As far as solos go, his work can become repetive, but even those who can't stand TMV or ATDI must admit he is a genious as a composer.

i love him for atdi, and he's good in the mars volta

but i love him most for GSL

[QUOTE=BillCosby]What's your user title from?[/QUOTE]

Ah, nevermind. I remembered.

I think he's a genius. I can't really decide what I liked him better in, At.The.Drive-In, The Mars Volta, or DeFacto. In ATD-I, it was more dissonance and strange, complicated yet insanely catchy riffs. In TMV, its more spacey-progressive latin fusion...and in DeFacto (in which he played bass) it's...unexplainable. He has probably placed the biggest impact on me. His style is one of the most original I've ever heard. I've also read somewhere that he knows very little music theory, and a big majority of his songwriting has come from his experiences and feel for the guitar. He influences me so much. He is a very creative and philosophical guitarist, and I respect him gr-eat-ly.

I think he's a genius. I can't really decide what I liked him better in, At.The.Drive-In, The Mars Volta, or DeFacto. In ATD-I, it was more dissonance and strange, complicated yet insanely catchy riffs. In TMV, its more spacey-progressive latin fusion...and in DeFacto (in which he played bass) it's...unexplainable. He has probably placed the biggest impact on me. His style is one of the most original I've ever heard. I've also read somewhere that he knows very little music theory, and a big majority of his songwriting has come from his experiences and feel for the guitar. He influences me so much. He is a very creative and philosophical guitarist, and I respect him gr-eat-ly.

[QUOTE=YDload]he's undoubtedly shown the greatest growth of any rock guitarist musically in such a short span of time, going from incompetent punk/indie rocker to a shredder who's a little TOO good to rein himself in. It's as if Mark Hoppus could suddenly play "Tommy the Cat" or Meg White tackling "YYZ." It's a very noticeable change in playing from [i]Acrobatic Tenement[/i] to [i]Frances the Mute[/i].[/QUOTE]

It is a very noticeable change in playing, but his roots are pretty firmly planted in Acrobatic Tenement. I've listened to all ATD-I, TMV, and DeFacto cds about a gajillion times. His awkward style of playing lead guitar is seen throughout all Acrobatic Tenement tracks. I agree, it is indie/punk, but not so much as incompetent. He was, then, as he is now, sloppy, but his style is very evident. His dissonance. His scattered, frenetic picking. His strange, 'Why in the hell is that so damn cool?' licks and riffs. Omar, though having grown very noticeably in ability, has still held pretty close to his original style.

EDIT: Sorry for posting twice above, my computer is incredibly slow, and it takes like 5 minutes for me to know if I even posted.