Thanks for this head to head contest between Hank Marvin and and Nokie Edwards, Andrew. This is a great idea and the clips chosen certainly highlight the playing styles of each of these well known guitarists.
In deciding who gets the nod overall, there are so many factors to consider. As one focuses on different factors I see a tally sheet appear before my eyes, each one being ticked off in turn. Contray to being ticked off (
) I found this excercise most enjoyable.
To my ear, Hank has spent more time in preparing his recording of Sleepwalk. Certainly there is his choice of amplifier and effects that provide him with a clarity and depth of tone that soothes the listener with each note. No note is wasted and each one is sustained in this performance slowly pulling the audience in. He is the Pied Piper of the guitar instrumental as witnessed by the audiences in his 2004 Tour. Hank's Fender Stratocaster is switched to the single coil bridge pickup as he serves up a main course of vintage tones masterfully. For desert, he adds the sweetness of the vibrato with the tone trickling tantilizingly from his fingers as they glide over the mellow maple fretboard. Unassuming and subdued in his playing throughout, the listener is completely at ease. His performance is solid and safe in many respects, features of his playing with which we have become accustomed over the years. He is ably backed by band members who have done everything to assist him. Just the right touch of rhythm, drums and bass.
Nokie Edwards introduces the listener to an entirely different guitar cuisine and gently educates the palette as he graciously serves his five course meal. His appetizer is somewhat bland, a seemingly inherent feature of the Seymour Duncan humbucking pickups in his Hitchhiker guitar. As the performance continues, however, a unique phrasing is exquisitely introduced that changes the feel of Sleepwalk as Nokie makes it his own. A master of the arpeggio, Edwards puts the icing on the cake and adds whipped cream to that as his fills are tasteful and impressive. A touch of George Benson surfaces only fleetingly but in a way that cannot be ignored and beckons the listener to sit forward. There can be no denying the talent of this Venture who suprises with a modulation just when you least expect it. He has taken risks in this performance that have paid dividends. Unlike the Shadows, I found the bass competing with the lead of Nokie and a distraction the performace could have done without.
So who gets the nod. For pure tone in a vintage performance Marvin gets my attention. At the same time I am taken by the picking and arrangement of Edwards. At the end of the day, the overall winner for me is the Shadows as the whole of their performance exceeded the sum of their individual efforts. For this round, at least, the Ventures did not impress me as much as the Shadows.
by (sir_andrew_of_left_coast) » Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:21 pm 
