One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

...Bruce Kulick.

The man is phenomenal. He can play flashy 80's style leads and then play blues based licks like that was his specialty. Bruce is one of the most versatile Hard Rock guitar players ever, and one hell of a great songwriter.

Here's some of his stuff. Check out the songs and post your thoughts...
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With Grand Funk Railroad:
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With KISS:
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(I hate it when the audio is off from the video on YouTube like that,
but it's a great "80's Flash" solo...)


Bruce is one hell of a guitar player.


I love his solo on this one...
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Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

how's he doing these days? I know he was shot not long ago but hadn't heard anything since. Revenge was the era that made me a KISS fan

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

He's doing fine. Fortunately that shooting didn't have any lasting impact (he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time as a nutjob was shooting down the street in Hollywood).

He's been in Grand Funk Railroad since about 2001, and has released 2 solo albums (and is working on his third for release later this year). After KISS he put together a band (Union) with John Corabi of Motley Crue and The Scream. I was at their first ever show and they already sounded like a band that had been together for years - they were that tight. Great stuff all around.

Check out his website - www.kulick.net

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Here's another good one from Transformer (solo album #2):
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Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

I'm a little surprised that with all the guitar fans on board here that there haven't been more comments on Bruce. I know he's not a household name, but that's kind of the point of the thread. He's a great guitar player who has flown under the radar to a certain point, but has also been in some very successful bands and played on some very successful albums. AND he's written some great songs to go along with his top notch guitar playing.

Anyone have a take on some of the songs I posted (and the guitar playing)?

I'm really curious...

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

There's tons of great guitarists in the business, all "top-notch", and everyone is going to have their own opinion about each of them.

Seeing that you're the one who started this thread, I think WE would have been surprised if you had actually named someone other than one of KISS' many guitarists. Personally, I knew it had to be either Kulick or Frehley you were talking about, before I even clicked into the thread.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

:lol: I knew it was going to be Kulick as soon as I saw the thread title.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

So what?

Does that negate his talent as a player and songwriter? More importantly, it's been over 13 years since he's been in KISS, and his songwriting and playing have grown quite a bit since then. (Plus, he did have a career before he was in KISS as well...)

Besides, there have been threads about many other guitar players, but there are only a couple of people here who would actually take the time to start one about Bruce. Let's face it, if I didn't post this then you'd never hear those solo songs and you'd never know just what he's capable of.

What's your take on the songs and his playing? His solo stuff sounds very little like KISS.


(And for the record, I would NEVER call Ace Frehley, "Underrated," as a guitar player...)

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Is that because you agree that Kulick is one of the most underrated guitarists in rock or because whenever you hear guys sitting around Guitar Center talking about the most underrated guitarists in rock, they mention Kulick?

Me? Never heard of the guy.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

That's a valid take, but more accurate in, say, 1987 than from 1992 to today. Did you check out, "Liar," above? I thought that was pretty damned soulful. That's just my take.

Certainly his playing in the mid 80's was much more technical and less soulful, but starting with Revenge he got much closer to the type of playing that he did in the 70's - very blues based, only with that 80's technical edge thrown in. Bruce is a huge Hendrix fan, and that influence really showed up big time on Revenge and Carnival of Souls (and just about everything he's done since).


Well, he's been around the music scene for over 30 years, first as a touring guitar player for Meat Loaf, then as guitar player for the band Blackjack (featuring Michael Bolton when he still liked Rock), then he played lead guitar on a Good Rats album and on Billy Squier's Tale of the Tape album (and co-wrote one of the songs on that album). A couple years after that he got the job as lead guitarist for some band called KISS, a gig he had for 11 years. After KISS he formed a band called Union with ex-Motley Crue singer John Corabi, and they put out 2 studio albums and a live album. Then in 2001 Kulick got the gig as lead guitarist for classic rock band Grand Funk Railroad - a position he still holds.

Over the last few years he has put out a couple solo albums and is working on a third for release later this year.


Listen to the songs I posted. I'd love to get your take on his playing and songwriting.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

It's because I knew the OP was talking about a KISS guitarist and could assume he was not referring to Ace Frehley or Tommy Thayer ;)

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Hey, I COULD have been talking about John Sykes! I love that guy, and he rarely gets the attention he deserves. Hell, maybe I should start a thread about him, too! ;)

(I have started threads about lots of bands, not just KISS - Thin Lizzy, UFO, Galactic Cowboys, Badlands, Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell, ZO2 - but some people just seem to remember my KISS threads for some reason...)

And, again, just because you correctly guessed who I was talking about doesn't mean you can't listen to the songs and post your take on the music/playing itself. Just an idea...

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Maybe because 90% of the threads you've started in Music Talk have all been KISS or KISS-related threads.

BTW, did you know you already made an "underrated Bruce Kulick" thread about a year and a half ago? It got two responses, one of which was the insightful "Yeah, Bruce is great."

I'm not knocking you or anything. You like KISS. You just seem to be a little hung up on them.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Why is this about me? And even if it were (which it isn't) I've posted dozens of threads about a lot of other bands (and participated in hundreds more where the topic got started before I got a chance to start it myself).

I searched to see if I had done it, and the great DVDTalk search function came up with zip. Figures - but the reason I wanted to post it now was that I found some new things on YouTube that weren't there a year ago (and I couldn't remember if I had done it or not, and since the search came up empty...)

And DIO, and IRON MAIDEN, and Deep Purple, and Thin Lizzy, and Galactic Cowboys, and a lot of groups. Like I said, I've posted a lot of threads about a lot of other bands - you just remember the KISS threads and not the others for some reason.... ;)

So do you have anything to contribute that's on topic? Seriously, there's a lot to talk about that's on topic here. Bruce has had a long, noteworthy career, and his playing and songwriting have continued to improve over that time. (And it HAS been 13 years since he has been in KISS. He's done a lot of great stuff since then.)

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Yes, you do start threads on several hard rock bands, but a large majority are about Kiss in some form or fashion. I'm not knocking your enthusiasm, but I can see why people here would see that thread title and think, "He's got to be talking about a Kiss guitarist."

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Let's keep this on topic, and since I'm not the topic...


What do you think about the songs I posted? How ABOUT Bruce's playing and songwriting?

(It won't kill you to listen and comment - especially if you like guitar based Hard Rock.)

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

I can't listen right now because I'm at work with no speakers, but I will let you know.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Never heard of him but his solo stuff sounds interesting. I'll check out those 2 albums.

Oh and Johnny Winter is the most underrated guitarist in rock :)

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

I can't disagree. Kulick is a fantastic guitarist. Watching him warm-up for the Kiss: Unplugged set really showed he's got chops on electric and acoustics. I wish he'd never been replaced by Tommy Gayer. I can't stand that guy. Kulick helped make Revenge one of the many highlights in their career. I wish I could have seen him play live with the band.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

I think he sounds exactly like every other third-rate metal guitarist out there. I could go to a Guitar Center on any given Saturday afternoon and hear the same tired, cliched playing from any number of teenage boys.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

1. It's not a thread crap if the OP solicited opinions (which he did).

2. I'm not a moderator in Music Talk.

Off-topic: moderation note
 

1) What wendersfan said. Check out the "Music Talk DOs & DONTs" thread for further details as to the distinction.

2) You seem to have some issues with the way the forums are managed and may recall that I've already pointed out the unhelpfulness of returning to a thread "all guns blazing". Rather than having to deal with the derailment that tends to result from in-thread "mini-modding", itself technically off-topic, I much prefer to receive "Report this Post to a Moderator" messages or PMs. As one who <A HREF="http://forum.dvdtalk.com/9428929-post23.html" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none">has lurked here for a decade</a>, you really should know how it works by now. Please note, a PM written in similar style to the above post most likely will be afforded less weight than one written in a respectful tone.

3) Everyone else: lets keep this on-topic and mutually respectful. For the record, had I received earlier notification of this apparent duplicate thread I'd've probably merged it there and then.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

No, you can't. You can hear them TRY to play this kind of stuff, but you can't hear them play it this well. Trust me, I've been around musicians for 30 years (and I played in bands myself for a decade - and went through the auditioning guitar players phase 4 or 5 times), and I've heard lots of guys try to play like this. Very, very few could play the "Metal" stuff as cleanly as Bruce - and NONE of them could play the bluesy, Hendrix-y stuff 1/10th as well as Bruce can.

Thus my enthusiasm about his playing. And his songwriting is top notch for the genre. (I've been listening to Hard Rock for 32 years now, and there are few guitar players who are as well rounded as players and as good at songwriting as Bruce.)

You don't seem like a Hard Rock/Melodic Metal fan, so I do have to think that no matter how good someone is if he plays this kind of music you're not going to be enthusiastic about him. That's OK. I would be interested in what guitar players you like as a point of reference.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

Guitar players I like (prepare for a long list):

Robert Fripp
Steve Cropper
Jeff Beck
Lee Ritenour
Chet Atkins
Jimi Hendrix
Tom Verlaine
Richard Thompson
Wes Montgomery
Johnny Marr
Robert Quine
Luther Perkins
Graham Coxon
Larry Carlton
Pete Townshend
Mike Campbell
John McLaughlin
Carlos Alomar
Hubert Sumlin
Keith Richards
Jimmy Page
Duane Allman
George Harrison
James Dean Bradfield
James Honeyman Scott
Django Reinhardt
Jorma Kaukonen
Don Rich

I don't know what point of reference that will give you.

Re: One of the most Underrated guitarists in Rock...
 

The more I listen to smiths records, the more I come to appreciate Marr. He really is quite talented. I haven't heard much of Electronic, The The or Modest Mouse. What would you recomend from any of those bands?