Originally Posted by: sambob1)
I don't think these guys are underrated at all (except amongst those pigheaded Vai fans). Anyone thats actually HEARD Greg Howe or Tony Macalpine is very impressed (in my experience at least).

They're not underrated by guitar freaks in the know but when do you ever see them nominated in top guitarist polls? Outside the shred community few people have heard of them. You have to remember that virtuoso rock guitar is still widely dismissed in the general music press and by people who aren't big into guitar techniques as 'widdly sh*t'. Just look at the recent Rolling Stone poll.