# Worst guitar players **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669 "2018-10-29T12:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/21 "2018-10-29T20:07:29Z")
I reluctantly concur with nominating Ace Frehley. I discovered KISS in 1975 at age 10. I wanted to be Ace Frehley when I grew up. Now it seems to have happened because I can play circles around him at this point. He was on Jimmy Pardo’s podcast (Never Not Funny) a few weeks ago and he was plucking around on an acoustic and it was painful to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/22 "2018-10-30T00:01:52Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Paul Simon is a great acoustic guitarist. He doesn’t really belong in a conversation about strummers. I praised him in a thread about underrated guitarists. No one agreed with me. His playing in The Boxer is about my favorite guitar work. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/23 "2018-10-30T00:14:41Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Neil Young describes himself as a crappy guitar player who can’t play solos. He’s so wrong, when Neil goes off on one he’s amazingly good. Ragged glory, indeed… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/24 "2018-10-30T00:46:02Z")
> [@Turnip\_Shepherd](#): > > Jerry Garcia. > > Me listening to a Grateful Dead song: > > (After three minutes) “This song is pretty good.” > (After five minutes) “Uh ok…” > (After ten minutes) 😕 Well, then. You’d be wrong. I’m sorry you have ears that don’t work. Keep away from Mahler or Coltrane, they’d confuse you more. Also, anyone who doesn’t think that Dylan can play the guitar should listen to the early ‘90s solo acoustic albums GOOD AS I BEEN TO YOU (folk) and WORLD GONE WRONG (blues). ---
**Author:** ![Turnip\_Shepherd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@Turnip\_Shepherd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turnip_Shepherd)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/25 "2018-10-30T00:59:49Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Well, then. You’d be wrong. I’m sorry you have ears that don’t work. Keep away from Mahler or Coltrane, they’d confuse you more. I guess the Dead are good if you enjoy the major scale and don’t like hearing the notes played out of order. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/26 "2018-10-30T01:22:28Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Oooh, I get to be the first to nominate Kirk Hammett? I have always thought that he was almost a detriment to Metallica’s music, like he sucks the power out of the songs with his shitty solos or something. There is no possible answer more correct than this. Hammett has never heard a good Metallica song he can’t muck up with a soulless, disjointed trainwreck of a solo that makes no melodic sense whatsoever. Rather than being admired, he’s actively disparaged by top-notch players. He’s like the antipode to Prince. As for the Sham to Hammett’s Secretariat, I nominate Randy Bachman, based on a combination of bad solos, bad songs and inexplicable popularity. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/27 "2018-10-30T01:27:58Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Surprised to see him listed because I always thought he was regarded as one of the best. He certainly relies too much on the wah pedal, but other than that I figured he was way up there. Nah, Hetfield is the man in that band. Hammett is window dressing, so much so that he doesn’t even have equal pay as Hetfield and Ulrich (song credits). I think a lot of guitar players generally think he’s pretty “meh”. > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Neil Young describes himself as a crappy guitar player who can’t play solos. I don’t agree. I think Neil has at times wrenched more guts out of a note or two than many possibly can. > [@Turnip\_Shepherd](#): > > Jerry Garcia. > > Me listening to a Grateful Dead song: > > (After three minutes) “This song is pretty good.” > (After five minutes) “Uh ok…” > (After ten minutes) 😕 I tend to agree. To me all his solos sound the same, and yes…lots of major notes. His pedal steel playing however, is outstanding. Or was anyway. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My understanding (and I admit that I am not an expert on The Edge) is that a big part of his sound isn’t his playing, in and of itself, but what he does with effects on his sound, particularly reverb and delay. I absolutely love Edge. His sonic soundscapes he crafts with effects is pretty amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/28 "2018-10-30T02:05:05Z")
Right. Garcia just played major scales. For twenty minutes or more at a time. Got it. You are truly an insightful musical genius. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/29 "2018-10-30T02:33:54Z")
Behold Lil Wayne “playing guitar”: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8g762REJWcg](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8g762REJWcg) I win thread!!! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/30 "2018-10-30T02:44:58Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I don’t agree. I think Neil has at times wrenched more guts out of a note or two than many possibly can. Cinnamon Girl has the greatest one note solo ever. But in all seriousness he is quite a good acoustic player. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/31 "2018-10-30T03:39:16Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My understanding (and I admit that I am not an expert on The Edge) is that a big part of his sound isn’t his playing, in and of itself, but what he does with effects on his sound, particularly reverb and delay. [Bill Bailey’s demonstration of a catastrophic technical failure at a U2 gig is mandatory.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8dZwXnMrRU) Some old Celtic bollocks! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/32 "2018-10-30T04:20:42Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I absolutely love Edge. His sonic soundscapes he crafts with effects is pretty amazing. So many comments in this thread have crystallized how I feel about a number of guitarists. And freed me from dilemmas like “Can I love The Dead even if I’m lukewarm about Jerry?” or “Wait, is the Edge brilliant or a limited guitarist?” (Now I realize he can be both…) Seriously, I’ve always felt like _David Howell Evans_ (Edgy McEdgeface) only had a few good moves, but now I realize he’s been busy crafting a mood, not trying to be a classic rock guitarist who does _hook, verse, chorus, solo, chorus, hook, outro…_ So I can just enjoy the “sonic soundscape”, and not have to judge. “Soundscape” reminds me of the liner notes to [Little Village](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw1SCbpwnwE): John Hiatt: Guitar, Vocals Nick Lowe: Bass, Vocals Ry Cooder: Guitar, Vocals Jim Keltner: Drums, Percussion _and **Guitar Compos** t_ ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/33 "2018-10-30T10:28:16Z")
I love The Velvet Underground. And while he was a good song writer, **Lou Reed** was not a great guitar player. Pretty bad, in fact. I also love The Ramones. **Johnny Ramone** was good at what he did. But he was very one-dimensional, and (as far as I know) never wrote a song. I cringe when I see him listed on “Top 100” lists. ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/34 "2018-10-30T11:38:50Z")
I nominate Dot Wiggin and Betty Wiggin of The Shaggs. I doubt that either of them could tune a guitar when recording their lone album _Philosophy of the World_. [“My Pal Foot Foot” by The Shaggs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9d4ESlpHY) Lil Wayne is tough competition though I’m not certain he even counts as a guitar player. Was he ever credited as a guitarist on any formal song releases? Among the legends, Kurt Cobain was a notably lackluster guitar player who flubbed notes even on relatively simple riffs. Perhaps this is most obvious on the _MTV Unplugged in New York_ live album. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/35 "2018-10-30T12:27:48Z")
> [@Turnip\_Shepherd](#): > > I’m not a U2 fan, but some of the best guitarists (JJ Cale for example) get more out of a few notes than some players can with many. > [@JohnT](#): > > Throwing my hat into this ring for the _easy_ win. 😉 > > Seriously though, along those lines I’ll second, no, third The Edge. Not because he is bad… not at all: to me, he’s _the_ crucial element which makes U2 “U2”… but because I can play his stuff reasonably well. And I _suuuuuuuuuck_. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My understanding (and I admit that I am not an expert on The Edge) is that a big part of his sound isn’t his playing, in and of itself, but what he does with effects on his sound, particularly reverb and delay. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > …I absolutely love Edge. His sonic soundscapes he crafts with effects is pretty amazing. Here’s the thing, good guitarists play with their fingers not their effects. I’ll give him credit for being a great musician but that does not automatically mean he is a good guitar player. In fact, if you listen to “Desire” on _Rattle and Hum_ he struggles to keep the simple Bo Diddly rhythm throughout the song. I love Edge’s sound with his Vox AC30 with his echo/delay. I played a lot of those songs back in the 80s, especially the \*Joshua Tree \*stuff but it’s extremely minimalist, sometimes robotic and honestly… really boring to play after a few shows. Is he the absolute worst? Probably not hence my emoji. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/36 "2018-10-30T12:32:57Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > [Bill Bailey’s demonstration of a catastrophic technical failure at a U2 gig is mandatory.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8dZwXnMrRU) Some old Celtic bollocks! Bailey is inevitably dragged out in these threads. What a whiny bore. Not just for this but for all of his material. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/37 "2018-10-30T12:36:35Z")
I considered the Edge myself, but a) I hate U2, and b) his sound is unique and critical to the band’s success. Now Hammett, in the 80s, was regarded by many guitar enthusiasts as quite good, but he got lazy later on. Look, I get that after the 80s, technical, shreddy playing went out of fashion, but that’s no excuse for just playing random wah wah solos that make no sense. If you have great feel and can compose great solos, do that. If shredding is your only skill, do that. Don’t just suck because Kurt Cobain got in your head. And thank you for Lil Wayne. His foray into “rock” was a very bad idea. You know who else isn’t very good? Lil Wayne’s favorite guitarist that he signed: Kevin Rudolf. Now Kevin Rudolf is a decent artist, a very good songwriter, and he’s clearly trying to do something a little different, but he should be the songwriting brains, not the guitar player and vocalist. He’s not very good at either. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/38 "2018-10-30T12:57:58Z")
My vote for the Edge was tongue-in-cheek. He’s one of my all time favorite guitarists, inspired me to take up the instrument (badly), and as Adaher and I said, he is critical to the bands success. Having said that, I was listening to “I Still Haven’t Found…” the other day when the song came to the part where one would expect a guitar solo. There was. Kind of. 8 notes by my count in, IIRC, 16 bars of music. I guess that is edgy, in a way. d&r ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/39 "2018-10-30T13:10:41Z")
I’d note that due to the insanity of the logic of the alternative movement, if Edge HAD been a good guitarist, U2 would have been playing small clubs throughout the 90s assuming they didn’t break up and lose their record deal entirely. I’m only half joking. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669/40 "2018-10-30T13:16:58Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > My vote for the Edge was tongue-in-cheek. He’s one of my all time favorite guitarists, inspired me to take up the instrument (badly), and as Adaher and I said, he is critical to the bands success. > > Having said that, I was listening to “I Still Haven’t Found…” the other day when the song came to the part where one would expect a guitar solo. There was. Kind of. 8 notes by my count in, IIRC, 16 bars of music. > > I guess that is edgy, in a way. > > d&r That reminds me of the song “Silver and Gold” on the “Rattle and Hum” album where Bono is going off on a rant and finishes with “OK Edge, play the blues…” and Edge plays a typical Edge riff that is \* anything\* but the blues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-guitar-players/823669.md?page=3)