Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:54 am
Trace Bundy
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Motion to the Faceless wrote:Ah, much better than the overated thread.1) Jason Becker
2) Guthrie Govan
3) Tony Macalpine
4) Al Dimeola
to name a few.
Crip2nite wrote:Steve Morse
Christopher Holmes wrote:I grew up with 80's rock, so my views are skewed that way. I certainly don't think Al Di Meola or Steve Morse are "underrated" - practically every guitarist I know adores those guys (myself included). They're legends.
Guys I considered "underrated" from my background:
1) George Lynch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DNqF9iESk
I still think Mr. Scary is one of the all-time great guitar instrumentals. I think playing with Don Dokken seriously hurt Lynch's career. Sure, it's where he made his mark, but he deserved better. I always loved Lynch's style and I still marvel at it today.
2) Warren DeMartini. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VUP4thpr3c
I always loved DeMartini's style - he just had this awesome way of fitting in cool licks. Ratt was the first rock band I ever heard where I loved every song on their albums. There wasn't a "filler" song in my mind. Later on I learned that he and Lynch were buddies, and in an interview Lynch jokingly told DeMartini about how "you stole my style". I laughed. No wonder I liked 'em both so much. But whenever I'd read about the "best rock guitarists" in a magazine or something. DeMartini's name would never come up. Yet I would have taken him in a band over so many others...
3) Vito Bratta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liiQuvYx73M
Another guy who fits, stylistically, to me, in the same vein as the previous two. Just lots of great filler licks and riffs that I always found difficult to pull off.
I know 80's "hair metal" gets a bad rap these days, but you go back and listen to the work of these three guys (and a few others, like Nuno Bettencourt) and compare it to the guitar playing of today. Today's rock is all chords strummed constantly - it's a wall of noise (and I don't mind that, sometimes - Alter Bridge is my fav at that style).
But go back and listen to the 80's guys who were good - their music is filled with riffs and hooks and licks. It's actual guitar "playing". It's not just pounding out the same four chords for four minutes. There's a ton of technique going on.
That's what I appreciate about the 80's guys. Even the stuff they're playing during a verse was often complex... You had to be a serious musician to cop their stuff.
I miss those guys.
Motion to the Faceless wrote:
good one chris!
What do you think of Paul Gilbert? I know many guitarist praise him as one of the best but flies under the radar on many conversations and articles.