Who is the best guitarist with the worst technique?

[vark]

Joel omans probably top 5 in the world right now, he is technically amazing but has “bad” technique in the sense that he breaks a lot of traditional rules of guitar position, and lifting the left hand high off the fretboard, as well as using his whole arm to pick. Doesn’t seem to matter at all for him tho lmao, but he could possibly be even better if he “fixed” those things

 

[TedEH]

shred like a demon

Too bad you can't hear any of what he's playing in those videos. It sure looks impressive, but he could be playing any number of things and I don't know if I'd hear a difference. Did he miss a note somewhere? Is it jazz? Does it make any difference how fast you're going if it's all a-melodic chugs and the same sweep pattern?

 

[nightsprinter]

View attachment 147334

Seizure response picking

 

[Wiltonauer]

First thought that came to my head.

Also shoutout to John Petrucci, dedicated pinky anchorer. Any time I hear someone on the internet say "don't anchor your pinky" I just think about how JP is better than them at guitar

I’ve built a better life for myself by using the pinky anchor. Plain strings, second octave? Pinky anchor!

 

[Screamingdaisy]

First name that popped into my head is James Iha.

He's nowhere near as good as those already mentioned, but he was the first guy I saw playing guitar where I said, "WTF" while watching him play.

 

[bmtf]

I basically taught myself how to play guitar along to Deftones songs. I don't think of them as having technique though, just going hard and turning up. Matter of fact, MY technique sucks, but its probably the neck profile

 

[Tarzan_on_bass]

There an Insta guitarist called Shred King or something who can, yes, shred like a demon but his fingers are always crazy splayed and flying everywhere. He is so much better than I'll ever be but it's so painful to watch.

This guy:

I dig Infant Annihilator, Rings of Saturn, and even some Berried Alive - but this is just...excessive.

What does the DI signal sound like

 

[BenjaminW]

John Sykes as much as I idolize him has had me go WTF with his right arm. It just looks like he has it both really far back and his hand is extremely loose during certain parts or phrases. There's also some pinky anchoring he does, all in this video. Even some fiddling with the knobs and pickup selector all in the middle of a song.


In addition, he's also a monster elbow picker. The solo to Crying in the Rain is no fucking joke.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Chuck Johnson



Goofy picking hand and spastic fretting hand, but damn it works.

 

[Tarzan_on_bass]

I'm transfixed by his picking hand whenever i see a video of him playing. It curls over so weirdly when he's on the high strings, and it doesn't look like that position could be doing any string muting of the lower strings at the same time. It's so strange.

That upward angling reminds me of this technique Dean Lamb uses in Remote Tumor Seeker...he says he learned it from Troy Grady.