# Who's the fastest guitar player? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782 "2005-05-27T17:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/21 "2005-05-27T20:34:10Z")
Another vote for Micheal Angelo. He has some rediculous speed and great technique. Not very emotional, but fast as hell. Most of his stuff is all picked to, none of this fretboard tapping cheating that goes on. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/22 "2005-05-27T21:01:33Z")
In the mid '80s, wasn’t “FUCKING” Yngwie Malmsteen’s middle name? George ---
**Author:** ![Euthanasiast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Euthanasiast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euthanasiast)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/23 "2005-05-27T21:06:15Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > 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)? Nuno is an awesome player ans certainly has great technical ability. Eddie Van Halen has a pick hand that I think is faster than his fret hand. I watched Paul Gilbert once at a guitar clinic with a drill with three picks attached to the bit. There aren’t many humans that could do that. ---
**Author:** ![Boldface\_Type](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@Boldface\_Type](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boldface_Type)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/24 "2005-05-27T23:17:31Z")
I don’t think tapping should count, but non-tappers: Al Di - especially impressive are his muted runs. (Hm, sounds like an unfortunate bowel condition). In fingerstyle, Adrian Legge sounds like multiple people, but then again, maybe he is. John McLaughlin. Tommy Emmanuel can be quite quick. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/25 "2005-05-28T01:01:16Z")
**digs out Al DiMieola/Paco de Lucia/John McLaughlin CD** yup. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/26 "2005-05-28T01:06:49Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > In the mid '80s, wasn’t “FUCKING” Yngwie Malmsteen’s middle name? Not really. Remember how at least his early albums were credited to Yngwie **J.** Malmsteen? Flo & Eddie said it was to distinguish him from all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the music business. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/27 "2005-05-28T02:31:41Z")
And Chet Atkins. Got my vote. ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/28 "2005-05-28T02:45:26Z")
Rusty Cooley is the fastest I have heard. Ridiculous computer speed. [http://www.rustycooley.com/audio.html](http://www.rustycooley.com/audio.html) There are some classical guitarist that use weird finger techniques that make it sound insanely fast. ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/29 "2005-05-28T02:50:33Z")
If you want to hear speed with awesome melody check out John Petrucci’s latest solo album. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/30 "2005-05-28T03:11:26Z")
Tomorrow I am going to The Sydney Guitar Show at Fox Studios to hear the world’s fastest gutarist (so he says) [Jeremy Barnes](http://www.jeremybarnes.com.au/hmp3.html) of Sydney. He has supposedly been recorded playing up to 40 individual notes per second. Check out the snippets on his site. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/31 "2005-05-28T03:32:46Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Malmsteen is pretty damn fast but he has no style. I just wanted to say that I completely agree with this statement. Sounds like whacking off, at 260 beats per minute. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/32 "2005-05-28T03:34:42Z")
What? No one has meantioned Steve Morse yet? He is incredibly speedy _and_ he picks every note. No sweep picking. I’m not sure if he is as fast as Al Diemola but it would be close. Paco DeLucia is also pretty speedy and I know Steve has recorded with him, nice jam. Atkins is also another speedy guy. That really suprised me. Les Paul also could crank up the speed. Another guy name Josh Christian was one of the fastest guys I ever saw live. He was in a band called Toxik. Slee ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/33 "2005-05-28T03:37:28Z")
I think that Friday Night In San Francisco Di Meola/McLaughlin/De Lucia CD shows definitively that once you get to a certain speed, there is no distinguishable difference between the guitarists. It is a pretty incredible listening experience, though… I’d vote for Steve Vai just because Frank Zappa, a great fretboard guitarist (didn’t pick that much, lots of very fast hammers/pull offs) used a ton of compression, often through a Pignose amp turned all the way up IIRC) hired Steve Vai to “play the impossible guitar parts.” But boy howdy does his music suck. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/34 "2005-05-28T03:38:30Z")
By “his”, of course I mean Steve Vai’s solo stuff, and not Zappa… ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/35 "2005-05-28T03:40:05Z")
Sweep picking hits every note, and it is hard to do. Maybe you mean hammer ons and pull offs or tapping. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/36 "2005-05-28T03:48:35Z")
One guy who I quite fortuitously got to see live shortly before he blew his own brains out was Danny Gatton. I must say, this guy did things with a Fender Tele that had to be seen to be believed. Actually, seeing might have made things more unbelievable, because if you only heard him, you would simply assume he used a lot of multi-tracking. But he didn’t. It was astonishing. He would fingerpick and do these incredible spidery hammers and pull-offs all at once, occasionally poking out right-hand hammers or plucking harmonics. And his phrasing was just beautiful. I mean, really, really compositionally masterful. He had the speed, the aesthetics, everything, so facile, so tasteful, so utterly ungratuitous in execution. I almost cried when I found out he comitted suicide. ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/37 "2005-05-28T03:59:09Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > **digs out Al DiMieola/Paco de Lucia/John McLaughlin CD** > > yup. Friday Night in San Francisco, oh yeah. 🆒 Still gots me a vinyl copy of Passion, Grace & Fire, too. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/38 "2005-05-28T04:02:39Z")
There once was a fellow by the name of Warner Hodges who played in a band called Jason and the Scorchers. I saw them live several times and he was pretty damn amazing. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/39 "2005-05-28T04:02:39Z")
> [@Satasha](#): > > Sweep picking hits every note, and it is hard to do. Maybe you mean hammer ons and pull offs or tapping. Nope, I meant sweep picking. While sweep picking you hit every string you don’t always hit every note(#1), you do hammer ons. For example, the song ‘Tuemni Notes’ off of ‘High Tension Wires’ is all alternate picking. Most players would sweep parts of it. Sweep picking is usually not quite as clean as alternate picking though some players are really good at it. And, IMHO, it’s a lot easier to sweep than to alternate pick. Steve alternate picks everything. I’ve decided recently to stop sweep picking because it’s not as clean as I would like. It’s gonna take a while to get out of the habit though. The down side is I can sweep really fast and it’s gonna take a while to get the speed up when alternate picking the passages I used to sweep. Slee #1. For example -------------4–7---- ---------6----------- —4–7-------------- That could be done with sweep picking, you hit the strings 3 times but play 5 notes. You could start on an upstroke sweep down and end on an upstroke but I’d bet that most players wouldn’t do it that way. I don’t when sweep picking. ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782/40 "2005-05-28T04:15:44Z")
You are talking about sweep picking with unpicked hammer ons. That is different than just sweep picking. Alternate picking sounds different but I wouldn’t say cleaner. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-fastest-guitar-player/305782.md?page=3)