Bob Mould!
Oh, yeah, I forgot one of rock’s great guitar tandems, Glenn Tipton & K.K. Downing of Judas Priest. Another tandem is Scott Gorham and Brian Roberton/Gary Moore from Thin Lizzy…
What no Gary Moore yet? How often do you hear his name?
Diogenes echoes my thoughts on Iommi. It’s impossible for him to be over rated, because the casual music fans (and even some critics; a music writer for a respected news daily once asked me, “Tony who?”) don’t know who he is. They should! By the way, do yourselves a favor and buy his solo album of a couple of years ago. FANTASTIC stuff. And you get the thrill of hearing what Black Sabbath might have sounded like had they been fronted by Henry Rollins, Skin, Dave Grohl, Serj Tankian, Billy Idol, Billy Corgan, Peter Steele, Phil Anselmo, and Ian Astbury.
Add to the list Mick Mars, who though lacking much technical prowess, is a gifted riffer and songwriter. Along with Tommy Lee’s drums, his guitar made talentless hacks Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx famous by actually making some great songs for Motley Crue.
Not only is James McMurtry underrated, he’s underheard! If you ever get a chance to see him live, do so. He’s one hell of a player!
Every time Labdad shows up in a music thread he brings up someone I love. I’d add Chris Smither to the underrated and underheard category as well, with the same ringing endorsement of his live performance.
Hey, i saw Chris Smither at Wolf Trap with Peter Case and Dave Alvin, doing a tribute to Missippi John Hurt. He was excellent!
There, I just named 4 great underrated guitarists right there!
There I go again, spelling like I talk…that should be
Mississippi…
Mark Reale from Riot
Jeff Waters from Annihilator
And I agree with An Arky about Brian Robertson from Thin Lizzy, less so about Gary Moore. Metalheads talk about Moore all the time, hardly ever mention Robertson.
For those of you who say that Alex Lifeson and Tony Iommi are underrated, I must respectfully ask - how old are you? Because they were very, very talked about from the 70’s to the mid 80’s. Perhaps they are underrated now, but that has not always been the case.
Martin Barre from Jethro Tull (the most solid guy in the business)
Daniel Ash from Love and Rockets (never truly respected him until I saw him live, wow what he can do!)
Roy Harper, an acoustic god.
Juliana Hatfield. Really. After learning a few of her songs on guitar, she has some of the most odd and inspired chord progressions I’ve ever heard.
Thurston Moore/Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth. They’ve made dischord a thing of beauty.
Here’s one out of left field: Prince!
I saw him in concert years ago and the guy can really play.
I know…I was shocked too.
Please don’t hurt me…i want to make a LOT of qualifications on this one…I hate the group…the guitarist for <cringe>Winger.
my girlfriend was all ga-ga over the group years ago, and i wouldn’t have listened to them at all except for her. i only watched one video…that was all of the pukey junk i could take. but, i grudgingly had to admit that he was pretty good.
Reb Beach. I believe he’s in Whitesnake now.
I’d like to mention Ty Tabor from King’s X. An underrated guitarist in an underrated band.
Ty Tabor of King’s X - very expressive and melodic. Never succumbed to unnecessary guitar wank-o-rama.
Joey Santiago of Pixies - he’s probably not considered a great guitarist because he conformed his style to the needs of the songs rather than imposing a style. But he always hit the nail on the head.
Kevn Kinney & Buren Fowler of Drivin n’ Cryin are pretty damn good as well.
Thanks, Enginerd! 
Here’s something pretty cool: This summer I’m going to be attending Jorma Kaukonen’s (another underrated guitarist, btw) Fur Peace Ranch guitar camp. Guess who my instructor is going to be? Chris Smither!
Although he’s touted as a great songwriter, producer (Billy Joel’s Stormfront and VanHalen’s 5150) as well as founder of Foreigner, I don’t think Mick Jones (not the one from The Clash) gets his due recognition.
[Dice]
… he needed the money!
[/Dice]
Sorry. Somebody had to say it.
Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush is unreal. One of the true great rock guitarists who is rarely mentioned. Unbelieveable.
Marc Ford most notably of the Black Crowes but was also in a band called Burning Tree. Great chops!
Audley Freed most notably of the Black Crowes too (he replaced Marc Ford) but was also in a band called Cry of Love. Extraordinary player. Chops, feel, technique…he’s got it all without rehashing the same old licks over and over again.
Ronnie Wood used to be unreal. I know, I know…he’s lost his edge as of late in the Stones but his stuff with Rod Stewart and the Faces was great. I still love him though.
Jerry Garcia was really tasty when he wanted to be. Unusual player that was overlooked in my opinion.
STEVE MORSE (Dixie Dregs, Dregs, Steve Morse Band, Deep Purple - yup even Deep Purple)
Did you ever wonder who Jeff Beck, or Steve Howe goes to see play?
This is the man.
A must listen for the wanna-be to the pro.
I’m with you on this one. Brad Whitford is terrific. However, I hope you’re not implying that the almighty god that is Joe Perry is in any way over-rated. He’s the love of my life! 