Who are some of your favorite underrated guitarists? Let us know in the comments! For more Music content, check out our playlist!: th-cam.com/video/RM2qnYCnnkY/w-d-xo.html
Yeah people don’t realize that he played guitar on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ except for EVH’s solo. Everyone I’ve talked to think it was Eddie playing the whole song.
@@wmrphotography7349 Yes, most do think it’s all Eddie. And most people don’t know that Eddie almost ruined the song because he cut the tape too short when he tried to do his own edit, and the guys from Toto had to go back in and re-record. Most people don’t know that Thriller is effectively a Toto album.
Steve Lukather of Toto. In addition to the band, he was a prolific studio musician from the late 70s to the early 90s. Check out the two-minute solo at the end of Lionel Richie's "Running With the Night." That was take ZERO. He didn't know it was being recorded. He walked into the studio, set up, and said, "What key is the song in?" A minor. "OK, roll the tape, let me fool around and get a feel for it."" Also, after the last chorus of Toto's "Rosanna," that whole instrumental thing was completely improvised.
There's another story similar to that from the band White Lion, when they were recording wait they came to the day when guitarist Vito Brata was too record the solo, he showed up at the studio that morning sat down and plugged into the recording console then played a few bars of what he considered "finger warm ups" (think yngwie malmsteen"warming up) and said "I'm ready to record" and the producer said "record?, I thought that was the solo and got it all on tape" and it made it to the finished release.
This who lost is wrong!! When have you ever hear Neil not getting credit or Nancy not getting it? No one has ever said Buckethead couldn’t play, they just made fun of his KFC headwear!! Steve Clark was the driving force behind def Lep’s best albums & rock fans/musicians know this!!
Alex lifeson, while not underrated as anyone who has heard him agrees he's a bestial player, is rather under appreciated in the guitar world. He deserves to be talked about more, his innovation and creativity, and his skill of course, are absolutely off the board
Where's MIck Mars? At least he should be in honourable list. The guy basically is the sound of Motley Crue. His riffs are iconic and immensely talented.
@@Ian666peace yeah I'm with you on this I've seen so many people saying "Mick mars is underrated" but the amount of people talking about Mick makes it so he isn't if that makes sense
@@Ian666peace i disagree, i think he is underrated enough. remember watching an interview with him somewhere where he mentioned being influenced by players like mike bloomfield, pretty solid player imo
@@skylarhumphrey7990 mate, he is not a legend. His riffs are literally all stolen from other guitarists... and Motley Crue is nor a legend band, it was trending at the time... that's all.
Steve Clark was my inspiration for picking up the guitar in the first place. I loved Leppard's clean riffs and solos that didn't go nuts like those of too many bands of the era.
Relate to this comment so much. Steve Clark also inspired me to play guitar. Love playing along to Def Leppard, their riffs are unique and melodic. Rip Steve Clark🎸🕊️
@@daveybuckyou5883 The solo on that song is just incredible. It’s no wonder he made at least two ‘Shut Up N’ Play Yer Guitar’ albums. He could really strut his stuff when he felt like it.
Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon. Especially, the pre-adult contemporary stuff. Songs like Golden Country, Son of a Poor man, 157 Riverside Ave, Ridin the Storm Out, Roll with the Changes, etc. Even his solo's on Keep on Lovin you and Take it on the Run are great. Steve Rothery of Marillion. He's been described as David Gilmour if he was in Genesis (prog Genesis not pop Genesis). One of the best prog guitarists ever. Rik Emmett of Triumph. Eric Johnson. Mick Mars of Motley Crue. Vito Bratto of White Lion. Steve Hackett of Genesis. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains. Terry Kath of Chicago. Just to name a few that I would include on underrated guitarists.
Underrated - Roy Buchanan Joe Pass Bill Nelson Brian Greenway Frank Marino Adrian Vandenburg Steve Morse Robin Trower Robben Ford Tommy Bolin Buck Dharma Alvin Lee
Not a single Mike Oldfield nod.... shame. He may not be a rocker, punker, blues hound, or whatever, but he will always be one of the greatest guitarists, composers, and musical visionaries of the past century. His influence is legitimately undeniable. The guy was the FIRST artist on Virgin Records and literally made Richard Branson... You want to talk about Prince playing all 20 instruments on his album? Oldfield played over 40! At the age of 18! A small group of us fans will continue to keep this legend in the mind of everyone. I have been with Watchmojo for so many years, and they consistently miss this S-tier artist every time...
@ Jameson, not disagreeing with Your comments on Mike, but Prince played at least 27 instruments and he was 17. He did that on his first 5 albums and also produced all of his albums and albums of other artists as well. He was also an amazing songwriter and vocalist. Until he played on My Guitar Gently Weeps at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 his guitar playing was very much overlooked by the general public and music writers/critics.
MAN!! Was Steve Clarke a good choice!! The same way Malcom Young was important to ACDC and Scott Ian was important to Anthrax. Not that it was too bad and I still love em, but notice how Def Leppard went straight pop almost after he was gone.
Leppard was going that way anyway, after hysteria was so successful they had already planned too lean harder into the big polished arena rock sound for what would become Adrenalize. Supposedly phill is in possession of a bunch of riff tapes and a few finished songs that were made/written by steve before he died which were intended to be used on the follow up too hysteria but after he died they got the same treatment that AC/DC gave to the finished written songs that were originally supposed to have been the follow up to Highway To Hell (put away in a safe place never to be recorded out of respect for Bon) for the same reason.
No mention of: Uli Jon Roth/Micheal Schenker: ex members of the scorpions/UFO (Schenker): considered by many to be the progenitors of the play style that would be widely popularized by EVH in the late 70's/early 80s, UJR is also considered a progenitor of the neo-classical shred metal style that would be popularized by Yngwie Malmsteen in the mid 80's with his monumental post scorpions solo releases between 1979 and 1982. Steve Lukathur: Toto/Various: probably one of the small few guitarists who can perform a shred metal style solo over the melody of what is basically a jazz rock track (Rosanna) live and not have it sound hideously out of place, he did all of the guitar work on thriller (barring the EVH guest spots) along with providing guitar tracks and a solo for the don henley classic dirty laundry, he's been credited on over 100 albums over the last 40 years. Steve Morse: Dixie Dreggs/Kansas/Deep Purple: What more needs to be said about the man who saved deep purple from extinction by bringing in his own unique play style (staccato free hand picking, a unique use of harmonics blended with beautiful usage of melody) and musical sensibilities (the dreggs were basically a jazz rock band) too a band that was in desperate need of inspiration and managed to knock home run after home run out of the park with a string of killer releases from 1996's Purpendicular too 2016's Now What!?. Steve Rothery: Marillion: Just listen to the gorgeous solos he plays on tracks like Estonia, Neverland (especially the extended live version) and Incommunicado, his unique combination of punk influences along with incredible technical skills on the level of david gilmore give every solo he plays a unique personality of its own with his work on their earliest releases being some of his best. Blackie Lawless: W.A.S.P: Just listen too The Crimson Idol, that is all. Jake E Lee: Ozzy Osbourne/Badlands: He fucking wrote Bark At The Moon in 20 minutes as a part of his audition for ozzy's band and it was a number one hit, then he wrote what is probably ozzy's strongest album (The Ultimate Sin) before moving on to badlands where he wrote hit after hit (all of which are considered lost media now because of Ray Gillen being an irresponsible asshole and fucking groupies knowing that he had aids) and his latest work has been amazing too, he's the guitarist that guys like kirk hammet talk about when they talk about the best guitarists they've ever heard who aren't really known outside the industry. Bruce Kulick: How do you combine 80's style shred metal with the classic kiss sound and not have it sound completely out of place? Hire someone who understands how to blend the melodic style of the space ace with just enough of eddie van halen to sound good and fit the music like bruce kulick without running away with himself on stage and basically vomiting up notes like the guys he replaced (Vinny Vincent/Mark St John) did, and I don't care what anyone says Revenge is the best album kiss has made since ace left in 1980. Tommy Bolin: James Gang/Tommy Bolin Band/Deep Purple: eagles legend Joe Walsh had nothing but glowing praise for bolin but he got a raw deal in purple because the fans were mad that blackmore was gone, those albums he did with purple in the mid 70's were an amazing blend of hard rock jazz blues and funk and tommy's playing just worked so perfectly, I still love his style of playing the riff too smoke on the water in a completely different method than anyone else has played it while still keeping it 100% recognizable.
Terry Kath deserves more than an honorable mention. He was probably one of the best guitarists of the '70s that flew under the radar, and Chicago was never the same after his death.
Jimi Hendrix said Kath was his favorite guitarist and was better than him. They were planning on recording together before Jimi died. Terry Kath was beyond amazing. And as good as his recorded work was, the zone he entered when he played live was incredible. I'll never understand why he isnt right there with Van Halen and Hendrix and Page on these lists. Eric Clapton? Give me a break. I don't get it.
A few honorable mentions I'd add: Gary Rossington of Lynrd Skynrd, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Ry Cooder, John 5, James Martin of Faith No More, Rick Derringer, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and J Masics of Dinosaur Jr.
I loved cult of personality...nice to see african americans going back ..to bring out some thing new from hard rythimic rock...imagine if jimmy was still around with them today...
Seriously? No Steve Lukather? Easily the most underrated guitarist of all time. ….Althought I’m glad that Steve Clark was included and got the love he deserves.
Lukather was my first choice. I saw Toto right before Hydra was released and he blew me away. I was telling this guy at work that I thought he might have been the best guitarist I had ever seen (and I had seen a lot) and he thought I was nuts. Pretty much sums up the lack of respect he got.
I'm glad you mentioned Robert Fripp. However, you missed a King crimson alumni, Adrian Belew. His work with Bowie, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa are legendary.
When Fripp was 20 I immediately though Belew would be further up the list, as I feel he’s the more underrated of the two and equally as unique. Talking heads and when Reznor wants a studio guy it’s who he’s called.
Whenever I see these lists, I'm always hoping to see Steve Howe's name pop up. He's had a career lasting over 50 years with bands such as Yes and Asia, not to mention his solo work. He is truly gifted with nearly every string instrument he puts his hands on. Very underrated IMO. Steve Lukather (Toto) is another guitarist I feel doesn't get enough recognition.
One I was looking to see here was Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick. Living in the Midwest U.S., I’ve been able to see a lot of Cheap Trick and Rick is a top notch entertainer, guitarist and craftsman when it comes to guitar.
Billy Gibbons was my top choice. You know you're good when Jimi Hendrix called you his favorite. My second was Prince. You often hear his name mentioned as an over all performer, singer, or songwriter, but his guitar skills are not talked about nearly as often.
@@Die-Angst "Was" meaning before I watched the video. I read the title and those two immediately popped into me head. Then I watched the clip and confirmed that they both were indeed listed. Was, as in past tense of the time I wrote the comment.
Actually there's a popular saying where Hendrix was asked "what does it feel like to be the greatest guitarist?" And Hendrix replies "I don't know, ask Rory Gallagher." Buckethead has to be the most underrated and blows Billy Gibbons to smithereens
Tommy Shaw, James “JY” Young, Martin Barre, Frank Zappa, Warren Haynes, Buck Dharma, Jeff Carlisi, and Paul Kossoff are all extremely underrated guitar players that deserve more recognition.
Buck Dharma gets recognition from all the greats. Unfortunately, BOC's commercial success didn't do much to reflect his talent. Nor the rest of the band's for that matter.
One guy I think should’ve been considered for this list is Gary Richrath from REO Speedwagon. They made some really good songs like Time for me to fly, Take it on the run, Keep on loving you and Can’t fight this feeling. The band wouldn’t have as much success if Gary and lead singer Kevin Cronin weren’t a great duo. Even though he did leave in 1989 I think his talent with the guitar really helped REO make a name for themselves during their hay day.
Interesting comment. On the one hand you'll get guys like Nathan saying Richrath was great and got the credit he deserved. But, I tend to disagree. REO Speedwagon's popularity exploded in lage part because of what's his face (the singer) writing syrupy songs that captured a larger female audience which I think may have lead to them losing a lot of hard core fans from the early days. I also think this detracted a bit from Richrath's reputation as a great rock guitarist. So in that sense, I do agree he is underrated, or at least underappreciated.
Chris DeGarmo formerly of Queensrÿche. Not only was he a great guitar player with a unique style and tone, he is a phenomenal backup singer, and a solid songwriter.
I don't event know any song ls from Prince, I've never heard Purple Rain (yet) but I at least know that was his Magnus Opus and even with all that I knew he was greatly remembered for his crazy Guitar Skills and weirdness
Surprised to see Prince and Mark Knopfler in this list. They're too well renowned to be "underrated". I was half expecting to see Terry Kath up there as number one with some of the stuff I've seen of him (Check out a live version of Dialogue Parts One and Two).
Just because they are popular doesn’t mean they can’t be underrated. Prince I think is far more idolized for being prince than talked about for his musicianship. Like he isn’t really brought up when talking about amazing guitar players. It’s usually Eddie Van Halen or Jimi Hendrix. But never really prince. Lindsey Buckingham is another example. People love Fleetwood Mac but never talk about how great Lindsey Buckingham is as a guitar player. He’s popular but not really appreciated
Yes Sir! Rabin is an amazing musician, he's more complete then many, killer guitar player, great tones, great song writer, fantastic singer, and happened to replace one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived, Steve Howe… and did an incredible job of it.
Elliot Easton played perfect solos, in multiple styles, that always fit the song. Mini compositions. He is also a fantastic acoustic player, if you have heard some of his arrangements of popular songs. In addition, he has a great project called, TIKI God’s, a vibey instamental band.
Yeah Graham Coxon! He is a genius, one of my favorite guitar players ever, so much creative! I put more names on the list: 1. Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle, Faith No more, etc.) 2. David Fiuczynski (Screaming headless torsos) 3. Alain Johannes (Eleven, Chris Cornell, QOTSA, Them Creooked Vultures) 4. Billy Howerdel (A Perfect Circle) 5. Adrian Belew (King Crimson, Solo) This are the ones i can remember.
People for some reason always forget about Steve Lukather, and I think it's because they don't see the big picture of his career. For many, Toto just means the Africa or Hold the Line meme, but Steve Lukather is one of those musicians who have left a huge mark on the music scene. Lukather recorded over 1,800 albums only in the 70's, 80's and 90's. He participated with the most recognized and important musicians in history, such as Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Donna Summer, Alice Cooper, Olivia NJ, Chris Cross, The Tubes, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones, just to name a few. The guy can play from hard rock to funk and Jazz Fusion with one hand... It's very sad that he is so underestimated just because he was not part of a typical rock band
I still miss these guitarist on this list. Steve Rothery - marillion George kooymans - Golden Earring Glen Campbell Jan Akkerman - Focus Tom Scholz - Boston
In case anyone was wondering Mark Knopfler, Robert Fripp, and Billy Gibbons were also on Watchmojo's countdown of greatest male guitarists as well. How can they be both greatest of all time and underrated?
I believe that in this case it is simply WatchMojo not paying any attention (at all) to their previous content. However, it could argued to be both plausible and possible to be one of the greatest of all time and "underrated" if they intended to that mean that they were either a) better known for other aspects of their talents or b) lacked recognition in that they were not household names in and of themselves. An example would be Dire Straits as a band having far more name recognition than Mark Knopfler himself to the average person; whereas Eddie Van Halen potentially had as much recognition as Van Halen itself. If that was there intent then I could see their reasoning. I cannot stress strongly enough the 'if' in my argument because I doubt that this was WatchMojo's intent. To put it in blunt terms, they just fucked this up. Which, historically speaking, is a trend they tend towards.
A bit of an odd choice I suppose but if there’s someone I feel needs to be hyped more or get honorable mention for their guitar skills, my pick would have to be Glen Campbell. The man was straight out talented, and I’m always in a trance looking at his guitar skills. There’s quite a few vids on TH-cam as well Just showcasing his amazing skills, I’d highly recommend it. Still a great choice and selections of artists nonetheless. Though I have to wonder if Prince is underrated, I suppose he’s more known for being the entire package of talents instead of just a straight up guitarist.
Not sure Prince is what you can call underrated. Everyone knows he is a great guitarist. There are a couple of names who can be considered underrated guitarists: George Lynch of Dokken/Lynch Mob/KXM and other bands, Steve Lukather of Toto fame who also played on some of the top albums and was one of the most sought after session guitarists of the 80s including playing on some of the biggest albums of all time.
In the 80's George Lynch & Warren DiMartini were killing it with their similar styles. In the era of the shredding guitar gods, many didn't take Prince that serious until later.
Agreed. Unless I just crawled out from under a rock, it's pretty well known how good Prince was on guitar, not to mention just about every single instrument he picked up.
I'd personally put Steve Clark higher, but if my username didn't make this obvious, I'm biased 😂 Beyond that, the exclusion of Mick Mars and Keith Scott from this list should be considered a crime, and by no means is Prince underrated. He's Prince for Gods' sakes! "Prince" and "underrated" do not belong in the same sentence
I think Nuno is one of the greatest guitarist on the planet. He started out very underrated but this days the man is amazing and in the spotlight. I feel that a lot of your list are not underrated they just didn't get the mainstream attention. They weren't the big thing at the time or they were but normal humans didn't even notice. Sometimes people get caught up in "Musical Boxes". Musicians would understand this.
Nuno bettencourt is not only a great guitarist, but he's also a great drummer, song writer, producer, singer and if this music thing doesn't work out, he could probably make it as a comedian. He's funny as hell 🤣♥️
I would say Terry Kath, Mick Taylor, Mike Bloomfield, and Gary Moore are the four "masters" of the instrument that don't get enough credit. I think a guy like Mick Mars might not be at the level of the aforementioned but is severely underrated as his badass guitar tones carry the majority of the load for Motley Crue, particularly live.
How people didn't know Prince was an amazing guitar player? He literally plays guitar in every live performance and video.... ... also Paul Gilbert of Mr.Big.. Tom Keifer of Cinderella .. Mark Kendall of Great White..
Still he’s not brought up much when talking about guitar players. When people talk about Prince they more so just like his music or just talk about him. They never really bring up his musicianship. Just because he’s popular doesn’t mean he can’t be underrated. He’s underrated because people don’t really pay attention much to his guitar playing even among guitar players. It’s mostly Hendricks, Van Halen, etc.,
How about Dave Davies of the Kinks? "You really got me "anyone?Wrote one of the greatest, if not The Greatest guitar Riff of all time !Those guys never got the credit + recognition they so deserved tremendously influential and extremely talented of course.
@Veggamattic Well.. if this was a real question, and not a rhetorical one, and if you're open to strange sounds, far away from hit material, you could try to listen to Temptation (more on the jazz side), Condition of the Heart ( but I admit that this one displays his piano skills more than his guitar skills), Crystal ball (if you're ready for highly strange stuff), The Ride (to get a glimpse of his blues side), Automatic or Something in the water ( the synthetic drums programmation is fantastic), 2 n*gs united for West Compton ( for the incredible bass solo. The guy wasn't that underrated as a guitarist, IMO, but he is absolutely underrated as a bassist. He seriously kicked butts with a bass in the hands, or a piano under the fingers) Or just try the side project Madhouse 8 (100% instrumental jazz in the middle of the 80's. They're only 2 musicians on this one: Eric Leeds who plays the sax and flutes, and Prince who plays every single other instrument ) Just to name a few of my favourites tracks, that can't be labeled " easy" or " pop" at all. You're welcome if you want to give a try. Once you go past the hits, you actually see that he was no jokes. It took me long to dive into his discography, I wanted to understand why he was considered as one of the best musician ever by fellows musician, and I understood, precisely when I started listening to his more obscure stuff, that wasn't calibrated to be a radio hit. There is no shame about giving a try and maybe, change your mind. Or maybe not, but this is only possible to decide after listening.
I think that you guys now need to make a list of the 10 most underrated rappers. I know who should be number one on that list and hes probably also one of the most underappreciated musicians, period....Weird Al.
I am *so* glad you included Neal Schon. The guy had Santana and Eric Clapton fighting over him before he was even 18. The man is so overlooked when it comes to acknowledging super talented guitarists.
To people who know, sure! Those of us who do have always known because we've heard more than a couple songs but, the general public does not know how much of a musical genius he was and how phenomenal he was on guitar.
Great to see Nancy Wilson here. You forget Steve Hackett though. His guitar playing is second to none. In my opinion, he could probably play Eddie Van Halen under the table. Great list though.
A quick list off the top of my head of under rated guitarists: Vito Bratta, Mark Kendall, Rik Emmett, Jake E. Lee (although during his prime in the mid to late 80's i don't think he was considered under rated, everyone knew who he was and he was on that list of "guitar heroes", but he quickly vanished, like Vito and I think the two are kinda forgotten. Tom Keifer, McRocklin, Jeff Healey, Tracii Guns (doesn't get the recognition he deserves), Criss Oliva, Frank Zappa, John 5 (although John is very well known within the guitar community, so is he under rated?
@@soonerproud - I feel like he never gets enough credit. Plus compared to Prince, who most people consider a god, I feel like he should be on this list. I enjoy both of their playing, so I guess it’s just a matter of semantics.
Lifeson should be #1. Prince was never underrated. And missed Steve Rothery from Marillion. So overlooked it was not even mentioned. Clearest, cleanest, most melodic and haunting solos ever.
So a few guitarists I feel are underrated who didn't make this list: Dweezil Zappa - Frank Zappa's son. Has guitar chops that rival the mighty Eddie Van Halen. Kee Marcello - Played guitar for Europe for a short stint - his melodic guitar playing was something else - the solo in the song superstitious is one of the best of all time. Criss Oliva - From Savatage. One of the most underrated guitarists in one of the most underrated bands of all time. Mike Slammer - awesome guitarist with a really distinctive sound who adds so much detail to his playing that other people fail to emulate. He did all the guitar solos for Warrants first 2 albums. Jan Akkerman - Played guitar in focus. Dude was doing sweep picking in the 70s. A fucking monster player with an amazing melodic ear that could rival Joe Satriani for coming up with melodies so good they didn't even need vocals. Vito Bratta - My personal favourite guitarist who fused the technical and creative ability of EVH, the melodic sense of Eric Johnson and the classical sensibility of Randy Rhodes. His guitar solos were like songs themselves, going places you don't expect yet feels perfect in every way. Harry Cody - probably the most "wild" sounding guitarist. From the band Shotgun Messiah and was pretty much the only good thing about that band. Dude knew how to work that whammy bar to his advantage and shredded his way through what otherwise would have been rather crap Glam Metal songs. Dan Harmon - A session player (he played the solo on Danger Zone) that is a LOT better than that solo suggests. Check out his band Giant, his two albums in that band are some of the greatest AOR ever made, with some blistering guitar work. Greg Howe - Jazz Fusion guitarist who was likely the main inspiration for Guthrie Govan - the guy could do such fluid and clean scale runs, and had a musicality that was a little beyond his peers. Steve Stevens: Did the guitar solo for the Top Gun Anthem. Also uses a raygun to create crazy effects with the guitar that you only hear from him. His album with Vince Neil really showcases how good he is. Allan Holdsworth - Honestly, this guy is on another level to pretty much everyone else. He's like an alien that wrote his own rulebook for how to make music that no one else can understand, and his guitar playing is so fluid and clean he sounds like a saxophonist, with what is imo the greatest legato technique ever. He was also widely influential to pretty much any guitarist that heard him, and while he's not as well known, his influence is all over the place.
Danny Kortchmar, Mike Rutherford, Vito Bratta, Stanley Jordan, Tim Reynolds, Doyle Dykes, Greg Koch, Steffen Shackinger, Jack Thammarat, Sam Coulson, Jan Akkerman, Martin Barre, Marty Friedman, Elliot Randall, Allen Collins, Phil Keaggy, Michael Hedges, Shawn Lane, Craig Clinton Chaquico, Joel Hoekstra.
Happy to see Larry LaLonde get a mention. While Primus is indeed an incredible band in one of my favorites, immediately people think of Les Claypool. But it takes an absolute madman to compliment Les eccentric playing & Ler does it fantastically
Eddie Hazel was an amazing guitar player. “Maggot Brain” is one of the all time best “solo” of all time. Ani is such an amazing person, musician, writer and kind individual. Her guitar playing is very emotional but she can totally rip, seen her about 10 times and every time it gets better and better
Isn't Prince like one of the go to guitarist people talk about especially when it comes to performing and looking cool? Hopefully he is not actually on this list and was just put into the thumbnail... But seriously though his While My Guitar Gently Weeps solo is one of the most pointed to thing in the guitar community.
But underrated isn’t meant to refer to ppl in the community. By definition, members of a community would appreciate the under appreciated. Prince is underrated, not bc he’s unappreciated in the guitar community, but bc even a large number of his fans don’t know he plays prolifically. The guitar gently weeps is only really known widely due to the TH-cam age and that brought his skills to prominence. He’s known as a singer first but only insiders and aficionados knew he was a master at the guitar. He’s right to be on this list
Wow, scrolling through all the comments I beginning to think I just imagined there was a guy named Roy Buchanan who played guitar. Definitely underrated 🎸.
Bill Nelson of BeBop Deluxe Mick Ronson, for David Bowie. Andrian Belew came much later Steve Hillage Steve Stevens on Top Gun , Billy Idol Ted Hale or Rick Derringer in "in collaboration with the Gods" Peter Green the first lead for John Mayall and Fleetwood Mac Ian Bairnson with Alan Parsons Project Steve Howe Snowy White, that other guitarist with Thin Lizzy Roy Buchannan on the tele Paul Kossof first guitarist with Free. Even Eric Clapton had to ask, "how do you that vibrato?" Tommy Bolin best replacement guitarist for Deep Purple. absolute killer solo sessions with Billy Cobham and Alphonso Mouzon
My first introduction to Nuno Bettancourt was Play With Me from Extreme’s debut and the Bill and Teds Excellent adventure soundtrack. That song shows just how good he is.
Honestly out of all GNR guitarists, Richard Fortus is easily the most underrated. He’s been with the band for twenty years, and is easily one of the top five best guitarists I’ve seen play live. The guy can shred and doesn’t get the credit he deserves
I would also put Charro, Dave Navarro, and John Mayer in this category. Larry Lalonde, Lindsey Buckingham, and Prince are absolutely underrated and glad they are on the list.
My most underrated 5 5. Chris Degarmo (Queensryche). This guy is also a great lyricist as well as backing vocalist 4. Rudolf Schenker (Scorpions). He is the best rhthym guitarist ever, but he plays all of the end solos on the Scorpions Power Ballads. Just for that, I rate him the number two lead player behind only his brother. 3. Akira Takasaki (Loudness). Guitarists and guitar purists know who this guy is. It is the casual fan who misses his brilliance. 2. Jim Matheos (Fates Warning). Heavily underrated band and Jim is a main reason why. Number 2 Prog Metal guitarist. 1. Criss Oliva (Savatage) Oh, how l I wish this guy hadn’t died when he was just achieving Super Stardom. Criss played most of his career by himself, just like all the great ones did. Savatage didn’t go to two guitarists until after he died. Both Ozzy Osbourne and Dave Mustaine wanted him to play in their bands.
No mention of Carlos Cavazo, Rick Nielsen, Carl Thomas Keifer, Akira Takasaki, Mark Reale, Lars Johannson, Mats Bjørkman, Brent Dorhner, Brian Forsythe, Buck Dharma, Mark Kendall or Chris Holmes etc.? You catch my drift, I’m requesting you do a volume 2 of this list, who agrees with me here?
Who are some of your favorite underrated guitarists? Let us know in the comments!
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ummmmmmmmm
Tommy Emmanuel
Brian Setzer
!!!!!!!!
Derek Trucks? Come on man...where's Derek Trucks?
George Lynch-Dokken
John McGeoch
J.Mascis.
Steve Lukather should be on this list. He’s probably the world’s most heard guitarist, but so many don’t know who he is.
Absolutely!
Yeah people don’t realize that he played guitar on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ except for EVH’s solo. Everyone I’ve talked to think it was Eddie playing the whole song.
@@wmrphotography7349 Yes, most do think it’s all Eddie. And most people don’t know that Eddie almost ruined the song because he cut the tape too short when he tried to do his own edit, and the guys from Toto had to go back in and re-record. Most people don’t know that Thriller is effectively a Toto album.
Luke also played bass on beat it.
fantastic player
Steve Lukather of Toto. In addition to the band, he was a prolific studio musician from the late 70s to the early 90s. Check out the two-minute solo at the end of Lionel Richie's "Running With the Night." That was take ZERO. He didn't know it was being recorded. He walked into the studio, set up, and said, "What key is the song in?" A minor. "OK, roll the tape, let me fool around and get a feel for it."" Also, after the last chorus of Toto's "Rosanna," that whole instrumental thing was completely improvised.
There's another story similar to that from the band White Lion, when they were recording wait they came to the day when guitarist Vito Brata was too record the solo, he showed up at the studio that morning sat down and plugged into the recording console then played a few bars of what he considered "finger warm ups" (think yngwie malmsteen"warming up) and said "I'm ready to record" and the producer said "record?, I thought that was the solo and got it all on tape" and it made it to the finished release.
Although they're both excellent, I don't think Prince or Mark Knopfler are underrated - they're both well known as great guitarists.
This who lost is wrong!! When have you ever hear Neil not getting credit or Nancy not getting it? No one has ever said Buckethead couldn’t play, they just made fun of his KFC headwear!! Steve Clark was the driving force behind def Lep’s best albums & rock fans/musicians know this!!
Ditto Billy Gibbons.
Exactly. Instead of them, I'd add Neil Giraldo, Warren DeMartini, and make Joe Walsh the #0 absolute top pick.
Alex Lifeson, Ann Wilson, Izzy Straddlin...
I've never seen any clips of Ann Wilson playing guitar, didn't even know she could. I know she played the flute on some of their early albums.
Alex lifeson, while not underrated as anyone who has heard him agrees he's a bestial player, is rather under appreciated in the guitar world. He deserves to be talked about more, his innovation and creativity, and his skill of course, are absolutely off the board
Good to see John Sykes on here. He was the driving force behind the 87 Whitesnake album both guitar wise and song writing.
and he was in the last lineup of Thin Lizzy!
Sykes is the most underrated guitarist ever hands down. He can shred with the best and play such beautiful melodies they send chills down your spine.
Where's MIck Mars? At least he should be in honourable list. The guy basically is the sound of Motley Crue. His riffs are iconic and immensely talented.
That’s what I was saying as well
No one thinks Mick Mars is underrated
@@Ian666peace yeah I'm with you on this I've seen so many people saying "Mick mars is underrated" but the amount of people talking about Mick makes it so he isn't if that makes sense
@@Ian666peace i disagree, i think he is underrated enough. remember watching an interview with him somewhere where he mentioned being influenced by players like mike bloomfield, pretty solid player imo
@@skylarhumphrey7990 mate, he is not a legend. His riffs are literally all stolen from other guitarists... and Motley Crue is nor a legend band, it was trending at the time... that's all.
Steve Clark was my inspiration for picking up the guitar in the first place. I loved Leppard's clean riffs and solos that didn't go nuts like those of too many bands of the era.
If you haven’t yet I recommend looking up the Steve Clark riff pretty incredible to see
@@donjohnson1596 Yeah, I've seen it. Whatshisface who has the Def Leppard covers channel went over it a few days ago.
Def Leppard hasn't been the same since Steve died. Rest in Peace, Steve.
Relate to this comment so much. Steve Clark also inspired me to play guitar. Love playing along to Def Leppard, their riffs are unique and melodic. Rip Steve Clark🎸🕊️
@@styx53oceanVivian Campbell is awesome. My favorite was Pete Willis in the original lineup.
John 5 is criminally underrated. He deserves more recognition for his work and talent.
Yeah, John 5 can play any tune on any guitar. And he seems like a pretty cool dude.
I would add Rik Emmett to this list for his masterful skill with All genres of guitar and Ty Tabor for his great rock stylings
Yeah, Rik was also an incredible singer, songwriter and stage performer.
Congratulations, my fellow KingsX fan. We know the superior talent of one Ty Tabor.
@Varity Topic Well if your going to stick with Canadian guitar players for underrated, than the list starts with Frank Marino
Was about to add Ric Emmett...I just think Triumph in general don't get the respect they deserve... Such a criminally underrated band..
@@dougsmith4812 totally agree
Martin Barre from Jethro Tull is fantastically underrated. Nick Drake on acoustic is stellar.
Yup
Jethro Tull sucks ass
Sincerely,
Every single Metallica fan
JA MARTIN BARRE DER LANGE BEI JETHRO TULL WAR,SYMPHATISCH, EIN EHER RUHIGER TYP IST EINER DER BESTEN ROCKGITARRISTEN,ER SPIELT ROCK-METAL-GUITAR❤😊
Frank Zappa is highly underrated. I saw him at Nassau coliseum in 1979 or 1980 and his guitar playing was phenomenal! Also, his solo was just amazing!
The riff on 'I'm So Cute' should be in the discussion for one of the best.
He thought he was a Man but he was a Muffin...
@@daveybuckyou5883 The solo on that song is just incredible. It’s no wonder he made at least two ‘Shut Up N’ Play Yer Guitar’ albums. He could really strut his stuff when he felt like it.
next to him, other guitarists seem to me like children in kindergarten
@@IvanIvanov-pc5cr that's a bold statement but it's true
Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon. Especially, the pre-adult contemporary stuff. Songs like Golden Country, Son of a Poor man, 157 Riverside Ave, Ridin the Storm Out, Roll with the Changes, etc. Even his solo's on Keep on Lovin you and Take it on the Run are great.
Steve Rothery of Marillion. He's been described as David Gilmour if he was in Genesis (prog Genesis not pop Genesis). One of the best prog guitarists ever.
Rik Emmett of Triumph. Eric Johnson. Mick Mars of Motley Crue. Vito Bratto of White Lion. Steve Hackett of Genesis. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains. Terry Kath of Chicago. Just to name a few that I would include on underrated guitarists.
Underrated -
Roy Buchanan
Joe Pass
Bill Nelson
Brian Greenway
Frank Marino
Adrian Vandenburg
Steve Morse
Robin Trower
Robben Ford
Tommy Bolin
Buck Dharma
Alvin Lee
Not a single Mike Oldfield nod.... shame. He may not be a rocker, punker, blues hound, or whatever, but he will always be one of the greatest guitarists, composers, and musical visionaries of the past century. His influence is legitimately undeniable. The guy was the FIRST artist on Virgin Records and literally made Richard Branson... You want to talk about Prince playing all 20 instruments on his album? Oldfield played over 40! At the age of 18! A small group of us fans will continue to keep this legend in the mind of everyone. I have been with Watchmojo for so many years, and they consistently miss this S-tier artist every time...
Amazing Blue Peter theme tune
@@Ian666peace Taurus 3 is one of the GOAT flamenco tunes!
@ Jameson, not disagreeing with Your comments on Mike, but Prince played at least 27 instruments and he was 17. He did that on his first 5 albums and also produced all of his albums and albums of other artists as well. He was also an amazing songwriter and vocalist. Until he played on My Guitar Gently Weeps at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 his guitar playing was very much overlooked by the general public and music writers/critics.
MAN!! Was Steve Clarke a good choice!! The same way Malcom Young was important to ACDC and Scott Ian was important to Anthrax. Not that it was too bad and I still love em, but notice how Def Leppard went straight pop almost after he was gone.
Leppard was going that way anyway, after hysteria was so successful they had already planned too lean harder into the big polished arena rock sound for what would become Adrenalize.
Supposedly phill is in possession of a bunch of riff tapes and a few finished songs that were made/written by steve before he died which were intended to be used on the follow up too hysteria but after he died they got the same treatment that AC/DC gave to the finished written songs that were originally supposed to have been the follow up to Highway To Hell (put away in a safe place never to be recorded out of respect for Bon) for the same reason.
No mention of:
Uli Jon Roth/Micheal Schenker: ex members of the scorpions/UFO (Schenker): considered by many to be the progenitors of the play style that would be widely popularized by EVH in the late 70's/early 80s, UJR is also considered a progenitor of the neo-classical shred metal style that would be popularized by Yngwie Malmsteen in the mid 80's with his monumental post scorpions solo releases between 1979 and 1982.
Steve Lukathur: Toto/Various: probably one of the small few guitarists who can perform a shred metal style solo over the melody of what is basically a jazz rock track (Rosanna) live and not have it sound hideously out of place, he did all of the guitar work on thriller (barring the EVH guest spots) along with providing guitar tracks and a solo for the don henley classic dirty laundry, he's been credited on over 100 albums over the last 40 years.
Steve Morse: Dixie Dreggs/Kansas/Deep Purple: What more needs to be said about the man who saved deep purple from extinction by bringing in his own unique play style (staccato free hand picking, a unique use of harmonics blended with beautiful usage of melody) and musical sensibilities (the dreggs were basically a jazz rock band) too a band that was in desperate need of inspiration and managed to knock home run after home run out of the park with a string of killer releases from 1996's Purpendicular too 2016's Now What!?.
Steve Rothery: Marillion: Just listen to the gorgeous solos he plays on tracks like Estonia, Neverland (especially the extended live version) and Incommunicado, his unique combination of punk influences along with incredible technical skills on the level of david gilmore give every solo he plays a unique personality of its own with his work on their earliest releases being some of his best.
Blackie Lawless: W.A.S.P: Just listen too The Crimson Idol, that is all.
Jake E Lee: Ozzy Osbourne/Badlands: He fucking wrote Bark At The Moon in 20 minutes as a part of his audition for ozzy's band and it was a number one hit, then he wrote what is probably ozzy's strongest album (The Ultimate Sin) before moving on to badlands where he wrote hit after hit (all of which are considered lost media now because of Ray Gillen being an irresponsible asshole and fucking groupies knowing that he had aids) and his latest work has been amazing too, he's the guitarist that guys like kirk hammet talk about when they talk about the best guitarists they've ever heard who aren't really known outside the industry.
Bruce Kulick: How do you combine 80's style shred metal with the classic kiss sound and not have it sound completely out of place?
Hire someone who understands how to blend the melodic style of the space ace with just enough of eddie van halen to sound good and fit the music like bruce kulick without running away with himself on stage and basically vomiting up notes like the guys he replaced (Vinny Vincent/Mark St John) did, and I don't care what anyone says Revenge is the best album kiss has made since ace left in 1980.
Tommy Bolin: James Gang/Tommy Bolin Band/Deep Purple: eagles legend Joe Walsh had nothing but glowing praise for bolin but he got a raw deal in purple because the fans were mad that blackmore was gone, those albums he did with purple in the mid 70's were an amazing blend of hard rock jazz blues and funk and tommy's playing just worked so perfectly, I still love his style of playing the riff too smoke on the water in a completely different method than anyone else has played it while still keeping it 100% recognizable.
Terry Kath deserves more than an honorable mention. He was probably one of the best guitarists of the '70s that flew under the radar, and Chicago was never the same after his death.
Jimi Hendrix said Kath was his favorite guitarist and was better than him. They were planning on recording together before Jimi died. Terry Kath was beyond amazing. And as good as his recorded work was, the zone he entered when he played live was incredible. I'll never understand why he isnt right there with Van Halen and Hendrix and Page on these lists. Eric Clapton? Give me a break. I don't get it.
Kath is in the top 5 of all time
he just didn't live long enough to get the recognition he deserved.
A few honorable mentions I'd add: Gary Rossington of Lynrd Skynrd, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Ry Cooder, John 5, James Martin of Faith No More, Rick Derringer, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and J Masics of Dinosaur Jr.
John 5 should’ve been on the list
I think Steve gains would be a better choice than Gary
I loved cult of personality...nice to see african americans going back ..to bring out some thing new from hard rythimic rock...imagine if jimmy was still around with them today...
Finally a list that includes Lindsey Buckingham. Sadly, he is one of the most overlooked guitar players.
Talking about unique!
And I would also add that Lindsay Buckingham is an underrated but totally gifted arranger, as were Prince and SRV.
And he solely uses fingerstyle
Indeed. "Never Going Back Again" is such a unique guitar based song. Lindsay deserves a lot more credit than he receives.
Seriously? No Steve Lukather? Easily the most underrated guitarist of all time.
….Althought I’m glad that Steve Clark was included and got the love he deserves.
Lukather was my first choice. I saw Toto right before Hydra was released and he blew me away. I was telling this guy at work that I thought he might have been the best guitarist I had ever seen (and I had seen a lot) and he thought I was nuts. Pretty much sums up the lack of respect he got.
I'm glad you mentioned Robert Fripp. However, you missed a King crimson alumni, Adrian Belew. His work with Bowie, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa are legendary.
When Fripp was 20 I immediately though Belew would be further up the list, as I feel he’s the more underrated of the two and equally as unique. Talking heads and when Reznor wants a studio guy it’s who he’s called.
Although he was not a shredder like Steve Vai, Frank Zappa is way underrated.
Whenever I see these lists, I'm always hoping to see Steve Howe's name pop up. He's had a career lasting over 50 years with bands such as Yes and Asia, not to mention his solo work. He is truly gifted with nearly every string instrument he puts his hands on. Very underrated IMO.
Steve Lukather (Toto) is another guitarist I feel doesn't get enough recognition.
Gotta give it to ya on Howe, I completely forgot about him. And somebody else mentioned Ty Tabor.
Mood For A Day
steve howe is on the queen song innuendo with brian may, the bit where it goes acoustic flamenco is a guitar duet between them
Steve Howe and Steve Hackett from GTR are very underrated
Howe is a genius, whatever his rating, he's one of the greatest that ever lived!
Buckethead is not only a great guitarist... but live, he puts on a truly unique performance. Saw him open for Primus a long while ago.
Martin Barre (Jethro Tull)
Mark Farner (Grand Funk)
Steve Rothery (Marillion)
Jeff LaBar (Cinderella)
Rothery's solo on Estonia gives me chills every time I hear it, it's just so haunting and beautiful.
One I was looking to see here was Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick. Living in the Midwest U.S., I’ve been able to see a lot of Cheap Trick and Rick is a top notch entertainer, guitarist and craftsman when it comes to guitar.
Billy Gibbons was my top choice. You know you're good when Jimi Hendrix called you his favorite. My second was Prince. You often hear his name mentioned as an over all performer, singer, or songwriter, but his guitar skills are not talked about nearly as often.
@@Die-Angst I assume they're saying before they saw the list
@@Die-Angst "Was" meaning before I watched the video. I read the title and those two immediately popped into me head. Then I watched the clip and confirmed that they both were indeed listed. Was, as in past tense of the time I wrote the comment.
Not underrated. everyone knows of them
Actually there's a popular saying where Hendrix was asked "what does it feel like to be the greatest guitarist?" And Hendrix replies "I don't know, ask Rory Gallagher."
Buckethead has to be the most underrated and blows Billy Gibbons to smithereens
Tommy Shaw, James “JY” Young, Martin Barre, Frank Zappa, Warren Haynes, Buck Dharma, Jeff Carlisi, and Paul Kossoff are all extremely underrated guitar players that deserve more recognition.
Isn't Paul Kossoff regarded as a legend?
@@toddgakk5783 He might be but I never see his name on various lists of great guitar players. Plus he rarely gets talked about.
@@mkwrockers0099 Wow. They should listen to the live version of 'the hunter'
Other so called great guitarists were scared witless by Paul Kossoff he was that good,that is why he isn't talked about by them.
Buck Dharma gets recognition from all the greats. Unfortunately, BOC's commercial success didn't do much to reflect his talent. Nor the rest of the band's for that matter.
One guy I think should’ve been considered for this list is Gary Richrath from REO Speedwagon. They made some really good songs like Time for me to fly, Take it on the run, Keep on loving you and Can’t fight this feeling. The band wouldn’t have as much success if Gary and lead singer Kevin Cronin weren’t a great duo. Even though he did leave in 1989 I think his talent with the guitar really helped REO make a name for themselves during their hay day.
Ummm you know this was an "Underrated" list right? Nothing Underrated about REO and Gary Richrath
@@natedg78 I just think compared to other relevant bands at the time they didn’t get enough recognition
100% agree. He is never mentioned as a great guitarist and he certainly was one.
Heard from a friend who, who heard it from another friend who....heard it from a friend who.....heard it from some other friend, who.....
Interesting comment. On the one hand you'll get guys like Nathan saying Richrath was great and got the credit he deserved. But, I tend to disagree. REO Speedwagon's popularity exploded in lage part because of what's his face (the singer) writing syrupy songs that captured a larger female audience which I think may have lead to them losing a lot of hard core fans from the early days. I also think this detracted a bit from Richrath's reputation as a great rock guitarist. So in that sense, I do agree he is underrated, or at least underappreciated.
Chris DeGarmo formerly of Queensrÿche. Not only was he a great guitar player with a unique style and tone, he is a phenomenal backup singer, and a solid songwriter.
You got that right. Awesome.
Prince? Underrated? Umm, are you sure about that?
I'd agree. His die hard's love him and know but outside of us, people are shocked at how amazing he was on guitar
I don't event know any song ls from Prince, I've never heard Purple Rain (yet) but I at least know that was his Magnus Opus and even with all that I knew he was greatly remembered for his crazy Guitar Skills and weirdness
Michael Nesmith and Glen Campbell.
He isn't brought up in conversations about the greatest ever.
Sadly yeah he is. Unless you’re a prince fan you don’t know how godly he is on guitar
Allan holdsworth, Greg lake, masayoshi takanaka, Steve Hackett, I’d say these are all respected by people who know at least
Surprised to see Prince and Mark Knopfler in this list. They're too well renowned to be "underrated". I was half expecting to see Terry Kath up there as number one with some of the stuff I've seen of him (Check out a live version of Dialogue Parts One and Two).
Jimi Hendrix actually said that Terry Kath played guitar better than he did. He called Kath the “Best Guitarist in the Universe.”
Just because they are popular doesn’t mean they can’t be underrated. Prince I think is far more idolized for being prince than talked about for his musicianship. Like he isn’t really brought up when talking about amazing guitar players. It’s usually Eddie Van Halen or Jimi Hendrix. But never really prince. Lindsey Buckingham is another example. People love Fleetwood Mac but never talk about how great Lindsey Buckingham is as a guitar player. He’s popular but not really appreciated
@@JacketsOnFire Yes, I see what you mean there 🙂 Good points 👍
Absolutely 100% underrated.
Trevor Rabin from YES!
Rocky George from Suicidal tendencies
Johnny Kelly from Type O Negative
Yes Sir! Rabin is an amazing musician, he's more complete then many, killer guitar player, great tones, great song writer, fantastic singer, and happened to replace one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived, Steve Howe… and did an incredible job of it.
Elliot Easton played perfect solos, in multiple styles, that always fit the song. Mini compositions. He is also a fantastic acoustic player, if you have heard some of his arrangements of popular songs. In addition, he has a great project called, TIKI God’s, a vibey instamental band.
Yeah Graham Coxon! He is a genius, one of my favorite guitar players ever, so much creative! I put more names on the list:
1. Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle, Faith No more, etc.)
2. David Fiuczynski (Screaming headless torsos)
3. Alain Johannes (Eleven, Chris Cornell, QOTSA, Them Creooked Vultures)
4. Billy Howerdel (A Perfect Circle)
5. Adrian Belew (King Crimson, Solo)
This are the ones i can remember.
People for some reason always forget about Steve Lukather, and I think it's because they don't see the big picture of his career. For many, Toto just means the Africa or Hold the Line meme, but Steve Lukather is one of those musicians who have left a huge mark on the music scene.
Lukather recorded over 1,800 albums only in the 70's, 80's and 90's. He participated with the most recognized and important musicians in history, such as Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Donna Summer, Alice Cooper, Olivia NJ, Chris Cross, The Tubes, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones, just to name a few. The guy can play from hard rock to funk and Jazz Fusion with one hand... It's very sad that he is so underestimated just because he was not part of a typical rock band
Rpbert Smith is the reason I bought a guitar. Love the sound. Thumbs up for including him.
Where’s Mick Mars? 🎸🤷🏼♂️ He DEFINITELY deserves to be on list!
For real that’s what I was saying
I still miss these guitarist on this list.
Steve Rothery - marillion
George kooymans - Golden Earring
Glen Campbell
Jan Akkerman - Focus
Tom Scholz - Boston
For me, Richard Z Kruspe and Paul Landers from Rammstein are extremely underrated.
Yessss!
I wholeheartedly agree to be honest the entire band is underrated
In case anyone was wondering Mark Knopfler, Robert Fripp, and Billy Gibbons were also on Watchmojo's countdown of greatest male guitarists as well. How can they be both greatest of all time and underrated?
I believe that in this case it is simply WatchMojo not paying any attention (at all) to their previous content.
However, it could argued to be both plausible and possible to be one of the greatest of all time and "underrated" if they intended to that mean that they were either a) better known for other aspects of their talents or b) lacked recognition in that they were not household names in and of themselves. An example would be Dire Straits as a band having far more name recognition than Mark Knopfler himself to the average person; whereas Eddie Van Halen potentially had as much recognition as Van Halen itself.
If that was there intent then I could see their reasoning. I cannot stress strongly enough the 'if' in my argument because I doubt that this was WatchMojo's intent. To put it in blunt terms, they just fucked this up. Which, historically speaking, is a trend they tend towards.
Billy Gibbons is both one of the greatest and underrated.
I like Izzy Stradlin's riffs. I also like Scott Ian.
A bit of an odd choice I suppose but if there’s someone I feel needs to be hyped more or get honorable mention for their guitar skills, my pick would have to be Glen Campbell. The man was straight out talented, and I’m always in a trance looking at his guitar skills. There’s quite a few vids on TH-cam as well Just showcasing his amazing skills, I’d highly recommend it.
Still a great choice and selections of artists nonetheless. Though I have to wonder if Prince is underrated, I suppose he’s more known for being the entire package of talents instead of just a straight up guitarist.
That's what pisses me off about these lists. The country players are always left out. And some of them are stupid talented
You just made me think of Roy Clark, dude can rip on several instruments.
Not sure Prince is what you can call underrated. Everyone knows he is a great guitarist. There are a couple of names who can be considered underrated guitarists: George Lynch of Dokken/Lynch Mob/KXM and other bands, Steve Lukather of Toto fame who also played on some of the top albums and was one of the most sought after session guitarists of the 80s including playing on some of the biggest albums of all time.
In the 80's George Lynch & Warren DiMartini were killing it with their similar styles. In the era of the shredding guitar gods, many didn't take Prince that serious until later.
Agreed. Unless I just crawled out from under a rock, it's pretty well known how good Prince was on guitar, not to mention just about every single instrument he picked up.
Absolute nonsense. The general public wouldn't even think of Prince like that.
I'd personally put Steve Clark higher, but if my username didn't make this obvious, I'm biased 😂 Beyond that, the exclusion of Mick Mars and Keith Scott from this list should be considered a crime, and by no means is Prince underrated. He's Prince for Gods' sakes! "Prince" and "underrated" do not belong in the same sentence
That George Harrison tribute… Prince just took off… and where did that guitar go at the end?
Nik kershaw , mike oldfield , James Murphy, mark reale, mike flyntz , veto barrita ,bjorn petterson
I think Nuno is one of the greatest guitarist on the planet. He started out very underrated but this days the man is amazing and in the spotlight.
I feel that a lot of your list are not underrated they just didn't get the mainstream attention. They weren't the big thing at the time or they were but normal humans didn't even notice. Sometimes people get caught up in "Musical Boxes". Musicians would understand this.
Nuno bettencourt is not only a great guitarist, but he's also a great drummer, song writer, producer, singer and if this music thing doesn't work out, he could probably make it as a comedian. He's funny as hell 🤣♥️
This is true. Remember him handing out Kit Kats to the audience back in the Mourning Widows era?
Probably the sexiest on top of all that…
I would say Terry Kath, Mick Taylor, Mike Bloomfield, and Gary Moore are the four "masters" of the instrument that don't get enough credit. I think a guy like Mick Mars might not be at the level of the aforementioned but is severely underrated as his badass guitar tones carry the majority of the load for Motley Crue, particularly live.
Roland Olazabal from Tears for Fears, Alan Murphy from Go West/Level 42, and Steve Farris from Mr. Mister
How people didn't know Prince was an amazing guitar player? He literally plays guitar in every live performance and video....
... also Paul Gilbert of Mr.Big.. Tom Keifer of Cinderella .. Mark Kendall of Great White..
Still he’s not brought up much when talking about guitar players. When people talk about Prince they more so just like his music or just talk about him. They never really bring up his musicianship. Just because he’s popular doesn’t mean he can’t be underrated. He’s underrated because people don’t really pay attention much to his guitar playing even among guitar players. It’s mostly Hendricks, Van Halen, etc.,
Paul Gilbert isn't underrated if you know anything about music.
@@JacketsOnFire It's a basic concept twits on here are struggling with.
Neil Geraldo- G.E. Smith- Elliot Easton...I'm an 80's shredder and these guys are all amazing.
Mick Box from Uriah Heep also Andy Powell and Ted Turner from Wishbone Ash. They were one of the first two guitar lineups.
I always wonder why Randy Bachman and Blair Thornton are never included in these lists. Both are great and very underrated.
How about Dave Davies of the Kinks? "You really got me "anyone?Wrote one of the greatest, if not The Greatest guitar Riff of all time !Those guys never got the credit + recognition they so deserved tremendously influential and extremely talented of course.
Was going to comment Dave Davies also. I've always loved his work.
Prince could do anything anyone else could do but whilst dancing in 6 inch heels in the rain.
Truly the best guitarist (and much more) of all time
He never ever had a great song...not even one...some good ones but he is so overrated.
@@Veggamattic LOL- you must be lonely living under that rock? 🥴
@@mjg8328 Name his truly great song that isn't a simple little pop song
@Veggamattic Well.. if this was a real question, and not a rhetorical one, and if you're open to strange sounds, far away from hit material, you could try to listen to Temptation (more on the jazz side), Condition of the Heart ( but I admit that this one displays his piano skills more than his guitar skills), Crystal ball (if you're ready for highly strange stuff), The Ride (to get a glimpse of his blues side), Automatic or Something in the water ( the synthetic drums programmation is fantastic), 2 n*gs united for West Compton ( for the incredible bass solo. The guy wasn't that underrated as a guitarist, IMO, but he is absolutely underrated as a bassist. He seriously kicked butts with a bass in the hands, or a piano under the fingers)
Or just try the side project Madhouse 8 (100% instrumental jazz in the middle of the 80's. They're only 2 musicians on this one: Eric Leeds who plays the sax and flutes, and Prince who plays every single other instrument )
Just to name a few of my favourites tracks, that can't be labeled " easy" or " pop" at all.
You're welcome if you want to give a try.
Once you go past the hits, you actually see that he was no jokes. It took me long to dive into his discography, I wanted to understand why he was considered as one of the best musician ever by fellows musician, and I understood, precisely when I started listening to his more obscure stuff, that wasn't calibrated to be a radio hit.
There is no shame about giving a try and maybe, change your mind. Or maybe not, but this is only possible to decide after listening.
I d like to add Robby Krieger of the doors and Steve Hackett of Genesis on this list.
Robby for me he is one of the Best sound y have famous riff of rock and roll. I don't know de crítics give him more crédit.
I think that you guys now need to make a list of the 10 most underrated rappers. I know who should be number one on that list and hes probably also one of the most underappreciated musicians, period....Weird Al.
I am *so* glad you included Neal Schon. The guy had Santana and Eric Clapton fighting over him before he was even 18. The man is so overlooked when it comes to acknowledging super talented guitarists.
Schon was probably my first guitar hero when I was like 10 years old along with Mick Jones.
@@Marco-vw3mv wow, even at such a young age you had great taste
@@onionbubs386 Thanks. I did go thru my shred phase, but right now, I'm more into a David Gilmour, Gary Moore, and Joe Bonamassa phase.
Prince is not underrated.
George Johnson of the
Brothers Johnson is underrated.
I know right one should never use prince and underated in the same sentence 🙄
I was listening to some strawberry letter 23 today. Awesome addition to the list.
Since when has Prince been underrated as a guitar player? oh that's right never,
To people who know, sure! Those of us who do have always known because we've heard more than a couple songs but, the general public does not know how much of a musical genius he was and how phenomenal he was on guitar.
Same goes with Marc Knopfler
Typical WatchMojo. They never do their homework.
Prince is underrated. He's not on most lists, and if he is, he's towards the back of the list.
@@dr.manhattan6278 Prince is not underrated. He's on most lists, , he's towards the top of the lists.
Great to see Nancy Wilson here. You forget Steve Hackett though. His guitar playing is second to none. In my opinion, he could probably play Eddie Van Halen under the table. Great list though.
Many might not agree, Rik Emmett of Triumph. From blues to hard rock.
A quick list off the top of my head of under rated guitarists: Vito Bratta, Mark Kendall, Rik Emmett, Jake E. Lee (although during his prime in the mid to late 80's i don't think he was considered under rated, everyone knew who he was and he was on that list of "guitar heroes", but he quickly vanished, like Vito and I think the two are kinda forgotten. Tom Keifer, McRocklin, Jeff Healey, Tracii Guns (doesn't get the recognition he deserves), Criss Oliva, Frank Zappa, John 5 (although John is very well known within the guitar community, so is he under rated?
Nuno!!!! My favorite guitar player of all time!
Great list! Although knopfler, gibbons, prince, and a couple others on this list get TONS of credit.
And of course…WHERE IS PETER GREEN!?!?!?!?❤
It’s a shame that Jerry Cantrell, Ty Tabor, Michael Schenker, Mike Campbell and Waddy Wachtel didn’t make the list.
Jerry Cantrell is not underrated. He usually is in the top 20 on most list I've seen for best guitarist.
@@soonerproud - I feel like he never gets enough credit. Plus compared to Prince, who most people consider a god, I feel like he should be on this list. I enjoy both of their playing, so I guess it’s just a matter of semantics.
Ty Tabor is on my list.
damn straight with mike campbell and waddy wachtel
Rik Emmett - Triuph; Gary Richrath - REO Speedwagon; Adrian Vandenberg - Vandenberg / White Snake; Tom Scholz - Boston; Mark Tremonti - Creed; Rickey Medlocke - Blackfoot; Dickey Betts - Allman Brothers; Billy Jones - Outlaws
Lifeson should be #1. Prince was never underrated.
And missed Steve Rothery from Marillion. So overlooked it was not even mentioned. Clearest, cleanest, most melodic and haunting solos ever.
Roy Clark, Glen Campbell, Drake Levin, Hank Marvin, Steve Marriott, Doug Heath, Freddie Weller.
Nobody has ever underated Mark Knopfler skills. Everybody knows he is one of the greatest guitarists the world has ever seen. Well almost everybody.
Tons of people have
Michael Schenker(UFO,Scorpions founder). Criminally underrated.
Despite influencing every hard rock and heavy metal guitarist who came after him.
I always thought Neil Giraldo of Pat Benatar was pretty good, maybe not the best but kinda overlooked .
I agree. I did a cover band and originally thought the Pat Benatar stuff would take a few minutes to learn…
…it took quite a bit longer
So a few guitarists I feel are underrated who didn't make this list:
Dweezil Zappa - Frank Zappa's son. Has guitar chops that rival the mighty Eddie Van Halen.
Kee Marcello - Played guitar for Europe for a short stint - his melodic guitar playing was something else - the solo in the song superstitious is one of the best of all time.
Criss Oliva - From Savatage. One of the most underrated guitarists in one of the most underrated bands of all time.
Mike Slammer - awesome guitarist with a really distinctive sound who adds so much detail to his playing that other people fail to emulate. He did all the guitar solos for Warrants first 2 albums.
Jan Akkerman - Played guitar in focus. Dude was doing sweep picking in the 70s. A fucking monster player with an amazing melodic ear that could rival Joe Satriani for coming up with melodies so good they didn't even need vocals.
Vito Bratta - My personal favourite guitarist who fused the technical and creative ability of EVH, the melodic sense of Eric Johnson and the classical sensibility of Randy Rhodes. His guitar solos were like songs themselves, going places you don't expect yet feels perfect in every way.
Harry Cody - probably the most "wild" sounding guitarist. From the band Shotgun Messiah and was pretty much the only good thing about that band. Dude knew how to work that whammy bar to his advantage and shredded his way through what otherwise would have been rather crap Glam Metal songs.
Dan Harmon - A session player (he played the solo on Danger Zone) that is a LOT better than that solo suggests. Check out his band Giant, his two albums in that band are some of the greatest AOR ever made, with some blistering guitar work.
Greg Howe - Jazz Fusion guitarist who was likely the main inspiration for Guthrie Govan - the guy could do such fluid and clean scale runs, and had a musicality that was a little beyond his peers.
Steve Stevens: Did the guitar solo for the Top Gun Anthem. Also uses a raygun to create crazy effects with the guitar that you only hear from him. His album with Vince Neil really showcases how good he is.
Allan Holdsworth - Honestly, this guy is on another level to pretty much everyone else. He's like an alien that wrote his own rulebook for how to make music that no one else can understand, and his guitar playing is so fluid and clean he sounds like a saxophonist, with what is imo the greatest legato technique ever. He was also widely influential to pretty much any guitarist that heard him, and while he's not as well known, his influence is all over the place.
Kjell förutspådde jag redan när han i början spelade innan Easy Action.När vi hängde med han va han amazing ❤
Was Gary Moore under-rated? I think he was widely acknowledged as a guitar virtuoso.
I said the same. You're not wrong. In fact, pretty much the entire top 7 are widely known and acknowledged as great guitarists in the guitar world.
Right..let's add Robin Trower to this list also..lol
Not in America
He was the best
Gary Moore est très connu en Europe mais pas aux USA
Danny Kortchmar, Mike Rutherford, Vito Bratta, Stanley Jordan, Tim Reynolds, Doyle Dykes, Greg Koch, Steffen Shackinger, Jack Thammarat, Sam Coulson, Jan Akkerman, Martin Barre, Marty Friedman, Elliot Randall, Allen Collins, Phil Keaggy, Michael Hedges, Shawn Lane, Craig Clinton Chaquico, Joel Hoekstra.
*PRINCE* is the *GOAT* and there's none greater. Prince is MUSIC 🎵🎶💜💯
Happy to see Larry LaLonde get a mention. While Primus is indeed an incredible band in one of my favorites, immediately people think of Les Claypool. But it takes an absolute madman to compliment Les eccentric playing & Ler does it fantastically
Eddie Hazel was an amazing guitar player. “Maggot Brain” is one of the all time best “solo” of all time. Ani is such an amazing person, musician, writer and kind individual. Her guitar playing is very emotional but she can totally rip, seen her about 10 times and every time it gets better and better
When I hear "Cosmic Slop" I get the chills
I played maggot brain so loud one time I think it permanently messed up my hearing. But I think the experience was worth it
Richard Thompson, Chris Spedding, Dexter Romweber, Greg Ginn, Karl Precoda, Reeve Gabrels, Omar Rodrigues-Lopez, Bob Mould, Jack White.
Isn't Prince like one of the go to guitarist people talk about especially when it comes to performing and looking cool? Hopefully he is not actually on this list and was just put into the thumbnail... But seriously though his While My Guitar Gently Weeps solo is one of the most pointed to thing in the guitar community.
But he's never in top 10 / 20 lists...
@@oasisbeyond llo
But underrated isn’t meant to refer to ppl in the community. By definition, members of a community would appreciate the under appreciated. Prince is underrated, not bc he’s unappreciated in the guitar community, but bc even a large number of his fans don’t know he plays prolifically. The guitar gently weeps is only really known widely due to the TH-cam age and that brought his skills to prominence. He’s known as a singer first but only insiders and aficionados knew he was a master at the guitar. He’s right to be on this list
@@seanlinehan1136 he’s a multi- instrumentalist but you’re right the typical laymen doesn’t understand how talented he is at everything musical
Prince! As a guitarist, he was my biggest influence
Dave Meniketti of Y&T deserves a spot on this list. Probably one of the most underrated guitarists and singers of all time.
Dave the man! Should be on this list.
Freddie Green. Lenny Breau. Danny Gatton. Julian Lage. Otis Rush. Carol Kaye. Barbara Lynn. Malcolm Young. Alex Lifeson.
I am so happy you showed Prince playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", a well deserved number one.
Except he’s not an “underrated” guitarist everyone knows he’s a great guitarist same with Mark Knopfler and Billy Gibbons
@@JOVONO When I saw Prince's picture under the headline I just shook my head lol
@@JOVONO Yes he is. The general public wouldn't think of Prince as some guitar virtuoso, just a pop song writer and singer.
Prince is not an "underrated" guitarist. He's either on Rushmore, or damn near close.
@@JOVONO I couldn't agree more. Prince? Gibbons? What's going on here? They shouldn't even be mentioned here!!!
Rik Emmet, Dave Meniketti and Buck Dharma.
Roy Buchanan AKA the master of the Telecaster. This man deserves too have his own statue.
Wow, scrolling through all the comments I beginning to think I just imagined there was a guy named Roy Buchanan who played guitar. Definitely underrated 🎸.
Bill Nelson of BeBop Deluxe
Mick Ronson, for David Bowie. Andrian Belew came much later
Steve Hillage
Steve Stevens on Top Gun , Billy Idol
Ted Hale or Rick Derringer in "in collaboration with the Gods"
Peter Green the first lead for John Mayall and Fleetwood Mac
Ian Bairnson with Alan Parsons Project
Steve Howe
Snowy White, that other guitarist with Thin Lizzy
Roy Buchannan on the tele
Paul Kossof first guitarist with Free. Even Eric Clapton had to ask, "how do you that vibrato?"
Tommy Bolin best replacement guitarist for Deep Purple. absolute killer solo sessions with Billy Cobham and Alphonso Mouzon
Prince is more versatile than everybody on this list
What ever. Lifeson can do anything prince could do!
@@G274Me and do it better
Frilly shirts don't count.
Yeah...Neal Schon is on the list. The best of all 👏👏👏🤘🤘🤘
I will die on this hill, John Fogerty is one of the most underrated guitar players ever
My first introduction to Nuno Bettancourt was Play With Me from Extreme’s debut and the Bill and Teds Excellent adventure soundtrack. That song shows just how good he is.
Honestly out of all GNR guitarists, Richard Fortus is easily the most underrated. He’s been with the band for twenty years, and is easily one of the top five best guitarists I’ve seen play live. The guy can shred and doesn’t get the credit he deserves
Remember being blown away by him when I saw them live a few years back
he is awesome, ive seen them twice with richard.. but Izzy has the songwriting credits..
I would also put Charro, Dave Navarro, and John Mayer in this category. Larry Lalonde, Lindsey Buckingham, and Prince are absolutely underrated and glad they are on the list.
Anyone watching this should check out Jan Akkerman (formerly of Focus). This guy is amazing.
Sylvia is an amazing tune.
A lot of famous guitar players actually called him te best gtr player in the world.
My most underrated 5
5. Chris Degarmo (Queensryche). This guy is also a great lyricist as well as backing vocalist
4. Rudolf Schenker (Scorpions). He is the best rhthym guitarist ever, but he plays all of the end solos on the Scorpions Power Ballads. Just for that, I rate him the number two lead player behind only his brother.
3. Akira Takasaki (Loudness). Guitarists and guitar purists know who this guy is. It is the casual fan who misses his brilliance.
2. Jim Matheos (Fates Warning). Heavily underrated band and Jim is a main reason why. Number 2 Prog Metal guitarist.
1. Criss Oliva (Savatage) Oh, how l I wish this guy hadn’t died when he was just achieving Super Stardom. Criss played most of his career by himself, just like all the great ones did. Savatage didn’t go to two guitarists until after he died. Both Ozzy Osbourne and Dave Mustaine wanted him to play in their bands.
No mention of Carlos Cavazo, Rick Nielsen, Carl Thomas Keifer, Akira Takasaki, Mark Reale, Lars Johannson, Mats Bjørkman, Brent Dorhner, Brian Forsythe, Buck Dharma, Mark Kendall or Chris Holmes etc.? You catch my drift, I’m requesting you do a volume 2 of this list, who agrees with me here?
so glad to see mark knopfler on this list, one of the best to ever do it!
Me too, I really like his music/way of playing.
Jeff Young, Chris Poland and Gary Holt.