New vs Old

I was pondering one day and wondered if guitarists like Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix would still be seen as great guitar players when compared to the great guitar players of today. What do you think?

Who do you consider the greats of today? You mean players like Vai and Petrucci, I hope you don't mean Green Day and Korn.

i do love sum of the stuff of the new. like michal ammot of arch enemy he just shreds that thing .but i do think they i would consider them great cause without them the new would have no clue of what to do. all guitar players learn from the best of eachother :) rock on man

Originally Posted by: ericthecableguyWho do you consider the greats of today? You mean players like Vai and Petrucci, I hope you don't mean Green Day and Korn.

I really hope you don't mean green day. Vai, Petrucci, Satch, Malmsteen, are some of the greats today. I have a recent issue of Guitar word/Guitar one (can't remember which) has a readers poll, and listed the guitarist for greenday as one of the best rock guitarists. It also has a cover story of Jimmy Page with Jack White of the white stripes. And a thing about jack white, people say he's blues influenced, and he is... but I see NONE and I Mean NONE of that in his music at ALL! He says he was influenced by Son House, or Robert Johnson, but listen to his music, you don't hear anything remotely like that.

Who the hell would vote the Green Day frontman as the greatest guitarist in rock? I mean, for God's sake! In a songwriting career of about 15 years, he's made use of about five chords! :eek:

No I do not mean Greenday. I mean the actual great guitarists of today: Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani etc. I also have the same magazine and was really surprised/disgusted by some of the readers' choices.

As I grow as a guitarist and study these classic rock guitarists I start to notice limitations they have and am starting to question how good they really are by todays standards.

The problem with those 3 guys is they all do the same thing. Page and Hendrix are not in that same category of guitarists. So yes, they ARE still considered greats even now. I don't think there are any guitarists today that can or have accomplished what Page and Hendrix did. Hendrix did so much in very little time and Page prooved that he could keep his massive band going through good times, bad times :p

I don't think in 30 years people will be talking about the guitarists of today as much as people will still be trying to figure out how the hell Hendrix played what he did.

Originally Posted by: CalikoNo I do not mean Greenday. I mean the actual great guitarists of today: Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani etc. I also have the same magazine and was really surprised/disgusted by some of the readers' choices.

As I grow as a guitarist and study these classic rock guitarists I start to notice limitations they have and am starting to question how good they really are by todays standards.

Thank you! I was getting scared for a moment. But isn't it stupid they had a category for "Snappiest Dresser" in a freakin guitar magazine?

It's a hard comparison. The new guys could easily shred the old guy's faces off. BUT, the old guys broke more ground and made way better riffs that were listenable and brought great playing into a comercial audience.

Hmmm...Do I smell the beggining of another blues vs. shred thread?

Yeah, I think a war is about to begin. Great topic for discussion however. I believe that after about 2 hours of live Malmsteen I would be ready to hear some peace and quite, but Hendrix, SRV, etc... I could listen to for days. Sure, Vai, Malmsteen, etc.. could shred the socks off of the old guys, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they can play better. Honestly, I think metal is technically harder to play, but blues/rock is harder to create. With blues you have to put some soul into your playing. Although blues is usually based around the same old chords and progressions, you have to do something to make it different from the next guy, thats what I think gets hard. Still yet you cant say that one is better than the other, they are simply from two different musical realms. I play both styles about equally, and I still find myself asking this same question every single day.

Now I don't agree wholeheartedly with this list, but I do agree with the old timers being a little higher on the list than todays guys.

In order from 100:
100. Dean Deleo STP
99. Kerry King Slayer
98. James Root Slipknot
97. Rik Emmett Triumph
96. Mick Thompson Slipknot
95. Brad Delson Linkin Park
94. Frank Marino Mahogany Rush
93. Chris Degarmo Queenryche
92. Jeff Hanneman Slayer
91. Malcom Young AC/DC
90. Dan Gonegan Disturbed
89. Justin Hawkins The Darkness
88. Alvin lee Solo (As far as I know)
87. Fat "Eddie" Clark Motorhead
86. Tony Rambola Godsmack
85. Dave "Snake" Sabo Skid Row
84. Wolf Hoffman Accept
83. Rick Nelson Cheap Trick
82 Kim Thayil Soundgarden
81. Robin Trower Solo and stint with a band called Procol Harem
80. Richie Sambora Bon Jovi
79 Wes Borland Formally of Limp Bizkit and now back with Limp
78. John McLaughlin Mahavishnu Orchestra
77. Peter Green Once Fleetwood Mac Now?
76. Mark Farner Grand Funk Railroad.
75. Johnny Winter ????
74. Warren Demartini Ratt
73. Max Cavelera Sepultura
72. Steve Howe Yes
71. Adrian Vandenberg White Snake and Vandenburg
70. Scott Ian Anthrax
69. Phil Collen Def Leppard
68. John Sykes Whitesnake
67. Steve Clark Def Leppard
66. Marc Bolan ?????????
65. Steve Morse Post Blackmore Deep Purple
64. Nuno Bettencourt Extreme
63. Tracii Guns Pre Slash GNR & LA Guns
62. Vivian Campbell Whitesnake & Def Lepperd
61. Jake E. Lee Ozzy & Badlands
60. Jerry Cantrell Alice in Chains
59. Mick Ronson David Bowie axeman
58. Daron Malakian System of a Down
57. Mick Ralphs Mott the Hoople & Bad Company
56. Stone Gossard Pearl Jam
55. The Edge U2
54. Lita Ford Solo
53. Dave Navarro Red Hot Chilipeppers, Janes Addiction
52. Vito Bratta White Lion
51. Adam Jones Tool
50. C.C. DeVille Poison
49. John Petrucci Dream Theater
48. Janick Gers Iron Maiden
47. Alex Lifeson Rush
46. Peter Frampton Humble Pie & Solo
45. Kurt Cobain Nirvana
44. Paul Gilbert Racer X, & Mr. Big
43. Munky Korn
42. Rudolf Shenker Scorpions
41. Mick Mars Motley Crue
40. Head Korn
39. Joe Satriani Guitar Virtuoso
38. Matthias Jabs Scorpions
37. George Lynch Dokken
36. Dave Davies THe Kinks
35. Ace Frehley Kiss
34. Leslie West Mountain
33. David Gilmour Pink Floyd
32. Adrian Smith Iron Maiden
31. Billy Gibbons ZZ Top
30. Dave Murray Iron Maiden
29. Zakk Wylde Ozzy, Black Label Society
28. Yngwie Malmsteen Solo and ahhh who Cares.
27. Paul Kossoff Free, Back Street Crawler
26. Tom Morello Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave,
25. Duane Allman Derek and the Dominoes, Allman Bros.
24. Ronnie Montrose Edgar Winter Group
23. K.K. Downing Judas Priest
22. Ted Nugent Ted Nugent
21. SRV SRV
20. Michael Schenker Scorpions, UFO
19. Glenn Tipton Judas Priest
18. Gary Moore. Thin Lizzy
17. Brian May Queen
16. Pete Townshend Some band
15. Steve Vai Some guy
14. Slash GNR, Slash's Snakepit, Velvet Revolver
13. Kirk Hammet Metallica
12. Dimebag Need I say More?
11. Ritchie Blackmore Deep Purple
10. Keith Richards Rolling Stones
09. Joe Perry Aerosmith
08. Eric Clapton you Know!
07. Randy Rhoads Ozzy's Salvation
06. Jeff Beck Yardbirds, Jeff BeckGroup
05. Tony Iommi Black Sabbath
04. Angus Young Ac/DC
03. Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin, Yardbirds
02. Jimi Hendrix Jimi Hendrix Experience
01. Eddie Van Halen Can't recall what band this bloke was in.

I think the list has all the great guitarist................but in no way, shape, or form in the correct order. Joe Perry is in front of Malmsteen. Need I say more?

Malmsteen's also ahead of some axe grinders he couldn't hold a candle to. It's all up for speculation but like I said it isn't a perfect list. I thought it was relevent because alot of the new guys are under the old guys.

Originally Posted by: Tele MasterThe problem with those 3 guys is they all do the same thing. Page and Hendrix are not in that same category of guitarists.

actually, I find them all totally different. More different than Page and Hendrix.

Those two pioneered rock, but Vai, Petrucci, and Malmsteen all branched off and created some of the greatest standard in guitar music today. And therefore belie ve they are not as great as everyone percieves them to be.

Ok, i like 90s and modern rock. But i just gata say, the older guitarists were just....well, so much better.

Personally, I don't think modern "greats" such as Vai, Petrucci, Van Halen and their vast army of imitators have a great deal going for them, aside from the fact that they can play scales ridiculously fast. Hendrix, Page, Gilmour, Lee, Blackmore and other legends of yesteryear made far more significant and influential contributions to the vocabulary of the electric guitar (Hendrix's innovative use of effects, Page's fusion of folk and classical traditions with hard rock etc). In my view, I don't think that most of today's leading virtuoso rock guitarists have accomplished anything that quite measures up to the achievements of yesterday's guitarists.

Just my humble opinion - I'm not trying to escalate the war between Hendrix fans and Vai afficionados :) . The shred style in itself is not "worse" than blues or psychedelic rock - it's just shred players like those mentioned previously seem to be more focussed on showing off their speed, than actually composing music.

Originally Posted by: jiujitsu_jesusPersonally, I don't think modern "greats" such as Vai, Petrucci, Van Halen and their vast army of imitators have a great deal going for them, aside from the fact that they can play scales ridiculously fast.

I don't think that's accurate at all, considering the times when they first appeared. Trust me when I say that lots of guitartists were getting sick of the 'same old' stuff back in the late 70's. Everybody and his grandmother was trying to sound either like Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page or even Tom Scholz of Boston. I'd even add Jeff Beck to the short list, but the guy didn't get a lot of radio airplay at all, it seemed. I grew up on what is now callled classic rock, name the act, I saw them. EVH blew into town, then rewrote and redefined what hard rock & metal was to become. Nobody could do what Eddie was doing at the time, and nobody else was really coming close. It was all new. Well into the eighties, EVH was arguably THE best guitarist on the planet because so many people were trying to copy his techniques.

Steve Vai took what EVH started and brought it to the next level. Remember...this guy played and learned from Zappa as his 2nd guitarist. By the mid 80's or so, SV was pulling on the whammy while doing a lefthand harmonic run.... everyone else was just doing dive bombs because they had the trem arm. Vai never got a lot of radio airplay either; Too many disc jocks were busy playing sappy ballads and crap off of MTV.

I want to sound like Boston!! Especially the lead tone on "Piece of Mind".

Originally Posted by: parrotheada1aI don't think that's accurate at all, considering the times when they first appeared. Trust me when I say that lots of guitartists were getting sick of the 'same old' stuff back in the late 70's. Everybody and his grandmother was trying to sound either like Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page or even Tom Scholz of Boston. I'd even add Jeff Beck to the short list, but the guy didn't get a lot of radio airplay at all, it seemed. I grew up on what is now callled classic rock, name the act, I saw them. EVH blew into town, then rewrote and redefined what hard rock & metal was to become. Nobody could do what Eddie was doing at the time, and nobody else was really coming close. It was all new. Well into the eighties, EVH was arguably THE best guitarist on the planet because so many people were trying to copy his techniques.

Steve Vai took what EVH started and brought it to the next level. Remember...this guy played and learned from Zappa as his 2nd guitarist. By the mid 80's or so, SV was pulling on the whammy while doing a lefthand harmonic run.... everyone else was just doing dive bombs because they had the trem arm. Vai never got a lot of radio airplay either; Too many disc jocks were busy playing sappy ballads and crap off of MTV.

I was about to make my own post, but then I saw this one and realized it said exactly what I had on my mind. The "greats" are all determined by their era. In Hendrix's time he was the best. Over time others were influenced by him who later came to be revolutionary. As spoken by parrothead, when Van Halen came out he was untouchable. Today's greats get very little radio play, but they could outdo anyone on the radio any day. And some day people will grow tired of what's going on now and will want something new. And we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I just hope it doesn't suck.

why dont you try to listen to django reinhart and his only three fingers
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