Totally agree that Cobain and Springsteen are better known for their songwriting. But this is what non-guitarists and those guitarists obsessed with leads and soloing need to get through their thick heads...THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO PLAYING GUITAR THAN PLAYING A SOLO!!!
I've been playing and studying guitar for almost 30 years, played in a few bands in my younger years, and I can tell you that Bruce and Cobain are and were very good guitarists, not average or below average. They are certainly not virtuosos like Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Beck, etc...but that's because they chose not to play a style of music that lends itself to long guitar god solos. When I was 12, that's all I wanted to do, play electric guitar, loud blues solos up and down the neck and all over. About 20 years later that got really old and a whole new world of guitar playing opened up for me when I learned folk, country and bluegrass. The fills, runs, rythms, bass lines, partial chords, alternate tunings, there is SO MUCH MORE TO PLAYING GUITAR THAN PLAYING A SOLO!!! Check out Sonic Youth, they must have invented an additional 100 or so alternate tunings. That takes talent, creativity, innovation, guts.
Cobain was completely original with his guitar as in everything he did. It was more about the sound and the energy than treating the guitar like it's a race to see who can play the fastest. Cobain was more punk rock than anything else and didn't try to be a terrific guitarist. He chose to be an artist instead. He played in alternate tunings which is a huge adjustment in your thinking going from standard to alternate tuning. Shows what a genius he was. Hendrix, Vai, and Clapton on the other hand never played in anything but standard tunings. Great soloists, but their rythmn guitar left a lot to be desired.
Springsteen played some great solos in the 70's, just check out BTR and Darkness albums (his best in my opinion). But over the years he chooses to write songs that do not lend to featuring tons of lead guitar.
I'm a bigger Bruce fan than Nirvana, but I have to say Cobain was more innovative and took more risks with his guitar than the Boss.
BTW - One of the guitar magazines or perhaps it was RS once ranked Cobain among the top 40 guitarists of all time. A bit overrated I agree. So is Prince. But I tend to think those that say he was below average tend to be those who are stuck in guitar solos forever, love blues and/or metal and can't appreciate anything else. The guitar solo and rock music in general is given far too much weight in evaluating who is and who isn't a great guitarist.
