Yea, I know fast ≠ quality. Countless heavy metal bands proved that.
None-the-less, who is/was the fastest professional guitar layer?
<snerk!>
I’ll go with Alvin Lee. “I’m going home.”
The Romeros (especially Pepe) are astonishing.
Devin Townsend and Kirk Hammett have to be up there.
The problem is, though, that once you get beyond a certain speed, it all sounds pretty much the same.
Jimi Hendrix. Both playing and laying.
On a good day, Al Di Meola.
Dave Mustaine (even after the wrist injury.)
Some Al Di Meola has got to be the fastest stuff I’ve ever heard.
Yngwie Malmsteen is faster than Hammett isn’t he?
Joe Satriani can burn 'em up pretty good.
Malmsteen is pretty damn fast but he has no style.
I’ll go with James Petrucci (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, G3, etc.)
I’ll stick in a couple of unconventional nominees: Alex de Grassi and Leo Kottke.
Jeff Loomis of Nevermore can shred with the best of them.
Bingo.
If I were bringing speedy shredders to this gig and had my pick of the litter it would obviously include the following three:
Michael Angelo (NITRO)
Vinnie Vincent (Vinnie Vincent Invasion)
Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big)
I think I could safely say that any of these three are capable of the fretboard speed record if guiness had an entry.
Or if Guinness did, for that matter. :smack:
Would Steve Vai, Nuno Bettancourt, or Eddie Van Halen qualify with the others mentioned? And what about Dick Dale or Jim Heath (aka The Reverend Horton Heat)?
The late, great Johnny Ramone?
German Schauss, a guy who studied under both Malmsteen and Joe Stump, would get my vote. I don’t feel much emotional connection to his stuff, but I marvel at his technical ability.
As a guitarist, my personal opinion on this is a resounding “who cares?”
But, past a certain point, who can tell?
Of the players I see listed, many are in the “fast beyond the point of being able to measure” category.
There are superfast players in many genres - some bluegrass players are MONSTERS of speed and do it super clean. Mark O’Connor won a ton of guitar awards in bluegrass competitions before he made a commitment to fiddle.
Django Reinhardt was superfast
John Scofield is known for speed.
A number of classical guitarists are monsters; let’s not even begin on flamenco guitarists, e.g., Paco de Lucia.
Again - there are a ton superfast guitarists out there. Choosing among them starts to be more like “who can paint the fastest masterpiece?” - i.e., not really the point of the art…