I approached this list from the perspective of a “layperson,” since I don’t play guitar, and the guitarists I know are folk or Christian musicians, not rock guitar aficionados.
When the “best guitarists” are listed, you get the ones who topped the charts and became household names, not the really skilled players who didn’t become media sweethearts.
How about Nuno Bettencourt?
Here he is - along with Eno - inventing several genres Third Uncle
In 1968 Bob almost got fired for not being up to the job:
There are more adjectives in this post than in the entire catalog of the Ramones. (Questioningly is an adverb) So, maybe.
Since several I came in to mention have already been listed, I’m going to give a shout out to Ken Bethea of the Old 97s.
Not a lot of folks know about Camille Baudoin of the Radiators. That really should change.
Doctor, Doctor & Like Dreamers Do
More in the Blues category, but how the hell is Larry McCray not talked about as one of the all time greats?
I’ll toss in two:
You might not care for his genres (primarily rockabilly), but Dave Edmunds can certainly play.
And we can’t overlook Leslie West.
If I mention either one of them to rock fans, I get puzzled looks. Guitarists…not so much.
Nuno is outstanding.
Hair metal/80s metal has a (mostly deserved) bad rep and is not looked back on kindly by the mainstream, but it was a genuine Golden Age for guitar players. Guys like Slash, Randy Rhoades, Eddie Van Halen, Kirk Hammett, Richie Sambora, etc. were all, and remain, well-known names, but there were so many other guys, many of them as good or better players, technically, than those guys, who had their moment in the spotlight and fell off the face of the earth when Nirvana broke. Guys like George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), Vito Bratta (White Lion), Steve Clark (Def Leppard), Dave Sabo & Scotti Hill (Skid Row), Warren DeMartini (Ratt), and Brent Muscat (Faster Pussycat); I know there are tons more of these guys who were all thrown on the scrap heap almost overnight when grunge came out of nowhere and put them all out of work.
A player who I really believe is underappreciated is Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze.
Squeeze - Another Nail In My Heart (Live at the 100 Club) - YouTube - Another Nail The solo starts at 50 seconds - really melodic and responsive playing attuned to the song.
Squeeze If It's Love 1989 MTV - YouTube - If It’s Love - here’s an example of his dextrous playing while singing - starts at 1.40
- YouTube - Wicked And Cruel live last year
As most people know the writing in Squeeze is clearly delineated - Difford writes the words and Tilbrook writes the music after being handed the finished lyrics, so his writng - including the solos- are always focussed on serving the song. He’s not got the greatest technique hampered by short fingers, but such a tasty and tasteful player.
Also - Andy Partridge of XTC is a barri laker (great player in local Cumbrian dialect!)
MiM
Well, maybe not ***all ***of us…
That would indeed be difficult to do.
True, but he slimmed down quite a bit. He basically had to hold the guitar vertically at one point.
OK, if we are talking about underappreciated guitarists who are otherwise well known by certain fans and musicians then there is a poster boy for that: Rory Gallagher.
Bruce Cockburn.
There’s a documentary about his guitar work. Found just a tiny clip…
Just caught an electric set of his (gotta be pushing 70, though full of energy),
but his acoustic work is tasty. Kind of Mark Knopfler-meets-Phil Keaggy (another undersung guitar maestro).
I’ll nominate the same person I did the last time this topic was posted some 15 years ago: Jamie West-Oram of The Fixx. Not the flashiest player around, but I always thought he was very creative and original.
Peter Green, Rory Gallagher, and Terry Kath are all very good examples of guys whose talent is well acknowledged by serious music fans and guitarists who are schooled in rock history, but are probably unknown to at least 80% of people. They’re not household names at all. To me, that would make them “underappreciated” by the general public.
Was it next door to The Scotch Tape Store?
Rhys Chatham
ETA: Who, by the way, was directly influenced to learn to play guitar and be a rock musician by seeing Johnny Ramone at CBGB. Just another data point for my “Ramones are more influential than you know” arguments!