Talk:Omar Rodríguez-López

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Not playing guitar much anymore

Rollingstone.com recently ran an article (8/8/06) which explained how the Red Hot Chili Pepper's John Fruscante has pretty much taken over guitar duties for the next Mars Volta album/tour. From the article:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11111847/mars_volta_share_bill_guitarist_with_red_hot_chili_peppers

On the Mars Volta's latest disc, Amputechture (due September 19th), guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez solicited his friend (and RHCP guitarist) John Frusciante to step in for him. "I've never thought of myself as a guitar player," explains Rodriguez-Lopez. "I don't like the guitar. I always felt like I got shafted and stuck with the instrument." This might come as a shock to fans, considering the band is perhaps best known for its moody, meandering guitar soundscapes. But with the exception of a few killer solos, Rodriguez-Lopez has stepped back from the lead-guitar position altogether, opting instead to play composer and musical director.

This is a pretty new development, so I think it should be added to Omar's page. This really changes his role in the band and also might change the tone of this wiki entry. I think it's pretty interesting, considering how this wiki article plays up his guitar work, that Rodriguez-Lopes says he doesn't "like the guitar."

WRongsauce. Omar played guitar on the album and is playing it live. I saw them live on monday and I can tell you without a doubt Omar is not putting down the guitar any time soon. Zopwx2 02:42, 12 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

- Yeah, a lot of people are really getting worked up about this, and the press aren't helping in the way they're reporting it. John played a lot of guitar on the new album so Omar could concentrate on producing it, but he still does appear on the album and is still the guitarist for the band, as shown by the recent live shows. --Olliemilne 10:05, 13 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Omar also said that he IS BEGINNING to like it, as with amputechture...he did all the solos and he said hes becoming very comfortable with it.

Yeah i read that as well. So I second it

Equipment section?

You know some place where we can stick his guitars and pedals, etc. Someone removed some of that info and I want to find a place for it. This link will provide more TMV equipment info. Zopwx2 04:16, 5 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Do you really think an equipment section is necessary? All the information before was only about his guitar. Having an equipment section with just his guitar under that section wouldn't make it worth really adding. Maybe you could expand it to include: pedals, amps, and his guitar, and not just his guitar. That would probably make it worth actually putting in an equipment section. Leo Collin 08:00, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thats what I was saying, only I don't know anything about his equipment so I guess its just going to be a suggestion until someone who knows what they're doing adds it in. Zopwx2 11:52, 8 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Back-and-Forth

You cannot seriously compare Omar to Jimi Hendrix.

~You cannot seriously compare anyone to Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix will not always be the best. I say Omar has more talent than Hendrix, so deal with it.*

~You say Omar has more talent:

Omar is the best musician i ever known

~You haven't known that many musicians.

Omar is awesome. you don't think so cause do don't know THAT much about him

Omar is awesome, Jimi is awesome. I think they are both really good, but i dont think Omar is as good as Hendrix was. Listen to the song Machine Gun and then listen to Omar's best guitar song.

Heroin

Someone changed "drugs" to "heroin" and unless someone provides me with proof that he was addicted to heroin, i'm going to change it back to drugs, to keep it more ambiguous until we have verifiable proof of it being specific drugs.

We know for sure TMV member Jeremy Ward OD'd on heroin and the band members agreed to go clean afterwards... but other than that someone needs to find more info. Zopwx2 06:25, 19 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

crappy article

blatantly written by a sycophant --86.141.50.205 16:51, 21 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Then fix it. Zopwx2 20:48, 21 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree the article needs to be fixed to be a little less reverent and a little more realistic about Omar's guitar skills.

Thie below quote, from the main article, kind of bothers me and I may remove it:

"Rodriguez cites the comedian Lenny Bruce, the film-maker Werner Herzog, and the New Age anthropologist Carlos Castenada as three important influences. The fact that these people are not musicians highlights Rodriguez's unconventional approach to his medium, differentiating him from many other rock guitarists of this and past eras."

That's just incorrect. Artists always get inspiration from works of art outside their own medium. If you asked Hendrix or Jimmy Page about their influences, aside from musicians they would also list literary and film figures (Jimi was a fan of sci-fi and Zeppelin was very Tolkien-influenced) so I don't see Omar's citing non-musicians as influences as being all that revolutionary or "unconventional". A lot of musicians get inspiration from visual art, film, theater, and literature, and likewise many visual artists get influenced by music. I don't think Omar's influences really set him apart from other musicians, as this article suggests,, and it's kind of arrogant in the way it insists that Omar is different from "other rock guitaristts of this and past eras" because of what he said in an interview.

The Guilty Undertaker: ^the thing that makes him different, or unusual in this sense, is that he rarely, if ever, cites any musical influences other than Larry Harlow. Jimi Hendrix always talked about Buddy Guy and all of those blues guys, and Jimmy Page constantly cited Robert Johnson as an influence. Omar, however, likes to keep it ambiguous I geuss.

another image

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Biography cleanup.

As people have already said, the biography for this page was obviously written by a fanboy and written poorly at that, particularly the paragraph regarding style analysis. It stated that "Rodriguez-Lopez is known for his very experimental style [...] and extensive, restless experimentation". Vague, qualitative adjectives such as "creative" and "unusual" were used. I'm no music professor but I'm sure my description is less biased and more informative.

And sorry if I've broken any rules. I don't edit often at all.

83.71.46.228 00:05, 9 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A Manual Dex.

Does his CD Remind anyone of early Aphex Twin? i mean aside from obvious and already noted latin salsa influances

What is this?

What on earth happened to this article? It was never great but now its just ridiculous. Where is the source for the fact Omar was a drug addicted "bum"? And is it really relevant to talk about how he engaged in "dumpster diving"? Not in my opinion. It needs a serious re-write at some point.

-Omar did use to bleech his hair.

Olliemilne 02:04, 16 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's been stated in many interviews and a article that I'll try to dig up that he was in fact a drug addict. The March of Flames 03:30, 21 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I found these passages about his drug use in an article about his film: "Rodriguez-Lopez knows firsthand the importance of understanding the consequences of one’s actions and has himself struggled with drug addiction for many years. Since forming The Mars Volta, he has stayed drug free, but his days of being an addict are not forgotten. The concept for the film was inspired by the time he spent in the drug culture." and "I was a junkie and doing a lot of hard drugs and smoking a lot of crack cocaine." http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/2004/1209/film2.htm Joseph haley

Equipment Overhaul

Alright, a few hours ago I completely redid the equipment section. Its much more detailed now and has details on all his major projects. I've sourced the info from the previously existing info, interviews, pictures, videos, and the comatorium's forum. If anyone cares about sources, post here and I will try my best to find you proof. But take my word that this is all legit. And people have already begun adding pedals i missed off, which is awesome. --Olliemilne 04:52, 14 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Infobox

It fit nicely in that white space there and was doing it's job. Why remove it? CanbekEsen 11:43, 28 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't think it was necessary, I went to other biography pages like einstein and they didn't have infoboxes so I took that as guide. But if enough people want it back then wtvr. Zopwx2 03:56, 29 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You may want to note that Einstein has an infobox.MozzaC 08:05, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Kirk Hammett?

Rodriguez-Lopez's playing style has been acknowledged by guitar legends such as Joe Satriani and Kirk HammettI would like to know who thinks of Kirk Hammett as a legendary guitarist. James Hetfield is better than him and Hetfield is not even the lead guitarist. Albeit successful and rich Hammett is not legendary in my book. Jimi, Stevie, Phil Keaggy(Jimi page called him the best guitar player in the world), Metheny, Angus, Chet Atkins, Scofield, Brian May, Doyle Dykes(Check him out), Charlie hunter, some of my personal favs. Think about it.