Glenn Tipton. People talk a lot about Randy Rhoads, Dimebag Darell, Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammett etc when it comes to metal. But he definitely is right up there as one of the best metal guitarists of all time. He belongs to be known among them.
Yes, Ritchie Blackmore is indeed the GOAT and imo better than Page, Iommi, Clapton and other guitarists of his generation. He is the vital link between Jimi Hendrix and EVH that many people decide to overlook. Without him, sweep and tremolo picking and neoclassical shred wouldn’t even be mainstream.
@@mriyoi you're right. Blackmore along with Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker are like godfathers of shred, the guys who bridged the gap between Hendrix/Page/Beck/Clapton and Van Halen/Rhoads.
Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Dickey Betts, Michiya Haruhata, Michael Amott, Bill Steer, Jeff Hanneman, Mick Taylor, Andreas Kisser, Al di Meola, Scott Gorham, John Sykes, Brian Robertson...
Death -- "Trapped In A Corner" LaRocque's solo fuckin rips on that one. Favorite King Diamond/LaRocque solos: "Welcome Home", "A Visit From The Dead", "Black Horsemen". "The Trial" is also a cauldron of sick riffs that stick in your head for days.
Literally guitarists from my top 3 favourite bands. Stace Sheepdog Mclaren deserves to be in a list of underrated vocalists, king diamond I feel like has rightfully earned his reputation and isn't underrated.
@@davenotstaine5646 One of Blackmore's biggest fans here, Uli is superior on every aspect. He was more disciplined, more technical and more neoclassical, yet Blackmore gets bigger credit for creating neoclassical. Both are incredible at the end of the day.
In my opinion Jerry Cantrell from Alice in chains is slept on. He has made some of the tastiest riffs in the modern rock and metal era, but somehow theres a dark, moody, and even bluesy feel for it. Not to mention he has a very soulful voice who paired perfectly with Layne Staley.
Jake E. Lee. innovative chordal work, did crazy things with his hands that it would take effects pedals to do, iconic solos and riffs. Also he could play any style.
Wolf Hoffmann of Accept. His riffs are very powerful. He also plays great solos. He also incorporates classical music into his solos. He deserves to be one of the greatest guitarists.
Shawn Lane was simply not from Earth. It is rather terrifying how brilliant he was a musician and a composer. Definitely one of my top 5 guitarists ever
Hell yes. When I discovered Savatage and binge-listened all of their albums, it was one of the most fun weeks of my life. A great soloist, and songwriter.
Bruce Bouillet from Racer X is definitely underrated. Dude can keep up with Paul Gilbert where they make amazing harmonies and guitar duels. He has projects after Racer X too.
Larry LaLonde for sure. How he highlights the bass of Les and makes Primus’s even funkier is just great. Also Mick Mars. Nobody really talks about him that much while bringing up the 80s
One of my picks is Mark Reale (R.I.P.), founder and former guitarist of one of the first U.S. heavy metal bands Riot! ”Narita”, ”Road Racin'”, ”Outlaw”, ”Swords & Tequila”, ”Loanshark", "Restless Breed” on the more mellow side, and the Power/Speed metal anthem Thundersteel are only several examples of his unique guitar playing and writing. Lars Ulrich has cited Riot as an influence on Metallica as well, another reason to check out the band if you haven't yet!
Also great guitar work on the albums you didn't mention... Mark Reale and Mike Flyntz together were great. Shame I had to scroll down this far to see his name on here.
Terry Kath and Alex Lifeson. They might be too many people's go to answers for most underrated guitarists that they have stopped being underrated, but they are so perfect for their bands and incredibly influential.
Alex keeps getting mentioned as underrated because he *still* keeps getting overlooked as one of the best guitarists of his era. At least he is in good company...
Mike slammer of city boy could play some tasty solos. Bill Nelson is also great. Also the guy in golden earring (idk if they have changed alot but the one who played on moontan)
I want to suggest my own top 10, each from different genre: Wolf Hoffman - Accept Andy Powell - Wishbone Ash Vito Bratta - White Lion Paul Masvidal - Death/Cynic Eddie Hazel - Funkadelic Jim Matheos - Fates Warning Michael Stutzer - Artillery Victor Smolski - Rage Andrew Latimer - Camel Vinnie Moore - Solo
Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson solo guitarist) is one of the most underrated metal guitarists. His riffs and Melodie’s are so fucking good and his solos are always perfect for the song
Robin Trower, Michael Schenker (particularly on the UFO phenomenon album), all of the Thin Lizzy guitarists, Andy Powell!!! Larry Wallis, Rory Gallagher, Vincent McAllister(do yourself a favor and listen to the 70s Pentagram stuff), Larry Reinhardt cause Captain Beyond Fn rips! just some off the top of my head not quite shred but all groups that laid the foundation and worth checking! Props for King Crimson inclusion those guys rule.
Howe won Guitar Player's 'best overall guitarist' award for five consecutive years back in the mid to late 70s. He's virtually unknown by modern rock players with whom he has very little in common. He mostly played a hollow body jazz guitar with little, if any distortion and in a band of virtuoso players whose best albums require repeated listens for their greatness to be revealed.
I mean, he is. Everyone, musician or not, knows Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen, but Blackmore is really only known to guitar enthusiasts despite being just as talented and influential.
BUCKETHEAD is sooo underrated omg. People often assume hes just another mindless shredder who plays without feel. But his music is some of the most beautiful ive ever heard.
I agree, I love buckethead for both his shredding, and his emotional songs. Plus, he has over 500 albums by now, so it's hard to get bored of listening to him.
100% agree, what are your favorites? For me it’s gotta be, Nottingham Lace, Jump Man, Hold Me Forever, and Project Little Man. There are so many other great ones but those are the ones that come to mind.
Can you tell me a track to check out? No offense but he's just a dude with a bucket on his head, what's the big deal? Show me a song that will blow me away
Jeff Loomis - The 7-string guitar god. Why isn't he like.. the most popular guitarrist ever? He is an absolute beast. Loomis was enlisted into Arch Enemy a few years ago, but Michael Amott kind of steals the show there because he is a more upfront guy and he is the legendary Carcass guitar player. But I think Loomis has more range than Amott. Check his solos when he played at Nevermore. It's sick, man.
Totally agree, but wouldn't call him underrated, I think he is totally respected at least in the shred community, what is very well-deserved. Btw he is free from the band now, his place in AE was taken by Joey Concepcion:)
FUCK YEAH John Norum. Dude has some proper emotion in his playing. And really just Europe in general is hella slept on. So many people just get hung up on The Final Countdown, eventhough the band has put out SO much great material. Hell, their best album came out less than 10 years ago. War of Kings is an absolute masterpiece of a hard rock album.
Since you mentioned Roope: A similar style of player who is massively overlooked, is Antti Kokko of Kalmah. His lead playing is great, some may know the song The Blind Leader as the most insane example as far as speed goes, but he has excellent lead melodies and phrasing in most of their songs!
Ritchie Blackmore is indeed underrated and slept on. Thank you for bringing him up. There is so, SO much more to him than Smoke On The Water. Scott Ian....no denying he's a great rhythm player, but Charlie comes up with all the riffs.
I can name 15 songs off the top of my head that are far better than SOTW but sadly it overshadows his other work due to simplicity. He’s easily my biggest inspiration!
@@Mart_7512 what’s odd is that I never found it to be easy yet tracks like Perfect Strangers should be more difficult but I can do a lot more of that than Highway star. Then again, I only tried to play it twice and kind of forgot about HWStar
There is no way Ritchie Blackmore is underrated. He's a very well rated and acknowledged guitarist. That would be like saying Tony Iommi is underrated.
@@tomy8339 no, he’s extremely underrated in metal. In general he certainly isn’t underrated, he’s often cited as one of the greatest and sometimes referred to as the king. But in Metal??? He’s hardly mentioned. His music was Metal btw, just look at Perfect Strangers and Machine Head. They both fit the Metal genre and MH fits the old school heavy metal formula. Perfect Strangers was actually my intro to metal.
Ritchie Blackmore is indeed, incredibly slept upon. He was one of the many guitarists of the late 60s/early 70s who’s playing was instrumental in creating hard rock as we know it, then went on to form Rainbow which was crucial in the early shred genre The dude basically invented 2 different genres of music
Regarding older generation rock guitarists (pre-80's;) I think it's criminal not to mention Jan Akkerman (Focus). For the time period, this guy was on another level and barely ever gets mentioned (Blackmore wasn't the only dude sweep picking). Jan was totally innovative and technical, often incorporating jazz/classical fusion licks into his playing. He's one hell of a Lute player as well. TBH the whole band is underrated- the true pioneers of prog rock IMO.
Chris Impellitteri. The guy he's most frequently compared to is Yngwie. I know that won't endear him to everybody, but his technique is second to none. And he's got a lot of songs that are just straight up fun to listen to.
YES!!! I am so stoked to hear Ralph Santolla (R.I.P) mentioned, his solos on that Deicide album The Stench of Redemption and the following as well Till Death Do Us Part are in fact why those are some of my faves, Homage To Satan might actually be at least in my top 3 favorite Death Metal solos that I can't play. Other two being 1. the live version mainly Roskilde live show of Morbid Angel Chapel of Ghouls, I can't play that and 2. Cryptopsy's Slit Your Guts, in fact that guitarist who did the solos on THAT album might have to be my pick for one of the most underrated Death Metal solo players.... So expressive, and evil, yet so beautiful.
I had finally gotten into Deicide before Stench came out, then it did and it was one of the best I'd ever heard. FINALLY got to see them this year at milwaukee Metalfest
Richie Blackmore is my favorite guitar player ever. His playing in both Deep Purple and Rainbow is so good and is Classical playing with Blackmore's Night is very under rated.
Michael Romeo (Symphony X) - if he wasn't an insane guitar player he would be a film score composer, just listen to his last two solo albums. Also listen to John Macaluso talking about the difference between working with him and Yngwie
Louis Dambra of Sir Lord Baltimore. The entire band is incredibly underrated in general, but I see Dambra's playing as truly representing what will become of heavy metal back in 1970.
Per Nilsson - Any better in the melodic death genre? Even stand in on Meshuggah when they need backup Mikael Åkerfeldt - Among the best solos and phrasings ive heard.
Per is one of the greatest metal lead players of all time - definitely my favorite! His incredibly tasteful, lyrical, Holdsworth-inspired (yet still very metal) solos elevate Scar Symmetry into the damn stratosphere. And his rhythm playing is top-notch too considering he filled in for Meshuggah
most underrated metal lead guitarist is jon levasseur from cryptopsy. some really melodic solos with some totally unique phrasing ("cold hate, warm blood", second solo on "Red-Skinned Scapegoat", "Phobophile") some other notable good ones are dave suzuki from vital remains/churchburn (churchburn - come forth the swarm), uli jon roth if he counts (Electric Sun - Sundown, Burning Wheels Turning), bobby koelble (death - perennial quest), benjamin ellis (ex-scar symmetry & bloodshot dawn, fave solo is probably just bloodshot dawn - beckoning oblivion), wolf hoffmann (accept - head over heels)
In regards to Cryptopsy, the album *Once Was Not* featured Levasseur's replacement, Alex Auburn, who's no slouch himself. "Endless Cemetery" has a really tasty melodic breakdown/solo that I never get tired of.
BH - The bookends (Blackmore & Fripp) encompassed all the others (IMHO). Given those 2 choices, I'd also add Steve Howe as well - then you'd have the original "prog" trinity. Given your Tony MacAlpine choice; another person of that era is Vinnie Moore. His "Mind's Eye" album is amazingly tasty! (FYI) MacAlpine got his break and plays the keys on that album too! : )
André Olbrich of Blind Guardian. I've never heard his name mentioned, and the dude just shreds for an hour and a half every night (and he writes basically all their music). How someone can be the lead guitarist and a primary songwriter (and founding member) of one of the biggest metal bands in the world and fly under the radar is just mind boggling.
Mike McCreedy from Pearl Jam (not sure if I spelled his name right). He definitely has accolade but I rarely hear his name come up when talking about guitar. Easily one of the most powerful blues and grunge guitarists I’ve ever seen, when I saw them a few years back, his solo for Alive (which was the closing song of the night) quite literally melted my face clean off. It was like 6 straight minutes of absolute warm bluesey shreddy bliss as Eddie Vedder threw tamborines into the audience and adlibbed over the band’s sound. I’m not easily impressed to the level I was, but wow his guitar playing was STELLAR that night. So nuanced, in time, and VERY tastefully phrased.
I think Jerry Cantrell needs to be talked about more too. I think there's a video of Phil Anselmo talking about how awesome he is, probably explain better than I could lol.
I have a criminally underrated guitarist hes was the old lead guitarist of sentenced who died 2009. He can shred play thrash,black and gothic metal at the same time and his solos are amazing and his instrumental song ”mourn” for his grandfather is just amazing
One that always stood out to me was Vitto Bratta of White Lion. Had some very unique licks and techniques, doesn't just sound like "just another 80s shredder"
Ron Jarzonbeck is slept on beyond belief. Watchtower is great, but Blotted Science consistently blows me away still. Even 12 years after their last release
to add two super underrated 1) Kee Marcello - One of the cleanest shredders I've ever seen. For real, dude never misses a note and it's all crystal clear - He replaced Norum in Europe before the final coundown tour even started 2) Akio Shimizu from Anthem - Not only a super precise shredder, all is done with great taste and an awesome riff master too
Phil Demmel should have been here, his solos for Vio-Lence are SIIIIIIIIICK Also, Eric Meyer riffs are almost unbeatable, another worthy of mention Also, FUCKIN' FRANK BLACKFIRE, he did both best riffs for Sodom and Kreator
Jason is absolutely not underrated. Maybe underappreciated since he isn't that well known compared to other guitarists. But those, who know of him absolutely do rate him as one of the best.
You're right about the legion of Instagram shredders. One guy who stands out (at least to me), is Roy Ziv. And as for the Shrapnel guys: Greg Howe has always been my favorite.
I can remember working at my college's radio station in the 80's, flipping thru "The NEW Releases bin" - if it was released by "Shrapnel" it was going to be fun-listening! : )
Rick Parfitt of Status Quo is also a great shout for underrated guitarists. He was an absolute machine. He could hold a riff at near perfectly stable BPM for literally 30 minutes. Status Quo in general were extremely tight. Their live performance of "Paper Plane" at the Marquee in 1972 (I think?) was so tight they ended up using it for the music video of the song without having to alter the video at all. Played live without a clicktrack! Status Quo might not have had the most complicated riffs or extreme solos, but they were extremely good musicians and a huge influence on Slade, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, and Electric Light Orchestra. Probably the best selling band of all time that never cracked the US-Market (and didn't really try either). I'm not aware of any other band with sales anywhere near them without the US-Market. Biggest band in Europe in the 70s by quite a margin.
Rocky George from Suicidal Tendencies has a perfect combination of being technical and melodic. Andy LaRocque from King Diamond is also wrote a huge amount of memorable things.
In discussions like this, I will never not mention Alan Jones from Pagan Altar. His playing is melodious and heavy, and he can shred if he wants to. Criminally underrated, like the band itself.
Always loved Ritchie's playing. I went through this huge deep purple phase which lasted for half a year at least where I kept going through their entire discography. Also really cool to see John Norum on here. Played his album Face the Truth A LOT.
George Lynch. Had Gene Simmons stuck around to see him play too instead of simply leaving after seeing Van Halen, the world of rock/metal guitarists could have turned out a little different than it is today. Or if he would have actually gotten the job as Ozzy's guitarist either time (first losing to Randy, then being replaced by Jake before he could get started). Apart from the infamous hum often present when he's on stage, there aren't a lot of guitarists (at least that I am aware of) whose playing sounds like him. Of course, Dokken's guitarists have to at least be somewhat close to how Mr. Scary sounded, then there are guitarists like Pier Gonella (Necrodeath, Labyrinth, Mastercastle) or Henrik Rangstrup (Chaoswave, Endarken) who remind me of Lynch at times in their playing.
@BradleyHallGuitar - definitely Kyoji Yamamoto (Bow Wow)! You also love to see you do a playthrough of Kane Roberts fantastic playing on Raise Your Fist and Yell.
