Most overrated player

[pink freud]

In my mind any guitarist who plays for the music of the band isn't "overrated." I'm striving to stop viewing musicians in a vacuum separate from the band.

 

[edsped]

Before expressing an opinion about Guthrie you should listen to the Erotic Cakes album at least once. I think that a lot of people talk about him without having actually heard his music and thats not how it works, you cant judge guitar players just by watching clips on youtube.

I actually like Guthrie despite his music. I haven't listened to much of the Aristocrats stuff but Erotic Cakes never really did much for me. I love watching videos of him do improv though.

 

[Dooky]

This:

My list is as follows:
Petrucci
Satriani
Page.

+ This:

As for folks saying Misha and Abasi overrated. If anything, they are VASTLY underrated. They're doing a lot to keep creativity as a central ethic of rock music and I wish they had a broader influence in other genres.

Does not make sense

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I'm seeing a lot of people being up MAB...

Does anyone actually praise him? When I see people bring him up, 90% of the time it's about the double-neck or quad-neck guitar.

 

[blaaargh]

I was also going to agree on Petrucci but it's more Dream Theater that turns me off than him. His solo album is ....ing killer, I love that album, but I just can't stand DT.

Its not just DT. Liquid Tension Experiment is ....ing unlistenable. Ill admit I haven't heard his solo stuff but based on his other output I'm highly doubtful I'd enjoy it.

 

[kchay]

I would find you "somewhat annoying" and possibly "overly analytic"

I mean seriously this thread is sad. And completely irrelevant.

This.

I thought this was heavily an opinion based thing anyways.
Which means looking at someone's opinion of an "overrated player" shouldn't really affect you, no?

 

[Don Vito]

When I see people bring him up, 90% of the time it's about the double-neck or quad-neck guitar.

Or his haircut.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

^ Who's he foolin' with that wig?

 

[edsped]

Anyone who doesn't like Petrucci, listen to Images and Words and the To Live Forever jam on Live in Tokyo. Or just listen to the Under a Glass Moon solo.

 

[Workhorse]

Kirk Hammet. Don't know how the band made it so far with one of the worst guitarists and drummer in the history of music. Really says something about James' monster riffing that carried the band. AJFA is one of my top 5 albums, but every solo that comes on makes me want to cry more than his crybaby wah.

Hammett has a few decent solos, I thought the stuff he did on fade to black and master of puppets was pretty cool, at the time it was amazing because no one was doing what he did. Same thing with Lars Ulrich (who btw, brought a ton of new stuff into metal that no one else did, just listen to Fight Fire with Fire.

Chances are, many guitarists aren't that 'skilled', or may not have had crazy emotion, this is true for composers as well, not just stringed instruments. Kirk Hammett got a bit lucky, he did his part well enough and was part of a band that revolutionized metal, made it fast, and then made it cool to be slow again.

I really don't understand a lot of the complaining here. Chances are Jimi Hendrix would be a mediocre guitar player now (with awesome sound though), but the point is what a guitarist brought to the music some 30 years ago that wasn't around.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

What was Kirk Hammett doing that was so special?

 

[Hyacinth]

What was Kirk Hammett doing that was so special?

Basically just being taught by Joe Satriani.

 

[tribalfusion]

Woah woah, I wasn't even saying I agreed with that guy. I like Holdsworth, I was just explaining that sometimes in jazz there are notes that are intentionally jarring to produce a certain effect. I didn't say anything about him not knowing what he's doing. Did you mean to quote the other guy? lol

I'm glad you like Allan...sorry if there was a mix up and I do think it was the other guy to whom I was directing my comments primarily.

Thanks

 

[wespaul]

I liked Kirk's lead work on the 80s albums. There was fast pentatonic stuff on KEA and cool modal stuff on the others. He brought a lot of people to the instrument, and I think part of his appeal was that his leads sounded cool, but weren't really that difficult, which allowed him to be a gateway of sorts to people who soaked the band up and moved on to others. I think that's special in its own right.

 

[Workhorse]

im completely serious, iv got friends that are massive pantera and dime fans but his playing has never impressed me and his tone is absolute garbage. Chuck and Dime have both written a cool riff here and there but i still dont see why they are regarded so highly.

Dime's tone is absolute garbage? To each his own. I thought a lot of his solos sounded incredible, The Sleep, Cemetary Gates, 10's, Floods, Revolution Is my Name (just a few) sounded really great. Not to mention, his riffs kicked ass. I think if you don't see what the deal is with Dimebag, you must not be paying attention to the 90's.

 

[GRUNTKOR]

Jimi Hendrix falls in with Abasi as well. I'm not going to go into extreme detail but 9/10 songs I've heard by him (by brother has 4 albums with live and studio stuff) were extremely underwhelming considering the hype he gets. I've been hearing the same stupid shit since I was 10: "ERMERGERD HENDRERX ES DER BERST!" For ....s sake he played trippy blues-rock and soloed in an (at the time) very unique way. Yes, his influenced change music forever, but seriously the amount of hype he gets and the amount of wankery I hear in his music is ridiculous. I simply do not get why Hendrix is so popular. I do have to say his more bluesy songs as a hell of a lot better than the cliche best hits ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrWYD0-aiIs

this is his best album in my opinion, not wanky at all and very eclectic in styles. The guy was only 24 when he made this record too...

 

[Workhorse]

What was Kirk Hammett doing that was so special?

Hammett played nice lead bits on heavy songs, thats basically what it was. He never stood out himself, but was part of a bigger machine that gave him room to express himself without taking over.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Dime's tone is absolute garbage?

To some of us, yeah, his early tone was garbage. Thin, fizzy, extremely sharp and sounded like it barely cut through the mix. It got better over time when he switched to the Century and Warhead amps and discovered the mid knob, but it still wasn't anything to write home about.

He's not the person I think of when I think of good tones from a Randall RG. I thought others like Kirk Windstein and George Lynch got better tones.

 

[tribalfusion]

So I usually avoid this sort of thread (I just noticed the Holdsworth comments and couldn't restrain myself) but I see Govan coming up so often in here that I thought I would post a little bit about him from the perspective of fusion/jazz players of which I am one though I do like and play rock a lot (it isn't my primary focus however) and I come on here to hear about things I might otherwise miss in the rock or metal world.

For people who primarily play rock or metal Govan's way of playing "jazz" or "fusion" is very different for those who hear harmony with a bit more precision like let's say like those who play over changes habitually. This was alluded to earlier in the thread and I thought I would point this out as well.

I don't like calling musicians overrated and Govan can do many things well and deserves much credit for this, but he is not by any stretch of the imagination someone a good changes player would take seriously when he plays over more involved harmony.

To the extent that people in this very thread are saying Govan can play anything...well I suppose it's as good a place as any to point out that he can't or at least not very well. Not even close actually. This is no shame and warrants a comment mostly because with certain rock guitarists of a technical bent, far too much is claimed for them when they play pretty ham fisted solos over jazzy-ish pieces which would get them a lot of criticism from say a good university level player, much less someone like Pat Metheny or Scott Henderson. Players like Pat or Scott try hard to avoid saying these things publicly however or even from seeming to be too harsh when asked at GIT or Berklee say about this for obvious reasons.

Again, I would never suggest listening to Govan for this (not his strength) but the problem (if one wants to call it tht) is that with players like Shawn Lane and Govan, when they DO play such things they tend to portray themselves as being a lot more competent than they actually are, usually playing very fast sequences with poor rhythm over the harmony such that their fans (who are generally even less competent in the discernment of such things) tend to trumpet them as great jazz fusion players who are playing "advanced" etc.

They aren't and that's why those players aren't really taken seriously in those domains. It has nothing to do with being snobbish and there are players in rock who actually address chord changes more elegantly shall we say and fudge a lot less but who are much more upfront about not really being good changes players (Brett Garsed or Eric Johnson come to mind) like the fusion or jazz players they admire which is something I have never seen Govan or Lane say in the many interviews I have seen. On the contrary; they tend to bite off more than they can chew by playing pieces that are beyond their changes playing ability such that they have to bluff through them by playing fast chromatic or pattern oriented finger movements and can not spend much mental energy on call and response interaction with the band.

I want to stress that I am not critiquing all of what they do by any means but thought this might be the right place to point this out.

Thanks

 

[BIG ND SWEATY]

Dime's tone is absolute garbage? To each his own. I thought a lot of his solos sounded incredible, The Sleep, Cemetary Gates, 10's, Floods, Revolution Is my Name (just a few) sounded really great. Not to mention, his riffs kicked ass. I think if you don't see what the deal is with Dimebag, you must not be paying attention to the 90's.

To some of us, yeah, his early tone was garbage. Thin, fizzy, extremely sharp and sounded like it barely cut through the mix. It got better over time when he switched to the Century and Warhead amps and discovered the mid knob, but it still wasn't anything to write home about.

pretty much that^