The Best of the current Guitarist Crop and the Under-rated

gogetaz9 · Post by **gogetaz9** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 9:00 am

In everyones' opinion, some of the greatest guitarists are: Jimi Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), Eric Clapton (Cream and Solo Artist) and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin).
However who do you all feel are the best sinces the 80's, also who are the some of the most under-rated guitarists ever.

Personally I would say Tom Morello (Rage against the Machine/Audioslave) and Johnny Marr (Smiths/Electronic) are 2 of the best recent guitarists and that Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple) was an under-rated guitarist in his time. Also I quite admire Tsuneo Imahori (Trigun Composer/Tipographica)'s guitar playing.

What is everyone else's opinions on this ?

Alucard_FoN · Post by **Alucard_FoN** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 10:10 am

311's guitarist, Tim Mahoney, is really good. I also really like the guitarist for the band Heart, she kicks ass at playing guitar.

Zerophite · Post by **Zerophite** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 10:39 am

JOE SATRIANI

Hands down, he is the most talented guitarist there ever was, and ever will be.

Tom the Fish · Post by **Tom the Fish** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 11:44 am

Wayne Rogers, Nick Saloman and Michio Kurihara. No question.

Tom

Kai Stromler · Post by **Kai Stromler** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 2:28 pm

It really depends on what you consider to be desirable in a guitarist, and what your musical taste is. It's not fair to bust on people in certain styles of music for "having no chops" when the music that they like to play doesn't require (or allow) really gut-busting solos, or, on the other side, to sling hate at people who *do* play technical music on the charge that they're full of themselves. On that note, here's some overlooked picks:

Best Rhythm Guitarist:
Jon Schaffer. Jon does not play a lot of leads, and when he does, he's not exceptional, but his razor-picking style and extreme control give him one of the most recognizable sounds in metal today. James Hetfield had his day, and Angus Young before him, but right now, it's difficult to say that Jon Schaffer is *not* the best rhythm guitarist on the planet.

Best Unconventional Guitarist:
Guitar, for people who take it seriously, is one of the few instruments in modern music for which it is still "okay" to have a lot of instruction, and where it's expected that you know at least a little something of music theory. Oystein Brun has neither, and listening to any of his music (since founding Borknagar, that is; Molested is nothing special) where the guitar line is exposed will reveal that. Brun is completely self-taught (apart from a few months of lessons as a kid that he wasn't paying attention to), and unlike a lot of self-taught players, he's not noticeably cribbing from any player's sound who has gone before. This is, I think, one of the real attractions of Borknagar that has given them longevity where their peers in the viking metal scene have faded: the presence and often dominance of a true 100% original guitar sound.

For straight-up technical guitar, the usual suspects have to include John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and Jeff Loomis (Nevermore), both of whom I'm surprised weren't mentioned earlier.

Unfortunately, though, the guy who gets my vote for best all-around guitar player is no longer living. Chuck Schuldiner passed away on 13 December 2001, leaving behind eight studio albums of sonic mastery. The whole _Human_ album, in particular, shows off what is possible in the world of extreme technical guitar firepower.

--K

Cardinal.jpg · Post by **Cardinal.jpg** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 3:20 pm

Tom Morello has always been my favourite guitarist but then I haven't been into guitarists by themselves much.
Also I once saw Vincent Martinez and The Martinez Brothers who are a trio that only plays guitar and they were mind blowingly amazing, one of the brothers and the dad played flamenco for a bit and that totally won me. Also one of the brothers also used his guitar almost equally as much as a percussion instrument quite well.

BigshotSpike · Post by **BigshotSpike** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 6:27 pm

Hideto Matsumoto (Saber Tiger, X-Japan, zilch, and solo work) has the best guitar I've ever heard. There is nothing I've heard of that he can't pull off with his guitar. The shocking thing about him was, was he never took guitar lessons...he was self-taught

Sucks that he died

Joe Satriani
Pata (X Japan/Dope Headz)
Aiji (Pierrot)
Kaoru (Dir En Grey)

Rozard · Post by **Rozard** » Wed Jan 08, 2003 2:09 pm

Jimmy Page, f00!

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Wed Jan 08, 2003 4:26 pm

Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani definitely. And Kirk Hammet studied under Satriana and he's really freakin' good too. Him and Hetfield. Now though... well we'll see how they do. So far they've disappointed me.

I'd agree with Kai and say Jon Schaffer. If Iced Earth wasn't enough evidence, Demons and Wizards is simply amazing.

Page, eh? Well... "Kashmir" has one amazing riff, and the others have a really nice hook. But I don't think he measures up all that well to the speed and complexity of a lot of metal nowadays. Not that that makes him any less good.

CaTaClYsM · Post by **CaTaClYsM** » Wed Jan 08, 2003 5:01 pm

Chet atkins. that guy can play 3 songs on the guitar at once. now THAT takes skill.