Underrated Rock Guitarists

[Chris Williams]

+1 for Adam Jones of Tool.

Adrian Belew + Robert Fripp both deserve a mention as two of the best guitarists around

[bitman]

Originally Posted by terminal3

Here's an obscure one if you're not a Canadian -

Kim Mitchell.

Go for a soda thumbsup

I'm not a Canadian, but I did'nt miss it.

[True North]

Originally Posted by terminal3

Here's an obscure one if you're not a Canadian -

Kim Mitchell.

Agreed, excellant guitar player, now a DJ on Q107 a local Toronto Rock station.

Are you a Canadian ex-pat ? How did you hear about him ?

Originally Posted by bitman

Mike Hall (Killer Dwarfs)

OMG - how does someone in Keystone, Co know who Mike Hall is...... You want to talk about obscure Canadian bands this one takes the cake.

BTW - You do mean Mike Dwarf don't you

In the 'who the hell is that obscure underrated Canadian gtr player' category my choice is;

Ian Thornley

formerly of Big Wreck now on his own with 'Thronley (OK so he's not terribly creative with band names) - smoking lead player and killer pipes to boot

[AMIEL]

Originally Posted by novsam

Steve Clark (RIP) - Def Leppard: my favorite 80s guitaristJake Kiley - Strung Out: idolizes Randy Rhodes and plays like it

[max cooper]

Johnny Ramone

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by rockrev

The other day someone had a post about Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and it really got me thinking about how bad @ss Neal Schon is. He's one of the most underrated rock guitarists ever, IMHO. So, yesterday I was listening to some Bryan Adams tracks and "Cuts Like a Knife" still rocks as if it were cut just the other day. Then I realized . . . another underrated guitarist is making this happen . . . Keith Scott. I decided I'd start a post so everyone could chime in and mention some others. Here's two more . . . Mike Campbell and Lindsey Buckingham (though one could argue he's a little more recognized).

dj

when I was growing up in the late 70's Schon was very popular
in gtr magazines and very highly rated. I think he's overated
But he was 16 when he played with Santana you gotta respect that

An underated guitar player would be someone like Michael Schenker
Denny Dias or Elliot Randall. Overated would be someone such as Stevie ray or
John Mayer or other hendrix tone clones

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by FossilTooth

Guitar Jocks, unite in your disdain for the following post:

Kurt Cobain: Any solo on "Bleach". Any solo on "Incesticide". The second half of the solo to "In Bloom". 10 seconds of friggin magic in each.

Marc Ribot: If you don't get why this guy's work with Tom Waits is amazing, you just don't get music.

There, I said it. Two players who make me realize that I don't actually hate guitar solos.

Honorable mention: Neil Young. This guy sounds like rusty nails. Have you listened to "Southern Man" recently?

Kurt Cobain?? now that's just pathetic

[Sounds Great]

Originally Posted by allencollins

when I was growing up in the late 70's Schon was very popular
in gtr magazines and very highly rated. I think he's overated

Overated? Have you seen him in the last decade or so? He still kicks ass. One of the best players to ever pick up a guitar.

[chandlersonic]

I see a lot of people mentioning adam jones, Tool is one of my favourite bands and I love his playing but I don't think this guy is underrated at all!!!! I think he gets a lot of respect and guitar magazines talk about him a whole lot.

[chetatkinsdiet]

shawn lane. youtube his name for proof. This guy was ripping back in the 70s like no one else. He unfortunately left us a few years back, but check out his stuff, it's amazing.

later,

m

[heyman]

These guys arent even on alot of people's radar... But very talented..


Chris Levesque/Trevor Reilly...

From

A Wilhelm Scream

[chetatkinsdiet]

...while we're sort of on this subject. Let me add bass players to the list.

Kinley Wolfe is the most under-rated, unknown bass player out there, bar none.

m

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by jammybastard

Those guys are hardly underrated.
When they were at the top of the charts they got tons of press and accolades.
Look into Richard Thompson's career and listen to his catalog.
He's the most prolific and technically gifted guitarist and songwriter I've ever heard and he'll never make the usual lists that guys like Neal and Lindsey always make.

Thompson -- a big favorite of mine -- a fine, really excellent guitarist (and a great songwriter, too).

I was going to say Rory Gallagher -- possibly one of the best blues rockers ever -- but like Thompson, among people who count he's quite well known.

Ditto, for instance, Robert Quine -- an amazingly free and talented player (and really missed!) Still alive, and also a pretty free player, is Nels Cline. And -- while he's pretty over the top -- Eugene Chadbourne has some extraordinary approaches to the instrument.


I will say this -- it's near-criminal that a lot of people think of Eric Clapton as some kind of blues rock guitar legend even as people like Peter Green (in PG's Fleetwood Mac) or Rory Gallagher fade a little into history. (Not to say Clapton didn't have some moments early on but he squandered his talents, seems to me. By the time I saw him in '74, he was just sad... he barely played any guitar and actually resorted to posturing as his lead guitarist, George Terry, took the solos from way in the back of the stage. Pathetic.)


Anyone can play fast (if he works at it). Anyone with the time to drill can play tricky...

When I was a kid, I was initially drawn to fast and tricky (and that's what got me interested in Lofgren, some of those triple voice box lick bend things)... but over time I realized that it wasn't the flurry of notes that made a Coltrane or McLaughlin so amazing... it was what they were playing.

Now I listen for the music inside the runs and moves... if the music of what's being played doesn't move me it's just so much tweedle tweedle.


_________

Props on these calls from earlier in the thread: Tom Verlaine, Elliot Smith (I'm afraid I'd been limiting myself to "lead" players -- my bad, I love Smith's fingerpicking, squeaky or not -- and that begs me to include John Renbourn but then you get into Martin Simpson and all those great folkies), Prince is a good call (a lot of folks barely have known he plays guitar anymore and I'm glad to see he's stopped hiding that light under a bushel, at least a little), Dave Gregory is probably a good call, too, fine work in XTC, Nils Lofgren (loved him when I was a kid, afraid I wrote him off after I saw him in '75 or '76... not that he didn't play great... the trampoline... WTF? And then when he joined that hearland singer guy's band I pretty much lost track of him)...

One last, just in passing: Bill Nelson... I lost track of him but I saw him (in fact I'm not sure but I think it was opening for him that I saw Nils Lofgren (and, if I'm not mistaken opening the whole show were the "fresh young band from off the streets of Hollywood," Van Halen -- wrong side of Sunset Blvd for me... I thought they were patently, embarrassingly awful, just pathetic... a few years later when their first album came out, I thought that it was a hell of a lot better than what I'd seen -- of course it helped that you couldn't see their candy striped Lyrcra and French poodle fluff cuts... [shudder]... I thought they were supposed to have "street cred" -- that was funny... just goes to show you what lameasses rock writers were/are.)

[heyman]

Oh yeah... I forgot a few more...

Ritchie Blackmore...


and if you go see Dave Larue(bass) and Steve Morse...

Bring a diaper, cause you are gonna shit yourself..

[heyman]

"I was going to say Rory Gallagher -- possibly one of the best blues rockers ever "


Didnt he almost play for the stones?

Bad Penny.... what a great song and great playing..

[Yetti]

Originally Posted by el cochino

Vivian Campbell when he played with Dio. He wasn't even 20 when he recorded 'Holy Diver'.

I didn't know he was that young....awesome guitarist.

I will mention Rick Emmit from Triumph. Many many great progressions and solo's!

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by Sounds Great

Overated? Have you seen him in the last decade or so? He still kicks ass. One of the best players to ever pick up a guitar.

Hi Rob,
Maybe I'm wrong. I think I should have said he's not overated but he's not underrated. I think he gets the credit he should. He is know doubt a smokin player
who can play rock jazz latin metal etc...

I think at times he overplays but he is great. But I do think he has recieved
alot of praise of the years from fans and critics alike. As good as he is, he's not as influential or talented as someonelike Eddie V, Dimeola or Hendrix

He did write the opening riff to Carryon Wayward son which is one of my favorite riffs

sorry for the confusion

[Sounds Great]

Originally Posted by allencollins

Hi Rob,
Maybe I'm wrong. I think I should have said he's not overated but he's not underrated. I think he gets the credit he should. He is know doubt a smokin player
who can play rock jazz latin metal etc...

I think at times he overplays but he is great. But I do think he has recieved
alot of praise of the years from fans and critics alike. As good as he is, he's not as influential or talented as someonelike Eddie V, Dimeola or Hendrix

He did write the opening riff to Carryon Wayward son which is one of my favorite riffs

sorry for the confusion

Cool. Yeah, he is one of my favorite players.

[octatonic]

Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree is pretty kick ass as well.

[Jim Williams]

Michael Bloomfield. Check him out in the Electric Flag and his great solos with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

Listen to "East/West". He defines taste whether playing the Telecaster (that's for Allen) or the Les Paul Custom.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[theblue1]

One more quick thought: while I saw a lot of folks in here I respect and/or like there were others that just leave me really cold and a few I don't even know why they were here -- but then that's the beauty of music -- everyone hears and gets something a little different out of each hearing and that's a beautiful thing.


But with regard to Cobain... when I saw his name here, I thought, Huh? A really notable overall rock musician/singer/writer; he obviously left a heavy stamp on a whole era of rock. But... guitar player?

But -- yeah -- Cobain wasn't necessarily a good technician but I think he really got precisely what he needed out of his instrument.

It's kinda like Steve Jones (Pistols) -- was he a great player? Only in a few estimations, I suspect.

But did he do precisely what he needed to do to get God Save the Queen across? Yep...

And that's one sign of a good player.

(Maybe not a great one... )

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by heyman

"I was going to say Rory Gallagher -- possibly one of the best blues rockers ever "


Didnt he almost play for the stones?

Bad Penny.... what a great song and great playing..

Both times the Stones went shopping for guitar players at the end of the 60s and early 70s, Rory was mentioned.

It's interesting... I got onto him with the Tattoo album and saw him over five times (I think seven times -- but, like Rory, back then I drank)...

But I've gone back and picked up some of his earlier albums and, I have to say that he is someone who really grew up as a player in the public eye (to the extent he was in it at all, mind you.) His early work shows a lot of promise... happily he pretty well fulfilled that, at least from a lot of folks' point of view.

I think his songwriting may have peaked in the early 70s (though he continued to write some good ones all the way through) but his playing really took off in the late 70s and 80s.

I kick myself -- hard and repeatedly -- for having completely missed Rory and Roy Bucahnannan (Uh OH -- looks like we all missed a really unsung hero!) doing a double show at the old (tiny) Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA, in, I think the late 80s or early 90s... within a few years both guitarists would be jammin' with Jimi... and I ****ing missed it. THAT one is hard to live with... [I guess I can aspire to catching them at the big jam session in the sky... I think I'll just watch. Thank goodness, I did see Rory a bunch of times. And saw Jimi, too, though he's pretty much a little better known... Also, really, really happy I saw Robert Quine... with Richard Hell, of all people. But, damn Quine was amazing... so free... so crazy... so great. He's got some great recorded work with avant-composer John Zorn that's pretty freakin' great -- and, of course, he also worked with a lot of normal acts as well. Seems like he did a stint with the aforementioned Lou Reed (RQ handled most of the leads ). ]


As long as we're talking outside -- David Torn has brought a really interesting approach to his take on the instrument.


I just saw Bloomfield above -- of COURSE! How could I forget? As long as we're going back, Jorma Kaukonen is a HELL of a player (though he's more a folkie these last few decades).

How about Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith? (Should have caught those guys when we were talking about their buddy and onetime bandmate, Richard Thompson.)

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by theblue1

One more quick thought: while I saw a lot of folks in here I respect and/or like there were others that just leave me really cold and a few I don't even know why they were here -- but then that's the beauty of music -- everyone hears and gets something a little different out of each hearing and that's a beautiful thing.


But with regard to Cobain... when I saw his name here, I thought, Huh? A really notable overall rock musician/singer/writer; he obviously left a heavy stamp on a whole era of rock. But... guitar player?

But -- yeah -- Cobain wasn't necessarily a good technician but I think he really got precisely what he needed out of his instrument.

It's kinda like Steve Jones (Pistols) -- was he a great player? Only in a few estimations, I suspect.

But did he do precisely what he needed to do to get God Save the Queen across? Yep...

And that's one sign of a good player.

(Maybe not a great one... )

Comparing Cobain to Jones is like comparing a Gibson Les Paul to an
Epiphone les Paul. One is a cheap imitation.

Jones Pioneered a sound. Though not very technical it was original.
Cobain brings nothing to table in terms of originality and technically he is a joke. Sure he was different for 1990 pop music scene but he milked a sound that had been done 15 years before. He was just the right guy at the right time.

I know 100's of gtr players in the Boston area who did the whole melodic post punk think as far back as 1980. Cobain was a follower. He stole so much from bands like the Pixies an the Fu's. And I wouldn't even consider them pioneers
as far as gtr playing


If youve never seen a Les Paul and the first Paul you saw
was an epiphone I guess you wouldn't know the difference.



can we see the future buy looking behind????

[JulianBrightnes]

Mick Taylor

[allphourus]

First let me say I've always liked Neal, never thought much of Journey, not my cup of tea that Power Ballad Pop thing, but they were great at it,Great vocal chops and he always "played to the song" not the other way around.I have a couple of Neal's solo recordings,They are complete,total sonic tour DE force's, so intense they get you high.I never listen to them,maybe once a year, for that reason.But not under rated,the people who should know do,the rest like power ballads or just don't give a damn.BTW I read something somewheres where he says he didn't really learn what he was doing on guitar until after Journey.


AS for underrated guitarist Some of may fav's are:

Jim Weider from the post Robbie reincarnated BAND , the Honky Tonk Gurus,and now the Jim Weider Band.

Paul Ashby from Burlington,Vt played in a local outfit called the "Unknown Blues Band".Also as a Jazz fusion band "Kilimanjaro".He's been with Muddy and I hear he was Trey Anastasio's Guitar teacher.He's got some solo acoustic stuff on you tube,one of the unsung greats just ask David Bromberg.

Not as unknown as some but still underrated is Jimmy Vivino

I second the vote Nil's Lofgrin plays around here with his brother Tommy a lot.I've been a fan since first hearing him play that jam on "Shotgun" with Roy in that Greatest Unknown Guitarist PBS show back in the early seventies.

John Hall ( Orleans ) from up in Woodstock now holding an political office somewhere, never has seemed to get his due, like wise Randy California.

I don't know about calling Richard Thompson underrated,Again those who should know do ,the rest don't care.He's one of may fav's for sure.

There is one more I like to mention, A guy I've been seeing play I think since he was like 16 and his Mom used to drive him to gigs.He's played around New Jersey for like 40 some years going on 50 in cover bands like "The Sioux","Salvation" and "Yasgur's Farm", Lenny Molinari.
He was monster since the first time I met him.He only gets better.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by allencollins

Comparing Cobain to Jones is like comparing a Gibson Les Paul to an
Epiphone les Paul. One is a cheap imitation.

Jones Pioneered a sound. Though not very technical it was original.
Cobain brings nothing to table in terms of originality and technically he is a joke. Sure he was different for 1990 pop music scene but he milked a sound that had been done 15 years before. He was just the right guy at the right time.

I know 100's of gtr players in the Boston area who did the whole melodic post punk think as far back as 1980. Cobain was a follower. He stole so much from bands like the Pixies an the Fu's. And I wouldn't even consider them pioneers
as far as gtr playing


If youve never seen a Les Paul and the first Paul you saw
was an epiphone I guess you wouldn't know the difference.

can we see the future buy looking behind????

Jesus, I'm agreeing with YOU again, although perhaps without so much of a chip on my shoulder. :-)

Cobain admitted to being influenced by Husker Du/ Bob Mould who really started the whole power punk guitar thing.

But is it stealing?
Possibly.

Did he own it?
Well interms of the influence he had and his own particular spin on things- I think you have to say yes.
His influence on the music industry is undenieable- before him "Warrant" were topping the charts. ****ing Warrant.

There were a lot of garagey bands kicking around before and after- look in Craigslist- there are hundreds of garage bands looking for members.
Most of these guys can't write a memorable melody if their life depended on it or are writing unbearably trite lyrics to 3 chord rock songs.

Giving credit where credit is due, Nirvana overnight changed the face of modern music, what MTV considered playable and made it a hell of a lot easier for musicians who weren't covered in leather and latex to get heard.
It wasn't due to incredible musicianship- it was probably in spite of it.

I don't think he could be called and under-rated guitarist- his guitar skills were kinda average to ok at the best of times.
His songwriting and use of dynamics were taken from other bands (Husker DU/Pixies).
He had a unique voice and was a breath of fresh air at the time - as well as being at the right place and right time.

My addition: Prince.

[unsung]

Galloping Cliff Gallup from Gene Vincent's Blue Caps

Amazing rockabilly guitarist.

[Sigma]

peter green

[unsung]

YouTube - GENE VINCENT - RACE WITH THE DEVIL

[Jim Williams]

Lesley West of Mountain. I could go all day as long as the brain cells keep turning on.

Jim Williams
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