Most overrated player

[The Mirror]

Yngwie Malmsteen.

He might be good but in my opinion: His tone sucks, his attitude sucks even more and to me all his leads sound the same.

But well... I guess that all is based on my musical interest. Long story short: I hate "Shred-Metal"

No seriously, I just can't listen to that guy for longer than a minute.

 

[MrPepperoniNipples]

WHAT!? James Hetfield is one of the most formative, influential and greatest rhythm guitarists and riff writers in the history of metal.

Does anyone else see the irony in this post?


I think it's pretty fair game to say that just about every guitarist that has reached a certain level of success or size of audience has been, is, and will be 'overrated' to some extent.

 

[BucketheadRules]

Is he overrated? I haven't read nor heard any praising of Kirk's playing since the mid '90s. I'd rather say he's underrated: the guy who wrote the leads for Creeping Death, The Shortest Straw, Master of Puppets, Damage Inc (etc) does absolutely not deserve the bashing he got in the last 20 years.

For me, the most overrated player these days is Ola Englund. He's a monster in recording stuff, but as a guitar player, he's nothing more than an average guy. He's a cool guy, a fine sound engineer/producer, a decent player, but he hasn't shown anything special as a player. If I ever was to get private lessons from any known player, he would be the last on my list, right with the guy from Green Day.

Ola writes some monstrous riffs.

As for Kirk... his peak was really Ride The Lightning IMO, solos-wise. I mean... listen to the solo on Wherever I May Roam. That's not even "meh", that is a genuinely horrible solo that makes me want to turn the song off. Most of his solos are pretty boring and samey to my ears. And Jesus Christ, why the f*ck can't he shut up with the wah pedal? Him using wah on all his solos is like taking a bland, flavourless cake and smearing shit all over it for icing.

I do still love early Metallica, but to be honest, most of what I love about it is Hetfield and Cliff.

 

[Esp Griffyn]

Yngwie Malmsteen.

He might be good but in my opinion: His tone sucks, his attitude sucks even more and to me all his leads sound the same.

But well... I guess that all is based on my musical interest. Long story short: I hate "Shred-Metal"

No seriously, I just can't listen to that guy for longer than a minute.

I agree with some points here, Yngwie has about 4 or 5 stock licks that he alternates between and makes his playing sound very one dimensional, his attitude stinks and he doesn't know how to "play to the song" at all (watch him soloing away over the top of Vai and Satch on the dvd when they are meant to be taking turns on the jam songs) etc, but his tone and his vibrato are superb.

 

[oniduder]

steve vai, joe satchmo and misha, i feel like i just did something bad oh well

 

[DarkWolfXV]

Ola writes some monstrous riffs.

Weak, boring, generic and tasteless jumpda....up "groove metal" riffs. Really horrible. He is better as a producer and amp tester than a songwriter. Ola is totally overrated.

 

[BIG ND SWEATY]

What difference is it if you have friends that are massive fans? It's your opinion that is involved in the discussion here.

Saying they wrote 'a cool riff here and there' is grossly naive by any stretch which serves to illustrate you're looking at this subjectively - not objectively.
You're entitled to your opinion as is everyone else here, but personal preference is rarely a true indicator of facts.

Granted, Death didn't have much commercial success but Pantera did.
They were regarded so highly because both were pioneers in their respective fields that heavily influenced the following generations of guitarists and will no doubt continue to influence for years to come. That's the true measure of success.

this entire thread is about opinions and personal preferences so im not quite sure what you're trying to say there.

who do you think is getting way more attention than they deserve?

^ taken from the first post of the thread.

i think you're letting your own opinions of Chuck and Dime get in the way, if you notice im probably the fourth or fifth person who has mentioned Dime as being overrated.

saying they wrote a cool riff here and there isn't naive, its my opinion. just because they were innovators doesn't mean i have to regard them as legends or enjoy their playing.

 

[drgamble]

Yeah it counts for money in the pocket of the artist, record companies, investors and shareholders. Unfortunately we're not discussing earning potential, or your comment might have some merit, we're discussing artistic and technical accomplishment against perceived accomplishment. Justin Bieber makes a living from "singing", doesn't mean he is a talented singer in the slightest. "Making a living" from your music is only a sign of what enough people enjoy enough to pay for, it doesn't have anything to do with the ability of the artist.

My pick above was Clapton, so you don't have to give me the speech about money not equaling talent. Most of the guys that have been mentioned on this thread were never lauded as the greatest guitar player in the world like Clapton.

The funny thing about this is that the best players are people that most have never heard of. The ones that are lauded as the best either revolutionized music in their heyday, or were largely successful (record sales).

So what are we talking about when it comes to being overrated? Technique, versatility, style? Does it come to how many people know the riffs and solos by the player?

 

[Metal-Box]

I'm really glad this has been civil so far.

In relatively new around here and am very impressed with the general character of this message board.

Thanks!

 

[SoItGoesRVA]

Chuck was (IMO) a monster player and front-man, no clue how he's overrated. Listen to Sound of Perseverance and Scream Bloody Gore side by side to see the musical growth. Back to over-rated guitarists however, I second Misha and Alexi, and nominate the wankfest artists from IWABO.

 

[drgamble]

I also think that one cannot really compare guitar players nowadays with guitar players from the past. Since the Internet age, we have educational materials, videos, lessons, etc at our fingertips. I grew up in a time where there wasn't the Internet, you only had magazines, books, or VHS tapes. You had to pay for that crap. Guys like Jimi Hendrix learned by playing a whole lot and not doing as much studying. Technology has allowed the explosion of some really phenomenal players. That may be why many of the older guitar players are recognized so much. Anyway, this thread is pointless.

 

[CrownofWorms]

The Whitechapel Trio. I just don't find them interesting! Otherwise, someone persuade me.

When was Whitechapel ever considered to be a band of guitar center wank heroes?

 

[Curt]

Same here, but you still get guitarists who have a low level of technical ability being hailed as "guitar gods", especially by rags like NMW and Q. This thread is not about the technical factor, it's about who is perceived as better than they really are.

In that case, I could name at least 100 more.

 

[Don Vito]

Orianthi

Only legit post in the entire thread.

I agree with Alexi, Roope is 20x better than he is.

If we're talking solos, I haven't heard anything from Roope that compares to Alexi circa 1999-2003. Good guitarist for sure, but not substantially better than Alexi. His solos in Bodom usually suck too, but that's not a good judgment of him overall.




With that being said, as much of an Alexi fanboy that I am, I'll agree that he's overrated. Most of his licks are rehashed Yngwie(old)and Ozzy licks, but he has a good sense of melody and wrote my favorite album of all time(Follow the Reaper).

I'll throw in Chuck from Death. Great songwriter, but his riffs were downright boring and repetitive, even up to the melodic based riffing of the later albums. His solos were nothing to write home about either.

 

[wannabguitarist]

I had no idea Roope played that solo^

 

[CrownofWorms]

It's ironic. People will complain about all of these guys since it's not what they like. But look at the things these guys wrote and how much of an influence they put upon............almost all of us.

I mean when I was younger I totally wanted to be the next Dimebag and Alexi. And then I wanted to be the next Chuck Schuldiner.

 

[Hyacinth]

That's what I said



You must be a young guy. When Pantera was a glam band, metal was extremely popular. When Pantera emerged with their heavy sound in the early 90s, metal was NOT popular. Grunge effectively killed heavy metal's popularity in mainstream music. In spite of that, Pantera enjoyed the height of their success during this time, and the style of music they were playing was heavier than anything else. Dimebag was largely responsible for that, whether you like him or not.

And you're right, Pantera broke up in 2003, but they played their last show in August of 2001. Dimebag was killed in December of 2004. So Dimebag's death comes after over 3 years of the last time Pantera played together.

Being young doesn't really have anything to do with it. I wasn't even born before Jimi Hendrix died and I fully appreciate and love his work. The same goes for many bands that hit the height of their popularity before I was born, I love a lot of music from before my time. Pantera just doesn't do anything for me. There were a lot of other bands playing heavy music in the 90s. Slayer was a pretty badass band that released some heavy material in the 90s also.

 

[BucketheadRules]

Alexi has been playing much worse recently but I will concede, from 1999 to about 2003 he was incredible.

Follow The Reaper has some superb lead guitar moments on it. Great songs too. And much better vocals than he's doing now.

 

[Don Vito]

Alexi has been playing much worse recently but I will concede, from 1999 to about 2003 he was incredible.

Follow The Reaper has some superb lead guitar moments on it. Great songs too. And much better vocals than he's doing now.

Live, I don't agree. He's getting better, but the vocals are still really bad.
CHILDREN OF BODOM 'Downfall' SONISPHERE FRANCE Amnéville 9.06.2013 - YouTube

Album wise, the solos are weaker I'll agree. Riff wise, the newest one was an improvement. Little to no groove metal/metalcore riffs

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

It's ironic. People will complain about all of these guys since it's not what they like. But look at the things these guys wrote and how much of an influence they put upon............almost all of us.

I agree. I bitch about Kirk Hammett a lot, but if it wasn't for those early 80's Metallica records, my picking wrist would be weak as .....