No love yet for Hetfield? Soloists get all the glory, but IMO the riff is the king of the song, and Hetfield wields riffs like a God Emperor. If the only thing he’d ever done was “Shortest Straw” I’d probably still have to have him on the list.
Who is Tommy Iommi?
His cousin who plays the harp?
LOL well played sir. No idea how I missed that :smack:
Rather than call them “metal” I’ll refer to them as the “hi-gain” guys. I guess I would throw Vai, Satriani, Buckethead and Paul Gilbert on my list…but really other than Bucket I just admire them from afar because they’re not really my thing. I guess Shawn Lane and Eric Johnson might go on the list too.
There’s a ton of astonishing players out there. It goes beyond ridiculous watching what a guy like Michael Angelo Batio can do. I watched a video of him playing and it just got crazier and crazier as it went on with him doing ambidexterous simultaneous tapping on a guitar with left and right necks.
The criteria is rather vague here…there are so many ways in which one can judge a guitarist in any genre…
In terms of raw skill, I’ll go with Buckethead and John Petrucci (guitarist of Dream Theater) as my top two. Neither of them are full time time ‘metal’ guitarists but both can shred with the best when they choose. Buckethead’s instrumental The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell album, Petrucci’s solo album Suspended Animation, and Dream Theater’s *Train of Thought *of thought album are fine examples of all out metal technical shredding of bind-blowing skill.
I’ll give a nod to Tony Iommi (guitarist of Black Sabbath) at #3 for his contribution of creating a tone that defined a genre and for his pleasing compositions + excellent riffing + general trailblazing. Iommi plugged a Univox Superfuzz pedal and Dallas Rangemaster booster pedal into a Laney amp…and the sound of doom was born. Hendrix, Cream, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, and others had already stepped into a realm of heavy tone, but Black Sabbath took it to a new level. Iommi had part of two fingers on his left hand severed in a factory accident in the mid-60s. His condition was both an advantage in some aspects and a disadvantage in other aspects regarding his fretting hand technique.
Dimebag Darrel (former guitarist of Pantera…rest in peace) should be in the top five…the king of thrash metal. I’ll place him arbitrarily at #4.
At #5, a tie between Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström of the Swesish band Meshuggah. It’s difficult to separate the two since their guitar parts are intertwined so much. Heavy metal and thrash with weird time signatures and amazing technical ability.
I considered EVH, Rhoads, Lemmy (hey, he plays bass guitar like a treble metal guitar), Lynch, DragonForce guitarists, Vai, Zappa, Friedman, and others…but it’s tough to choose just five slots…
quick answer…
#1 Buckethead
#2 John Petrucci
#3 Tony Iommi
#4 Dimebag
#5 Thordendal/Hagstrom (tie)
In one month or one year, my answers may evolve…as I recognize the subjectivity of this topic and further research may be necessary.
Dimebag is the king of thrash? I love his stuff (I did a thread years ago breaking down Walk as a great song, even though his tone is really awful) - but I don’t think of him as thrash - guys like Hetfield and Mustaine would have the primary claims…
Walk breakdown thread: Music: Pantera’s “Walk” – an analysis of this song’s utter rockingness - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Don’t go down the sub-genre path, Wordman! Stay away!
I know, I know - sorry…
I really do struggle with these threads. I hear late '30’s tracks of Django Reinhardt ripping through gypsy jazz runs faster than hell with his two usable fingers and think “how metal is that?” - in my opinion, very! 
I think it was you that put up that video of Jerry Reed jamming with Chet Atkins and right in the middle of playing his countrified rockabilly scritch Atkins whips a blazing sweep pick out of his pants. I remember being quite astonished!
ETA: Nice “Walk” thread, too. Although I actually love Dimebag’s tone. It’s quite different sounding.
It’s difficult to rate, so I’ll just put some names out there that I think deserve to be up there in no particular order. The thing is, though, I don’t want to see just raw technical skill, I want to see range and expression as well which is why I could throw out plenty of guitarists in MeloDeath and Black Metal and such, but it’s hard to judge what they can do when I just have that. This is why I couldn’t really agree with someone like Alexi Laiho, who is quite impressive to see live, but I haven’t seen anything outside of that style to be able to judge his range. Then again, by that token, he belongs on the list at least as much as Yngwie.
Jeff Loomis - Formerly of Nevermore and currently a soloist. I’m surprised I haven’t seen him on here yet. He’s younger than a lot of names on this list, but he’s been around long enough that he’s got an impressive resume. He’ll write both impressive and powerful riffs and then pull off an inspired and technically proficient solos as well. On top of that, he’s got incredible range in style across almost the whole breadth of metal, from classic acoustic riffs, to his prefered power metal, and even some definitive black and death metal work. The part I like the best, though, is his distinctive tone and style.
Joe Satriani - One of the first guitar virtuosos that I fell in love with, and he seems to have love from others here, so I don’t think I need to say much. He has plenty of technical talent, but the part I enjoy most about his work is that he doesn’t feel like he has to impress with his technical talent and is content to express himself with subtlety.
Steve Vai - I feel similarly about him as I do about Satriani, though he probably is a bit more technically talented. Though seeing him and Satriani (and Yngwie) share a stage, it just makes it even harder to say which of the two I love more.
Yngwie Malmsteen - Speaking of which, he’s a gigantic douche, I can’t stress that enough, as he was a douche when I met him and everyone else I know who met him expresses the same. He’s also not particularly creative or expressive and a lot of his licks start to blend together over his 30 year career. However, his technical talent and speed is undeniable and he puts on a great show. He may not be a top 5 from lacking the expression and range, but I can’t see him being out of the top 10 because, really being able to shred and put on an awesome show is at the core of a metal guitarist.
Michael Romeo - The best I can describe him is basically, imagine if Yngwie Malmsteen wasn’t a huge douche or as flashy but had greater range and expression. You’ve got to love his stuff and he can write some truly epic and moving songs
John Petrucci - He’s as good as every other guitarist on this list, but being part of a band like Dream Theater, playing with musicians like that, he doesn’t often get to shine to the same degree.
James Hettfield - I’m glad to see others mentioned him on here first. Kirk Hammet is way overrated as a lead guitarist and, really, James Hettfield is really who defined the sound of Metallica. He’s not particularly talented technically, but he’s written countless timeless riffs. So, maybe not a top five, but at least worth mentioning particularly as a rhythm guitarist.
Mikael Akerfeldt - This is probably one I’ll have more trouble justifying, but I feel similarly about him as I do with James Hettfield, only moreso. He’s the heart and soul of Opeth and he’s also written tons of amazing riffs that are inspiring the new generation of metal guitarists in the same way that James Hettfield did with so many out there now. However, beyond that, he can throw out some quality solos, not so much in terms of raw technical talent, but very expressive. His style is absolutely undeniable.
Yeah, that was me. Chet forgot more than most of us have learned about playing the guitar And I would put a country gunslinger guitarist up against a top metal player in terms of level of technical virtuosity. Both have monster players - and one monster, John 5 (goofy monster-make-up-faced sideman for Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie) is technically proficient in both.
Thanks for the Walk thread. To be clear: Dimebag’s tone is effective for the song; I just think it is a purposefully-obnoxious kinda tone - big, distorted and farty. He has no interest in trying to sound Classic Rock in that song.
Regarding Malmsteen, I went to one of his shows in the late 80’s because I wanted to see the two opening acts. I stayed to see Malmsteen. About three songs into his set, Yngwie is shredding away while the vocalist was singing. The crew didn’t even bother to have a spotlight on the singer, just Yngwie. I walked out.
- Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray) - Very expressive with the technical chops to match.
- Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) - When he’s not busy stealing licks, he does some cool, diverse stuff too.
- Vladimir Holstinin (Aria) - Fast, slow, heavy, gentle.
- Elias Viljanen (Sonata Arctica) - Can shred AND play melodically.
- Matt Bellamy (Muse) - Not really a technical player, but I kinda like the sloppiness and ‘‘grunge’’ of it.
Yngwie has technique, yes. But his up-tempo scales always leave me cold.
Ok, here’s my favorites , with elaboration on those that haven’t been mentioned (or mentioned enough) yet. I like riffs more than anything. When I was really into metal, I usually played bass, so I only had to listen to the solos closely enough to know where the key change was coming. Heck, I was usually playing the same riff during the solo, anyway, so I usually didn’t even really have to pay attention. Anyway, after getting my driver’s license, I became more of a “Crossover” guy than a “Metal” guy (yep, “Metal” is a slippery idea, like “Blues”), so maybe my opinions are dated, oh well.
Besides, without riffs, what would you head bang to? Without riffs Metal is Jazz Fusion, you usually can’t head bang to Jazz Fusion.
-
Angus/Malcom young. AC/DC* were a fantastic metal band for years. Probably the biggest besides Sabbath and Zeppelin in early '80 suburban Texas. Those early records had perfect riffs all over them. If You Want Blood is a metal masterpiece.
-
Jimmy Page had better be included in this discussion, or the words Heavy and Metal have lost all meaning. Black Dog and Whole Lotta Love are both just great riffs, and are as Metal as the day is long. He’s sloppy, he used too many guitar tracks to lay down a riff, and he’s probably worshiped a bit much, but he did a big part of defining the genre, and he certainly rocked damn hard.
-
Scott Ian, particularly with S.O.D… “Speak English Or Die” proves to me if you get rid of those noodle-y solos and just rely on the riffs, then you got something! Probably one of the most immature bands of an immature genre, but Sweet Zombie Jesus those riffs rule. MTV used Premenstrual Princes Blues for the music bed on the original Headbangers Ball title cards. It was the heaviest thing that incarnation of MTV ever played.
-
Buzz Osbourne is the king of the riff, though. He’s been doing fabulous riffs since 1983. His repertoire includes damn fast ones, fast ones, mid tempo ones, slow ones, and “you do not yet know the meaning of slow” ones. That last one was my introduction to his playing (bless my wife, it was her copy), and it’s obvious from the get-go that he’s a different breed of Metal guitarist. One review said “like watching dough rise”. I think he’s got my favorite metal guitar sound. He’s still going strong, writing new kick ass songs regularly. He don’t need no stinking solos, his riffs make solos obsolete! (Well, maybe not, but he comes damn close.)
-
Iommi/Butler, they’re a given. I’m a bass player, I can’t separate the two. I don’t like them when they’re not together, either.
*It’s not guitar, but I firmly believe without AC/DC, metal would be almost all falsetto vocals. Bon Scott did not so much sing as scream on key. It may have led us down the road to Cookie Monster, but at least it’s not wall-to-wall castrate.
Err, totally missed the edit window: wall-to-wall castrati
Interesting, I’ll check it out, thanks! For me the most enjoyable quality of a great guitar player is the ability to blend great catchy hooks with expressive solos, and the Scorpions do that wonderfully. For varying definitions of “metal”, I love Buck Dharma (BOC), Glen Buxton (Alice Cooper), Martin Barre (Tull) levels of hooks and flair. Too far into Steve Vai territory and I start to lose interest.
I also hear a little of Van Halen in Romeo’s playing, because he relies a lot on tapping. On the downside, I don’t like Romeo’s rhythm playing. It’s just crunch. Yngwie’s got rhythm, he can do bluesy as well as anyone, and he can also do the more poppy style.
I really like In Flames, but I don’t think he’s top five worthy.
I was really hoping someone mentioned him. He taught musicality to countless metal heads,
Why list Dave and not Marty?
I love most of their music, but he can’t really be top five can he?
The scene in Bill and Ted’s where the play Do you want to play? was and always will be epic. He was as good as EVH, he just didn’t have the right vehicle to fame.
Totally agree. That whole album was just a masterpiece of (possibly cocaine fueled) aggression, angst, and brutally precise rhythms and beats. Lars hit his technical peak on that album, nobody can deny that. The riffs were also very deliberate and just plain hard.
Metallica must have been abducted by aliens after Justice. No band goes from recording songs like Dyer’s Eve, Shortest Straw and To Live Is to Die and then go record Enter Sandman.
I really like a bunch of songs they did post-Justice, but It’s not the same band. Not at all.
I had them both on my list, but I’m a big fan of Marty in general. As far as metal and Megadeth go, obviously the essential component is Dave, so I can understand having one but not the other.
Nuno is an excellent guitar player. Unfortunately, Extreme sucked gigantic donkey balls.
I blame Bob Rock. The guy made his producer bones working with hair metal bands. Flemming Rasmussen basically just let them do whatever they wanted, and all they wanted from him was for it to be LOUD.
Except he never does it…at least not for any lasting duration. That’s what kills me about him. He’ll play like three chords through say, a wah pedal and it’s like “See? I can play the blues! It’s simple music. Now it’s time to solo again!”