Underrated Guitarists
 

OK.
Brian Setzer brought up a good, underrated guitarist...
Who else makes your list of underrated guitarists.
I'm not into jazz or hair metal enough to really comment on any of them....

Some of my top underrated are:
Brian may (Queen)
David Gilmour (Floyd)

MrHunters!!!!!! taught me almost all I know.

Tom Morrello

I wouldnt agree Brian May and Gilmour are underrated. If you look at any of the guitar mags, they are always listed as top players.
I can't post any because its generally not the guitar players who are underrated, but their music, in general, is under appreciated. Most are considered great by those who follow the music. For example, I am sure everyone of you know "Les Paul", because of teh guitar, but how many of you have heard his music? Probabaly very few and he is an absolute brilliant guitarist.

That being said, if you are a fan of the guitar, some greats you may enjoy adn have never heard
Danny Gatton - jaw droppingly great
Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West ( western swing with a tele and steel pedal)
Junior Brown
Chet Atkins
Les Paul
Roy Buchannan

gilmor was underrated???

trey anastasio from Phish gets my vote-

well,
Underrated as far as VH1 type ratings, talking amongst casual fans... Not by guitar world...
Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, Paige, etc.. get a lot of love. These guys get left out...

Chet Atkins is always cool to listen to

well, being somewhat of a professional artist, heres my opinion why they were never embraced by the general public.
1- they made music that was not mainstream
2- they didnt market themselves to the mainstream
3- they stayed true to thier own styles and did not follow the pack that was making mainstream music.

My dad is a big Chet Atkins fan, still watches the videos now and then. Guy was very talented. My father played for the US Navy back in the day and is pretty good as well. I'm a big Clapton fan, and the guys from ZZtop always have me rocking out.

Mark Knopfler.

Dolly Parton - and no I'm not joking :)

-spence

This might help get things going. This is from Rolling Stone. Who's Missing? Who is rated higher/lower than they should be? These lists always fuel some good debate


I mean Kurt Cobain at #12...ahead of Bo Diddley and Carlos Santana???

Is Keith Richards REALLY worthy of a Top 10 Slot??

Where's Roy Clark? Not my style of Music but you can't take away the Fact that he Wails on the Guitar.

The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

1Jimi Hendrix
2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
3 B.B. King
4 Eric Clapton
5 Robert Johnson
6 Chuck Berry
7 Stevie Ray Vaughan
8 Ry Cooder
9 Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones
11 Kirk Hammett of Metallica
12 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
13 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead
14 Jeff Beck
15 Carlos Santana
16 Johnny Ramone of the Ramones
17 Jack White of the White Stripes
18 John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
19 Richard Thompson
20 James Burton
21 George Harrison
22 Mike Bloomfield
23 Warren Haynes
24 The Edge of U2
25 Freddy King
26 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits
28 Stephen Stills
29 Ron Asheton of the Stooges
30 Buddy Guy
31 #^&#^&#^&#^& Dale
32 John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service
33 & 34 Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
35 John Fahey
36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's
37 Bo Diddley
38 Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac
39 Brian May of Queen
40 John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
41 Clarence White of the Byrds
42 Robert Fripp of King Crimson
43 Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic
44 Scotty Moore
45 Frank Zappa
46 Les Paul
47 T-Bone Walker
48 Joe Perry of Aerosmith
49 John McLaughlin
50 Pete Townshend
51 Paul Kossoff of Free
52 Lou Reed
53 Mickey Baker
54 Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane
55 Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple
56 Tom Verlaine of Television
57 Roy Buchanan
58 #^&#^&#^&#^&ey Betts
59 & 60 Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien of Radiohead
61 Ike Turner
62 Zoot Horn Rollo of the Magic Band
63 Danny Gatton
64 Mick Ronson
65 Hubert Sumlin
66 Vernon Reid of Living Colour
67 Link Wray
68 Jerry Miller of Moby Grape
69 Steve Howe of Yes
70 Eddie Van Halen
71 Lightnin' Hopkins
72 Joni Mitchell
73 Trey Anastasio of Phish
74 Johnny Winter
75 Adam Jones of Tool
76 Ali Farka Toure
77 Henry Vestine of Canned Heat
78 Robbie Robertson of the Band
79 Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps (1997)
80 Robert Quine of the Voidoids
81 Derek Trucks
82 David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
83 Neil Young
84 Eddie Cochran
85 Randy Rhoads
86 Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
87 Joan Jett
88 Dave Davies of the Kinks
89 D. Boon of the Minutemen
90 Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper
91 Robby Krieger of the Doors
92 & 93 Fred "Sonic" Smith, Wayne Kramer of the MC5
94 Bert Jansch
95 Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine
96 Angus Young of AC/DC
97 Robert Randolph
98 Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer
99 Greg Ginn of Black Flag
100 Kim Thayil of Soundgarden

I was always a big Ritchie Blackmore fan as a Kid....he never seems to get the props he deserves

interesting list, I dont agree AT ALL with the ordering and many names should not be there. I love teh White Stripes, but Jack White does not deserve to be there. Maybe becasue its my generation, but in terms of pure rock and roll guitar development, Eddie VH should be very near the top. He defined how rock guitar was played from the late 70's through early 90's.

Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is always on my IPod
See: Gilmour #82 out of 100! underrated!
Jack White at #17...
EVH at 70! that list sucks :D

What about Robbin Ford? Eric Johnson...

And Alex Lifeson :lasso:

-spence

Absolutely Mark Knopfler...........

Interesting side note. On the original Layla recording session half way through, Eric Clapton recognized his limits and put the call out to Duane Allman to give the song what it needed.

Alex Lifeson should be there.
I think the RS list isnt really based on "guitar skills" only, but more of music impact and originality and names are added for controversy for some by some anti-skills music geeks.
I am VERY impressed Eddie Hazel is on there from Funkadelic, he is great. I scanned fast, no Vai or Satriani? Interesting.

Seeing that Robert Cray didn't make the list is a surprise. I guess that makes him way underated.

Vai is nuts, I've seen him at Lupos;
Steve Morse is another shred guy; not my thing per se but fun to watch

Great guitarist but what a snooze live :yawn:

-spence

Oh yeah! definitely, he just plugs in and plays, no fancy set up. I saw him once from the 3rd row, what a show.

Here is someone you may not know becasue he became a houshold name by making cheesy crappy dance stuff.....George Benson, he an incredible jazz guitatist, one of my all time favorites.

ouch! I loved him!

Well, to be fair I've only seen him once. Could have just been a flat show.

-spence

Agreed..........I've seen him many times but the shows are way too clinical. Never a variation, songs right off the albums.

ok, here is one, Jimmy Vaughn, Stevie Ray's brother.
Most have only heard the radio cuts from the Fabulous Thunderbirds, but Jimmie's playing is way cooler than that. He is a very subtle player and plays some very hip blues. He is kind of a guitarists, guitaist and not that popular outside of guitar circles.

I can BS about this stuff all day,,,,,,I'd better relax

Interesting combination at the Melody Tent was Robert Cray Band opening for John Hiatt. Cray was the standard always good quality show but nothing earth shattering, and then John Hiatt came out and blew the tent away. I think it was the "Tiki Bar is Open" Tour. Anyone else catch that?

Number 64 on that top 100 list, Mick Ronson. Absolutely my favorite, my guitar hero.

Arranging, producing he had the talent to make everyone he worked with look and sound great from Bowie to Dylan and tons of people in between.

He died in 1993 of cancer but if you can find a copy of the tribute concert they held in memeoriam for him buy it. It's a live set with people like Ian Hunter, Roger Daltrey, Def Lepard's lead singer and guitarist, Townsend, Queens drummer Roger Taylor, Bill Wyman in Willy and the Poor Boy's, B.A.D., The Spiders From Mars ( Bowies back up band in the 70's) Procol Harum's lead singer does an outstanding version of Whiter Shade of Pale. Just an awesome cd set.

People dont read Rolling Stone for the music, people read Rolling Stone because they dont know what to wear!! Satriani said this once and its true. Unless you really think Jack White is a better guitarist than EVH, Randy Rhoads, and Angus Young, then to each his own.

Oddly enough (and this is not Homerism) I don't see Scholz / Goudreau - from the band Boston up there. Mainstream probably, but in the late 70s early 80s it was pretty good...

They also sounded phenominal in concert (sometimes rifficuled that they sounded too much like the album when actually live)...

Gilmour should be higher on that list :hidin:

My personal favorite is a local musician and a friend of mine.
His name is Gerry Miller, and plays with a number of bands.
The main bands are The Spurs and The Coachmen, which play coutry swing and honky-tonk.
He is also proficient with the 12 string mandolin, so you can only imagine how fast he can play. If I ever tried to play anything like him, my fingers would snap off.
Every one of my friends, upon seeing and hearing these bands play, are astounded at the speed and grace that this man can play.
I know that some are saying "Country ain't real music!", but these guys aren't playing your traditional country fare, but mostly drinking and truck driving songs.

I never look at these lists seriously. you cant... too many factors play in. opinion, history, technique to name a few.

why isnt eddie hazel on the list? never heard of him? does that mean he wasnt one of the greatest guitar players? In my opinion he was.

Kurt Cobain absolutly deserves a spot if you take into account what he did during his time in music history. Unfortunatly right now we are back to a variation of what music was like before Nirvana.
I could argue this point for hours.

Thanks for the nod TaJon :btu:

scratch the eddie coment.. eddie made 43 :)

should be higher :bl: