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Top 10 Overrated Guitar Players of All Time!!!??


Old Joad

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I think he showed his hand when he said "this is gonna blow up the Internet!!" ? And really, who "rates" The Edge? While he was an innovator and sound designer with his use of FX, I think we all knew that if you hit bypass on his delay he wouldn't have been all that. Doesn't matter of course, he got a killer sound.

With my tastes in guitar playing, I could probably outdo him for sheer generation of outrage.

What does "rated" mean when it comes to musicians anyway?

I think "overrated" means "I can't see what other people like so much about this person's playing." "Underrated" means "this person doesn't get as much attention and approval as I think they should."

So in the case of "overrated," well, just because I can't hear it doesn't mean it ain't there. And "underrated," well, whatever. We've all seen guitarists in local bands performing for a dozen people whose playing knocked us to the floor.

Speaking of which, I used to go see Michael Hedges, now considered a stone cold freaking legend and innovator of the acoustic guitar, in the early 80's when he was playing for the dinner crowd at the New Varsity Theater in Palo Alto. People were eating and chatting and laughing and I was watching the Hendrix of the acoustic guitar performing as background music. He didn't stay "underrated" for long, though.

Imagine trying to concentrate on eating while this is going on 5 feet away:

 

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17 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

I think he showed his hand when he said "this is gonna blow up the Internet!!" ? And really, who "rates" The Edge? While he was an innovator and sound designer with his use of FX, I think we all knew that if you hit bypass on his delay he wouldn't have been all that. Doesn't matter of course, he got a killer sound.

As posted before but still hillarious!

 

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I agree with all of those. I was hoping Hendrix to be somewhere in the list and I am not disappointed. While I do think Hendrix should be considered a reference player given the context he was playing at and the stuff he introduced in the guitar vocabulary that we still use today, putting the guy in a plinth and calling everyone who plays like him an inferior imitation is extremely dishonest. What Hendrix did playing-wise is not some unobtanium which was locked away and lost to time after his passing. And many people who worship the guy in that capacity are more enamored with what Hendrix represents as a cultural icon rather than as a guitar player.

You could say Hendrix is the guitar player version of the The Beatles and the same reasons apply.

One guy which I believe should be revered way more than he actually is is Les Paul. Sadly, he's mostly relegated to a guitar model name in a company which is currently run by idiots:

 

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"underrated" and "overrated" are click-bait terms. "__________ reacts to _________" is also a click-bait phrase. And they work!!!!!!!

JMO: The name of the game is to get as many clicks as possible.  Clicks translate into moolah in miniscule amounts that when amassed in humongous numbers might amount to something worthwhile for the content creator.

"Don't blame me; the producer made me do it!!!!"

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When I was a kid it was great to be able to play leads like the rock star's on the album, we were able to put bands together and sound good in a very short time

and made us go deeper into music and start writing our own songs.

If we don't understand what the player is doing we wont pursue their music.

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Finally got around to watching and... I must admit, it's hard to argue with his list.  That said, I also like how he said "taken into context."  We're not talking about the results here, we're talking about over-admiration for playing ability.  I had the video below (might still have it!):

ktv0tljikhrvh4mgw8up.jpg
 

OMG was it bad!  In real life, Jimi's using a guitar upside down and just flowing with his thoughts.  But, on the video, people who are NOT Jimi are trying to explain how the music was made using music theory!  Towards the beginning they show Jimi hammering on some strings and then try to explain how he's using some wild chord progression!  No!  He's literally just hammering his fingers in an area that sounded good to him!  I stopped watching...

All of that said, on my personal list (started decades ago!), #1 was Clapton and #2 was Santana, so not far off!

I'm also glad that he didn't include other guitarists just because they played sloppy live or else Jimmy Page would have been on the list!  Of course, I've always been impressed that Jimmy could do much of anything on stage since he was usually on enough drugs to blind a camel.  ?

So, to end this on a positive note I, personally, couldn't care less how off-the-charts talented someone is if they can't make enjoyable music!  Plus, I don't care how that happens.  As Zappa has said, you can always hire a "stunt guitarist" (he's had Yngwie and Vai that I can recall off the top of my head).

I think this graphic captures this:

UnfairLifeOfTheGuitarist.jpg

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17 minutes ago, craigb said:

OMG was it bad!  In real life, Jimi's using a guitar upside down and just flowing with his thoughts.  But, on the video, people who are NOT Jimi are trying to explain how the music was made using music theory!  Towards the beginning they show Jimi hammering on some strings and then try to explain how he's using some wild chord progression!  No!  He's literally just hammering his fingers in an area that sounded good to him!  I stopped watching...

There's even one mockup demonstration of that done by the late Ted Greene for a Musician's Institute seminar, where he puts the guitar on his lap and starts randomly hammering notes on the neck, then asks the audience in which key he's playing.

19 minutes ago, craigb said:

As Zappa has said, you can always hire a "stunt guitarist" (he's had Yngwie and Vai that I can recall off the top of my head).

Malmsteen never played for Frank Zappa, not even as a guest musician on stage. And I don't think he would even make past the audition if it were to happen at that time. In that sense, Malmsteen is more of a stunt guitarrist than Vai as you can see how out of his element he is when you put him playing in any other style of music which isn't neoclassical rock. Just watch the G3 where he's in and you'll see that.

 

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19 minutes ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

Malmsteen never played for Frank Zappa, not even as a guest musician on stage. And I don't think he would even make past the audition if it were to happen at that time. In that sense, Malmsteen is more of a stunt guitarrist than Vai as you can see how out of his element he is when you put him playing in any other style of music which isn't neoclassical rock. Just watch the G3 where he's in and you'll see that.

Right you are!  (I only put that in to see if anyone was paying attention! ?)

No, I meant to say Adrian Belew.  I got confused because Vai replaced Yngwie in Alcatraz, not in Zappa's band.

Thanks for noticing that!

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25 minutes ago, craigb said:

Right you are!  (I only put that in to see if anyone was paying attention! ?)

No, I meant to say Adrian Belew.  I got confused because Vai replaced Yngwie in Alcatraz, not in Zappa's band.

Thanks for noticing that!

I'd say that Adrian Belew and The Edge have a lot in common, except Adrian actually knows how his gear works.

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17 hours ago, craigb said:

As Zappa has said, you can always hire a "stunt guitarist" 

I watched the Zappa vid that Old Joad posted and literally LOL when Vai said in his audition for Zappa, Frank asked him to keep playing progressively harder riffs and when he got to what Vai thought was virtually impossible and told Frank that, Frank said he heard Linda Ronstadt was looking for a guitarist. ?

Typical Frank witty comment.

 

Edited by Bapu
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