51 replies to this topic

[keith crime]

Time’s top 10

Supposedly, this is a tribute to Les Paul.

It’s pretty hard to **** up a top ten list this badly, you have to really work hard.

Putting Slash at number 2 is a good start.

Leaving off Eddie Van Halen gets you very close to home.

This entry though seals the deal.

Yngwie Malmsteen


The Swede’s superfast “neo-Classical” style —he credits Bach and Paganini as influences—is a blur of scales and technical precision. It almost makes you forget that the great bulk of his music is so fast that it’s unlistenable.

Uh, if most of his music is unlistenable, then he isn’t a very good guitar player. This isn’t Guitar Hero - you don’t get masturbation points.

[outsider13]

This list is absolutely horrible. How can Eddie VH get left off that list??? I like Malmsteen personally, but hes more of a classically trained rocker. If you include him, you may as well include Nuno Bettencourt. I'd put Randy Rhoads well above Malmsteen.

Van Halen and even Randy Rhoads revolutionized metal. I guess nobody cares though.

[outsider13]

Just looked at Rolling Stone's top 100

70 Eddie Van Halen

The sound-obsessed Van Halen makes even simple lines sound like towering chorales and pioneered all kinds of tricks, such as fingers hammering the fretboard. Van Halen sought something different from his rock peers: music that was defiantly arty, but never so much so that it lost touch with devastating hooks.

I guess I was right, nobody cares.

[Pot Odds RAC]

Yeah. The Rolling Stones list was terribad. I like Jack White, but putting him in the top ten...? And EVH @ 70 way below Joan Jett?!?!?!?

...but that Time list is just stoopid. No EVH and no SRV kills it.

[timwakefield]

I feel like Time's top 10 is not in order, it's just their 10 favorites. The only reason I think that is because they start you at #1. I mean, I guess I'm torn because Jimi should absolutely without question be #1 on that list (and he seemingly is), but what kind of list starts at #1 and then gets worse!?

[theresa113]

Where is Nancy Wilson of Heart? I mean, the intro to Crazy On You is pure genius.

[Mercury69]

My favorite guitarists:

Frank Zappa

Justin Hayward (Moody Blues)

Danny Gatton

Jimmy Page

Mick Ronson (Bowie, Stones, Rolling Thunder Revue, etc)

Adrian Belew (Talking Heads, Bowie, Zappa, etc)

Kurt Cobain

[ajs510]

Holy thrown together piece of dogshit.

Les Paul himself would never place his name in consideration as a top 10 electric guitarist of all time, that's just absurd. Chuck Berry's ego would claim that he's top 10, but there's no effing way.

Johnny Ramone? C'mon now.

Add Tom Morello, add Randy Rhoads, add Kirk Hammett, and the fact that EVH and SRV aren't on the list automatically invalidates it.

[Mercury69]

Rhodes, Van Halen and SRV all deserve to be up there. Just because we got shortchanged in recorded material for Randy doesn't mean he wasn't incredi-awesome. Same goes for SRV, even if he was a tad derivative of Hendrix.

[ajs510]

Where is Nancy Wilson of Heart? I mean, the intro to Crazy On You is pure genius.

Not to mention super GD difficult.

[SBriand]

While I am not a huge fan of Slash, it does not surprise me to see him on the list. If he was actually listed as the #2 then I have an issue but he is a very underrated player and I think GnR and their actions take away from what he can do on a guitar.

SRV is an obvious choice to be in the top 10.

Joey? While he was a master at 3 chords I don't think top 10 material.

YM, yuck.

I am a huge Satriani fan and I would put him maybe 15-20.

Kirk Hammett was who inspired me to play guitar some 21 years ago and I still would not put him in top 10.

Tom Morello is a top 10 guitarist imo.

Jeff Beck as well.

Never was a big Van Halen fan but him not being in the top 10 is ridic.

This post would be better and more thought out if people would stop coming into my office...

[Pot Odds RAC]

Big 70's rock fan here and grew up lusting for the Wilson sisters. But one decent acoustic guitar vamp 35 second intro doesn't qualify you for the Top 10 best of all time. For Example, compare that to the acoustic work on "Mood for a Day" or "Clap" by Steve Howe or Lindsay Buckingham's work on "Never Going Back Again". Then try and name 3 other signature tunes of hers (please don't try and sneak "Dog & Butterfly" into this discussion). I believe that Howard Leese was more responsible for most of the Electric guitar work on their biggest hits, including "Crazy on You". She was (is) a great rock guitarist, but nowhere near top ten of all time.

I can almost accept Chuck Berry on a top ten or twenty list because of the influence he had on all of rock & rolll as well as R&B. He really helped establish and define how R&R riffs were written and how the guitar was used in modern music. Add in the fact that he had a racial barrier to overcome.

[Pot Odds RAC]

YM just can't even be a serious addition to a top ten, If you must have a "shredder" with classical runs, then yeah Satriani, Vai, Eric Johnson, or even Steve Morse would be better choices with my personal vote going to EJ.

[Mercury69]

Steve Vai, anyone?

[outsider13]

Crossroads is probably one of my all time favorite movies. The cutting heads scene was just awesome.

[JubilantLankyLad]

Crossroads is probably one of my all time favorite movies. The cutting heads scene was just awesome.

why no ry cooder on the list?

[Pot Odds RAC]

why no ry cooder on the list?

Not sure if this is a level, but he is talking about the scene from the movie where Steve Vai plays the Devil's Guitarist in a Guitar battle for Souls...

...but come to think of it I think there is a ton of Ry Cooder on the soundtrack

[JubilantLankyLad]

Not sure if this is a level, but he is talking about the scene from the Ralph Maccio movie where Steve Vai plays the Devil's Guitarist in a Guitar battle for Souls

ummm, ok.

ry cooder played all the "maccio" guitar parts and owns vai's soul. in real life, and in the movie.

[Pot Odds RAC]

ummm, ok.

ry cooder played all the "maccio" guitar parts and owns vai's soul. in real life, and in the movie.

Agreed. Forgot about Ry Cooder's involvement in the Movie

...but I think Arlen Roth played a lot of Maccio's guitar parts.

[outsider13]

Ry Cooder is def awesome too.

Also fwiw, Steve Vai played Macchio's classical parts, Cooder played the blues......so Vai really owned his own soul at the end.