Glenn Tipton. People talk a lot about Randy Rhoads, Dimebag Darell, Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammett etc when it comes to metal. But he definitely is right up there as one of the best metal guitarists of all time. He belongs to be known among them.
Death -- "Trapped In A Corner" LaRocque's solo fuckin rips on that one. Favorite King Diamond/LaRocque solos: "Welcome Home", "A Visit From The Dead", "Black Horsemen". "The Trial" is also a cauldron of sick riffs that stick in your head for days.
Literally guitarists from my top 3 favourite bands. Stace Sheepdog Mclaren deserves to be in a list of underrated vocalists, king diamond I feel like has rightfully earned his reputation and isn't underrated.
Yes, Ritchie Blackmore is indeed the GOAT and imo better than Page, Iommi, Clapton and other guitarists of his generation. He is the vital link between Jimi Hendrix and EVH that many people decide to overlook. Without him, sweep and tremolo picking and neoclassical shred wouldn’t even be mainstream.
@@mriyoi you're right. Blackmore along with Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker are like godfathers of shred, the guys who bridged the gap between Hendrix/Page/Beck/Clapton and Van Halen/Rhoads.
@@davenotstaine5646 One of Blackmore's biggest fans here, Uli is superior on every aspect. He was more disciplined, more technical and more neoclassical, yet Blackmore gets bigger credit for creating neoclassical. Both are incredible at the end of the day.
Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Dickey Betts, Michiya Haruhata, Michael Amott, Bill Steer, Jeff Hanneman, Mick Taylor, Andreas Kisser, Al di Meola, Scott Gorham, John Sykes, Brian Robertson...
Hell yes. When I discovered Savatage and binge-listened all of their albums, it was one of the most fun weeks of my life. A great soloist, and songwriter.
I mean, he is. Everyone, musician or not, knows Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen, but Blackmore is really only known to guitar enthusiasts despite being just as talented and influential.
Shawn Lane was simply not from Earth. It is rather terrifying how brilliant he was a musician and a composer. Definitely one of my top 5 guitarists ever
Terry Kath and Alex Lifeson. They might be too many people's go to answers for most underrated guitarists that they have stopped being underrated, but they are so perfect for their bands and incredibly influential.
Alex keeps getting mentioned as underrated because he *still* keeps getting overlooked as one of the best guitarists of his era. At least he is in good company...
Mike slammer of city boy could play some tasty solos. Bill Nelson is also great. Also the guy in golden earring (idk if they have changed alot but the one who played on moontan)
One of my picks is Mark Reale (R.I.P.), founder and former guitarist of one of the first U.S. heavy metal bands Riot! ”Narita”, ”Road Racin'”, ”Outlaw”, ”Swords & Tequila”, ”Loanshark", "Restless Breed” on the more mellow side, and the Power/Speed metal anthem Thundersteel are only several examples of his unique guitar playing and writing. Lars Ulrich has cited Riot as an influence on Metallica as well, another reason to check out the band if you haven't yet!
Also great guitar work on the albums you didn't mention... Mark Reale and Mike Flyntz together were great. Shame I had to scroll down this far to see his name on here.
BUCKETHEAD is sooo underrated omg. People often assume hes just another mindless shredder who plays without feel. But his music is some of the most beautiful ive ever heard.
I agree, I love buckethead for both his shredding, and his emotional songs. Plus, he has over 500 albums by now, so it's hard to get bored of listening to him.
100% agree, what are your favorites? For me it’s gotta be, Nottingham Lace, Jump Man, Hold Me Forever, and Project Little Man. There are so many other great ones but those are the ones that come to mind.
Can you tell me a track to check out? No offense but he's just a dude with a bucket on his head, what's the big deal? Show me a song that will blow me away
Ritchie Blackmore is indeed underrated and slept on. Thank you for bringing him up. There is so, SO much more to him than Smoke On The Water. Scott Ian....no denying he's a great rhythm player, but Charlie comes up with all the riffs.
I can name 15 songs off the top of my head that are far better than SOTW but sadly it overshadows his other work due to simplicity. He’s easily my biggest inspiration!
@@Mart_7512 what’s odd is that I never found it to be easy yet tracks like Perfect Strangers should be more difficult but I can do a lot more of that than Highway star. Then again, I only tried to play it twice and kind of forgot about HWStar
There is no way Ritchie Blackmore is underrated. He's a very well rated and acknowledged guitarist. That would be like saying Tony Iommi is underrated.
@@tomy8339 no, he’s extremely underrated in metal. In general he certainly isn’t underrated, he’s often cited as one of the greatest and sometimes referred to as the king. But in Metal??? He’s hardly mentioned. His music was Metal btw, just look at Perfect Strangers and Machine Head. They both fit the Metal genre and MH fits the old school heavy metal formula. Perfect Strangers was actually my intro to metal.
Robin Trower, Michael Schenker (particularly on the UFO phenomenon album), all of the Thin Lizzy guitarists, Andy Powell!!! Larry Wallis, Rory Gallagher, Vincent McAllister(do yourself a favor and listen to the 70s Pentagram stuff), Larry Reinhardt cause Captain Beyond Fn rips! just some off the top of my head not quite shred but all groups that laid the foundation and worth checking! Props for King Crimson inclusion those guys rule.
Jake E. Lee. innovative chordal work, did crazy things with his hands that it would take effects pedals to do, iconic solos and riffs. Also he could play any style.
Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson solo guitarist) is one of the most underrated metal guitarists. His riffs and Melodie’s are so fucking good and his solos are always perfect for the song
Larry LaLonde for sure. How he highlights the bass of Les and makes Primus’s even funkier is just great. Also Mick Mars. Nobody really talks about him that much while bringing up the 80s
Bruce Bouillet from Racer X is definitely underrated. Dude can keep up with Paul Gilbert where they make amazing harmonies and guitar duels. He has projects after Racer X too.
@@KagenXD Although I'm not surprised with the lack of intelligence of a Max fanboy, still, for the love of the Dark Gods, the guitar solo of the song Roots, for example, became way better in live performances.
When it comes to big and well known metal bands, Kisser is one of the most interesting and creative guitar players of all time, that's for sure. Most people couldn't care less about real quality, and just jump on the catchy and popularity wagon, but Sepultura's discography (specially after Max left) has huge amounts of variety, regarding how each album sounds. Very refreshing, and well composed.
Since you mentioned Roope: A similar style of player who is massively overlooked, is Antti Kokko of Kalmah. His lead playing is great, some may know the song The Blind Leader as the most insane example as far as speed goes, but he has excellent lead melodies and phrasing in most of their songs!
Wolf Hoffmann of Accept. His riffs are very powerful. He also plays great solos. He also incorporates classical music into his solos. He deserves to be one of the greatest guitarists.
Ritchie Blackmore is indeed, incredibly slept upon. He was one of the many guitarists of the late 60s/early 70s who’s playing was instrumental in creating hard rock as we know it, then went on to form Rainbow which was crucial in the early shred genre The dude basically invented 2 different genres of music
I want to suggest my own top 10, each from different genre: Wolf Hoffman - Accept Andy Powell - Wishbone Ash Vito Bratta - White Lion Paul Masvidal - Death/Cynic Eddie Hazel - Funkadelic Jim Matheos - Fates Warning Michael Stutzer - Artillery Victor Smolski - Rage Andrew Latimer - Camel Vinnie Moore - Solo
Regarding older generation rock guitarists (pre-80's;) I think it's criminal not to mention Jan Akkerman (Focus). For the time period, this guy was on another level and barely ever gets mentioned (Blackmore wasn't the only dude sweep picking). Jan was totally innovative and technical, often incorporating jazz/classical fusion licks into his playing. He's one hell of a Lute player as well. TBH the whole band is underrated- the true pioneers of prog rock IMO.
Jeff Loomis - The 7-string guitar god. Why isn't he like.. the most popular guitarrist ever? He is an absolute beast. Loomis was enlisted into Arch Enemy a few years ago, but Michael Amott kind of steals the show there because he is a more upfront guy and he is the legendary Carcass guitar player. But I think Loomis has more range than Amott. Check his solos when he played at Nevermore. It's sick, man.
Totally agree, but wouldn't call him underrated, I think he is totally respected at least in the shred community, what is very well-deserved. Btw he is free from the band now, his place in AE was taken by Joey Concepcion:)
FUCK YEAH John Norum. Dude has some proper emotion in his playing. And really just Europe in general is hella slept on. So many people just get hung up on The Final Countdown, eventhough the band has put out SO much great material. Hell, their best album came out less than 10 years ago. War of Kings is an absolute masterpiece of a hard rock album.
Jason is absolutely not underrated. Maybe underappreciated since he isn't that well known compared to other guitarists. But those, who know of him absolutely do rate him as one of the best.
Louis Dambra of Sir Lord Baltimore. The entire band is incredibly underrated in general, but I see Dambra's playing as truly representing what will become of heavy metal back in 1970.
Richie Blackmore is my favorite guitar player ever. His playing in both Deep Purple and Rainbow is so good and is Classical playing with Blackmore's Night is very under rated.
YES!!! I am so stoked to hear Ralph Santolla (R.I.P) mentioned, his solos on that Deicide album The Stench of Redemption and the following as well Till Death Do Us Part are in fact why those are some of my faves, Homage To Satan might actually be at least in my top 3 favorite Death Metal solos that I can't play. Other two being 1. the live version mainly Roskilde live show of Morbid Angel Chapel of Ghouls, I can't play that and 2. Cryptopsy's Slit Your Guts, in fact that guitarist who did the solos on THAT album might have to be my pick for one of the most underrated Death Metal solo players.... So expressive, and evil, yet so beautiful.
Per Nilsson - Any better in the melodic death genre? Even stand in on Meshuggah when they need backup Mikael Åkerfeldt - Among the best solos and phrasings ive heard.
Per is one of the greatest metal lead players of all time - definitely my favorite! His incredibly tasteful, lyrical, Holdsworth-inspired (yet still very metal) solos elevate Scar Symmetry into the damn stratosphere. And his rhythm playing is top-notch too considering he filled in for Meshuggah
Chris Impellitteri. The guy he's most frequently compared to is Yngwie. I know that won't endear him to everybody, but his technique is second to none. And he's got a lot of songs that are just straight up fun to listen to.
Mike McCreedy from Pearl Jam (not sure if I spelled his name right). He definitely has accolade but I rarely hear his name come up when talking about guitar. Easily one of the most powerful blues and grunge guitarists I’ve ever seen, when I saw them a few years back, his solo for Alive (which was the closing song of the night) quite literally melted my face clean off. It was like 6 straight minutes of absolute warm bluesey shreddy bliss as Eddie Vedder threw tamborines into the audience and adlibbed over the band’s sound. I’m not easily impressed to the level I was, but wow his guitar playing was STELLAR that night. So nuanced, in time, and VERY tastefully phrased.
I think Jerry Cantrell needs to be talked about more too. I think there's a video of Phil Anselmo talking about how awesome he is, probably explain better than I could lol.
In my opinion Jerry Cantrell from Alice in chains is slept on. He has made some of the tastiest riffs in the modern rock and metal era, but somehow theres a dark, moody, and even bluesy feel for it. Not to mention he has a very soulful voice who paired perfectly with Layne Staley.
BH - The bookends (Blackmore & Fripp) encompassed all the others (IMHO). Given those 2 choices, I'd also add Steve Howe as well - then you'd have the original "prog" trinity. Given your Tony MacAlpine choice; another person of that era is Vinnie Moore. His "Mind's Eye" album is amazingly tasty! (FYI) MacAlpine got his break and plays the keys on that album too! : )
André Olbrich of Blind Guardian. I've never heard his name mentioned, and the dude just shreds for an hour and a half every night (and he writes basically all their music). How someone can be the lead guitarist and a primary songwriter (and founding member) of one of the biggest metal bands in the world and fly under the radar is just mind boggling.
most underrated metal lead guitarist is jon levasseur from cryptopsy. some really melodic solos with some totally unique phrasing ("cold hate, warm blood", second solo on "Red-Skinned Scapegoat", "Phobophile") some other notable good ones are dave suzuki from vital remains/churchburn (churchburn - come forth the swarm), uli jon roth if he counts (Electric Sun - Sundown, Burning Wheels Turning), bobby koelble (death - perennial quest), benjamin ellis (ex-scar symmetry & bloodshot dawn, fave solo is probably just bloodshot dawn - beckoning oblivion), wolf hoffmann (accept - head over heels)
In regards to Cryptopsy, the album *Once Was Not* featured Levasseur's replacement, Alex Auburn, who's no slouch himself. "Endless Cemetery" has a really tasty melodic breakdown/solo that I never get tired of.
Phil Demmel should have been here, his solos for Vio-Lence are SIIIIIIIIICK Also, Eric Meyer riffs are almost unbeatable, another worthy of mention Also, FUCKIN' FRANK BLACKFIRE, he did both best riffs for Sodom and Kreator
I have a criminally underrated guitarist hes was the old lead guitarist of sentenced who died 2009. He can shred play thrash,black and gothic metal at the same time and his solos are amazing and his instrumental song ”mourn” for his grandfather is just amazing
George Lynch. Had Gene Simmons stuck around to see him play too instead of simply leaving after seeing Van Halen, the world of rock/metal guitarists could have turned out a little different than it is today. Or if he would have actually gotten the job as Ozzy's guitarist either time (first losing to Randy, then being replaced by Jake before he could get started). Apart from the infamous hum often present when he's on stage, there aren't a lot of guitarists (at least that I am aware of) whose playing sounds like him. Of course, Dokken's guitarists have to at least be somewhat close to how Mr. Scary sounded, then there are guitarists like Pier Gonella (Necrodeath, Labyrinth, Mastercastle) or Henrik Rangstrup (Chaoswave, Endarken) who remind me of Lynch at times in their playing.
Ron Jarzonbeck is slept on beyond belief. Watchtower is great, but Blotted Science consistently blows me away still. Even 12 years after their last release
29 วันที่ผ่านมา +3
Joe Satriani, Billy Corgan, Steve Stevens, Richie Sambora, Andy James, Derek Trucks, Tom Hess, Yohio, Francis Rossi
You're right about the legion of Instagram shredders. One guy who stands out (at least to me), is Roy Ziv. And as for the Shrapnel guys: Greg Howe has always been my favorite.
I can remember working at my college's radio station in the 80's, flipping thru "The NEW Releases bin" - if it was released by "Shrapnel" it was going to be fun-listening! : )
In discussions like this, I will never not mention Alan Jones from Pagan Altar. His playing is melodious and heavy, and he can shred if he wants to. Criminally underrated, like the band itself.
Honestly agree. He was sloppy as all hell (more so in their heyday) but still had some really cool solos. He got just got better and better as Venom went on.
Howe won Guitar Player's 'best overall guitarist' award for five consecutive years back in the mid to late 70s. He's virtually unknown by modern rock players with whom he has very little in common. He mostly played a hollow body jazz guitar with little, if any distortion and in a band of virtuoso players whose best albums require repeated listens for their greatness to be revealed.
I feel like Gary Moore is not talked about enough. Arguably he is not only a metal guitarist, but his tone, feel, technique and melodic playing are out of this world, one of the best guitarists to have ever walked our planet
Michael Romeo (Symphony X) - if he wasn't an insane guitar player he would be a film score composer, just listen to his last two solo albums. Also listen to John Macaluso talking about the difference between working with him and Yngwie
Jeff Waters - even though quite known within thrash metal community, he deserves much more recognition and appreciation for his guitar and songwriting skills imho, Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth for the rhythm guitarist - aside the political controversy and that sh*t, this guy has always been a rhythm riff machine, easily up there with Hetfield and Mustaine. Just listen to some of the Iced Earth (and Demons and Wizard) songs such as Dante's Inferno, Burnt Offerings, Dracula, Ten Thousant Strong, Dystopia... the speed and precision of these gallops and overall riffs is insane and he was able to perform them live (Dante's inferno is 18 minutes long (!!!), that requiers incredible stamina) as clean as in the studio versions. Easily one of metal's best rhythm guitarists with incredible right hand's stamina and precision, I would kill for his picking technique. I would also give an honorable mention to Roope Latvala, because he is an incredible guitarist, one of the pioneers of Finnish metal scene with an unique and signature style when it comes to leads, but has been often overlooked because he played a great deal of his career kinda in the shadow of Alexi Laiho (who stated Roope as one of his guitar idols and heroes btw), but if you listen to his work with Sinergy and Stone (in which he wrote lead parts as well), and add his great rhythmic playing for Children of Bodom to support Alexi's insane virtuosity, you will find out he is an incredible guitarist.
Who are YOUR picks for most underrated guitarists ever??
chriss oliva
David Chastain
Yohio
lil wayne
Gary holt and glenn tipton
Glenn Tipton. People talk a lot about Randy Rhoads, Dimebag Darell, Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammett etc when it comes to metal. But he definitely is right up there as one of the best metal guitarists of all time. He belongs to be known among them.
Tf is that surname
Dave Murray
maybe because tipton is a very average guitarist, no? he really is just a usual common average guitarist.
Absolutely!
@@MrSatanislavThere may be better guitar players than Tipton and Downing but there are very few that influenced an entire genre like they did.
Andy LaRocque (King Diamond) & Dave Carlo (Razor)
Andy LaRocque is one of those people that you immediately know who it is as soon as they begin to solo
Death -- "Trapped In A Corner"
LaRocque's solo fuckin rips on that one.
Favorite King Diamond/LaRocque solos: "Welcome Home", "A Visit From The Dead", "Black Horsemen".
"The Trial" is also a cauldron of sick riffs that stick in your head for days.
Riot!
Literally guitarists from my top 3 favourite bands. Stace Sheepdog Mclaren deserves to be in a list of underrated vocalists, king diamond I feel like has rightfully earned his reputation and isn't underrated.
Dave Carlo is the best rhythm guitarist ever, no one can create riffs like he did
Jake E Lee, Mick Mars, Warren DeMartini, Paul Stanley, Glenn Tipton, KK Downing
Thx for mentioning downing, Tipton, STANLEY, and Mars!!!
Jake wrote the best material and did randy justice, best guitarist ozzy had
@@Michael-nu9ky fr. I love randy but Jake is a whole other kettle of fish
Gates of Babylon solo is indeed a great one
And many more from Blackmore. Best guitarist imo.
Yes, Ritchie Blackmore is indeed the GOAT and imo better than Page, Iommi, Clapton and other guitarists of his generation. He is the vital link between Jimi Hendrix and EVH that many people decide to overlook. Without him, sweep and tremolo picking and neoclassical shred wouldn’t even be mainstream.
@@mriyoi very well said. Blackmore is better than any of his contemporaries.
@@mriyoi you're right. Blackmore along with Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker are like godfathers of shred, the guys who bridged the gap between Hendrix/Page/Beck/Clapton and Van Halen/Rhoads.
Lost in hollywood. Amazing.
Uli Jon Roth from the Scorpions. He is at least in my opinion right up there with Randy Rhoads and all the other legends.
Incredible. Sails of Charon is just incredible. Especially when you consider it was released in like 1976.
Uli Jon Roth is on par with Blackmore in my opinion, definitely SUPER underrated
@@davenotstaine5646
One of Blackmore's biggest fans here, Uli is superior on every aspect.
He was more disciplined, more technical and more neoclassical, yet Blackmore gets bigger credit for creating neoclassical.
Both are incredible at the end of the day.
@@Turquoise636 also huge Blackmore fan, I don't disagree with you AT ALL
RR sucks
FUN FACT! Charlie Benante, the drummer for Anthrax, is a very good guitarist and actually wrote like 70% of Anthrax's riffs, including A.I.R.
I just watched a Drumeo video of him having to play to a song from the Barbie movie haha
🤘
@@salty_snowboarder same here. He's a beast
and the best riff in Mad house!
good pick I remember realizing this seeing him play guitar on the nisefukinvideo VHS
And a lot of the riffs for SOD's Speak English and Die
Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Dickey Betts, Michiya Haruhata, Michael Amott, Bill Steer, Jeff Hanneman, Mick Taylor, Andreas Kisser, Al di Meola, Scott Gorham, John Sykes, Brian Robertson...
That first Blue Murder album is Priceless!
Don't know if Ritchie Blackmore is underrated. He's very highly acclaimed.
Rory Gallagher
Hellyeah
YES
looked for this
Criss Oliva was a beast.
One of the best!
It staggers me that he doesn't get more recognition. You can see my stream comment mentioning him at the start of this video!
I'd never have picked up the guit-fiddle if not for that amazing man. A true wizard.
Hell yes. When I discovered Savatage and binge-listened all of their albums, it was one of the most fun weeks of my life. A great soloist, and songwriter.
Gutter Balets is an amazing album
Greg Howe. He really evolved and has such great phrasing and technique.
Glenn tipton from judas and gary holt from exodus
I really like Andy Larocque of King Diamond.
His work with Death is just superb
Ritchie Blackmore is underrated now? Ritchie effing Blackmoore? Have we forgotten everything?
He is under rated and yep !
Cause one simply cannot overrate his heritage!
Ritchie Blackmore underrated 😂
This is getting silly now.
Next it will be randy rhoads 👀@@Dreyno
I mean, he is. Everyone, musician or not, knows Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen, but Blackmore is really only known to guitar enthusiasts despite being just as talented and influential.
Shawn Lane was simply not from Earth. It is rather terrifying how brilliant he was a musician and a composer. Definitely one of my top 5 guitarists ever
Terry Kath and Alex Lifeson. They might be too many people's go to answers for most underrated guitarists that they have stopped being underrated, but they are so perfect for their bands and incredibly influential.
Alex keeps getting mentioned as underrated because he *still* keeps getting overlooked as one of the best guitarists of his era. At least he is in good company...
@@Mike80528Yeh I don't think it helped him being in a band with Neil Peart either lol.
Mike slammer of city boy could play some tasty solos. Bill Nelson is also great. Also the guy in golden earring (idk if they have changed alot but the one who played on moontan)
Alex seems to appear high on every underrated guitarist list so ironically I'm not sure if he's that underrated.
One of my picks is Mark Reale (R.I.P.), founder and former guitarist of one of the first U.S. heavy metal bands Riot! ”Narita”, ”Road Racin'”, ”Outlaw”, ”Swords & Tequila”, ”Loanshark", "Restless Breed” on the more mellow side, and the Power/Speed metal anthem Thundersteel are only several examples of his unique guitar playing and writing. Lars Ulrich has cited Riot as an influence on Metallica as well, another reason to check out the band if you haven't yet!
Roaoaoaoaoaoad ra-cing. Guy Speranza, so exciting.
Also great guitar work on the albums you didn't mention... Mark Reale and Mike Flyntz together were great. Shame I had to scroll down this far to see his name on here.
Riot are SUPER underrated i love thundersteel and narita
BUCKETHEAD is sooo underrated omg. People often assume hes just another mindless shredder who plays without feel. But his music is some of the most beautiful ive ever heard.
I agree, I love buckethead for both his shredding, and his emotional songs. Plus, he has over 500 albums by now, so it's hard to get bored of listening to him.
100% agree, what are your favorites? For me it’s gotta be, Nottingham Lace, Jump Man, Hold Me Forever, and Project Little Man. There are so many other great ones but those are the ones that come to mind.
Colonel Claypools bucket of Bernies brains has some of the most beautiful solos every
Can you tell me a track to check out? No offense but he's just a dude with a bucket on his head, what's the big deal? Show me a song that will blow me away
@mindseyemusicreview try pike 26 if you like metal. If you prefer soft, calming music I recommend pike 5, electric tears and electric sea
Ritchie Blackmore is indeed underrated and slept on. Thank you for bringing him up. There is so, SO much more to him than Smoke On The Water.
Scott Ian....no denying he's a great rhythm player, but Charlie comes up with all the riffs.
I can name 15 songs off the top of my head that are far better than SOTW but sadly it overshadows his other work due to simplicity. He’s easily my biggest inspiration!
@@WhoDaF0ok1sThatGuy Highway Star's easy. In fact, it's more enjoyable so it's *AT LEAST* easy as SOTW.
@@Mart_7512 what’s odd is that I never found it to be easy yet tracks like Perfect Strangers should be more difficult but I can do a lot more of that than Highway star. Then again, I only tried to play it twice and kind of forgot about HWStar
There is no way Ritchie Blackmore is underrated. He's a very well rated and acknowledged guitarist. That would be like saying Tony Iommi is underrated.
@@tomy8339 no, he’s extremely underrated in metal. In general he certainly isn’t underrated, he’s often cited as one of the greatest and sometimes referred to as the king. But in Metal??? He’s hardly mentioned. His music was Metal btw, just look at Perfect Strangers and Machine Head. They both fit the Metal genre and MH fits the old school heavy metal formula. Perfect Strangers was actually my intro to metal.
Devin townsend is definitely underatted as a gutarist his solos are pretty mind blowing
Robin Trower, Michael Schenker (particularly on the UFO phenomenon album), all of the Thin Lizzy guitarists, Andy Powell!!! Larry Wallis, Rory Gallagher, Vincent McAllister(do yourself a favor and listen to the 70s Pentagram stuff), Larry Reinhardt cause Captain Beyond Fn rips! just some off the top of my head not quite shred but all groups that laid the foundation and worth checking! Props for King Crimson inclusion those guys rule.
Thin lizzy :D
Jake E. Lee. innovative chordal work, did crazy things with his hands that it would take effects pedals to do, iconic solos and riffs. Also he could play any style.
Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson solo guitarist) is one of the most underrated metal guitarists. His riffs and Melodie’s are so fucking good and his solos are always perfect for the song
Also played on Rob Rock's solo stuff and Driver as well as some Rob Halford projects.
Akira Takasaki from Loudness
Yes!
Larry LaLonde for sure. How he highlights the bass of Les and makes Primus’s even funkier is just great. Also Mick Mars. Nobody really talks about him that much while bringing up the 80s
Lars Johansson from Candlemass is criminally underrated!
Hell yeah!
Good shout.
Into the unfathomed tower!
Vinnie Moore is a guy I don’t hear enough about. His playing is just so fluid and clean and the tone is just perfect
minds eye is awesome
Vinnie is the best. I like him much more than Satriani, Vai etc.
My pick for an underrated guitarist is Robb Flynn. Not only are his riffs catchy and well written, but he consistently performs super tight.
Good call
And sings over them.
Too bad he's a douche
Robb’s singing isn’t that great, but him as a guitarist, he’s good.
@@KagenXDRobb is a strange case of singer whose harsh vocals have deteriorated over time while the clean vocals have remained quite good
I wish people talked more about Mathias Jabs from Scorpions, his solos are great and also he has a huge presence on stage.
Bruce Bouillet from Racer X is definitely underrated. Dude can keep up with Paul Gilbert where they make amazing harmonies and guitar duels. He has projects after Racer X too.
Andreas Kisser from Sepultura
Idk, I think he’s kinda overrated
@@KagenXD nah, i'd say he's rated just right. not overrated nor underrated, just at a mid range.
I think his solos are good, but without Max playing rhythm guitar the old classics kinda suck live, my opinion tho
@@KagenXD Although I'm not surprised with the lack of intelligence of a Max fanboy, still, for the love of the Dark Gods, the guitar solo of the song Roots, for example, became way better in live performances.
When it comes to big and well known metal bands, Kisser is one of the most interesting and creative guitar players of all time, that's for sure. Most people couldn't care less about real quality, and just jump on the catchy and popularity wagon, but Sepultura's discography (specially after Max left) has huge amounts of variety, regarding how each album sounds. Very refreshing, and well composed.
Ritchie Blackmore, underrated!?!
Agreed. He's very well acknowledged, known and rated.
I guess since he's not on the shortlist of GOATs....I see him in tons of top 10 lists though from "official" sources
Out of curiosity, which country are you from? I'd say Blackmore is very underrated in the US specifically, and somewhat overrated in Eastern Europe.
@@MonadTransformerI am from Greece but never in my life I have heard that Blackmore is underrated
@shadowyashatoura makes sense. You are from Europe. Somehow he's just not being mentioned in the US.
Roope Latvala, Tim Calvert, Derek Sykes, Axel Katzmann, Rocky George, Rick Hunolt, Josh Christian & Merritt Gant
And Markku Niiranen
Roope mentioned 💪 Id add Jeff Loomis 100%
Since you mentioned Roope: A similar style of player who is massively overlooked, is Antti Kokko of Kalmah. His lead playing is great, some may know the song The Blind Leader as the most insane example as far as speed goes, but he has excellent lead melodies and phrasing in most of their songs!
Wolf Hoffmann of Accept. His riffs are very powerful. He also plays great solos. He also incorporates classical music into his solos. He deserves to be one of the greatest guitarists.
Bro, Balls to the Wall is one of my favourite albums for guitar playing of all time. The tone, the riffs, the solos. Has it all.
Metal heart is such a W it’s great all the way through
Ritchie Blackmore is indeed, incredibly slept upon.
He was one of the many guitarists of the late 60s/early 70s who’s playing was instrumental in creating hard rock as we know it, then went on to form Rainbow which was crucial in the early shred genre
The dude basically invented 2 different genres of music
In his hay day he was considered the absolute top rock guitarist. So I don't quite understand what he's doing in this list.
People nowadays don't give him that cred, that's why @@MartinMaat
If you don’t have Andy LaRocque on the list, the whole list is null and void.
Couldnt agree more
Michael Romeo, Josh Middleton, Rex Carroll, Marco Sfogli, Roine Stolt.
I want to suggest my own top 10, each from different genre:
Wolf Hoffman - Accept
Andy Powell - Wishbone Ash
Vito Bratta - White Lion
Paul Masvidal - Death/Cynic
Eddie Hazel - Funkadelic
Jim Matheos - Fates Warning
Michael Stutzer - Artillery
Victor Smolski - Rage
Andrew Latimer - Camel
Vinnie Moore - Solo
Good man for mentioning Accept, Fates Warning, Artillery and Camel.
Can't believe you fuckin forgot Jeff Waters. Dude handles the guitar like a fuckin weapon. Probably one of the best thrash guitarists right now.
Yeah, he's great and probably the best thrash guitarist of all time, but you can't include everybody.
Regarding older generation rock guitarists (pre-80's;) I think it's criminal not to mention Jan Akkerman (Focus). For the time period, this guy was on another level and barely ever gets mentioned (Blackmore wasn't the only dude sweep picking). Jan was totally innovative and technical, often incorporating jazz/classical fusion licks into his playing. He's one hell of a Lute player as well. TBH the whole band is underrated- the true pioneers of prog rock IMO.
Jeff Loomis - The 7-string guitar god. Why isn't he like.. the most popular guitarrist ever? He is an absolute beast. Loomis was enlisted into Arch Enemy a few years ago, but Michael Amott kind of steals the show there because he is a more upfront guy and he is the legendary Carcass guitar player. But I think Loomis has more range than Amott. Check his solos when he played at Nevermore. It's sick, man.
Totally agree, but wouldn't call him underrated, I think he is totally respected at least in the shred community, what is very well-deserved. Btw he is free from the band now, his place in AE was taken by Joey Concepcion:)
Glad to see John Norums playing on The Final Countdown album getting some recognition. Super tasty leads. Proper melodic solos.
Nuno Bettencourt my beloved
nuno is the opposite of underrated
He was massively underrated in the past but he got the recognition he deserves now
@@joedalton155 No, his version of "The Flight Of The Bumblebee" even got an award at the times (by Guitar World, I believe)
Andy Timmons
YES, his work with Danger Danger is really good !
@@eugenemonfourny6119 Was hoping someone would bring up D2! His solo work is also excellent instrumental stuff.
FUCK YEAH John Norum. Dude has some proper emotion in his playing.
And really just Europe in general is hella slept on. So many people just get hung up on The Final Countdown, eventhough the band has put out SO much great material. Hell, their best album came out less than 10 years ago. War of Kings is an absolute masterpiece of a hard rock album.
John norum with Eddie Meduza was goated lmao
He also played on Don Dokken's solo album. It's amazing and underrated.
Jason Becker ❤
lol I love Jason but he’s not exactly underrated
Jason is absolutely not underrated. Maybe underappreciated since he isn't that well known compared to other guitarists. But those, who know of him absolutely do rate him as one of the best.
@@ThorsShadow Exactly. He plays Paganini the way Yngwie could only dream about.
Not underrated. He is brilliant, poetic and unearthly talented, and he just gets the credit he legitimately deserves
Louis Dambra of Sir Lord Baltimore. The entire band is incredibly underrated in general, but I see Dambra's playing as truly representing what will become of heavy metal back in 1970.
Richie Blackmore is my favorite guitar player ever. His playing in both Deep Purple and Rainbow is so good and is Classical playing with Blackmore's Night is very under rated.
Dave Davidson of Revocation deserves more recognition as well
YES!!! I am so stoked to hear Ralph Santolla (R.I.P) mentioned, his solos on that Deicide album The Stench of Redemption and the following as well Till Death Do Us Part are in fact why those are some of my faves, Homage To Satan might actually be at least in my top 3 favorite Death Metal solos that I can't play. Other two being 1. the live version mainly Roskilde live show of Morbid Angel Chapel of Ghouls, I can't play that and 2. Cryptopsy's Slit Your Guts, in fact that guitarist who did the solos on THAT album might have to be my pick for one of the most underrated Death Metal solo players.... So expressive, and evil, yet so beautiful.
Per Nilsson - Any better in the melodic death genre? Even stand in on Meshuggah when they need backup
Mikael Åkerfeldt - Among the best solos and phrasings ive heard.
Per is a god fs
Per is one of the greatest metal lead players of all time - definitely my favorite! His incredibly tasteful, lyrical, Holdsworth-inspired (yet still very metal) solos elevate Scar Symmetry into the damn stratosphere. And his rhythm playing is top-notch too considering he filled in for Meshuggah
Chris Impellitteri. The guy he's most frequently compared to is Yngwie. I know that won't endear him to everybody, but his technique is second to none. And he's got a lot of songs that are just straight up fun to listen to.
Jeff Waters of Annihilator, riff monster.
Vito Bratta from White Lion
George Lynch from Dokken
Jeff Watson x Brad Gills from Night Ranger
Tommy T. Baron from Coroner
Piggy from Voivod
Mike McCreedy from Pearl Jam (not sure if I spelled his name right). He definitely has accolade but I rarely hear his name come up when talking about guitar. Easily one of the most powerful blues and grunge guitarists I’ve ever seen, when I saw them a few years back, his solo for Alive (which was the closing song of the night) quite literally melted my face clean off. It was like 6 straight minutes of absolute warm bluesey shreddy bliss as Eddie Vedder threw tamborines into the audience and adlibbed over the band’s sound. I’m not easily impressed to the level I was, but wow his guitar playing was STELLAR that night. So nuanced, in time, and VERY tastefully phrased.
I think Jerry Cantrell needs to be talked about more too. I think there's a video of Phil Anselmo talking about how awesome he is, probably explain better than I could lol.
John Norum and Sykes are the Archerype of the 80's player, amazing melodies, great vibrato and blasting solos
Jake E. Lee
Syu is so underrated, I've been a big fan of him since Animetal! I also love Scream of Anger by Europe
In my opinion Jerry Cantrell from Alice in chains is slept on. He has made some of the tastiest riffs in the modern rock and metal era, but somehow theres a dark, moody, and even bluesy feel for it. Not to mention he has a very soulful voice who paired perfectly with Layne Staley.
JEFF WATERS
100%. Pulled out some of my old vinyl out.the other day and popped on Alice in Hell - what an album with some amazing playing font to back.
Chris Poland should be a superstar!
I had his Return to Metalopolis CD in my car through most of the 90s
Haha the falling down the stairs at 0:06 made me LOL
Seen Brandon Ellis play live 3 times (each in a different band)and every time he stands out and blows me a way with his playing
Saw him a couple weeks ago with TBDM and the man windmill headbangs whilst still nailing every part. Absolutely insane levels of clean
Sooo glad you included Syu
Blackmore's solos on the live version of the song Black Masquerade (Rockpalast, Düsseldorf 95') is imho the tastiest guitar playing EVER! 🔥
BH - The bookends (Blackmore & Fripp) encompassed all the others (IMHO). Given those 2 choices, I'd also add Steve Howe as well - then you'd have the original "prog" trinity. Given your Tony MacAlpine choice; another person of that era is Vinnie Moore. His "Mind's Eye" album is amazingly tasty!
(FYI) MacAlpine got his break and plays the keys on that album too! : )
André Olbrich of Blind Guardian. I've never heard his name mentioned, and the dude just shreds for an hour and a half every night (and he writes basically all their music). How someone can be the lead guitarist and a primary songwriter (and founding member) of one of the biggest metal bands in the world and fly under the radar is just mind boggling.
most underrated metal lead guitarist is jon levasseur from cryptopsy. some really melodic solos with some totally unique phrasing ("cold hate, warm blood", second solo on "Red-Skinned Scapegoat", "Phobophile")
some other notable good ones are dave suzuki from vital remains/churchburn (churchburn - come forth the swarm), uli jon roth if he counts (Electric Sun - Sundown, Burning Wheels Turning), bobby koelble (death - perennial quest), benjamin ellis (ex-scar symmetry & bloodshot dawn, fave solo is probably just bloodshot dawn - beckoning oblivion), wolf hoffmann (accept - head over heels)
In regards to Cryptopsy, the album *Once Was Not* featured Levasseur's replacement, Alex Auburn, who's no slouch himself. "Endless Cemetery" has a really tasty melodic breakdown/solo that I never get tired of.
Phil Demmel should have been here, his solos for Vio-Lence are SIIIIIIIIICK
Also, Eric Meyer riffs are almost unbeatable, another worthy of mention
Also, FUCKIN' FRANK BLACKFIRE, he did both best riffs for Sodom and Kreator
I have a criminally underrated guitarist hes was the old lead guitarist of sentenced who died 2009. He can shred play thrash,black and gothic metal at the same time and his solos are amazing and his instrumental song ”mourn” for his grandfather is just amazing
oh yes... Miika Tenkula is his name...
George Lynch. Had Gene Simmons stuck around to see him play too instead of simply leaving after seeing Van Halen, the world of rock/metal guitarists could have turned out a little different than it is today. Or if he would have actually gotten the job as Ozzy's guitarist either time (first losing to Randy, then being replaced by Jake before he could get started). Apart from the infamous hum often present when he's on stage, there aren't a lot of guitarists (at least that I am aware of) whose playing sounds like him. Of course, Dokken's guitarists have to at least be somewhat close to how Mr. Scary sounded, then there are guitarists like Pier Gonella (Necrodeath, Labyrinth, Mastercastle) or Henrik Rangstrup (Chaoswave, Endarken) who remind me of Lynch at times in their playing.
Ron Jarzonbeck is slept on beyond belief.
Watchtower is great, but Blotted Science consistently blows me away still. Even 12 years after their last release
Joe Satriani, Billy Corgan, Steve Stevens, Richie Sambora, Andy James, Derek Trucks, Tom Hess, Yohio, Francis Rossi
Martin Barre is extremely underrated, it's easy to be overlooked when working alongside Ian Anderson
Richie Blackmore was a big influence for Bjorn Gelotte of In Flames....which makes him partially responsible for melodic death metal.
I think Paul Masvidal is another massively underrated (and Cynic as a whole).
I was so bummed out when I was too late for the Shawn Lane part of your live stream .___. the true GOAT of the electric guitar
Jeff Waters is super underrated. Annihilator’s riffs and solos in the first couple albums are so catchy and unique
Blackmore is why I play guitar. My favourite solo is the whammy-bar breaking Black Night. Pure noise ❤
You're right about the legion of Instagram shredders. One guy who stands out (at least to me), is Roy Ziv. And as for the Shrapnel guys: Greg Howe has always been my favorite.
I can remember working at my college's radio station in the 80's, flipping thru "The NEW Releases bin" - if it was released by "Shrapnel" it was going to be fun-listening! : )
Ty Tabor!
Oh, yes. The solo on Prisoner remains one of my favourites to this day.
In discussions like this, I will never not mention Alan Jones from Pagan Altar. His playing is melodious and heavy, and he can shred if he wants to. Criminally underrated, like the band itself.
Michael Schenker for sure. I've also been noticing that Jim Matheos from Fates Warning is pretty amazing....
Galneryus jump scare! Love these guys!
Mantas from Venom in my opinion. Very underrated.
Honestly agree. He was sloppy as all hell (more so in their heyday) but still had some really cool solos. He got just got better and better as Venom went on.
Vogg from Decapitated is one of the most underrated metal guitarists ever.
Checkout the songs, Just a cigarette, Spheres of Madness, Earth Scar ....
Steve Howe is probably the most underrated considering that he's a musical genius and no one ever mentions him!
Howe won Guitar Player's 'best overall guitarist' award for five consecutive years back in the mid to late 70s. He's virtually unknown by modern rock players with whom he has very little in common. He mostly played a hollow body jazz guitar with little, if any distortion and in a band of virtuoso players whose best albums require repeated listens for their greatness to be revealed.
Gary Moore, John Sykes
im so happy you mentioned daniele gotardo, he has been one of the guitarists i always bring up when people are talking about underrated guitarists
Props for Ralph Santola, absolutely does not get enough praise.
This is my favorite subject to talk about... The underdogs!those goggles are officially official btw lol! Love ya kid
first.
i think scott ian is simple because he said malcolm young is a huge influence on him
I feel like Gary Moore is not talked about enough. Arguably he is not only a metal guitarist, but his tone, feel, technique and melodic playing are out of this world, one of the best guitarists to have ever walked our planet
He has written some legendary melodies and he could shred a little bit if he wanted to. Love him own 3 albums with him on it!
Michael Romeo (Symphony X) - if he wasn't an insane guitar player he would be a film score composer, just listen to his last two solo albums. Also listen to John Macaluso talking about the difference between working with him and Yngwie
Steve Clark.
Luca Turilli
Jeff Waters - even though quite known within thrash metal community, he deserves much more recognition and appreciation for his guitar and songwriting skills imho,
Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth for the rhythm guitarist - aside the political controversy and that sh*t, this guy has always been a rhythm riff machine, easily up there with Hetfield and Mustaine. Just listen to some of the Iced Earth (and Demons and Wizard) songs such as Dante's Inferno, Burnt Offerings, Dracula, Ten Thousant Strong, Dystopia... the speed and precision of these gallops and overall riffs is insane and he was able to perform them live (Dante's inferno is 18 minutes long (!!!), that requiers incredible stamina) as clean as in the studio versions. Easily one of metal's best rhythm guitarists with incredible right hand's stamina and precision, I would kill for his picking technique.
I would also give an honorable mention to Roope Latvala, because he is an incredible guitarist, one of the pioneers of Finnish metal scene with an unique and signature style when it comes to leads, but has been often overlooked because he played a great deal of his career kinda in the shadow of Alexi Laiho (who stated Roope as one of his guitar idols and heroes btw), but if you listen to his work with Sinergy and Stone (in which he wrote lead parts as well), and add his great rhythmic playing for Children of Bodom to support Alexi's insane virtuosity, you will find out he is an incredible guitarist.
Ritchie Blackmore has never been underrated. Maybe less well known to recent generations, but 70's and early 80's he was one of the main men.
My brother in Christ, how have you not heard of Tommy Vetterli yet (Coroner)