Best Metal Guitarist

i won't rehash all the guitarists everyone has mentioned...I too like them.....lets add Kerry King and Jeff Hannimen (Slayer)to the list. Currently I'm in two bands at the moment (Double crossed: all originals) And Divine Intervention a Slayer cover band. Divine Intervention has not played anywhere yet and will not for a few months.

the best metal guitarist is Yngwie Malmsteen, if you call that metal. but my all time favorite is Jason Becker

no doubt about it and i cant even believe that no one knows of him on this forum. FREDRICK THORDENDAL!! the lead guitarist of MESHUGGAH. changed the way ppl look at metal and JAZZ. meshuggah plays jazzy rhythms with 7 string guitars tuned to Bb (and on their new album they even use 8 string guitars tuned to F, yes the looooow F). no doubt about they are the most talented band. and yes fredrick puts dimebag to shame and kills randy rhoads anyday! not to say i dun luv them too:)

I've heard of him, I love Meshuggah, although I wouldnt say frederik thordendal is the BEST metal guitarist.. he's original and skilled, but not all out and out BEST....

It's got to be Glenn Tipton. The title track Baptism of Fire is totally awesome. He's that bit heavier and faster than Malmsteem and certainly most of the other top neoclassical players are less vicious. Tons of treble, ear bleeding pinch harmonics (sometimes sweep picked), wide wide vibrato, pick tapping, tapping, sweeps and dives.. he can do the lot and what's more he has great melodies in his runs. Guys like Michael Romeo, Jason BEcker, Tony Macalpine and George Bellas are just as technical but they're not so damn nasty. I like Marty Friedman too 'cause he plays weird scales but he's not as fast. Kurk Hammett's tehcnique is far over-rated, he hardly sweeps at all, only gets pinches on downstrokes and the tapping he does is generally 1 fingered and hence piss easy. That said he's a good musician.

I notice now that someone mentioned Trey Azathoth from Morbid Angel. I have only hear two tracks by them and there metal sound was seriously grindingly heavy. For some reason "Noisy Mothers" cut off some of the guys solo, Heinous! Malmsteem was on the same show and quite honestly I couldn't separate them on technical merit, Azathoth with more tapping and Malmsteem with more sweeping. I'd be interested to know who else from the really heavy metal scene can really play. I know James Murphy (Cancer etc) can, every Testament player I've heard can (fave of their solos from "Legacy", was that Alex Skolnich?), Rocky George from Suicidal Tendencies is good too.

THE best metal guitarist is Dimebag for both lead and riffing.

Alot of people mentioned in this thread aren't even metal or I would consider thrash metal. I don't really consider solo artists who make instrumental albums 'heavy metal'.

Somebody also said that Dime isn't well rounded and only plays metal but he's actually pretty good at other stuff he's just a metal fan so that's what he plays. Check out the solo on Pantera's cover of 'Planet Caravan' off their 'Far Beyond Driven' album to hear a fantastic more mellow bluesy solo.

In my opinion, the best metal guitarist would be either Dimebag, Hammett, James Hetfield or Randy Rhoads.

Wow! This thread was started over a year ago :-) I had forgotten about this untill it showed up in my email. A lot has been going on for me since this thread was started. Divine Intervention (The slayer cover band i was in) is no more. Double Crossed is still going well (where I play lead guitar)...and I'm playing Bass in another band...life is wonderful.

I'm not much of a pure metal fan. Frankly stuff like Pantera and Machine Head are too intense for me and do my head in. I admit Dimebag's got one hell of an evil sound. I tend to go for the usual suspects like Satch, EVH, Morello, Vai etc. I dont recall seeing Navarro's name here. Ive also started tracking down 70s stuff like Budgie. The guitarist was called Tony Bourge. Kind of in the Iommi mould an dhad a monster sound.

What is the guitarists name from "Iron Maiden?" Call me crazy, but I love his playing...666 THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST! Hell and fire, were spawned to be released!

Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom. He does both the lead vocals AND lead guitars. He also succeeds in writing some of the catchiest music I've ever heard.

Originally posted by Jolly McJollyson
What is the guitarists name from "Iron Maiden?" Call me crazy, but I love his playing...666 THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST! Hell and fire, were spawned to be released!

at the time the album was recorded it was Dave Murray and Adrian Smith


now they have Janick Gers as well

Thanks man. Now there's a good band. Maiden has written some phenomenal songs in their career. They've had a few flops too, but the music is really diverse for a heavy metal band.

Well, I love:

Kirk Hammett!!! My favorite guitarist of all time and all my inspiration to play!!
James Hetfield Same goes for him!!!
Tony Iommi Lefties rule!! :D (I'm left-handed :P)
Dimebag
Dave Mustaine
Kerry King
Jeff Hanneman
Will Adler and Mark Morton from Lamb of God are awesome too!
Ryan Primack from Poison the Well
Munky and Head "nu-metal" or not!!! \m/

I'll have more when I get my metal CD collection, both classic and newer ones, more up-to-snuff!! :D

CHUCK

SHULDINER

i have only heard one clip by David Moore (on a guitar techniques CD which sadly I don't have) but it was the most smoking evil gothic and terrifying shred, some solos actually make me laugh out of shock and surprise because they're so ****ing hot. This guy's unreal. Both he and Tipton are nastier than Malmsteem (treblier more nasal tone jagged pinch harmonics that could crack steel) but retain his perfect technique and melodic flair. Why are tbere so few Malmsteem votes? I prefer Satch to Malmsteem but I think that he and Vai should be wetting themselves this G3 tour because Malmsteem's still one of the most consistently frightening players to be of this earth. Yeah Kurk Hammett's and Dimebag are good but they're not even in the same league technically as these guys. Then there's patrick Rondat, Michael Romeo and George Bellas, I've not heard much but they're tremendous. I think it's high time Pettrucci played a G3, he's a freak! Long live dream theater.

Quote "Ron Thal is a freak. Marcel Coenen is a freak."

Maybe my ego's not ready to cope with these guys yet. Seriously though, every rock player's got to hear the track Baptism of fire from the album of that name. It's not polyphonic, it's not weirdly timed, it's not in weird scales but it DOES show total mastery of everything else you might conceive to relate to electric guitar. He sweep picks pinch harmonics and I'm not even talking little sweeps with straight lines and he's got a fab sense of melody and has awesome tone. It's based loosely on "Mars" (Dvorak isn't it?) which is a great tune to start with. Plus there's Billy sheehan on bass and I think Deen Castronovo on drums.

1. Zakk Wylde
2. Dimebag
3. James Hetfield
4. Kirk Hammett
5. Kerry King
6. Dan Donegan (Underrated)
7. Mick Thomson (Mick 7 from Slipknot)
8. Head
9. Munky
10. James Root (Jim 4 from Slipknot)

I don't care what you say about anyone on this list not being "technically great" guitar players. Their stuff sounds damn good and they all have decent recordings but are really great live performers.

I read Guitar World!!!