Underrated AND Overrated guitarists

I found it in an OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOld backup I had done... It is still copyrighted, but it seems the guy went out of business...

Originally posted by lalimacefolle
Some say that BB is a big belly, a bent note and funny faces... well, there's more to it...

Well, they are very funny faces

Mick Mars
Brian Setzer
Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake plays guitar? And what's with all this Eddie VanHalen bashing I've been reading? Is it just hard to swallow how awesome that guy is?

lol yea he plays guitar....havent you ever seen that episode of 'Punk'd' where those guys smash it LMAO...prolli cant play very good though lol that would be funny to hear.....:)

Depends on genres and their level of profile. There are many top players in the jazz, bluegrass, country and folk areas but these are 'specialist' non-mass market tastes and so tend not to be known in the outside world.

In the rock and blues world I'd say the most criminally underrated/unexposed players are

Danny Gatton - could play almost any style brilliantly
Hellecasters - Will Ray, John Jourgensen, Jerry Donahue. These 3 could play the arse off anyone out there, no problem.
Tom Morello - the sounds he can get out of his guitar
Skunk Baxter and Denny Dias - their work with Steely Dan. technique, taste, tunes..all there.
Elliot Randall - for the solo on 'Reelin in the years'
Dicky Betts - it was him on 'Jessica' not Duane.
Roy Buchanan - same as with Danny Gatton
Mike Keneally - every bit as good as Satch, Vai etc

Overrated - depends who's doing the rating. you've gotta be objective about this and not write off players just cos you dont like their material. I dont go a bunch on Dream Theater, Malmsteen, Vai, Pantera, Zep & Yes but I recognise theyre decent players.

under rated: the guys from the eagles, i think there are two that always play guitar, and one that swaps from guitar to piano, not the best guitarist i know, but they can be credited with some of the best songs ever.

For some reason when there's two guitarists in a band they tend to be underated take for example Dave Murray and Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden or KK Downing and Glen Tipton from Judas Priest.

Originally posted by educatedfilm
"I'm no vegan I love cheese, especially the stuff with garlic in it. If you can write music so great that you can write off music Midnight ,echo or crushing day as cheese then I'm really impressed. Personally I rate sufing with the alien as one of the best albums I've ever heard.
Besides, the best thing about many B movies is the music, can't wait for the weepy endings , you know the heart warming father meets long lost son, alien erupts out of son's backside and showers everyone with deadly spore encounters.. Such Pathos."

Heh..lol... Midnight is OK, it's nothing amaizing (it reminds me of some of the dance/ trance music... and in my oppionion there's loads of solo guitar classical/ celtic stuff which a lot better) ... the album is definetly the worst thing I've heard (seriously)... I mean Stach is a great guitarist technically, but really he's got that talent where he can like write catchy mobile phone ring tones,nothing too deep... do you know what I mean?
There's no serious emotion on that album... I mean listen to "hope" by REM,, one of the best pieces of music I know, that's because it conveys emotion well (it's slow and not very technical)...
Secondly the reason I dont like b-movie music is it's predictability, and the fact it avoids putting anything new to you... and it lacks any feeling of sencerity or like this is due to a real experience (be it sad or happy)... it just has that horrible artificail taste with it... I mean if you wanna do something and get really fast at it and not convey any emotion, you may aswell take up basket weaving or touch typing...

That's all just my oppinion so dont lose anysleep over it...:)

I dont get it.......saying theres no emotion in satrianis playing.Actually I hate these kind of threads because it always ends up in a pissing contest and no one listens to or cares what others think of their favorite artist.I dont care if 999 out of 1000 people say malmsteen or satch or vai sucks because its not going to make me go out and burn my collection.I think this thread should have been to list most underated and leave it at that.Which some of u have done and i commend u for it.

most underated
Neil Young

pfff! OVERRATED: Neil Young. He's nothing special. An amazing lyricist, and a decent harmonica player. But when it comes to guitar, he just strums like some idiot nancy boy.

UnderRated: Van Halen. He's so awesome, that he makes people think he's less awesome than he really is (it boggles the mind).

Overrated, underrated, it doesn't matter. They got the record deals and we don't. I would never call a guitarist overrated because you only judge them by what you've heard and have no idea how much talent or ability they have. I think SRV is still underrated though.

yeah, i can't really rate guitarist as over rated, mainly because they are probibly all better than i am at this point. :D

Overrated:
1)Yngwie: Same stuff over and over, nothing new. Plus, his pompous attitude is annoying.

2)Jack White: The dude writes the sloppiest, crappy sounding riffs and songs, I've heard in a while, and Rolling Stone decides he's one of the top 100 guitarist of ALL TIME!!!

Underrated:

1)Mick (Sh*tknot): In Slipknot, not so good, without Slipknot, very good.

2)Michael Angelo: I don't care how many of you think he's slow and what not. The dude can play the guitar. Left handed as well as right handed. He can play 2 guitars at once. (and for those who aren't familiar with Angelo, it isn't a doubleneck guitar, it's a guitar with 2 necks that connect in the middle, like a V, one is truly left handed, one is truly right handed.) He actually has a quadruple necked guitar (think two double necks, one left handed, one right handed), and plays them at the same time. Enough said.

3)Jason Becker - Great mix of melody with speed. Not the same rehashing over and over again.

4)Lalimacefolle :D - Plain awesomeness.

Just my 2c

[Edited by Pantallica1 on 09-08-2003 at 12:58 AM]

Originally posted by Jolly McJollyson
pfff! OVERRATED: Neil Young. He's nothing special. An amazing lyricist, and a decent harmonica player. But when it comes to guitar, he just strums like some idiot nancy boy.

UnderRated: Van Halen. He's so awesome, that he makes people think he's less awesome than he really is (it boggles the mind).

If hes overrated no one has mentioned him on this thread but me.Listen to cortez the killer and get back to me.
He is a brilliant lead player,no one sounds like that and i love the tone he gets.
Yes and I love van halen also.I dont just look for fast good players but also very good players with well placed notes and awesome tone.
I think ted nugent needs also mentioned here.If for nothing but the song stranglehold.I NEVER get tired of hearing that solo,its one of the best ive heard from anyone.

Neil Young is completely unique as a player.....if your listening to harvest or harvest moon maybe he is mainly simply strumming but if you listen to his work with Crazy Horse, particularly live, then you get abetter picture of what he is all about.

Originally Posted by: u10ajf

Over-rated
Clapton, what is the big deal? Malmsteem (He's mega talented don't get me wrong but Petrucci beats him at his own game and is more versatile and interesting to boot) Hendrix (Except Voodoo Chile which kicks sooo much ass) and vai (brilliant though he is I much prefer Satriani even though I doubt he can quite match his technique and you dont' get better than for the love of god really do you?) I expect to receive death threats...

How can you call Jimi hendrix overrated? :eek:

well there are millions of underated players man but the first couple that spring to my mind are


marty friedman
randy rhoads
dimebag darrell a.ka darrell abbott
chris poland
dave mustaine
alex skolnick
jason becker
jake e lee
cliff burton as a bass player

ok thats what springs to mymind man and the most over rated couple would be

paul mccartney
the guy from sterophonics last name jones
peter townsend
elvis presseley

yeah man hey it :D :) doesnt mean these guitarists arent good man just in my opinion they get alittle too much hype man

Originally Posted by: NinevoicesI'm new here but I don't see any posts either for or against Steve Howe. I've been a big Yes fan for some time and just started playing which has no baring on this post but I think he is a very underrated guitarist!! Just listen to any of the Yes stuff through the years and its incredible stuff. Like Yes or not his stuff is clean, complex and usually very fresh. I realized how versatile he was by listening to Tales from Topographic Oceans the first time!!! WOW! Any thoughts?

i would say steve howe is probably THEE most underated guitarist ever....(dimebag a close second and don't forget al dimieola) -----the overated department is tough 'cause while they get the praise they deserve, there are many that are just as good...BUT they don't have kick ass licks and riffs that the "overated" came up with. having said that, Ace Frehley sucked then and now....just one stolen lick after another.....!@#$$#@@

overrated: steve vai. though talented, his songs don't represent his true experience working with frank zappa and taking lessons from satch. mediocre shredder, mediocre song writers.


underrated: kendal jones. i bet none of your mofos have even heard of him! he was shredding it up with fishbone and is responsible for not only some of the best solos ever heard out of fishbone but also some of the best lyrics and music heard out of fishbone.

Originally Posted by: tehplatypusoverrated: steve vai. though talented, his songs don't represent his true experience working with frank zappa and taking lessons from satch. mediocre shredder, mediocre song writers.


underrated: kendal jones. i bet none of your mofos have even heard of him! he was shredding it up with fishbone and is responsible for not only some of the best solos ever heard out of fishbone but also some of the best lyrics and music heard out of fishbone.

How can you say Vai is overrated? He pushes the boundaries of guitar playing with every album and can make some of the weirdest sounds with a trem bar around. The man can play fast and tastefully, and is in no way overrated. And for reference, he didn't "take lessons" from Satch. Satch introduced him and got him started playing guitar, as they lived in the same neighborhood.

Just because Vai is one of the most famous players doesn't make him overrated. There's a reason he is famous, because people like his music.

Overrated: Hammet. No explanation necessary.

Underrated: There's a lot. But in my book Shawn Lane. Amazing player and died way before his prime. His legato runs are just amazing. RIP Shawn!