r/BruceSpringsteen • u/BeerWithDonuts • 9d ago

Why doesn’t Bruce Springsteen get the same recognition as a guitarist as Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen?

Post image

Hendrix or Van Halen are consistently ranked as the greatest guitarists due to technical ability, but Springsteen has written some of the greatest songs of the 20th century on guitar. Why doesn’t he get his due flowers?

0 Upvotes

32% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

38

u/njwineguy 9d ago

Because he’s not as good as either of them, bot.

-5

u/BillNyeTheVinylGuy 9d ago

I think OP is trying to say there’s more to great guitar play than technical ability.

7

u/FlyTheW1988 9d ago

There is. And in every way, Jimi and EVH are top ten all time guitar players. Bruce….. just isn’t.

3

u/croi-orga 9d ago

OP re-posts a variation of the exact same question over and over again on various subs.

2

u/njwineguy 9d ago

OP is a bot and isn’t trying to “say” anything

2

u/HCIBSW 9d ago

Maybe not a bot, but at least a karma farmer.

13

u/EndlessBummer_ 9d ago

Probably because he is nowhere near as good as them. Don’t get me wrong the boss can rip a cool solo and has some chops, but he’s not even in the same conversation as the greatest guitarists of all time. Nils is far far closer towards the top of that list than Bruce.

1

u/Substantial_Gate_904 9d ago

Where would you put Joe Morello in rankings ?

2

u/EndlessBummer_ 9d ago

Definitely a bit ahead of gus van zandt

10

u/DCBronzeAge 9d ago

r/OkayBuddyEStreet?

3

u/JahoyHoy49 9d ago

r/iclickedjustincase

1

u/sub_doesnt_exist_bot 9d ago

The subreddit r/iclickedjustincase does not exist.

Did you mean?:

Consider creating a new subreddit r/iclickedjustincase.

🤖 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝚆𝙰𝚂 𝚆𝚁𝙸𝚃𝚃𝙴𝙽 𝙱𝚈 𝙰 𝙱𝙾𝚃. 𝙱𝙴𝙴𝙿 𝙱𝙾𝙾𝙿 🤖

GitHub | Rank

7

u/esbforever 9d ago

This is kind of bizarre. He’s a great guitarist in comparison to the average guitarist. He’s nowhere near the conversation of truly great guitarists.

That said, I’ll fight anyone who doesn’t think the ending coda to Incident is the most beautiful piece of music ever.

6

u/Junglebook3 9d ago

Huge props to Springsteen as a musician obviously but from a technical perspective there are better guitarists than him in his own band.

6

u/studytimevinyl 9d ago

Same reason why Clarence isn't up there with Coltrane

3

u/Background_Letter_33 9d ago

This reply wins the internet today.

4

u/ItsOnlyAPassingThing 9d ago

How many of these are you going to post lol

4

u/austinglowers 9d ago

I believe he has sad he wanted to be the proverbial fastest gun, but he realized there were a lot a great guitarists and that he’d better learn to write songs.

1

u/Tycho66 9d ago

This is the interesting discussion required of the question. Bruce can't dance much. In reality he's not a great vocalist. He's not a great looking guy, etc. How did he become rock god icon Bruce Springsteen?

2

u/Screen_Door_Slams 8d ago

he’s got that undefinable “it” factor. An innate confidence can carry one far. And his ability to make everyone in a crowd feel special is almost unparalleled.

he just does a lot of small things well, and they add up to something magical.

2

u/Tycho66 8d ago

Work ethic, drive and perfectionism and an overall intelligence that has studied his craft He's a great band leader, maybe one of the few front men song writers who is actually a great bandleader. He's also a great song arranger.

1

u/Maleficent-Drive4056 8d ago

His voice is distinctive and passionate. I don't think anyone could sing a Bruce song better than Bruce.

But the main reason he is famous is his songwriting ability.

4

u/Nomar1245 9d ago

He’d tell you he works so hard because he knows he isn’t the best at any single thing he does. It’s his insistence on getting the best out of himself and those around him all coming together that makes him and the band so great.

4

u/JordanRS1980 9d ago

Is this a serious question?

4

u/Kirby-814 9d ago

I feel like most of his songs didn’t have iconic guitar solos or iconic parts to them that most people recognize as major guitar parts. He plays it great but there’s nothing he does as iconic as JH or EVH

im not hating on him at all, this is coming from a major fan of his

1

u/CulturalWind357 8d ago

Yeah I don’t usually see Bruce songs on “Greatest guitar solo/iconic guitar parts” lists the way one might see for Queen, Bowie, or Tom Petty songs. I don’t think Bruce features heavily on games like Guitar hero or Rock band either. 

3

u/Own_Measurement1242 9d ago

Due flowers?

3

u/JiveChicken00 9d ago

Apples and battleships.

3

u/badlands65 9d ago

Flowers?

3

u/Upbeat-Refuse9615 9d ago

Is this an AI generated post? This can't be serious.

4

u/PhoebeAnnMoses 9d ago

Because he’s an incredible songwriter and bandleader too. Those guys have one talent, he has many.

2

u/redditoglio 9d ago

Innovation, great technique and virtuosity: Bruce lacks all of them and yet he’s very effective in what he does on guitar. As others pointed out, he’s very versatile stylewise from jazz, latin, blues, rock, folk and country. Among songwriters that definitely makes him stand out on guitar. Also, his style is very recognisable and unique, thus, he might lack the aforementioned qualities but does have artistry.

2

u/CulturalWind357 8d ago

At this point these threads are just karma farming. “Why isn’t Freddie Mercury recognized as a guitarist?”

Bruce plays some great guitar but he is first and foremost a songwriter and bandleader.

1

u/ConferenceOld9788 8d ago

For me, it has. See his riffs and musuc played pre 1972 with his bands.

1

u/Popular_Air_1690 8d ago

He’s a great songwriter and arranger, but a pretty average guitarist. Steve and Nils are both much better

1

u/Ornery-Contact-8980 3d ago

There's a million nobodys at Berklee who can shred better than Jimmy Page or Bruce Springsteen. Can they write a song?

1

u/BillNyeTheVinylGuy 9d ago

I listened to Nebraska recently and feel like it’s the greatest guitar album I’ve ever heard.