Ah, I love when these guitar player threads pop up. Unlike bassists and drummers, where there have been a relatively small number who've had THAT big an impact (well, compared to guitarists, that is)...guitar styles and approach are a matter of personal taste over actual talent at a certain point. That being said, I've always gravitated toward the players who master different styles and genres. Speed is impressive, but really does not equal inspiration after a time. Ok, so you can shred a scale realyreallyreally fast. So can 1,456,629 other guitarists. Which is why I generally tend to leave metal guitarists out of lists like this, unless they've really done something different in the genre. And that's coming from someone who LOVES metal.
Randy Rhodes was different. Rik Emmett was different. Both trancended the usual constraints of heavy metal, especially Rik.
I'm another who'll jump on the Eric Johnson wagon here. This guy gets FAR too little credit for being a true virtuoso. The guy is basically incomparible.
Of course, Alex Lifeson of Rush is a favorite. And another who gets far too little recognition. I've rarely ever seen anyone who can structure guitar phrases to fill the holes usually prevalent in a power trio format the way Alex does. There are so many Rush songs where you'd swear they're using overdubs, and it's just Alex coming up with yet another exotic chord phrasing.
Mark Knopfler. 'Nuff said.
And you know who doesn't get a lot of recognition? Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult. Discuss.
