It kills me to see that none of the very well known guitar virtuosos started their carreers not too long ago. Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, Tony Macalpine, Richie Kotzen, Allan Holdsworth, Jimmy Page, Reb Beach.... etc all started 2 or 3 decades ago. IMO the newer guitarists arent getting the attention they deserve. So i made this thread to pay tribute to them (and to learn about more of them since you guys know more guitarists).
First guitarist i'm gonna mention is Magnus Olsson. Very tasteful solos, incredible technique, great phrasing and a tone that makes me go weewee everytime i hear it. He's definately one of my favourite guitarists ever and he deserves so much more attention (yes, more than an ibanez and a dimarzio endorsements lol)
So lets hear it from you. Who of the newer guitar virtuosos do you think is really underrated?
Some of these guys have been around for a while, but here's a few shreddier players i've been listening to lately ; Joe Stump, Dave Martone, Ron Thal, Mattias Ia Eklundh, John 5, Rusty Cooley, Buckethead and Vinnie Moore.
Give those guys a listen, i'm sure you will hear something you like.
Vinnie Moore is a machine!
Check out some of the old instructional clips on Youtube. I don't think I've ever heard a guitarist who is that perfect and clean technically, while doing such fast and complex licks.
But he's definitely an 'older' guitar virtuoso, as these clips are from the 80s, as is his most popular work (Mind's Eye and Meltdown).
At the winter NAMM "95" we were walking from our hotel to the convention and we saw the hottest looking chick in tiiiiight jeans with awesome hair, waiting for the light to change. We were going to walk over and try to score some time with her and when we got there it was Vinnie Moore. Never realized how short that dude was...That was the funniest thing
Dont know hes underrated or not but
Marco Sfogli from James Labrie's Elements of Persuasion album.
He is excellent guitarist. His solo album release soon, we'll see.
Terence Hansen... if you don't know him you should check him out at http://www.myspace.com/terencehansen but he is a blast to watch live!!! so much stuff going on at once
Wow...everyone has their own opinions I guess, but I find his playing far from boring. I would say Passion and Warfare is getting a bit boring after all these years. It's nice to hear something new.
Well I'm not a teenager, and I've been playing for about 13 years now, but I would still agree that Erotic Cakes is a fantastic album.
Personally I prefer it over Passion & Warfare because the songwriting seems more coherent, more complex, and the melodies are more tasteful in general. Govan knows his jazz and knows how to apply it tastefully.
Although it must be said that some of the stuff on Erotic Cakes is clearly influenced by Vai, so Erotic Cakes is standing on the shoulders of P&W in a way.
I just feel that Govan takes guitar playing beyond rock and jazz/fusion, and creates a blend of music that is very fluid and melodic, while still using complex timings and harmonic structures. I think he's similar to Steve Lukather and Andy Timmons in that respect. I see it as a sort of blend of Vai's technique and say Holdsworth's complexity.
I completely agree with you, just like I said new players are playing old stuff with a new face .
That's why I think new players are boring.
When a new player shows something really new wich doesn't reminds me any other player,then I will buy his cd .
Well excuse me, but I don't think P&W falls in this category either.
Pretty much everything on there had already been done by EVH, JS, YJM and the likes, right?
If you ask me, nothing like that has happened since VH 1 hit the scene.
I just like Guthrie Govan because he's such a complete player. He can hold his own technically against someone like Vai, but he adds a sense of melody, rhythm, phrasing and improvisation that is completely foreign to Vai.
In that sense he's more like Andy Timmons or Steve Lukather... just jazzier.
Speaking of Govan..... I'm not a big fan of his Erotic Cakes album. I agree it sounds a little too "influenced" by other players on some of the tracks. But it's got a song or two I really like! But I'd much prefer to see him perform like he does in these videos......
Now that's some "musicians" music..... great tone and chops.
Oh, and it doesn't sound like a buzzsaw either! :lol:
The problem I see with most Youtube "virtuoso" players is everyone's doing covers of some other known player. All nice and some really talented players, but I'd much rather see some original soloing over some comping track as opposed to FTLOG again and again.
well eddie always sucked to me.I never liked his playing,tones and music.His two taps always sounded terrible to me. Pop rock with american's cliches.
Beat It solo is awsome.
But that's just my taste.
P & W unite all the best techniques in one album,melodies,chord progressions etc were awsome.
At P & W time, every guitar player (famous or not ) thought the same away = from now everything will be just evolutions ,nothing will be new .
P & W was the climax of what everybody was been doing.Malmsteen,Eddie etc.
I won't dispute Vai's technique, but his melodies are a bit idiosyncratic if you ask me, and his chord progressions are pretty straight-ahead rock stuff. I think Erotic Cakes goes much further in those areas.
And whether you like EVH or not, he's the guy who wove tapping, pinch/tap/natural harmonics, whammy abuse and true hi-gain tone (don't forget, EVH was one of the first guys who actually made a lot of gain sound good, and not muddy/fuzzy/etc) into a fluid playing style that has changed the guitar world ever since. Vai has good technique, but most of it is based on what EVH did (and a bit of YJM). Vai just perfected the style even further.
I think that is what P&W stands for: rock/metal taken to technical perfection.
But in terms of songwriting etc, I don't think P&W is all that great. Players like Joe Satriani and Tony MacAlpine have written more interesting and complex songs.. which are also more catchy. But that's just my opinion.
I think the fact that most of the most well known guitar superstars started so long ago may be partly due to the changes in the music industry. Guys like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have not only flawless technique, but a great sense of melody to write a catchy tune, but also a certain "star" quality that allows them to be celebrities in the guitar world.
When a guitar magazine and word of mouth was the only way of fostering a career you had to have all of these this to set you apart from the rest.
Nowadays where everyone has access to so much more music, both high quality home recording equipment to make music and hi speed internet to publicise and download it, I wonder if a lot of the guys who before would never have made it out of their spare room are now recording and releasing “songs”.
As such I think it’s harder to pick the guys who can hold the listeners interest for more than a phrase because we don’t have the music journalist to screen out those players who aren’t (in their opinion) good enough to make the cut.
I feel that Guthrie Govan is a great example. He has textbook “good” tone, flawless technique. What might just be lacking is his track record in publishing tunes about which your girlfriend can say “oh I like this one”.
Nuno Bettencourt was the opposite, he had everything he needed but turned out he didn’t want to be a guitar hero
I listened to Guthrie's "Erotic Cakes" a couple of times, thought it was THE perfect guitar album, got depressed, haven't listened to it ever since. True, it's not all new material but he sure perfected everything he tried to do.
I can't believe no one has mentioned Rob Balducci or Dave Weiner yet...
i like govan and the erotic cakes cd, but i somewhat agree with fretrunnr that it isn't very revolutionary. his technique and phrasing are superb, but i feel as though i can hear his influences (greg howe, vai, etc.) there's nothing wrong with that, it is what it is. which are good instrumental tunes with good melodies and complex arrangements. nothing new, but good music is good music regardless of how innovative it is.
i like jeff loomis. he's not really 'new' (nevermore has been around for about 10 years), but he is awesome nonetheless.
I hadn't heard of Guthrie Govan until this thread. By his name he sounded like he might be some spacey, foreign, pseudo, fusiony player who might not get me understanding where he's coming from. Went to U tube and OH MY GOD!!
Shades of Dimeola-Vai with a dash of Ritenour to my ear...Whatever it is he's trying to get across, I liked it a lot.
Also glad to see a long haired guy. I'm pro long hair for musicians...
Everytime musicians got a nice hair cut,we felt how music becames weak !
That was a really mature comment ! A true metallica's fan comment !
The best ever :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Doug Aldrich really surprised me in whitesnake's last dvd.Great playing and tone however I'm really tired of pentatonic boxes and how they sound.I think 99% of guitarists play those boxes and use them in the same way,I can't stand them anymore.
Still amazing dvd.
What kills me is his overuse of the harmonics...I know it's his thing but, jeez!
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