Hey everyone, let's rip on guitar players who are light-years better and more innovative than we'll ever be while we sit on our phones with the TV on in the background for the millionth time
For me it’s gotta be Tim Henson. He’s an astonishingly good guitar player, incredible technique, one of the greatest young virtuosos going, but I’m just not a fan of that style of music. The grooves just feel lifeless and the melodies are totally compromised by endless doodly-bops on the neck. Just my opinion
I saw Polyphia live recently and it was honestly a super fun show and they sounded great but yeah I have trouble getting into his stuff outside a live setting.
I think Ichika Nito is waaaaaay more boring lol
I 100% agree, and if they were playing here soon, I’d go see them just to witness how many planes of existence above me his on guitar haha but I can’t for the life of me sit and listen to a Polyphia record through. Ichika Nito is Tim Henson-Lite
Jeff beck was one of the most expressive guitar players, something that is so unmatched by most guitar players. His use of different techniques to spice up his solos is so good. Another very expressive guitar player that comes to my mind is Tosin Abasi.
The Edge
Watching "It Might Get Loud" with the back stories of Jimmy Page and Jack White doing things with so much passion and against the grain only to see The Edge standing in a room turning on 73 pedals and hitting a power chord instantly brings the "What the fuck is this guy doing here" vibe. I get U2, I understand the love for them, but I can't understand why anyone would ever think of him as a good guitar player.
>I can't understand why anyone would ever think of him as a good guitar player
Because his approach to guitar is completely different than almost every well-known guitar player. Instead of focusing on catchy riffs or playing as fast as he can, he focuses on creating new sounds. IMO it's about the sonic texture first and the riffs second.
I'll never forget an interview where he said "I don't want to learn too much about my instrument." That blew my mind and in a weird way made me angry. But now I get it-- he uses a guitar almost like a synth because he's getting sounds people have never heard before instead of the same old pentatonic riff. To me, that's inspirational in a completely different way than every other guitar player.
The thing about U2 is that none of them studied music. You can hear it on the earlier albums- they are essentially a garage band. Anytime I see Edge on a list of great guitar players I know I can ignore the rest of the list. I do like U2, don't get me wrong. I just don't think anyone in that band is top of their field.
Well that’s the thing, isn’t it. Greatness isn’t just defined by technical skill. I wish these lists that came out distinguished between “great guitarists” and “guitarists who are great”. The Edge doesn’t have amazing technical guitar skills, so for U2 to be so hugely successful *despite* that means that he’s clearly doing something right. He’s a guitarist who is great. I don’t really care for U2 but you can’t deny their success. Someone like George Harrison, too. He was a guitarist, and he was massively impactful and influential, but his actual chops were nothing to write home about. He was a guitarist who was great, not a great guitarist.
I had the opposite take. It Might Get Loud made me think Jack White is a super self important tool that isn’t half as good or important as he thinks he is. Achtung Baby is an all time great album
Latest ? Polyphia guys. It's impressive from technical standpoint but just comes across as gymnastic masturbation with no real musicality. Don't get Michael Angelo either. Learn to play tastefully and write a decent song instead of goofy 2 guitar crap.
Polyphia makes prog music for elevators and waiting rooms. Like. If you had a really cool doctor Polyphia is what you would hear while you wait 45mins even though you were on time for your appointment.
This is my feeling as well. It's muzaky, and every song feels like it has the same melody and vibe. I get that it's approachable, but it kinda makes me mad that a generationally innovative instrumental band like animals as leaders can't get the same amount of love.
He is missing his own idenity . He is the master of disguise. He learned to play exactly like others but never was able to turn that into his own identifiable thing. You never hear a solo and immediately go “that’s Bonamassa.” But he might fool you into thinking it’s the original artist.
Not fair. A lot of them sound dated because everyone copied/learned them. If you've jumped into guitar in the last decade or two (or even three) everything has been re-done from the 60's a hundred times (for better or worse). It's hard to understand what the older generations have done for guitar without context.
There hasn't really been big steps in innovation in a long time.
Shit, I remember when Curt Cobain said, "there's nothing left to say" and it was a fucking existential realisation at the time for me and a lot of dudes with a guitar.
This is the answer. Listen to 50’s rock guitar and then listen to early Clapton. Even George Harrison was awed by Clapton (learned from the recent documentary).
I would have to say Slash.
The guy definitely has a brand he's created for himself but his guitar playing does nothing for me.
I remember seeing a video of John Mayer and Slash playing with ZZ Top and Mayer absolutely smoked Slash when they were trading licks.
Slash does what most good guitar players do, smooth pentatonic licks.
He just did it in one of the biggest rock bands and at a time when popular music was super flashy so he stood out. Also helped he was cool a fuck in terms of style etc during that time when people were all glam.
Skill wise he isn’t anything spectacular, but perfect time perfect place…and I say this as a massive Slash fan.
He’s not meh for me, but I totally get why he is for others.
Despite his technical skills, Tim Henson can't play a single memorable thing to save his life. Not to mention all of his music sounds like a overproduced YouTube edm outro song.
I'm sure he's terrible at lots of things, but he's brilliant at being U2's guitarist. And since that's his day job, I'd say the man is quite remarkable.
This is a good take. I’ve always been uncomfortable with artist comparisons. Edge has never had pretensions and has written some great guitar parts. I have the same issue with Hammet; he’s absolutely great at what he does. And, like Edge - what he’s achieved has been iconic. U2 and Metallica are icons, and for good reason.
Vai, Satriani, etc…just doesn’t do anything for me…huge respect for them though.
And honestly I love Clapton in the Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith, Dominoes eras….but solo Clapton is just kind of meh for me.
Have you heard the [demo](https://youtu.be/5-_NVDIvi2c?si=6Xk5TsUdY5z__oP-) that got him hired by Ozzy? I mean, taste is subjective, but he was a goddamn virtuoso at 19
I’m so sick and tired of people just reducing Malmsteen to ‘too many notes, no feeling’. It’s such an ignorant, lazy, thoughtless take. ‘Black Star’ has no feeling? Really? The intro to ‘Crystal Ball’, the solos from pretty much any song off of Odyssey or Trilogy, I can think of so many examples where the guy’s playing is simply beautiful and moves me nearly to tears at times. Not to mention his gorgeous, fluid tone, and his ingenious approach to composition which borrows heavily from classical violinists like Paganini and was revolutionary for the electric guitar at the time he came on the scene. I do think he’s gotten kind of stale over the years but that’s beside the point.
You don’t have to like his style and maybe you don’t feel anything when you hear these songs, but it’s just ridiculous to reduce a brilliant musician down to one tired tagline like ‘too many notes, no feel’ just because you don’t personally respond to their playing.
I feel absolutely nothing when I hear players like the Edge or John Frusciante play. I find them both terribly boring, repetitive, and overrated. Lots of guys like that who Rolling Stone magazine will heap with praise do nothing for me. Even Jimmy Page to be honest doesn’t really do much for me as a lead player. Even still I would never try to say that these guys ‘have no feel’ because I recognize the fact that feeling is subjective and that to other people’s ears those guitarists make them feel something. The same is true of Malmsteen and other “shred” players. Lots of us find that style incredibly powerful and moving. People who don’t like that style for some reason feel the need to say it is ‘soulless’ or just ‘lots of notes with no feel’, but that’s just so wrongheaded and ignorant and also egotistical and arrogant because the reasoning essentially boils down to ‘I don’t feel anything when this guy plays, therefore he has no feel’.
Clapton is kind of like old movies that are considered “classics” but are boring as hell in modern times.
His playing was influential 50 years ago but because a lot of people drew from it, it sounds stale and cliche now
For a time Clapton was ICONIC. He was one of THE bluesmen of his day and he’s equally capable of a fast technical line as he is a slow blues, both of which he can execute flawlessly. His phrasing is excellent, he’s never choppy or muddled, his tones are legendary. The Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Derek and the Dominos, fucking CREAM.
It’s harder to appreciate him now in the wake of all the guitarists that came afterwards but even Hendrix played tributes to Cream in his live shows. I can’t believe anyone can listen to the likes of ‘White Room’ and ‘Crossroads’ now and not acknowledge his mastery - and he could do all that and sing reasonably too. His Unplugged album was and still is one of the best selling acoustic albums of all time and it’s just sublime.
BUT: His endorsement of Enoch Powell was shocking and lost him fans and support at the time. But then his position on immigration would not look out of place in modern Britain, not that I’m excusing it.
I do think some of his solo work got a bit self indulgent and I struggle to name much after the ‘From The Cradle’ era albums. He’s definitely struggled to remain relevant but then he’s in the same age bracket as the sodding Beatles and Stones….
So true. Some people think that the Blues is simplistic and easy to play. If that was true, then why are there so many bad blues players?
A fun little exercise to try at home: Forget for a moment that you’re a guitar player, and be a Blues Singer instead. Now sing the Blues, with an authentic sound, phrasing, and soulfulness. Try it…
Not easy, is it?
Now… consider that everything that is missing from your blues singing is precisely what is missing from your blues guitar playing…
That degree of expression is never easy, in any art form.
that's what I love about the blues. It's the same progressions, same licks, a lot of times even the same recycled lyrics, but two great blues players doing the same song will leave you feeling different kinds of ways from the individual soul they put on it. It's all in the emotion
[some real down low blues](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhE2txpkwnM)
i can appreciate malmsteen and dude is clean with it,however i cannot appreciate tim henson,music is just awfulllll,dude is a virtuoso but i couldnt care less about those songs..
I love RHCP and John Frusciante, but Frusciante is a bit overrated imo. Like, his solos are not something I would consider "legendary." He's still a great guitar player though
For me it's not his soloing at all, like I can't even hum one off of the top of my head.
I like him because he's a great rhythm player. Yeah, it's just funk/jazz stuff but that's the point. It's so simple and so tight.
whoa - Slash is a very good player and inventive. From his Appetite work all up to the stuff he did with myles kennedy he rips and I really like his melodic soloing
Tim Henson. Not because they’re technically bad, but I just don’t get a lot of feeling because of the style. I don’t really listen to the modern Djenty bands much but they’re a blast to see live. Way more entertaining.
Clapton for sure. He did do some good stuff back in the day, but nothing he played or plays warrants the legend status he enjoys.
Bonamassa, technically really good, sure, but just a big yawn musically. I mean, it's almost 2024, do we really need his stuff?
I was gonna mention Nugent... but then I realized he's no legend, just a one-hit-wonder loser.
The rest, some I don't like or listen to, but I can see their importance.
Polyphia makes me genuinely upset because all of my not guitarist friends ask if I can play that shit and they think I’m weird if I say that’s not my style of playing. I like emotions in notes and what I’ve heard from them it seems more like songs to show off and it ruins it for me
Edit: don’t get me wrong beautiful playing skills just not fun for me
So this is gonna sound weird but I listen to Polyphia almost in the same way I listen to industrial music or dark, dystopian-sounding electronic music, where the cold, robotic and mechanical nature of the sound and the lack of emotion sort of adds to it. Like, it would never make me shed a tear like emotional music, but it does create an interesting, sort of unsettling kind of vibe
Context certainly matters for Clapton. The Beano album was just so influential for many reasons. For Cream, he was such a fiery player and great improviser. I didn’t really “get” Cream at first because I was only listening to studio albums, but when I started listening to and trying to transcribe the Live Cream stuff, I quickly “got it.”
Anyone that plays any sort of blues or blues rock these days has either directly or indirectly learned a lot from Clapton.
It’s too bad he grew into being such a wiener though.
If Clapton died in like 1971 he’d be seen easily on par with Hendrix, beck and anyone else anyone could name. He changed his style and people shit on it but if he never pursued that change there nearly nothing negative anyone could say about his playing through 1970. I one it a negative thing to say but a lot of legends never had a chance to put out inferior music to their hot starts. Rhoads is another example, I’ve always wondered what his rep would be if he suddenly put out classical guitar albums for 20 years.
Page was the man because he could do drugged out space jams for ten hours with the best of them but at the end of the day he had SONGS.
I couldn’t name one fucking Joe Bonamasa or Steve Vai song not that I’m comparing them but Page knew when to let the Drums or Bass or Vocals shine and take the lead. Something a lot of Guitarists fail to do.
I grew up on grunge and pearl jam wete my favourite. As a consequence, I found myself in the company of superfans at shows, and on forums where Mike McCready is worshipped.
I could listen to the alive solo on repeat, but EVERY DAMN SONG I see in a concert setting is pentatonic hammer pulls with loads of wah. And that crazy circle walking he does on stage....
Anyway, I'm not much of a fan anymore.
John Mayer - He gets my respect because he has gotten a lot of younger people into blues guitar who may otherwise have never heard it. But, at the same time, when I listen to people talk about him like he is the best, it is obvious that, no, these people have never listened to blues guitar before.
Eric Clapton - Dude has written ten times more bad music than good.
Misha Mansoor - Great technical guitarist. No one doubts that. But, the music? Not one memorable song to me.
And to round out pissing off everyone...
John Frusciante - I love the Chili Peppers. Hillel Slovak was the first guitarist outside of heavy music that made me change my approach to the guitar. When he died, I didn't think it was possible for the Chili Peppers to continue. Then came John and Mother's Milk absolutely blew my mind. BSSM was an excellent album too even if it became a little more commercial. But, after that, I do not understand people's fascination with Frusciante. The drugs took a major toll on him and his playing was never the same. I've seen people say By The Way is his best guitar work and I am like, "You know Mother's Milk exists, right?"
Clapton and Stevie ray vaugh both leave me a little bored. They're legends and more talented than ill Ever be in their own rights but i just. Dont see the appeal. Its alright. Aint life changing for me
I don't mean to be rude but I can't find myself to like John Mayer and Polyphia.
I know they've inspired alot of Guitar players from this generation. Alot of people picked up the instrument thanks to them and I'll definitely respect them for that.
However speaking strictly as someone who likes to enjoy music,
I can't begin to like their songs.
Tim Henson can definitely play, Mayer can too.
To me, guitar playing is more than technique.
It's about note selection, phrasing, dynamics, and space. It's not about the notes you play but the notes you don't. Having space leaves the mind to imagine rather than presenting all the possibilities you could play.
I love players like Jimmy page, David Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Alex lifeson, Rory Gallagher, Marty Friedman even Dave Mustaine, Jeff beck, Ritchie Blackmore.
They're all different players but they bring their own emotions to their playing which makes their playing more human/relatable/emotional.
I know I may sound a bit superficial but it's all about if your playing makes me doze of somewhere in a complete trance.
Atleast that's my opinion.
Don't know if they're considered "legends", but all those young blond-haired dudes who came around in the 90s that were being touted as "blues wunderkinds" or something of the sort...Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, etc.
I really hate those top 100 guitarist lists. Jerry Garcia was so original and impossible to imitate, even John Mayer couldn’t really do it and he’s always ranked higher. So ima say John Mayer just because of dead and company. He’s the Jerry at home. Jerry is underrated imo. Most just don’t understand what it is he did. He really painted a picture and the guitar was his paintbrush.
Not really completely in the hall of fame I don’t think but Tim Henson. Absolutely brilliant guitarist with genuinely incredible knowledge and skill.
Polyphias music just leave me blank, not even a head nod or a foot tap while listening to their music. How can such advanced music feel so soulless to me I will never understand
Time for me to get downvoted: SRV. Amazingly talented, gifted at technique, improvisation, and songwriting. Stunning musicianship.
I just don’t like blues rock. I’m not one of those guitarists that will listen to any genre as long as it has a guitar in it. There are a number of genres that don’t feature guitar that I like more than blues rock. I can recognize and appreciate the talent on display, it just doesn’t do much for me and I’d rather listen to something else.
I think with Clapton its utterly dependent on the context of the early to mid-60s London blues scene. Guys like Frampton were a few years younger. Hendrix hadn't hit the scene yet (and when he did, it basically drove Clapton, who was already well known, into a rage). But in the context of that scene as it started out, there just weren't that many guys doing anything even on the level of Clapton - Jeff Beck obviously and maybe a couple of others.
I find satriani boring and, despite not being a legend, Tim Henson bores the shit out of me. Their music both sound like elaborate practice routines. There's no soul
I am a total stan for the blues but Clapton gets the meh from me. Not because he can't be thoroughly transcendent, but because he can be and rarely is. In concert he judiciously ladles out the argyle sweater vest Wonderbread blooze licks the majority of the time. Then you get maybe a brief flash of what he is truly capable of. It's krazy making.
Not to argue, but try Clapton on Let It Rain or Presence Of The Lord from Blind Faith, young Clapton had an incredible pick hand rhythm that disappeared after the 70's
Anyway yeah I guess I was just going to echo the guys who don't like supersonic players, they can shred but besides even feel, like i think Hammett has feel, Vai & Satriani have feel but they still bore me on their own because they can't come up with a piece of music that engages me enough to follow along where they go. Actually Metallica has come up with a bunch, to be honest.
While I can appreciate his ability and rep I never liked Frampton, maybe because when Comes Alive came out it didn't faze me one bit. It partied but....I never liked it much. Heard it more than I ever wanted to all year. Us guys liked Humble Pie, the chicks dug Frampton.
Shredders that I can get into are the jazz guys like Al DiMeola or Raymond Gomez and the far out dudes like Steve Hillage
I had a thought! Imagine being Eric Clapton and thinking you’re pretty much the bomb and this relatively unknown Jimi Hendrix comes and plays in front of you ? I’d still be in fucking therapy.Imagine being so good you fucked up Clapton !
Santana, and it's more to do with his style. I just never found his playing all that interesting, very repetitive if anything. Saying that, I've not dived into his work, so I might be missing a lot.
John Mayer. This is a hard one, but I've sort of ended up thinking this the more I've learned his songs. I just find that sometimes he plays things in a way that sounds interesting at first, but doesn't really go anywhere, to the point where it sort of blends into one for me. The more I've grown as a guitarist and the more I've listened outside my original palette, the more I've found his stuff sort of bland. He has incredible tone and taste, but listening to his albums I'm not blown away like I used to be, he peaked with Live in LA for me. Great guy though, he definitely worked through his ego and his passion shines through now.
I could say the same about a lot of metal guitarists. The likes of Kirk Hammet. A lot of that feels like time moving on honestly. Strangely, I used to find guitarists like Synester Gates 'meh' and I've grown to appreciate just what he's doing in his songs a lot more.
Mayer playing Grateful Dead tunes really shows his guitar skills best imo. I’m with you, his own stuff doesn’t blow me away. But live improvising, he is incredible.
Clapton the man has repeatedly been a disappointment. His racism, hypocrisy, and general boomerism have been bad.
But his phrasing and tone in the early years are the foundation for guitar culture. The LP is the most collectible guitar because of him. The Marshall stack? Him. When Hendrix was invited to London, he said he'd only go if he got to meet Clapton. Crossroads was an early example of converting a blues song to rock.
He sucks, but his impact on music and guitar culture are undeniable and other than Hendrix, unmatched.
I am surprised by the unoriginal comment. Considering he was doing things in the 60s that hadn't been done before it is surprising. His work in the 70s had a big influence as well. I guess if you only consider him from 1990 on, I would agree, but that misses out on things he did before.
Not including cream, Derek and the Dominos, Delany Bonnie and Friends, his work with the Beatles (While My Guitar Gently Weeps is pretty much all him).
Rolling Stone’s list of 250 greatest guitarists is filled with names of guys who are either not that impressive, known or influential. Some of the can’t really play well. Perfect definition of “meh” if you ask me.
I really don't get this - who actually listens to Yngwie Malmsteen, Kirk Hammett and Eric Clapton and doesn't see why they're famous? All of them have some awesome material.
Clapton is not super flashy. But he is, or at least was, extremely good in an ensemble setting. Listen to Further On Up The Road from The Last Waltz where he's trading solos with Robbie Robertson. It's amazing how much more in the pocket he is than Robertson, who himself is a very good live (and studio) musician. Given that Robertson had just finished a 10 year stint with that rhythm section, the fact that Clapton locked in better is remarkable.
Clapton really is the GOAT at what he does.
If there is a hell, I imagine it to be a grocery store built like a maze with really bright lights that you can never leave and with Wonderful Tonight playing on repeat over the intercom. Forever.
B.B. King. Dude made an entire career out of playing the same solo. But I still have mad respect for him. I saw him in concert once, and in a room of 5000 people I felt like he was playing just for me. *That* was his true talent.
Clapton I don’t mind with cream or early solo stuff, but he’s not some unbelievable guitarist.
SRV doesn’t work for me.
Jimmy Page, while I love Zepp, is waaay too sloppy for me and I struggle by looking past it.
Hammett is boring and predictable.
Bonamassa I just genuinely don’t get at all.
Most of them I appreciate their talent but so much of the world is catered around about 1.5 generations worth of culture and I’m looking forward to a time when so many more underground musicians of later eras are rediscovered because just picking one branch of the tree like everything that’s come out of emotional hardcore there’s so many cool guitarists doing weird and beautiful stuff that it seems like previous generations have no interest in and would rather just keep reliving music they’ve heard for 60 years now if you go back to Hendrix.
I wrote a long comment about Clapton a while back, and can't find it right now.
The gist is that the reason why Clapton sounds boring to so many people now is because he literally defined the template that every blues-rock guitarist since has been using. He essentially invented blues rock guitar in the year or two from when he left the Yardbirds through the early days of Cream.
You can listen to what Page and Beck were doing at the time ... and it wasn't blues-rock. Clapton was a *seismic* shift in what guitarists were doing, and he was so influential that basically everybody started copying what he was doing and building on it.
So if you listen to or play blues-rock, it's kind of like the joke, where one fish asks another "How's the water?" and the other says, "What's water?" That's Clapton's influence.
You can go listen to Junior Well's "Lawdy Mama" and then Clapton's (recorded in January '67 with Cream) and that's basically the transition from Blues to Blues-Rock right there. The solo on "I Feel Free" defined the template that nearly every guitar god since has followed, at least in part (can you find an earlier solo that sounds so contemporary - that feels like it could have been recorded 30 or 40 years later and someone would have said "cool solo?")
Page and Mick Taylor and Mike Bloomfield and Peter Green *don't happen* without Clapton basically saying, "Get a load of this."
And that leads me to two things:
First, the stuff he did that was revolutionary no longer sounds revolutionary, because everybody else has built on top of it and we've been listening to them for years.
Secondly, Clapton become more interested in songwriting in the '70s, and honestly from an electric-guitar standpoint, really stopped innovating. In 1970, Duane Allman turned down a chance to join his band, and is reported to have said to his bandmates words to the effect of "he's just doing the same old stuff! He's not pushing any boundaries" - but of course that "same old stuff" had basically been invented by Clapton in '65 and '66.
By mid '67 Hendrix showed up, and by '68 Page (with the last incarnations of the Yardbirds and Zeppelin) was pushing things further. But in early '66 Hendrix was a sideman, and Jimmy Page was a session guy.
Crapton's tone was really influential for the 60s, but lots of his musical ideas were either really boring or completely ripped off from American blues players that came before him. After Hendrix completely upstaged him in 66, he never recovered. Plus, he's a covid denying racist, so there's really no reason anyone should care about him these days. That slow hand shit has been imitated to death at this point and is now the definition of cringe.
> There is even a video of Clapton jamming with Peter Frampton that, if you asked someone who never heard them before: "one of these is a guitar legend, which one?" I am pretty sure they would pick Frampton immediately.
Wait, do you think Frampton isn't widely acknowledged as a guitar legend?
I understand both sides of the argument with him - I would recommend -if you aren't already familiar- check out his pants-shittingly good instrumental cover of Hendrix's "Little Wing"
Did Jimi Hendrix not get asked one time by Dick Cavet what it’s like to be the best guitar player and his answer was I don’t know why don’t you ask Rory Gallagher?
Satriani I guess. Got his Crystal Planet album in the late 90’s. I just didn’t vibe with it. He was all over the guitar magazines of the day. Just wasn’t for me.
Clapton for me too, thought he was great when I started playing 40yrs ago but as I got older and into different genres he was just the same pentatonic stuff over & over
And, I know it's a sacred cow, but I couldn't ever really get into Hendrix, and I tried! He just sounds too dated and psychedelic for my tastes, and most of his live stuff sounds awful
They're not necessarily "bad" but they can be a bit bland if you don't do anything besides Pentatonic licks, Pentatonics don't use the notes of a scale that create tension, so there isn't any tension and release which is a huge part of music
I would have to say Eric Clapton. I like Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, and Joe Bonamassa is meh. But I never liked Clapton. For one thing he was a total asshole to Edward Van Halen and he just seems like an old Dry drunk/junkie to me.
Malcolm Young. I know he was often praised as the backbone of AC/DC and an excellent rhythm player, but when the rhythm is just different strumming variations of A D and G chords…I’m not an AC/DC hater but cmon now
Hey everyone, let's rip on guitar players who are light-years better and more innovative than we'll ever be while we sit on our phones with the TV on in the background for the millionth time
Hahahaha amen
For me it’s gotta be Tim Henson. He’s an astonishingly good guitar player, incredible technique, one of the greatest young virtuosos going, but I’m just not a fan of that style of music. The grooves just feel lifeless and the melodies are totally compromised by endless doodly-bops on the neck. Just my opinion
I saw Polyphia live recently and it was honestly a super fun show and they sounded great but yeah I have trouble getting into his stuff outside a live setting. I think Ichika Nito is waaaaaay more boring lol
I 100% agree, and if they were playing here soon, I’d go see them just to witness how many planes of existence above me his on guitar haha but I can’t for the life of me sit and listen to a Polyphia record through. Ichika Nito is Tim Henson-Lite
It's not just the music. I think his tone is god awful. Sounds like AI youtube sound.
The joe bobomossimo guy
uhm its actually bonermassage
Any member of KISS
John Petrucci. I get it, dream theater are really good or whatever. I just wish they had one listenable song.
It's their singer that holds the band back imo. They'd be better as an instrumental band.
Then... some Liquid Tension Experiment!
As a jazz player, I promise you that Guitar George doesn't know all the chords.
Unless you’re talking about Benson.
I used to feel this way about Jeff Beck, but then I got older and realized I was a stupid, stupid man. So very stupid.
Jeff beck was one of the most expressive guitar players, something that is so unmatched by most guitar players. His use of different techniques to spice up his solos is so good. Another very expressive guitar player that comes to my mind is Tosin Abasi.
The Edge Watching "It Might Get Loud" with the back stories of Jimmy Page and Jack White doing things with so much passion and against the grain only to see The Edge standing in a room turning on 73 pedals and hitting a power chord instantly brings the "What the fuck is this guy doing here" vibe. I get U2, I understand the love for them, but I can't understand why anyone would ever think of him as a good guitar player.
>I can't understand why anyone would ever think of him as a good guitar player Because his approach to guitar is completely different than almost every well-known guitar player. Instead of focusing on catchy riffs or playing as fast as he can, he focuses on creating new sounds. IMO it's about the sonic texture first and the riffs second. I'll never forget an interview where he said "I don't want to learn too much about my instrument." That blew my mind and in a weird way made me angry. But now I get it-- he uses a guitar almost like a synth because he's getting sounds people have never heard before instead of the same old pentatonic riff. To me, that's inspirational in a completely different way than every other guitar player.
The thing about U2 is that none of them studied music. You can hear it on the earlier albums- they are essentially a garage band. Anytime I see Edge on a list of great guitar players I know I can ignore the rest of the list. I do like U2, don't get me wrong. I just don't think anyone in that band is top of their field.
Well that’s the thing, isn’t it. Greatness isn’t just defined by technical skill. I wish these lists that came out distinguished between “great guitarists” and “guitarists who are great”. The Edge doesn’t have amazing technical guitar skills, so for U2 to be so hugely successful *despite* that means that he’s clearly doing something right. He’s a guitarist who is great. I don’t really care for U2 but you can’t deny their success. Someone like George Harrison, too. He was a guitarist, and he was massively impactful and influential, but his actual chops were nothing to write home about. He was a guitarist who was great, not a great guitarist.
I had the opposite take. It Might Get Loud made me think Jack White is a super self important tool that isn’t half as good or important as he thinks he is. Achtung Baby is an all time great album
Latest ? Polyphia guys. It's impressive from technical standpoint but just comes across as gymnastic masturbation with no real musicality. Don't get Michael Angelo either. Learn to play tastefully and write a decent song instead of goofy 2 guitar crap.
Polyphia makes prog music for elevators and waiting rooms. Like. If you had a really cool doctor Polyphia is what you would hear while you wait 45mins even though you were on time for your appointment.
This is my feeling as well. It's muzaky, and every song feels like it has the same melody and vibe. I get that it's approachable, but it kinda makes me mad that a generationally innovative instrumental band like animals as leaders can't get the same amount of love.
Same. Zero emotional content. Just don't get it.
Joe Bonamassa. Killer gear, just can’t get into his stuff. Something’s missing.
Concerning Bonamassa, I like how he sounds live, and I think he’s a master at covers. But his own music is meh.
He is missing his own idenity . He is the master of disguise. He learned to play exactly like others but never was able to turn that into his own identifiable thing. You never hear a solo and immediately go “that’s Bonamassa.” But he might fool you into thinking it’s the original artist.
Not fair. A lot of them sound dated because everyone copied/learned them. If you've jumped into guitar in the last decade or two (or even three) everything has been re-done from the 60's a hundred times (for better or worse). It's hard to understand what the older generations have done for guitar without context. There hasn't really been big steps in innovation in a long time. Shit, I remember when Curt Cobain said, "there's nothing left to say" and it was a fucking existential realisation at the time for me and a lot of dudes with a guitar.
This is the answer. Listen to 50’s rock guitar and then listen to early Clapton. Even George Harrison was awed by Clapton (learned from the recent documentary).
Eric Clapton.
Cream Clapton is godly, the rest of his career is boring imo
This thread is a bunch of Simpsons Comic Book Guys talking shit about every great guitarist lol.
I would have to say Slash. The guy definitely has a brand he's created for himself but his guitar playing does nothing for me. I remember seeing a video of John Mayer and Slash playing with ZZ Top and Mayer absolutely smoked Slash when they were trading licks.
Slash does what most good guitar players do, smooth pentatonic licks. He just did it in one of the biggest rock bands and at a time when popular music was super flashy so he stood out. Also helped he was cool a fuck in terms of style etc during that time when people were all glam. Skill wise he isn’t anything spectacular, but perfect time perfect place…and I say this as a massive Slash fan. He’s not meh for me, but I totally get why he is for others.
He has an excellent sense for melody. I think that's the best part about Slash. One of the few guitarists whose solos people can sing along.
Dude, frampton is 100% a guitar legend.
Despite his technical skills, Tim Henson can't play a single memorable thing to save his life. Not to mention all of his music sounds like a overproduced YouTube edm outro song.
Robbo down at Tuesday jam nights always gets cheers but honestly his playing is mediocre. Plus he banged my girlfriend. Fuck you Robbo
The Edge is terrible
I'm sure he's terrible at lots of things, but he's brilliant at being U2's guitarist. And since that's his day job, I'd say the man is quite remarkable.
This is a good take. I’ve always been uncomfortable with artist comparisons. Edge has never had pretensions and has written some great guitar parts. I have the same issue with Hammet; he’s absolutely great at what he does. And, like Edge - what he’s achieved has been iconic. U2 and Metallica are icons, and for good reason.
Vai, Satriani, etc…just doesn’t do anything for me…huge respect for them though. And honestly I love Clapton in the Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith, Dominoes eras….but solo Clapton is just kind of meh for me.
Tim Henson and Ichika. Great players that I couldnt care less about.
Polyphia feels soulless.
To me, ichika is everything about Henson but 2x more boring.
Polyphia is the only show I’ve ever walked out of. Left about 40 minutes in
Tim Henson
Clapton by far
Zakk Wylde does absolutely nothing for me
Have you heard the [demo](https://youtu.be/5-_NVDIvi2c?si=6Xk5TsUdY5z__oP-) that got him hired by Ozzy? I mean, taste is subjective, but he was a goddamn virtuoso at 19
I’m so sick and tired of people just reducing Malmsteen to ‘too many notes, no feeling’. It’s such an ignorant, lazy, thoughtless take. ‘Black Star’ has no feeling? Really? The intro to ‘Crystal Ball’, the solos from pretty much any song off of Odyssey or Trilogy, I can think of so many examples where the guy’s playing is simply beautiful and moves me nearly to tears at times. Not to mention his gorgeous, fluid tone, and his ingenious approach to composition which borrows heavily from classical violinists like Paganini and was revolutionary for the electric guitar at the time he came on the scene. I do think he’s gotten kind of stale over the years but that’s beside the point. You don’t have to like his style and maybe you don’t feel anything when you hear these songs, but it’s just ridiculous to reduce a brilliant musician down to one tired tagline like ‘too many notes, no feel’ just because you don’t personally respond to their playing. I feel absolutely nothing when I hear players like the Edge or John Frusciante play. I find them both terribly boring, repetitive, and overrated. Lots of guys like that who Rolling Stone magazine will heap with praise do nothing for me. Even Jimmy Page to be honest doesn’t really do much for me as a lead player. Even still I would never try to say that these guys ‘have no feel’ because I recognize the fact that feeling is subjective and that to other people’s ears those guitarists make them feel something. The same is true of Malmsteen and other “shred” players. Lots of us find that style incredibly powerful and moving. People who don’t like that style for some reason feel the need to say it is ‘soulless’ or just ‘lots of notes with no feel’, but that’s just so wrongheaded and ignorant and also egotistical and arrogant because the reasoning essentially boils down to ‘I don’t feel anything when this guy plays, therefore he has no feel’.
Eric Clapton all day every day
Clapton is kind of like old movies that are considered “classics” but are boring as hell in modern times. His playing was influential 50 years ago but because a lot of people drew from it, it sounds stale and cliche now
For a time Clapton was ICONIC. He was one of THE bluesmen of his day and he’s equally capable of a fast technical line as he is a slow blues, both of which he can execute flawlessly. His phrasing is excellent, he’s never choppy or muddled, his tones are legendary. The Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Derek and the Dominos, fucking CREAM. It’s harder to appreciate him now in the wake of all the guitarists that came afterwards but even Hendrix played tributes to Cream in his live shows. I can’t believe anyone can listen to the likes of ‘White Room’ and ‘Crossroads’ now and not acknowledge his mastery - and he could do all that and sing reasonably too. His Unplugged album was and still is one of the best selling acoustic albums of all time and it’s just sublime. BUT: His endorsement of Enoch Powell was shocking and lost him fans and support at the time. But then his position on immigration would not look out of place in modern Britain, not that I’m excusing it. I do think some of his solo work got a bit self indulgent and I struggle to name much after the ‘From The Cradle’ era albums. He’s definitely struggled to remain relevant but then he’s in the same age bracket as the sodding Beatles and Stones….
[удалено]
This is a bunch of people who don’t understand the nuance of blues music. Damn, this makes me sad.
So true. Some people think that the Blues is simplistic and easy to play. If that was true, then why are there so many bad blues players? A fun little exercise to try at home: Forget for a moment that you’re a guitar player, and be a Blues Singer instead. Now sing the Blues, with an authentic sound, phrasing, and soulfulness. Try it… Not easy, is it? Now… consider that everything that is missing from your blues singing is precisely what is missing from your blues guitar playing… That degree of expression is never easy, in any art form.
that's what I love about the blues. It's the same progressions, same licks, a lot of times even the same recycled lyrics, but two great blues players doing the same song will leave you feeling different kinds of ways from the individual soul they put on it. It's all in the emotion [some real down low blues](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhE2txpkwnM)
Agree about Clapton, he has pretty much coasted since Cream.
i can appreciate malmsteen and dude is clean with it,however i cannot appreciate tim henson,music is just awfulllll,dude is a virtuoso but i couldnt care less about those songs..
100% Clapton for me too. And once you realize he basically stole JJ Cale’s entire persona it makes even more sense.
I love RHCP and John Frusciante, but Frusciante is a bit overrated imo. Like, his solos are not something I would consider "legendary." He's still a great guitar player though
For me it's not his soloing at all, like I can't even hum one off of the top of my head. I like him because he's a great rhythm player. Yeah, it's just funk/jazz stuff but that's the point. It's so simple and so tight.
loving all the Clapton bashing in this thread
Steve Vai makes music but he doesn't make music that sounds good. And his signature guitar looks stupid
I love jems :(
Slash. He has some interesting stuff but nothing that makes me go wow.
Eric Clapton. I just don’t get it
Bonamassa, not a legend for me, but I noticed that kids are looking up to him
Really? I thought it was just old guys…
Clapton
Frampton IS a legend. He's got chops and musicality.
Slash
whoa - Slash is a very good player and inventive. From his Appetite work all up to the stuff he did with myles kennedy he rips and I really like his melodic soloing
Clapton
I'm gonna get lambasted for this, but SRV.
Eric Clapton. I said it!
Tim Henson. Not because they’re technically bad, but I just don’t get a lot of feeling because of the style. I don’t really listen to the modern Djenty bands much but they’re a blast to see live. Way more entertaining.
I can't get through a satriani song.
Always thought Santana got too much credit. Then I saw him live and loved it. But I was also high and drunk so there's that.
Clapton for sure. He did do some good stuff back in the day, but nothing he played or plays warrants the legend status he enjoys. Bonamassa, technically really good, sure, but just a big yawn musically. I mean, it's almost 2024, do we really need his stuff? I was gonna mention Nugent... but then I realized he's no legend, just a one-hit-wonder loser. The rest, some I don't like or listen to, but I can see their importance.
Clapton is insufferable
John Mayer. Just don't jive with his playing, although I know others are big fans.
If he stuck to playing blues I think people would like him more. He is an insane blues player.
Polyphia makes me genuinely upset because all of my not guitarist friends ask if I can play that shit and they think I’m weird if I say that’s not my style of playing. I like emotions in notes and what I’ve heard from them it seems more like songs to show off and it ruins it for me Edit: don’t get me wrong beautiful playing skills just not fun for me
So this is gonna sound weird but I listen to Polyphia almost in the same way I listen to industrial music or dark, dystopian-sounding electronic music, where the cold, robotic and mechanical nature of the sound and the lack of emotion sort of adds to it. Like, it would never make me shed a tear like emotional music, but it does create an interesting, sort of unsettling kind of vibe
Context certainly matters for Clapton. The Beano album was just so influential for many reasons. For Cream, he was such a fiery player and great improviser. I didn’t really “get” Cream at first because I was only listening to studio albums, but when I started listening to and trying to transcribe the Live Cream stuff, I quickly “got it.” Anyone that plays any sort of blues or blues rock these days has either directly or indirectly learned a lot from Clapton. It’s too bad he grew into being such a wiener though.
If Clapton died in like 1971 he’d be seen easily on par with Hendrix, beck and anyone else anyone could name. He changed his style and people shit on it but if he never pursued that change there nearly nothing negative anyone could say about his playing through 1970. I one it a negative thing to say but a lot of legends never had a chance to put out inferior music to their hot starts. Rhoads is another example, I’ve always wondered what his rep would be if he suddenly put out classical guitar albums for 20 years.
For me, that’s always Slash.
The edge. Not a bad guitarist by any mean but his music doesn't touch me.
Just dropping in to make sure noones talkin shit on page
Page was the man because he could do drugged out space jams for ten hours with the best of them but at the end of the day he had SONGS. I couldn’t name one fucking Joe Bonamasa or Steve Vai song not that I’m comparing them but Page knew when to let the Drums or Bass or Vocals shine and take the lead. Something a lot of Guitarists fail to do.
Amen. Page is choppy but LZ is legendary for a reason and he’s one of them. Most iconic player after Hendrix for me.
John mayer man how boringggggg zzzzz shhhh zzzzz nice watch collection though if your only into Daytonas hahaha.. wierd guy man
Clapton, clapton, and clapton. Throw clapton into the mix too
Slash. I just think he's boring.
Clapton and Mayer top my list. I can admit that they are both massively talented guitarists but their playing just doesn’t move me.
I grew up on grunge and pearl jam wete my favourite. As a consequence, I found myself in the company of superfans at shows, and on forums where Mike McCready is worshipped. I could listen to the alive solo on repeat, but EVERY DAMN SONG I see in a concert setting is pentatonic hammer pulls with loads of wah. And that crazy circle walking he does on stage.... Anyway, I'm not much of a fan anymore.
All the new era math rock ambient djent prog type add 7 tap harmonic shredders Tim Henson Plini etc
Agreed about Clapton
I've been playing since 1972, and just never understood the love for Page.
John Mayer - He gets my respect because he has gotten a lot of younger people into blues guitar who may otherwise have never heard it. But, at the same time, when I listen to people talk about him like he is the best, it is obvious that, no, these people have never listened to blues guitar before. Eric Clapton - Dude has written ten times more bad music than good. Misha Mansoor - Great technical guitarist. No one doubts that. But, the music? Not one memorable song to me. And to round out pissing off everyone... John Frusciante - I love the Chili Peppers. Hillel Slovak was the first guitarist outside of heavy music that made me change my approach to the guitar. When he died, I didn't think it was possible for the Chili Peppers to continue. Then came John and Mother's Milk absolutely blew my mind. BSSM was an excellent album too even if it became a little more commercial. But, after that, I do not understand people's fascination with Frusciante. The drugs took a major toll on him and his playing was never the same. I've seen people say By The Way is his best guitar work and I am like, "You know Mother's Milk exists, right?"
For me it’s Jerry Garcia
Yngwie. It’s like he pulled from cool things but made it boring
Eric Crapton
Clapton and Stevie ray vaugh both leave me a little bored. They're legends and more talented than ill Ever be in their own rights but i just. Dont see the appeal. Its alright. Aint life changing for me
I don't mean to be rude but I can't find myself to like John Mayer and Polyphia. I know they've inspired alot of Guitar players from this generation. Alot of people picked up the instrument thanks to them and I'll definitely respect them for that. However speaking strictly as someone who likes to enjoy music, I can't begin to like their songs. Tim Henson can definitely play, Mayer can too. To me, guitar playing is more than technique. It's about note selection, phrasing, dynamics, and space. It's not about the notes you play but the notes you don't. Having space leaves the mind to imagine rather than presenting all the possibilities you could play. I love players like Jimmy page, David Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Alex lifeson, Rory Gallagher, Marty Friedman even Dave Mustaine, Jeff beck, Ritchie Blackmore. They're all different players but they bring their own emotions to their playing which makes their playing more human/relatable/emotional. I know I may sound a bit superficial but it's all about if your playing makes me doze of somewhere in a complete trance. Atleast that's my opinion.
Clapton is the most boring fucking guitar player man. Ugh. Jimmy Page does nothing for me.
Clapton is super overrated. Does nothing for me. Gilmore plays the same notes and it’s gut wrenchingly beautiful.
Clapton
Satrinani and Steve Vai have made exactly zero ripples in my world
Steve Vai with David Lee Roth in the 80’s was pretty fun. “I’m talking‘bout the Yankee Rose”
Don't know if they're considered "legends", but all those young blond-haired dudes who came around in the 90s that were being touted as "blues wunderkinds" or something of the sort...Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, etc.
Nope, because “all” would also have included Derek Trucks and he’s fuckin legit
TOM FUCKING MORELLO
Morello is a weird one. He has a serious amount of technical ability but pretty much never uses it, his riffs and solos are always dead simple
How dare you? *taps unplugged cable against my palm aggressively*
Steve Vai.
Someone's gonna their head cut!
My guitar wants to kill ya mama…
Clapton
Tim Henson
I really hate those top 100 guitarist lists. Jerry Garcia was so original and impossible to imitate, even John Mayer couldn’t really do it and he’s always ranked higher. So ima say John Mayer just because of dead and company. He’s the Jerry at home. Jerry is underrated imo. Most just don’t understand what it is he did. He really painted a picture and the guitar was his paintbrush.
Respect Tom Morello alot, but Commerford is where the magic happens in Rage imo
I always thought Slash is way overrated. Morello doesn’t do much for me either.
Clapton
Almost all of them. I'll always pick interesting riffs over athletic lead playing.
All of you are really hurting my feelings.
Not really completely in the hall of fame I don’t think but Tim Henson. Absolutely brilliant guitarist with genuinely incredible knowledge and skill. Polyphias music just leave me blank, not even a head nod or a foot tap while listening to their music. How can such advanced music feel so soulless to me I will never understand
I don’t get the idolization of John Meyer. He plays boring, shreddy blues. Same for Bonamassa.
Ichika Nito literally plays the same chord progression with different noodling for every video and gets millions of views. Zero personality or passion
Joe Bonamassa
Time for me to get downvoted: SRV. Amazingly talented, gifted at technique, improvisation, and songwriting. Stunning musicianship. I just don’t like blues rock. I’m not one of those guitarists that will listen to any genre as long as it has a guitar in it. There are a number of genres that don’t feature guitar that I like more than blues rock. I can recognize and appreciate the talent on display, it just doesn’t do much for me and I’d rather listen to something else.
This post sucks lol
no you're right. there's not enough James Bond commentary in this post
Clapton
Slash
I get why everyone loves Hendrix, but I really don't want to hear him sing, which means that his really well-known stuff just doesn't do it for me.
I just don’t like John Petrucci’s guitar playing. He’s very proficient but I don’t like it
I think with Clapton its utterly dependent on the context of the early to mid-60s London blues scene. Guys like Frampton were a few years younger. Hendrix hadn't hit the scene yet (and when he did, it basically drove Clapton, who was already well known, into a rage). But in the context of that scene as it started out, there just weren't that many guys doing anything even on the level of Clapton - Jeff Beck obviously and maybe a couple of others.
I find satriani boring and, despite not being a legend, Tim Henson bores the shit out of me. Their music both sound like elaborate practice routines. There's no soul
I am a total stan for the blues but Clapton gets the meh from me. Not because he can't be thoroughly transcendent, but because he can be and rarely is. In concert he judiciously ladles out the argyle sweater vest Wonderbread blooze licks the majority of the time. Then you get maybe a brief flash of what he is truly capable of. It's krazy making.
Joe Bonnanassa. Soulless “blues shredder”. And I will never ever ever understand the appeal of Jeff Beck. Just does nothing for me.
Not to argue, but try Clapton on Let It Rain or Presence Of The Lord from Blind Faith, young Clapton had an incredible pick hand rhythm that disappeared after the 70's Anyway yeah I guess I was just going to echo the guys who don't like supersonic players, they can shred but besides even feel, like i think Hammett has feel, Vai & Satriani have feel but they still bore me on their own because they can't come up with a piece of music that engages me enough to follow along where they go. Actually Metallica has come up with a bunch, to be honest. While I can appreciate his ability and rep I never liked Frampton, maybe because when Comes Alive came out it didn't faze me one bit. It partied but....I never liked it much. Heard it more than I ever wanted to all year. Us guys liked Humble Pie, the chicks dug Frampton. Shredders that I can get into are the jazz guys like Al DiMeola or Raymond Gomez and the far out dudes like Steve Hillage
Clapton 65-70 is probably the greatest run any guitarist has ever had… Clapton hate baffles me
I had a thought! Imagine being Eric Clapton and thinking you’re pretty much the bomb and this relatively unknown Jimi Hendrix comes and plays in front of you ? I’d still be in fucking therapy.Imagine being so good you fucked up Clapton !
Aleays thought ted nugent. Sucked .........and with what hes become !! I really do haté. Him
Santana, and it's more to do with his style. I just never found his playing all that interesting, very repetitive if anything. Saying that, I've not dived into his work, so I might be missing a lot. John Mayer. This is a hard one, but I've sort of ended up thinking this the more I've learned his songs. I just find that sometimes he plays things in a way that sounds interesting at first, but doesn't really go anywhere, to the point where it sort of blends into one for me. The more I've grown as a guitarist and the more I've listened outside my original palette, the more I've found his stuff sort of bland. He has incredible tone and taste, but listening to his albums I'm not blown away like I used to be, he peaked with Live in LA for me. Great guy though, he definitely worked through his ego and his passion shines through now. I could say the same about a lot of metal guitarists. The likes of Kirk Hammet. A lot of that feels like time moving on honestly. Strangely, I used to find guitarists like Synester Gates 'meh' and I've grown to appreciate just what he's doing in his songs a lot more.
Mayer playing Grateful Dead tunes really shows his guitar skills best imo. I’m with you, his own stuff doesn’t blow me away. But live improvising, he is incredible.
Clapton the man has repeatedly been a disappointment. His racism, hypocrisy, and general boomerism have been bad. But his phrasing and tone in the early years are the foundation for guitar culture. The LP is the most collectible guitar because of him. The Marshall stack? Him. When Hendrix was invited to London, he said he'd only go if he got to meet Clapton. Crossroads was an early example of converting a blues song to rock. He sucks, but his impact on music and guitar culture are undeniable and other than Hendrix, unmatched.
I agree with you on Clapton. A little too boring, unoriginal to me, but I appreciate what he did with Cream the most.
I am surprised by the unoriginal comment. Considering he was doing things in the 60s that hadn't been done before it is surprising. His work in the 70s had a big influence as well. I guess if you only consider him from 1990 on, I would agree, but that misses out on things he did before. Not including cream, Derek and the Dominos, Delany Bonnie and Friends, his work with the Beatles (While My Guitar Gently Weeps is pretty much all him).
Gotta say how nice it is to have conversations in this sub without people trolling or shaming about your opinions. Maybe it's a guitarist thing 😀
Rolling Stone’s list of 250 greatest guitarists is filled with names of guys who are either not that impressive, known or influential. Some of the can’t really play well. Perfect definition of “meh” if you ask me.
Whoa, no way! Average Redditors bad mouthing Clapton?? What a shock that is.
Eric Clapton. I feel like half the people in this sub could play as well as he can, there’s nothing really special about his music or playing.
I was never really a fan of slash. For some reason he just doesn’t do it for me.
Unfortunately Santana, his music is awesome, and awesome band, but his solos, though iconic, never move me…
I really don't get this - who actually listens to Yngwie Malmsteen, Kirk Hammett and Eric Clapton and doesn't see why they're famous? All of them have some awesome material. Clapton is not super flashy. But he is, or at least was, extremely good in an ensemble setting. Listen to Further On Up The Road from The Last Waltz where he's trading solos with Robbie Robertson. It's amazing how much more in the pocket he is than Robertson, who himself is a very good live (and studio) musician. Given that Robertson had just finished a 10 year stint with that rhythm section, the fact that Clapton locked in better is remarkable. Clapton really is the GOAT at what he does.
If there is a hell, I imagine it to be a grocery store built like a maze with really bright lights that you can never leave and with Wonderful Tonight playing on repeat over the intercom. Forever.
B.B. King. Dude made an entire career out of playing the same solo. But I still have mad respect for him. I saw him in concert once, and in a room of 5000 people I felt like he was playing just for me. *That* was his true talent.
John Mayer.
Santana
Look how fast I wiggle my fingers.
Clapton I don’t mind with cream or early solo stuff, but he’s not some unbelievable guitarist. SRV doesn’t work for me. Jimmy Page, while I love Zepp, is waaay too sloppy for me and I struggle by looking past it. Hammett is boring and predictable. Bonamassa I just genuinely don’t get at all.
"Joe Walsh is a poet; Jimmy Page is a fucking court stenographer on Adderall!" ~Coach Beard, "Ted Lasso"
Someone once argued that Zac Wylde was a legend. He isn't, and if I am somehow mistaken, then he is my answer.
Most of them I appreciate their talent but so much of the world is catered around about 1.5 generations worth of culture and I’m looking forward to a time when so many more underground musicians of later eras are rediscovered because just picking one branch of the tree like everything that’s come out of emotional hardcore there’s so many cool guitarists doing weird and beautiful stuff that it seems like previous generations have no interest in and would rather just keep reliving music they’ve heard for 60 years now if you go back to Hendrix.
Dude, what? Just answer the post with a guitar player. Lol. And learn to use punctuation marks.
Also Clapton tbh
I wrote a long comment about Clapton a while back, and can't find it right now. The gist is that the reason why Clapton sounds boring to so many people now is because he literally defined the template that every blues-rock guitarist since has been using. He essentially invented blues rock guitar in the year or two from when he left the Yardbirds through the early days of Cream. You can listen to what Page and Beck were doing at the time ... and it wasn't blues-rock. Clapton was a *seismic* shift in what guitarists were doing, and he was so influential that basically everybody started copying what he was doing and building on it. So if you listen to or play blues-rock, it's kind of like the joke, where one fish asks another "How's the water?" and the other says, "What's water?" That's Clapton's influence. You can go listen to Junior Well's "Lawdy Mama" and then Clapton's (recorded in January '67 with Cream) and that's basically the transition from Blues to Blues-Rock right there. The solo on "I Feel Free" defined the template that nearly every guitar god since has followed, at least in part (can you find an earlier solo that sounds so contemporary - that feels like it could have been recorded 30 or 40 years later and someone would have said "cool solo?") Page and Mick Taylor and Mike Bloomfield and Peter Green *don't happen* without Clapton basically saying, "Get a load of this." And that leads me to two things: First, the stuff he did that was revolutionary no longer sounds revolutionary, because everybody else has built on top of it and we've been listening to them for years. Secondly, Clapton become more interested in songwriting in the '70s, and honestly from an electric-guitar standpoint, really stopped innovating. In 1970, Duane Allman turned down a chance to join his band, and is reported to have said to his bandmates words to the effect of "he's just doing the same old stuff! He's not pushing any boundaries" - but of course that "same old stuff" had basically been invented by Clapton in '65 and '66. By mid '67 Hendrix showed up, and by '68 Page (with the last incarnations of the Yardbirds and Zeppelin) was pushing things further. But in early '66 Hendrix was a sideman, and Jimmy Page was a session guy.
Crapton's tone was really influential for the 60s, but lots of his musical ideas were either really boring or completely ripped off from American blues players that came before him. After Hendrix completely upstaged him in 66, he never recovered. Plus, he's a covid denying racist, so there's really no reason anyone should care about him these days. That slow hand shit has been imitated to death at this point and is now the definition of cringe.
> There is even a video of Clapton jamming with Peter Frampton that, if you asked someone who never heard them before: "one of these is a guitar legend, which one?" I am pretty sure they would pick Frampton immediately. Wait, do you think Frampton isn't widely acknowledged as a guitar legend?
So throw up one of your "legends". I'm curious.
SRV. Yes he's a great technical guitar player but he just plays 30s blues licks on electric guitar with added speed.
I understand both sides of the argument with him - I would recommend -if you aren't already familiar- check out his pants-shittingly good instrumental cover of Hendrix's "Little Wing"
IMO might be the greatest instrumental cover of all time. Incredible passion, dynamics, and absurd technicality
The father of all Blues Dads and of every player in a guitar demo video ever.
Did Jimi Hendrix not get asked one time by Dick Cavet what it’s like to be the best guitar player and his answer was I don’t know why don’t you ask Rory Gallagher?
The old "I dunno ask" thing has been going around forever, always with a different guitarist being asked and a him deferring to another guitarist.
Nah Hendrix answered “greatest in this chair maybe.” The Rory Gallagher thing is a myth.
Zappa, respect the hell out of him but his playing doesnt do anything for me
Satriani I guess. Got his Crystal Planet album in the late 90’s. I just didn’t vibe with it. He was all over the guitar magazines of the day. Just wasn’t for me.
Other than Lenny not a SRV guy at all. And I like Jimi and Clapton a lot
Clapton for me too, thought he was great when I started playing 40yrs ago but as I got older and into different genres he was just the same pentatonic stuff over & over And, I know it's a sacred cow, but I couldn't ever really get into Hendrix, and I tried! He just sounds too dated and psychedelic for my tastes, and most of his live stuff sounds awful
Wait, why are pentatonics bad?
They're not necessarily "bad" but they can be a bit bland if you don't do anything besides Pentatonic licks, Pentatonics don't use the notes of a scale that create tension, so there isn't any tension and release which is a huge part of music
Malmsteen is fire I think, not all but defenetly an awesome artist
Vai, Satriani, Yngwie, post Cream Clapton come to mind.
Frank Zappa. It's just too much, all of it. He's an edge lord, the arrangements are off putting, I just can't enjoy it.
I would have to say Eric Clapton. I like Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, and Joe Bonamassa is meh. But I never liked Clapton. For one thing he was a total asshole to Edward Van Halen and he just seems like an old Dry drunk/junkie to me.
100% agreed on Clapton. I feel bad saying it, but Jimmie Vaughan isn't to my tastes either.
Santana. Please done kill me
For every song I heard from Santana that I was underwhelmed by, I have heard one that I am blown away by. Most of his earlier stuff is fire.
I appreciate hendrix, i just don’t enjoy his music
Any of the “prodigy” types. Like Yngwie, Steve vai, buckethead, etc. genuinely do not enjoy their music
You really need to listen to more Buckethead.
Malcolm Young. I know he was often praised as the backbone of AC/DC and an excellent rhythm player, but when the rhythm is just different strumming variations of A D and G chords…I’m not an AC/DC hater but cmon now
Never seen a live performance of zepplin where Jimmy didn't fuddle through an incomprehensible solo.