Missing the point. For that style, there was no one better than Johnny Ramone. No one even close. His playing was perfect in its absolute minimalism. He played exactly what the band needed, and he nailed it every single time, flawlessly.
It’s one of those things that looks easy until you try it. Anyone can play simple 4/4 rhythm chords, but to play them with such restrained perfection is not so simple.
Setting aside the ones who are decidedly not rock players, a bunch of the guitarists named here are hardly underappreciated - they’re on every damn “Best 100” list…
For my input, I’ll throw out East Bay Ray and David Hidalgo.
Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, two of the greatest session guitarists who have played with numerous artists on numerous songs…listen to Lou Reed’s “Rock and Roll Animal”…ever wondered who those guys were that played the “Intro” and “Sweet Jane” solos? Aerosmith “Train Kept A-Rollin’”…Kiss…and a lot of Alice Cooper…Not only did Wagner co-write the “Welcome to My Nightmare” album with Cooper, the tour featuring Wagner and Hunter is one of legend…
Excellent choice. However my favorite guitar solo in a Genesis song is the one at the end of Second Home By the Sea, performed by Mike Rutherford. It’s hauntingly beautiful.
I also nominate Robert Fripp. Listen to the solo on The Night Watch and prepare to be blown away.
I was going to say something along those lines – Guitar Player Magazine named him Best Overall Guitarist for five consecutive years, and he was the first rock guitarist they put in their Hall of Fame. That said, that run of awards was from 1977-1981, and he may not be top-of-mind for younger fans now, or those who aren’t fans of prog rock.
To the OP’s list, I’d add Nancy Wilson.
I forgot about Steve Morse…and Zappa was on a whole other level. He is the guy that “discovered” his “Little Italian Virtuoso” (Vai) after all. Zappa could play the holy fucking SHIT out of a guitar. Frankly (natch), he didn’t always want to, or care.
While I agree that Weir and Garcia were righteous, I never felt much of…anything from their playing other than “it was good”.
Eric Johnson has arguably one of the best tones I have ever heard and is a supremely gifted player, but he’s also routinely mentioned in a “best of” list.
I’ll have to check out the Edge video. And yeah, Dave Murray was fantastic (for the day/music). To me that’s like saying Glenn Tipton was amazing. But for sure, Mark Knoplfer. Even if you distill his playing to just “Sultans”, it’s pretty amazing even then.
Buckethead is also an amazing technician. I like him and he’s weird as all get out, but I don’t think he’s really shaped the discussion much, other than to amplify on what others have already done.
I get that, I really do, but does that make someone a finer player than say, Angus Young, another in the pocket player that defined a genre?
Fripp is in that Zappa realm. Observationally good, but played strange music that few could relate to.
If you don’t count “Heroes”. Or “Teenage Wildlife”. Or “Baby’s On Fire”.
Robin fuckin’ Trower: Robin Trower - Day Of The Eagle - 3/15/1975 - Winterland (Official) - YouTube
I saw Zappa set in with Lightning at a small Dallas venue. That man knew his guitar.
Also seconding Kath
Classic guitar, not rock guitar, but I’ve been rather impressed by Andrei Krylov. Granted, I’m not a guitarist, so my evaluation may be off:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UkYg1yG_TEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1X44iSpASQWell crap, the title specified “in rock”. Too late to delete. Sorry.
Malcolm Young. The majority of the rhythm guitar in AC/DC was Malcolm. Angus did more than just play the solos, but if you’re thinking about the huge chords on AC/DC songs, chances are it’s Malcolm. Who is - now I mention it - another truly great underappreciated guitarist.
Anyway, Johnny Ramone exemplifies his style, and gets less credit than he deserves. I do not participate in “X guitarist is better than Y guitarist” stuff because it is incredibly lame. It’s an art form, not a competitive sport.
I think Richard Thompson is always worth a mention, sure the aficionados in this thread will know him but he doesn’t command the instant name recognition of Clapton, Hendrix, Gilmour et al (though he is most certainly right up there with the very, very best)
That also gives me a great excuse to link to 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, my son’s reaction to first seeing this was astonishment that it was only one person and one guitar.
I’m not sure what is meant by underappreciated guitarists when Lindsey Buckingham and Frank Zappa are mentioned, so I’ll go ahead and throw Peter Green and Nels Cline into the mix.
Brian Setzer never seems to be mentioned in these discussions, although every guitarist I have known rates him. He has been doing Sleepwalk live for decades. Here is one version.
Speaking for myself, I mentioned Zappa because he primarily is known for keyboards and not his guitar shreadding.
Martin Barre, of Jethro Tull. Could do prog like Lifeson (“No Lullaby”), acoustic like Kottke (“Salamander”), electric blues riffing like Clapton (“To Cry You a Song”), and more. Reliable, tasteful, musicianly yet earthy.
I love John McLaughlin. You know I hold up Jeff Beck as the best, and he’s a gunslinger I’m happy to compare with other folks’ great nominations, but he doesn’t quite fit the OP and I agree with Shakester about ranking artists.
The OP asks for “most underappreciated guitarists in rock.” Who is more under appreciated than a genre-defining rhythm guitarist, other than Chuck Berry? More people want to play like Johnny Ramone and Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) than probably anyone else mentioned. But lead players accrue the accolades. Shakester’s summary of Johnny’s approach is spot on. No one committed to it like Johnny, and it defined a whole genre.
And Malcolm Young - I fanboyed out on him in his RIP thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=842158
Pete Townshend is the Alex Lifeson of Brit hard rockers. Sandwiched between two completely different geniuses, and being compared to Clapton, Beck, Hendrix, Page, etc. Townshend plays interesting shit that is musically cool while keeping the other two on track with actual chords.
Love the Steve Stevens nod - he’s tasty.
Obvious lead candidate: Steve Lukather, who has something like 177 Grammy nominations. Played most parts on Thriller other that the Beat It lead. Has been on EVERY album and played with EVERY artist you could possibly imagine. And sold 40 million albums with Toto (whom I dislike immensely, but that’s not what this is about). He is on nobody’s lists but in everyome’s ears.
Great melodic player. So, yeah, him, or another studio cat who has been on everything. What’s extra about “Luke” is that he is commercially successful in his own band - but it’s still one of those bands where no one knows who’s playing, they just know the sonic wallpaper of Hold the Line, Rosanna and Africa. Glenn Campbell was another top studio cat, but had a great career and much respect as a player.
Oh, and I have to give a nod to Jimmy “Chank” Nolan, essential definer of funk rhythm guitar as part of James Brown’s Famous Flames during the emergence of his Funk innovations, and which has huge overlaps with rock. We all play with a little Chank. He is the person in the I assume apocryphal story where James Brown is auditioning him and asks “can you play an E9 (typical funk chord)?” “Yes, Mr. Brown.” “Can you do it for 45 minutes?” ;).
I missed this - excellent choices.
:smack:
Too late to edit: Jimmy “Chank” Nolen with an E: Jimmy Nolen - Wikipedia
I will nominate Phil Campbell from Motorhead. Like the OP’s Alex Lifeson, Phil is the only one in the band playing guitar. Lots of bands have 2 (or more) guitar players, but for many years Phil played “all of the guitars” in Motorhead, and did an amazing job.