawn at that time. When i went to his house to pick up the guitar i asked him if Shawn knew Eric..he said "Are u kidding me, Eric was here recently to check out some amps and Shawn called and they were on the phone for an hour!" So, yeah they were friends apparently!
I was at a Eric Johnson concert at BB Kings on Beale street in 1996 and in walks Shawn the place was crowded and some friends and I had a table up close to the stage and knowing Shawn he came over and watched the show with us, my friends were from out of town and didn't know about Shawn and they just could not believe it when I told them that they were sitting with guitar royalty and that Shawn was just as good and a lot faster than Eric, it was quite a night
a lot faster yes but Shawn whilst have greater technical ability than everyone else on guitar and piano, didn't have the compositional skills (Cliffs of Dover was a hit in 1990), singing ability and the most original clean tone/chordal work of Eric, and that to me puts Eric further up the ladder as a more rounded musician.
@@cosmic687 I'd say that's a fair assessment. Lane was unbelievable technically. EJ is great technically but can compose beautiful songs too. Not saying Lane couldn't. He was special in many ways. I don't think he lived long enough to see/ hear the best of him.
Hey Michael...I’m interested in what you were saying because I was at that show with Barry Bays and we were explaining to Eric backstage why Shawn couldn’t make it because they were supposed to jam that night and Eric Gales did play with Eric Johnson but not Shawn. When was he there and for how long ...where was he??? I don’t know how he could of been there without us knowing? Are you sure you aren’t thinking of a different show somewhere else? Thanks @craftonbarnes Crafton do you remember that show?
I am sorry, but I think you might want to reconsider your perceptional bias on compositional expertise. A chart topper is certainly not the unit of measure to equate, god forbid compare- actual compositional competence and substance/beauty and diversity of a given composer. Shawn Lane is probably the only musician known for his guitar prowess by fans of guitar based music, who actually studied composition in earnest. I can only assume you are unfamiliar with all his works, lack of understanding of compositional depth or have a very limited musical palate. Shawn's film scores are testament to his output being that of which seems too involved for guitar players (assumption) and other surface level conceptual opinions. Is Cliffs of Dover comparable to Ennio Morricone? Singular song writer award winning pop songs as means to form a comparison to a COMPOSER of a multitude of timeless pieces of music is a false equivalency. Shawn was more musical, lyrical, individual, creative, prolific, accomplished, intelligent and well read (icl. compositional literature from the dawn of instruments) Shawn was a composer, Eric Johnson is a great (one of my favourite) majority guitar based song writer @@cosmic687
Incredible assessment. Eric is a legend but Shawn is a king. Supremely cemented as the master and commander of music. In my ears he is second only to Holdsworth, but there’s really no sense in comparing the 2. Both are completely in their own domain, rulers of space and time
The only problem with this video is it's too short...would like to hear more from Eric about Shawn. I think they played together a few times? I know Shawn covered Trademark and other EJ songs.
Everyone seems to have story about Eric and Shawn. I know I don't have one, but I only know I love their music and albums as I put them on my music collection rack, and that is more than enough for me. Thanks for uploading this vid btw.
Gee, Shawn read a lot and knew lots of things he could tell you about. He played notes really fast. He must have been a genius. Had to be. But he couldn’t do calculus; particle physics posed problems for him, as did biochem; and he only spoke one language and never wrote anything of merit. He was a little like David Foster Wallace, oh yeah, DFW could do all those things that Shawn couldn’t, but he surely didn’t have Shawn’s IQ.
Mr Knowitall Your feelings are obviously hurt by my sarcastic remarks re: calling Shawn a “ genius.” He probably qualifies as one of the fastest shredders, played scales and arpegiated fast, but outside of that, we’d have to examine his literary, mathematical, spatial skills more deeply, to determine if any non music-related genius was present. Whatcha think, Prepuce?
@@commanderthorkilj.amundsen3426 Well he did more maths than you, dickface. He wasnt just a shredder since he was into jazz, fusion, Indian-Western shit and used syncopation in his licks like no one ever.
He was autistic and could memorise a lot of facts but not really synthesise them. With music though he really could synthesise everything he heard and produce something stunning.
@@commanderthorkilj.amundsen3426 I've see that you actually been at least slightly offended by someone commenting on Shawn Lane's appearent IQ. But whether or not Mr. Lane's IQ was really THAT high is nevertheless not my point; whether that actually was the SPECIFIC case: I don't know if that would be the issue. Of course, I'm not at all downplaying the reality that Shawn Lane was nevertheless basically the godfather of what is known as Shred-guitar(in the mid to late 70's, despite how young he was at the time). But it's not that he was just merely but extremely fast: it is what he did with that speed that is rather flabbergasting until this day. But aside from that he was nevertheless a very intelligent individual. But apart from all this: My issue is with you sir. Because I honestly don't see that you have a valid purpose; particularly in the sense of just going around; trolling videos attempting to merely tear someone down who is obviously in the grave now. What a pathetic & sad existence.
Can anyone comment of Shawn and Eric's relationship? I've heard some hearsay, but I'm skeptical because Eric has pretty much never talked about Shawn. I wish he would talk a bit more about him, if they really were friends..
Shawn is a bad as guitar player but to bad only someone who are really deep into guitar player will know who Shawn Lane! If Shawn would write and compose more music that can relate to normal people he would be super famous like Eddie Van Halen or Vai!
I’ve had the opportunity to hang out with Eric many times in different settings and I’d like to say that Eric Johnson aside from being one of the most unique original greats ever, that he is a perfect gentleman. I personally believe that what makes Eric so humble and non-egotistical, is because he himself was humbled by the greats. The guy is as friendly and down to Earth as anyone you could ever meet. These days most musicians have a backstage shutdown clause in their contact when they arrive to do a festival or whatever. Eric on the other hand will form a line of all his fans outside his bus and shake every hand before he leaves the show. Pure class. Eric if you’re reading this, in a world where everybody is always trying to out cool everybody else, thanks for being a perfect example of what COOL really is. I LOVE YA ERIC...LONG LIVE ERIC JOHNSON!!!!
I’ve seen Eric live twice, both times standing there with my mouth pretty much hanging open, or smiling very broadly. Great to hear he’s a nice guy, too.
Thanks. Means a lot
@@zombielandakausa7468 the owner of this channel knows me and knows I’m no bs. It’s no big deal ok calm down.
A very big factor in EJ’s approachability is the fact that he is a Texan. it’s our culture not to be jackasses like artists from New York and California. or Europe.
Shawn Lane - the best ever. RIP
Love Shawn...cool to hear Eric talk about him. I'll add that when i lived in Austin 93-96 i had Bob Gjika refret an old 50s strat. He was making amps for Shawn at that time. When i went to his house to pick up the guitar i asked him if Shawn knew Eric..he said "Are u kidding me, Eric was here recently to check out some amps and Shawn called and they were on the phone for an hour!" So, yeah they were friends apparently!
Shawn lane is one of my inspirations
I was at a Eric Johnson concert at BB Kings on Beale street in 1996 and in walks Shawn the place was crowded and some friends and I had a table up close to the stage and knowing Shawn he came over and watched the show with us, my friends were from out of town and didn't know about Shawn and they just could not believe it when I told them that they were sitting with guitar royalty and that Shawn was just as good and a lot faster than Eric, it was quite a night
a lot faster yes but Shawn whilst have greater technical ability than everyone else on guitar and piano, didn't have the compositional skills (Cliffs of Dover was a hit in 1990), singing ability and the most original clean tone/chordal work of Eric, and that to me puts Eric further up the ladder as a more rounded musician.
@@cosmic687 I'd say that's a fair assessment. Lane was unbelievable technically. EJ is great technically but can compose beautiful songs too. Not saying Lane couldn't. He was special in many ways. I don't think he lived long enough to see/ hear the best of him.
Hey Michael...I’m interested in what you were saying because I was at that show with Barry Bays and we were explaining to Eric backstage why Shawn couldn’t make it because they were supposed to jam that night and Eric Gales did play with Eric Johnson but not Shawn. When was he there and for how long ...where was he??? I don’t know how he could of been there without us knowing? Are you sure you aren’t thinking of a different show somewhere else? Thanks
@craftonbarnes Crafton do you remember that show?
I am sorry, but I think you might want to reconsider your perceptional bias on compositional expertise. A chart topper is certainly not the unit of measure to equate, god forbid compare- actual compositional competence and substance/beauty and diversity of a given composer. Shawn Lane is probably the only musician known for his guitar prowess by fans of guitar based music, who actually studied composition in earnest. I can only assume you are unfamiliar with all his works, lack of understanding of compositional depth or have a very limited musical palate. Shawn's film scores are testament to his output being that of which seems too involved for guitar players (assumption) and other surface level conceptual opinions. Is Cliffs of Dover comparable to Ennio Morricone? Singular song writer award winning pop songs as means to form a comparison to a COMPOSER of a multitude of timeless pieces of music is a false equivalency. Shawn was more musical, lyrical, individual, creative, prolific, accomplished, intelligent and well read (icl. compositional literature from the dawn of instruments) Shawn was a composer, Eric Johnson is a great (one of my favourite) majority guitar based song writer @@cosmic687
Incredible assessment. Eric is a legend but Shawn is a king. Supremely cemented as the master and commander of music. In my ears he is second only to Holdsworth, but there’s really no sense in comparing the 2. Both are completely in their own domain, rulers of space and time
very cool, awesome interview
Crafton, was this from a longer interview?
The only problem with this video is it's too short...would like to hear more from Eric about Shawn. I think they played together a few times? I know Shawn covered Trademark and other EJ songs.
Agreed.
Man, if only they'd done some colabs for the community, would've been, Glorious.
When such a guitarist like Eric says something about another guitar player, he/she must be fucking good (and Shawn was)
This was uploaded on my birthday! Thank you!
Everyone seems to have story about Eric and Shawn. I know I don't have one, but I only know I love their music and albums as I put them on my music collection rack, and that is more than enough for me. Thanks for uploading this vid btw.
Sweet! Thanks for the upload.
Admiración mutua, la versión de Shawn a Trademark es brillante.
wow..... que palabras de ERIC .. GRANDE SHAWN LANE
Shawn fue la guitarrista mejor (lo siento, espanol no esta mi paisaje primero)
Love this post, comments.. if anyone hasn't heard the Lane/EJ Spanish Castle Magic..wow, you will love it
❤️
Thank you!!!
Growing up Shawn was pal of mine and what Eric says is true.
Shawn’s IQ was probably in the 160 - 180 range.
Gee, Shawn read a lot and knew lots of things he could tell you about. He played notes really fast. He must have been a genius. Had to be. But he couldn’t do calculus; particle physics posed problems for him, as did biochem; and he only spoke one language and never wrote anything of merit. He was a little like David Foster Wallace, oh yeah, DFW could do all those things that Shawn couldn’t, but he surely didn’t have Shawn’s IQ.
Mr Knowitall Your feelings are obviously hurt by my sarcastic remarks re: calling Shawn a “ genius.” He probably qualifies as one of the fastest shredders, played scales and arpegiated fast, but outside of that, we’d have to examine his literary, mathematical, spatial skills more deeply, to determine if any non music-related genius was present. Whatcha think, Prepuce?
@@commanderthorkilj.amundsen3426 Well he did more maths than you, dickface.
He wasnt just a shredder since he was into jazz, fusion, Indian-Western shit and used syncopation in his licks like no one ever.
He was autistic and could memorise a lot of facts but not really synthesise them. With music though he really could synthesise everything he heard and produce something stunning.
@@commanderthorkilj.amundsen3426 I've see that you actually been at least slightly offended by someone commenting on Shawn Lane's appearent IQ. But whether or not Mr. Lane's IQ was really THAT high is nevertheless not my point; whether that actually was the SPECIFIC case: I don't know if that would be the issue. Of course, I'm not at all downplaying the reality that Shawn Lane was nevertheless basically the godfather of what is known as Shred-guitar(in the mid to late 70's, despite how young he was at the time). But it's not that he was just merely but extremely fast: it is what he did with that speed that is rather flabbergasting until this day. But aside from that he was nevertheless a very intelligent individual.
But apart from all this: My issue is with you sir. Because I honestly don't see that you have a valid purpose; particularly in the sense of just going around; trolling videos attempting to merely tear someone down who is obviously in the grave now. What a pathetic & sad existence.
Can anyone comment of Shawn and Eric's relationship? I've heard some hearsay, but I'm skeptical because Eric has pretty much never talked about Shawn. I wish he would talk a bit more about him, if they really were friends..
Great but too short. I'm sure Eric could have elaborated a bit more on Lane but cool to see anyway.
I prefer Shawn than Eric Johnson
I thought it was al pacino
Shawn is a bad as guitar player but to bad only someone who are really deep into guitar player will know who Shawn Lane! If Shawn would write and compose more music that can relate to normal people he would be super famous like Eddie Van Halen or Vai!
Great to see that Al Pacino has such a high opinion of Shawn Lane.