Who's the cleanest electric guitar player you've heard

[thesnowdog]

Other than many already mentioned, I've always been impressed by Bryan Aspey.

 

[Dawn of the Shred]

John petrucci, Jason richardson, Peter joseph, are just a few i can think of.

 

[jco5055]

I might catch some flak for this, but Michael Angelo Batio is probably the cleanest I've ever heard. The dude is weird and only has written a few songs that are worth listening to (Rain Forest, China, Prog, and No Boundaries are actually pretty cool). His playing is absolutely clinical. He just doesn't make mistakes.

Probably a close second is John Petrucci, who writes infinitely more interesting stuff in Dream Theater (plus Suspended Animation is pretty badass).

Maybe it's just me but I always thought that MAB was fast but his playing was rather simple, like if you get his instructional dvds that his playing on actual songs pretty much uses the exact scale and arpeggio shapes on the dvds. Like there is NEVER a point where he has an interesting/weird fingering pattern.

Or maybe it's possible to arrange every lead phrase ever to an "easy" and familiar shape, and he just does that? Like one could arrange the "Under a Glass Moon" solo to shapes that are found in the Speed Kills dvds, and if one has diligently practiced them could learn that (and any) solo a lot easier?

 

[TheBloodstained]

I kinda wanna say David Gilmour, but it might just be the Gilmour fanboy talking though?
His playing has always been a very big inspiration for me.

And what about Jeff Loomis? He pulls of some insane sweep patterns without missing a note

 

[porknchili]

In no particular order:

- Anton Svedin (Soreption)


- George Bellas


- Paul Waggoner (Between The Buried And Me)


- Richie Allan (Heavy Metal Ninjas)


- Mats Haugen (Circus Maximus)


- Christian Muenzner (Obscura/Alkaloid/Necrophagist)


Others I'm too lazy to link:
Paul Gilbert, Jeff Loomis, John Petrucci (not so much recently), Stephan Forte, Al Joseph, Rick Graham, Wes Hauch, Paul Wardington, Andy James, Shawn Lane, Vinnie Moore, Greg Howe, Nicholas Llerandi, Mikko Salovaara, and Alex Silkin.

 

[will_shred]

Loomis, Gilbert, Becker, and Govan for me.

 

[axxessdenied]

No mention of Malmsteen?



Funny, one of my buddies was recording lead for a track and doing some sweep stuff. HE wasn't happy with the takes because there was too much string/pick noise.
HIs producer is like... "nah man, even yngwie has noise when he plays"
The producer then plays back a track him and yngwie recorded that wasn't editted at all... "Never mind." LOL.

 

[LeffJoomis]

Jeff Loomis, Jason Becker, Guthrie Govan. Gonna see Govan live in a couple weeks!

 

[in-pursuit]

Super disappointed we got to page 2 before anyone mentioned Tom Quayle. Also super LOL at whoever said John McLaughlin! Don't get me wrong, he's in my top 10 musical influences but he's almost on the same level as Hendrix as far as being loose with his playing.

 

[Addison90]

Also super LOL at whoever said John McLaughlin! Don't get me wrong, he's in my top 10 musical influences but he's almost on the same level as Hendrix as far as being loose with his playing.

Except that McLaughlin play complex lines when he play fast, not fast sequences and symmetrical fingering patterns over static chord like Batio. He's not as clean as Gambale or Holdsworth, but he's doing a pretty 'clean' job for playing fast and complex lines over any type of changes, with alternate picking (not legato).

 

[in-pursuit]

Not that anything you're saying isn't accurate or that I disagree, but .... me if Holdsworth doesn't satisfy the criteria of playing super clean over super complex chord and scale changes more so than McLaughlin.

 

[djyngwie]

Lots of good suggestions so far.

I've never listened to Rage, but I remember somebody posting a Victor Smolski live solo video (which of course I can't find atm) and I remember thinking his playing was pretty damn clean. Maybe not absolute top of the list, but not a name I see thrown around a lot.

 

[redstone]

Except that McLaughlin play complex lines when he play fast, not fast sequences and symmetrical fingering patterns over static chord like Batio. He's not as clean as Gambale or Holdsworth, but he's doing a pretty 'clean' job for playing five minutes of fast and complex random lines that over any type of changes, with alternate picking (mostly) (not legato).

Fixed. Won't say McLaughlin is the cleanest alt picker, but it's important to take into account the concentration (amount/time) and preparation.

 

[redstone]

Not that anything you're saying isn't accurate or that I disagree, but .... me if Holdsworth doesn't satisfy the criteria of playing super clean over super complex chord and scale changes more so than McLaughlin.

It's easier to clean things up when the only purpose of one's picking hand is to pick a few strings here and there and mute all the others.

 

[in-pursuit]

well if you want to take that approach to the comparison then yes, McLaughlin IS a much cleaner player than anyone else in the world at doing EXACTLY what he does. but in a realistic and sensible discussion about "clean playing", taking into account that McLaughlin and Holdsworth are both from a fairly similar part of the musical spectrum (jazz/rock/fusion), notably of course both have a large improvisational component to their music, are also of a relatively similar vintage and have had a similarly lengthy career in music, you cannot deny that it is a pretty fair comparison if ever there was one and that Holdsworth is on another level of "clean" entirely.

to say that you can't compare them because one employs gratuitous amounts of legato compared to the other is just a little bit silly isn't it?

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I'm not informed on professional guitarists personal hygiene, but I would say Slash doesn't rank very high and even Steve Vai is a bit sick since he once suggested to wash hands very few times to preserve callouses.
Life on tour buses is also very hard to keep clean.

Jokes aside I would say Paul Gilbert is crazy clean.

 

[redstone]

to say that you can't compare them because one employs gratuitous amounts of legato compared to the other is just a little bit silly isn't it?

It objectively needs more work to clean up Mclaughlin licks. Holdsworth might sound more sophisticated but his technical approach is less demanding.

 

[pwsusi]

page 2 and NO Vinnie Moore,I am disappointed in sso...

I'm with you man... Vinnie gets my vote!

 

[mr_rainmaker]

I'm with you man... Vinnie gets my vote!

minds eye album and time odyssey album smooth is the only words
meltdown was cool but a big step in a different direction he needed to take at the time,but I`m still
holding and a slot of his fans are still waiting for a another album like his first 2.

 

[pwsusi]

minds eye album and time odyssey album smooth is the only words
meltdown was cool but a big step in a different direction he needed to take at the time,but I`m still
holding and a slot of his fans are still waiting for a another album like his first 2.

I couldn't agree more. First two albums were fantastic. Time Odyssey was especially killer. Not that his playing on Mindseye wasn't great, but the writing on Time Odyssey set it apart in my opinion. Mindseye sounded a little more like the other shred records of the day (although his playing IMO was a cut above most of the others).

He's still a great player and probably more well rounded now, but I got a little sad when I heard him talk in an interview about those early records and how he could probably never do anything like that again. He said the number of hours he was practicing back then was insane and he was at a different level. I do love how he's gotten more into hybrid picking and his technique with that stuff is great too.

I also liked his tone and how it was very clean...not a lot of overdrive compared to a lot of the other shredders, but had a very fluid/creamy sound. You could tell his tone was very unforgiving and every imperfection would be heard if you were playing with that tone. But with his hands it sounded fantastic because he was so clean and every note was crystal clear.