You knew it was coming…
Make your case for the most overrated guitarist in rock (or other genre, if you must).
I’ll start with a controversial one: Duane Allman. Sure, he was good, but he was ranked second in the Rolling Stone poll. That’s way too high.
No, that’s about the right rating for Duane. Certainly in the top ten.
In any case, I not a big fan of Joe Satriani (good technique, but I don’t care for his music), but probably the biggest overrated guitarist was Roy Buchanan, who everyone seemed to rave about but who really was no better than dozens of others.
Jimi Hendrix.
Seriously. He was good at making strange sounds with the guitar and he definitely was a pioneer of experimental music. He had a lot of killer riffs and a distinctive sound. But I fail to see how he is “the greatest guitarist of all time” as so many claim.
You want to support your argument at all?
I’m a big Duane fan and found his standing in the RS poll a pleasant surprise. He was a no-bullshit player, very intense, lead a great band and did some great session work.
And let’s not use the RS list as some kind of super-important determination of the esteem in which everybody is held. It’s one poll done by a handful of people at Rolling Stone, so I wouldn’t say it’s even particularly significant.
I think [del]Jimmy Page[/del] JAMES PATRICK PAGE is really overrated- in fact that’s how I feel about Led Zeppelin in general. He was great at coming up with riffs but he doesn’t impress me much compared to how reverentially people talk about him.
Ace Frehley
Kirk Hammett
Yngwie
Noel Gallagher
IMHO -
Allman was all that. Great guitarist, slide guitarist, bandleader, songwriter - basically invented (or deeply influenced) jam bands and Southern Rock…
Hendrix - yeah he is the best - if only because his songs endure, his technique innovations (use of effects and distortion, incorporation of tricks and flash from the blues, studio innovations, etc.) still set the standard and his very look and approach to lead guitar have become the de facto blueprint for a Guitar Hero.
If I had to pick someone, I would be more inclined to go for a Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen or Kirk Hammett type. All shred and no feel - okay, I am totally overstating that, but I hope you get the idea…
As Crotalus might fear, I am not sure how I would rate Eric Clapton - to be clear, he is a total Guitar God, central to the framing of how electric blues/rock guitar should sound. His work with the Yardbirds, Mayall, Cream, D&The Domino’s and his solo stuff all qualify him for legendary status. But he seems to be running from his guitar hero legacy, not embracing it - he would rather, it seems be known as a bluesman or singer-songwriter and he seems willing to shove his guitar playing behind those priorities. And ever since he encountered Hendrix and switched to a Strat it feels like he has been chasing a dream. It is not my or anyone’s place to tell a Legend like Slowhand what to do - but jeez I wish he would go back to Gibson guitars and play more Mayall and Cream stuff - that was this golden heyday, IMHO…
My point is: I can see Clapton up in the top 10 easily and likely the top 5, but not tucked up right behind Hendrix. I am clearly splitting hairs…
Totally have to disagree with you here, Marley - but clearly YMMV. He has creativity oozing out of his pores - in technique, riffs, songwriting, production, etc. The fact that you get a little slop in his playing because his fingers can’t always quite keep up - and because he cares about the energy in a recording over precision - is, IMHO, a small price to pay…
Eric Clapton. His technique is impeccable, but he’s as soulless and devoid of passion as it’s possible to be without actually being a zombie.
Eric Clapton never floated my boat.
Yngwie/Satriani/Hammett and their ilk; agreed.
George Harrison, only because he wasn’t all that good of a pure guitar player; he had other good qualities that made up for it.
Ted Nugent. And not just becuase of his odious ploitical views. All shred, no head.
Page, Hendrix - totally over-rated. They were the guitar heroes and icons. Doesn’t mean they were more than passable guitarists. They were moderately talented and at the right place at the right time. And one of them died before he could become a total hack.
Duane should have been #1.
I agree with WordMan that Clapton was a guitar god back in the day. But since, say, 1980, has he done anything at all of the same (or even similar) stature as the stuff he did with Mayall, Cream, etc? I sure can’t think of anything. Also minus points for doing slow, durging acoustic beer-commercial remakes of his older material.
I’m also adding a vote for Duane being awesome and ground-breaking.
If we’re looking at the same list I see Joe Perry of Aerosmith at 48. I like their music fine but no way he’s better than Dickie Betts, Steve Howe, Eddie Van Halen or Ritchie Blackmore, all ranked lower. Perry’s playing is pretty simple and not real precise. I gotta push him down.
Conversely, what’s Neil Young doing at 83? That’s insane. He should be much higher. The soul in his guitar work moves me as much as any musician’s ever has.
I’ll withdraw my Duane Allman comments. As I don’t play guitar, he was the first name on the list that I thought looked a little highly rated. But other people on SDMB, whom I respect and who DO play guitar, disagree. That’s enough for me.
To be replaced with: Jack White, who is #17 on the list. That’s one I’m confident IS overrated.
Here’s a short version of the whole list, with someone’s comments (not mine):http://www.listology.com/story/rolling-stone-100-greatest-guitarists
Okay, so I’m the guy who started with the Clapton-bashing but I want to come in and comment on this. Clapton, IMHO is not “soulless” - he is so fluid and smooth that his playing looks deceptively simple. He may not “sell” his leads with a lot of gestures, but he is called Slowhand for a reason.
I am just noodling about this, but IMH-and-still-forming-O, there are, in the broadest sense, two kinds of guitarists: those who play for the women in the audience and those who play for the men. **Townshend **plays for the men; Hendrix, although folks thought he played for the men, was always playing for the ladies ;). Santana? Totally plays for the women. I would argue that **Clapton **got his start being perceived as a man’s-man gunslinger guitarist but in his heart he was always a song-guy who played for the women.
Please note – I am in NO WAY saying that one is better than the other. I may have my preferences (my guy Jeff **Beck **plays for the boys, IMHO) but since Clapton has been framed as a manly gunslinger when instead he is a soulful songwriter/bluesman may be the source of comments like he isn’t fiery enough…whaddya think?
ETA: Oh, and It’s not Rocket Surgery!- no need to withdraw anything; it’s your opinion and that’s cool. Unfortunately I want to disagree with you again - I love Jack White and don’t think he is overrated at all. I love what he does with the guitar - regular and slide - and love his songwriting and production work. He is really held up, along with say Derek Trucks as one of the new crop of guitarists who Truly Get It - heck, Jack White is the guy paired up with the Edge and Jimmy Page for that when-will-it-ever-come-out documentary on guitar It Might Get Loud (I believe it is being released sometime in August…)…
Oh, and regarding Joe Perry, **lieu **- you know, I find it hard to argue with you. I love his stuff - well, the first 4 albums which have really held up, IMHO - but it is not like he forged new ground. I think he is a great example of a second-wave of blues-based rock guitarists…
Up front: I’m not a guitarist, so I’m utterly unqualified to judge how difficult or how easy it is to play a given piece.
My brother, who is a decent (but not great, as he’d be quick to admit) rock guitarist, has often astonished me by recreating solos I thought were unbelievably tricky, and he’s often surprised me more by saying "___ is a lot harder to play than it seems’ (any number of Beach Boys songs fell into this category, which I never would have guessed).
So, I can’t judge any guitarist’s skills. I can only judge him by the music he produces.
And in that regard, I value the ability to come up with a catchy riff way more than I do the ability to play a lightning-fast solo. Angus Young may or may not be able to play Yngwie Malmsteen’s solos, but he doesn’t have to. He’s come up with many more memorable guitar hooks than Yngwie ever could. Yngwie can (and has) blown me away with some of his solos, but those solos have usually come in the middle of uninspired songs.
In fact, I’d say that Eddie Van Halen’s death-defying solos are nearly irrelevant to wahat made Van Halen a great band. “Beautiful Girls” would be just as great a song with a slower solo. It’s the main riff that makes the song work. In his prime, Eddie Van Halen came up with hooks about as well as Angus did.
As for Jimi Hendrix… I have no idea how easy or hard it was for him to come up with his trademark sound effects. I DO know that, easy or hard, he was the one who did the experimentation and came up with the sounds that came to define hard rock/heavy metal. If your work defines a genre, you CAN’T be overrated… even if I think your overall body of recorded music was of dubious quality.
Adrian Belew.
Missed the edit window…
Just kidding about Belew, although I hate his music.
Oh, I don’t know. These things are so hard. Like someone else alluded to, just because a guitar player plays simple straightforward arrangements doesn’t mean they suck, or just because someone can replicate arpeggiated 64th notes in rapidfire succession makes them any good.
I guess I’d go with a guy like Yngwie, even though I’m a fan. I suppose I’m intertwining songwriting with playing here, because you can level the same accusation against Steve Vai, while an amazing guitarist, I think is a crappy songwriter.
I suppose the question is: whom is considered by many to be a guitar god and just…isn’t?
Preach it. I’m a mediocre guitar player at best, but I’ve amazed lots of people reproducing well-known rock solos. Usually I was trying to impress girls, but it seemed like I impressed guitar geeks more. So much of electric guitar playing, at least in rock music, is really just working the amplifier and effects.
True genius likes not in flashy solos, but in creating really, really good guitar parts as a component of the arrangement of the tune. Doesn’t matter whether or not they’re easy to play. And parts like that, even if technically simple, are often hard to play just right, which is probably why your brother mentioned Beach Boys tunes.
Now, jazz guitar solos, that’s a different thing altogether, as is fingerstyle accoustic guitar. Your average shredder will weep when confronted with anything Joe Pass or Jim Hall ever played on the electric, or Pierre Bensusan or John Fahey or any classical guitarist at all on the accoustic.
Eddie Van Halen. I know a whole generation ripped off his style, and he could do things with a guitar that nobody else before or since could, but… nothing he plays sounds good! I’ve never- never- heard a Van Halen song and thought, “hey, that’s a neat riff,” or started air-plucking to an EVH solo. I guess that’s more of a criticism of him as a songwriter than as a guitarist, but IMHO it’s part of the deal.
ETA: In looking at that list, it seems at least one person agrees with me (though not the person commenting)… and how the hell did Jack White and Tom Morello get ranked so high?