Well i have never heard mch f shawn lane... but tony mac has been out for quite a while hes not really new.... ur rite greg howe has broken that bar...... but I wouldnt just take vai and satch off the list because someone along the years has gotten better than them. I'm not saying stach and vai are the best guitarist in the worlds.... and that there bars cannot be broken... but..... im not going to say that they havent made the best albums of all time. What makes a good cd is great song writing and catchy leads.... and im not sure Greg Howe or Shawn Lane has done that. Satch was good enough to attaract that mainstream audience.

Even though the music isn't full of Techninabllity ( new word) but the new audioslave cd was well written. The reason why they were on the top charts is because they can write thosecatchy leads.

Same thing with Satch.... He writes catchy music... and has great guitar playing to go along with it.... I have yet to see a NEW NEW NEW guitar player do that. Name one guitar player in the last 3 years that have been on the top 40 lists... besides him. ( im sure there are but not alot of them)