Let's settle this once and for all: Who's the greatest lead guitarist of all time?

[fartamis1982]

my top three guys are

Dimebag

Zack wylde

prince

 

[FlippyHambone]

Fripp

 

[The Sole Survivor]

These are some of the best in the world.
charles caswell


Lucas Mann: I remember back in the day everyone thought this solo was fake. Dude is literally like Skwisgaar from Deathklok.(He is honestly probably the best in the world right now)


Tosin Abasi, Jimi Hendreix on steriods.


Yo Onityan


Miles Baker


These are just some.

 

[BoogerDawson]

Whoever played lead guitar on Blinded By The Light is a god damn hero

And the keyboardist who someone incorporated chopsticks into the song.

 

[BoogerDawson]

It's very subjective, but some of my favorites include Hendrix, Rhoads, early Van Halen, Joe Walsh, Brian Setzer.

Brian May of Queen is underrated. He has great tone with that homemade Red Special Guitar.

I also like Matias Jabs from the Scorpions.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Omar Rodríguez-López from The Mars Volta is super underrated. You never hear anything about him, but he's one of the most creative guitarist of his generation.

 

[Blackjack]

Michael Angelo Battio can play two guitars each faster than somebody who claims to be a good guitar player usually plays only one guitar

It's for entertainment value onstage. Hendrix would play the guitar behind his back. It does Hendrix a disservice to say most good guitarists play the guitar in front of them - not behind their backs. What someone does onstage to provide visual entertainment value to the people watching has little or nothing to do with what is actually their best playing whether you're talking about Hendrix playing behind his back, Malmsteen play with his teeth, or Batio playing two necks at once.. I'll say this: Batio would have a better chance of doing a Hendrix impression that Hendrix would have had trying to play in a style like Batio's. I've heard Malmsteen play Hendrix songs and he does very well - far better than Hendrix would have done trying to play songs in the style of Far Beyond The Sun or Black Star.

You often hear slow players bash people who can and do play fast but you rarely will hear a virtuoso player bash a slow player. Why? Because there's no jealousy there. They're not pissed off that somebody can do something they can't. They might not usually play slow but they do play slow at times and have no problem with it. Have a guy like Gilmour try to play fast and he'll be the first to tell you he simply isn't capable of it. A true virtuoso should be able to do it all. He may not choose to do certain things but he has the skill to do them should he choose to. I've seen Mlamsteen play the blues. I've never seen a blues legend play neoclassical style just for the fun of it or just to demonstrate he can do it of he wants because 99.9% of the time they couldn't do it if their lives depended on it.

 

[Blackjack]

Nobody said being the best guitar player was exclusively about technical proficiency.

You're right about that. Technical proficiency is best described as a pre-requisite to being a virtuoso. Proficiency isn't everything, but without you'e not even in the running.

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

This thread needs a poll.

 

[The Sole Survivor]

I feel bad for forgetting to mention Jason Richardson... Dudes also a monster(Chelsea Grin held him back sadly with their chuggy crap)

 

[POWER2]

For my money and being a beast live/in the studio.

You don't have any money. So....

 

[Drain Bamage]

Omar Rodríguez-López from The Mars Volta is super underrated. You never hear anything about him, but he's one of the most creative guitarist of his generation.

Great guitarist but i think arrangements/composition is his real strength

Technically he is pretty good, a little better than Page but still can be pretty sloppy live, but i think sometimes its an attitude thing as well, as in sometimes he just cant be bothered to try

 

[houjebek]

To me the most accomplished guitarplayers:
Yngwie & Steve Vai: both mastered the guitar to the point where it hold no secrets for them and they have perfect control of it. Flawless technique and enormous knowledge of musical theory. Songwriting is another discussion however.

Yngwie: he didn't really invent anything new, but he mastered his knowledge of scales, chords and musical theory and how to apply it on the instrument to a point where he can just freestyle his way from every posible scale to another while never missing a beat. Next to his enourmous knowledge of theory, is his control of the guitar breath-taking, even when playing fast every note, every nuance is clean, accurate and extremly precise like it should be.

Steve Vai: mastered the guitar to a point where he knows every thrick in the book and go do amazing things with it.