Rick Wakeman using 2! Kronos on ARW tour.

[Schmooster]

He's nowhere near as great as the hype - once you've seen him you've totally seen him - not like the great John Lord RIP. He's fast, but not half as creative as Vangelis or Lord or even Rudess (who's actually faster - Guinness Record) - don't get me wrong, he's a bloody wizard alright but I felt a bit let down - in a Jools Holland kinda way if that makes any sense at all. He was great 40 years ago, but he's stayed there in my unqualified opinion.

[Derek Cook]

Well, opinions vary of course.

Personally I think Rudess is very overrated. Fast, yes, great technique, yes, but as boring as sh*t. Same reason why I rate Steve Hackett 1000% better than Steve Vai in the guitar world. Technique aint everything when it comes to making good music

[JimH]

Agree about Rudess. While his ability is great and he seems like a really nice guy, when I listen to what he plays it just sounds like a bunch of notes and not anything that interests me. I'm a longtime Wakeman fan and I think he's capable of doing musically very beautiful stuff. Some of his music includes memorable themes and motifs. He's very melodic. But I think he can also stretch himself too thin. I don't think he's the greatest improvisor, often just running up and down scales with turnarounds thrown in. (Although I believe some of the good things he's put on recordings were improvised.)

[gnbutt]

Arpeggio speed test: Mr. Rudess vs. Yngwie Malmsteen. Now THAT I would like to see.

[JPROBERTLA]

Rick Wakeman is and will be remembered as one of the greatest progressive rock keyboardists of all time. Partly because of his technical musical knowledge and his technique but most of all, in my opinion, for playing unique parts absolutely brilliant in the context of each song. He did this most of the time in a band with only 4 musicians.

I think he used whatever technique necessary to create these passages and never really did fast playing for fast playing's sake. Many contemporary keyboardists are, in my opinion, using technique as the driving force for creating parts. Wakeman seemed to create the part and played it using the technique necessary. I guess in the end its called "tasteful playing at a high rate of speed". I first saw Yes in 1969 and have seen them so many times I don't have an exact count. I am going to the New Orleans show and can't wait to here them know.

[GregC]

Arpeggio speed test: Mr. Rudess vs. Yngwie Malmsteen. Now THAT I would like to see.

i bet you like NASCAR, too

[gnbutt]

No sir, up here in Northern Ontario the only things that race are snowplows on the Trans Canada highway. I think they can reach top end speeds of about 50-60 miles per hour. I have been a huge fan of Keith Emerson & Rick Wakeman for years. Can't wait for ARW to tour up here, maybe in Toronto in 2017.

[Derek Cook]

Rick Wakeman is and will be remembered as one of the greatest progressive rock keyboardists of all time. Partly because of his technical musical knowledge and his technique but most of all, in my opinion, for playing unique parts absolutely brilliant in the context of each song. He did this most of the time in a band with only 4 musicians.

I think he used whatever technique necessary to create these passages and never really did fast playing for fast playing's sake. Many contemporary keyboardists are, in my opinion, using technique as the driving force for creating parts. Wakeman seemed to create the part and played it using the technique necessary. I guess in the end its called "tasteful playing at a high rate of speed". I first saw Yes in 1969 and have seen them so many times I don't have an exact count. I am going to the New Orleans show and can't wait to here them know.

Part of his genius was using his orchestration knowledge/training to link together all the other great snippets of music that the other Yes members had, but they didn't quite know how to join together, which resulted in some fantastic music that completely blew me away when I heard them for the first time as a teenager on Radio in 1979. The live album "Yesshows" followed quickly after that along with the studio albums.