Some days I just can't believe how good Van the Man is!

[Vibroluxer]

My 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide refers to him as a guitar virtuoso. I don't know about that but because of it, I pay close attention to the guitar work on his songs, often wondering who's playing. I've always dug the guitar in this one:

Saint Dominick's Preview


The guitar in this one isn't making any waves but the song itself is good and he's singing it with John Lee Hooker:

Wasted Years


His range is so great and wide! You never know what you're gonna get.

Sweet Thing


In The Garden, BBC live. And he plays a Tele, up high.

 

[Vibroluxer]

With the Chieftains.

Raglan Road

 

[GRAVITY-LHP]

I'm going with curmudgeon with a sprinkle of prima-donna Virtuoso, um no. Some family members saw him live a few years ago and he acted like such a wanker, cut the show short, didn't acknowledge the band, and walked off, they left their swag at the show. Yep, we Waisted Years listening to him.

Van, the man... down by the river.

 

[Vibroluxer]

@GRAVITY-LHP

I've heard the same thing and wouldn't pay money to see him but I have spent a fair amount on his recordings and those I really enjoy.

 

[black_doug]

I don’t think he would make it as a sideman in a band on guitar, but he does take a solo now and then. He didn’t play guitar in Them. He played sax.

He surrounds himself with top-tier musicians, like some experienced jazz cats on Astral Weeks, session musician John Platania on guitar beginning with Moondance, and Georgie Fame on organ between 1989 and 1997. The latter has returned since then on 2017’s Roll With The Punches. Jeff Beck played guitar. Of course, Van the Man’s extremely prolific and I can’t possibly comment on everything he’s ever recorded.

The late great Ronnie Montrose came up with the intro for the song Wild Night.

 

[clayville]

Mark Knopfler plays the solo on “Cleaning Windows”.

I think “Caravan” at The Last Waltz was peak Van.

 

[Mr. St. Paul]

Don't know that I'd call him a virtuoso on guitar, but he can play. That's him playing the guitar counterpoint to the sax solo on 'Tupelo Honey'. Nothing mind-blowing, but tasty.

I've seen him once, in 1999. Great show. He opened with 'Moondance' and played a lot of deep cuts. He had just released his 'Back On Top' album, so the majority of the set was that album. Which was fine by me, it's a good one. He finished up and walked offstage. The band finished up and started to follow him. Then stopped in their tracks and turned around, because Van was returning. Picked up a 335 and started playing the chords to 'Gloria'. I lost my freaking mind. My wife asked me later why I reacted that way. I told her I never imagined I would see Van doing that song.

Of course, there were people on the way out grousing that he didn't play 'Brown-Eyed Girl'...

 

[Mjark]

No doubt he’s a better player than most of us.

 

[elihu]

Mark Knopfler plays the solo on “Cleaning Windows”.

Imo the great thing about Mark on Cleaning Windows is the rhythm guitar.

It drives the song and is uniquely Knopfler.

I think of Van as a virtuoso writer with an expressive voice.

And that's better than being a virtuoso guitar player.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

My 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide refers to him as a guitar virtuoso. I don't know about that but because of it, I pay close attention to the guitar work on his songs, often wondering who's playing. I've always dug the guitar in this one:

Saint Dominick's Preview


The guitar in this one isn't making any waves but the song itself is good and he's singing it with John Lee Hooker:

Wasted Years


His range is so great and wide! You never know what you're gonna get.

Sweet Thing


In The Garden, BBC live. And he plays a Tele, up high.

Huge fan. When my guitar playing graduated from the Neil Young stage, I learned a ton of Van Morrison songs. Mainly from St. Dominics preview and then on to his r and b stuff. The band I'm in now plays caravan and Domino every night. We just got a sax player literally 2 weeks ago and now we're working more Van Morrison into the set list. As soon as I hit the opening lick to Domino, people are up dancing, it's instantly recognizable.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

Don't know that I'd call him a virtuoso on guitar, but he can play. That's him playing the guitar counterpoint to the sax solo on 'Tupelo Honey'. Nothing mind-blowing, but tasty.

I've seen him once, in 1999. Great show. He opened with 'Moondance' and played a lot of deep cuts. He had just released his 'Back On Top' album, so the majority of the set was that album. Which was fine by me, it's a good one. He finished up and walked offstage. The band finished up and started to follow him. Then stopped in their tracks and turned around, because Van was returning. Picked up a 335 and started playing the chords to 'Gloria'. I lost my freaking mind. My wife asked me later why I reacted that way. I told her I never imagined I would see Van doing that song.

Of course, there were people on the way out grousing that he didn't play 'Brown-Eyed Girl'...

I have some import records of his with studio out takes and he's directing a lot of the guitar parts. And demonstrating parts on his guitar.

 

[hawk620]

I'm also a huge fan of Van Morrison all the way from his earliest days recording in NYC to his latest material. Such a soulful writer and vocalist and I really can't say more than other have already said.

Years ago in two of the bands I was in we played a ton of Van's tunes and they were all mine to sing. This much I can say. Few vocalists are more difficult to learn how to phrase a vocal line as interestingly and skillfully as Van Morrison.

I suspect much of it comes from having been a sax player. The way he phrases some vocals are very much like a sax might play a short fill. It's very unique and also very difficult to emulate. I really do miss those days.

 

[canteytoque]

I first saw this a couple of years ago (some 30 years after it was made). Maybe it'll be as nice a surprise for others as it was for me.

 

[clayville]

A little Jeff Beck, a tele, and Tom Jones with your Van…

 

[scottser]

I saw him up in Belfast there back in February, playing at Queens University. He's the artist in residence there, so I guess he has to put on a gig for them now and then in order to acknowledge the gravitas afforded him.
Anyway, he comes on with a SENSATIONAL 10 piece band. I mean all excellent musicians and it's quickly obvious that he's the least talented one on stage. He is pretty limited as a singer and a player and I think that's why he's so grumpy and over-sensitive; he feels the need to lord it over those who are better and more talented than him. The band members all looked tense throughout the show while he spent the night barking orders about tempo etc. Again, no words to the crowd or even an acknowledgement or thanks to the university. Van? He's not that great and he's no craic.

 

[ruger9]

One of my favorites. He has always suffered from severe stage fright, that's a big reason why he's not great live... he's trying to get through a performance with a phobia.

If I stopped listening to artists who were a-holes, my iPod would be ALOT lighter. I separate the music and the personality. This is the way.

He's one of the great songwriters, IMO.

 

[black_doug]

Van playing guitar, 1987.

 

[EllroyJames]

 

[Dostradamas]

 

[hekawi]

"Into The Mystic" is my favorite from Van