Your Favorite Guitarists?

[Jake Arnold]

Hi Everyone! Ive been checking out tons of guitarists and their styles a lot recently trying to learn tons of strange techniques to mix together and make my own weird style of playing, its actually really fun even though most of what Ive come up with so far is basically clown music. Haha
I started thinking about everyone on here and it made me curious, other than Syn and Brian (obviously we all think that they are hands down, F*cking amazing on guitar ) Who are your favorite people to listen/watch play guitar? Who are some players that absolutely mesmerize you?
Syn and Brian definitely feel free to let us know yours as well if you read this!
P.S. If you are into super cool acoustic playing, There is a guy (not very well known) out there Named Joey Eppard that you should ABSOLUTELY check out, his playing is extremely pretty and unique in my eyes.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

I gotta say that I don’t know too much of other guitarists outside the metal zone. So I got to go with the guitarists of my favorite metal Bands, Syn and Michael Paget of Bullet for my Valentine.

 

[idssdi]

Pfoe the list goes on and on but here are a couple names:
-Django Reinhardt
-George Harrison
-Eric Clapton
-B.B. King
-Albert King
-Freddie King
-Jimi Hendrix
-Ritchie Blackmore
-Jimmy Page
-Michael Schenker
-Paul Gilbert
-Jason Becker
-Marty Friedman
-Slash
-Dimebag
-John Mayer
-John Frusciante
-Wes Montgomery
-Michael Romeo
I probably forgot someone but ooh wel

 

[Ed Seith]

Dead guys:
Randy Rhoads (Check out Ozzy’s “Diary of a Madman,” the album and the song, especially. Randy blended classical and metal long before Yngwie came out. Killed in a plane crash in 1982.
Criss Oliva, from Savatage. Interesting and different tone. Legato skills til the sun comes up. Great feel. Can give me chills. Killed in a head-on with a drunk driver in 1993
Dime – nuff said. Murdered on stage in 2004.
Living guys:
Andy Timmons – first saw him in Danger Danger, an otherwise forgettable hair metal band in the 80s, but he’s SUCH a diverse and tasty player, and tone for weeks.
Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) – dude is just unstoppable. Tone, touch, vibrato, taste, and CHOPS. Everything Nuno touches is gold
George Lynch – Dokken made him famous, but his solo and Lynch Mob work is what I really dig.
Brad Paisley – yes, the country guy. He writes terrible lyrics, but holy fuckballs, can he play!
Mark Tremonti – I prefer his solo “Tremonti” band over Alter Bridge, but both are awesome, and he’s just a great player and a great guy – I sat down with him about 3 years ago for an “artist session” lesson, and he gave me a lot to work on.
Adam D (Killswitch Engage) – not an especially engaging lead player, but a RIFF MONSTER
Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) – no pick, no problem. Mark’s solos in Sultans of Swing are the reason I play guitar.
Keith Douglas (Tora Tora) – definitely not a popular one, but the southern-tinged blues rock flavors get me. Their 1992 album “Wild America” was the album of the summer for us back then, and while a lot doesn’t hold up 25 years later, Keith rocked.
Mark Holcomb (Periphery) – I gravitate to Mark’s playing more than either Misha’s or Jake’s. Not sure why.
Dave Murray/Adrian Smith – nuff said
John Mayer – prefer the Blues Trio stuff over the radio hits, but man can PLAY
Paul Gilbert – on top of the obvious, I’ve never seen anyone so in love with all things music.
Warren DeMartini – Back for More is the coolest solo ever.
Scotti Hill (Skid Row) – the crazy phrasing and note choices! I feel like he was prepping me for Syn.
Tommy Skeoch (Tesla) – probably the guy who unwittingly had the most to do with my own style, for better or worse
Richie Kotzen – listen to some Winery Dogs. You’re welcome.

 

[idssdi]

Ed-you honestly named so many people I forgot to mention.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

Syn
Tosin Abasi
John 5
Plini
Intervals
Polyphia
Chon

 

[Ed Seith]

If all you know of Ozzy/Randy is Crazy Train and the other radio songs, check this out.
Syn just did a secret video about moving bass notes under a static figure. Check out the acoustic intro here. The chord shapes change incrementally with a moving bass note. Then the main riff is in a brain-bender of a time signature. So much amazing writing and playing here.
And Ozzy WISHES he could write lyrics like this…

 

[Jamie London]

I’m gonna try and keep this short lol (and in no particular order)
Nick Drake
Keith Richards
Gates
Dimebag
Allan Holdsworth
ZV
Paul Allender
Dimebag
Django Reinhardt
Hizaki
Ronnie Wood
Jake Campbell
And many many more but like I said, I’m trying to keep it short

 

[Dominik Gräber]

When dimebag is so important you have to at least Name him twice @james

 

[Ed Seith]

KEEF!

 

[Jake Arnold]

Awesome guys! Im gonna be on youtube for weeks. Haha
I thought Id throw a couple of mine out there since I skipped that when I made the post.
John5 (Who I’m going to be doing stage work for when he comes to my town in 2 weeks (hopefully I can get to jam with him for a minute at least haha) )
Oli Herbert- All that remains *older stuff (Unfortunately I just found out that he passed away this morning )
Adam Jones W/ Danny Carrey- Tool. Not a shredder but he really knows how to scramble your brain with noises on the guitar.
Dime- of course haha
Joe Walsh/Don Felder- The eagles (those Harmonies!!!)
Les Claypool- I know he is mostly a bass player but he makes me want to play that crazy shit on guitar so bad!!!
Just to name a few! Dude Ed, Randy Rhoads was absolutely insane! Its great watching his old videos, it looks like he plays a giant guitar he was such a little dude. I still get sad knowing that we will never get anymore insane work from him! D:
Im definitely excited to check out all the players you guys listen to!

 

[Jake Arnold]

Also I think we should try and convince Syn to get ZV to post a video of him showing off by himself on here! lol There aren’t really any videos of him playing alone that Ive seen!

 

[Ekrem Taha Ünlü]

Except Syn. Jason Becker is my favorite. I also love Paul Gilbert, Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, Marty Friedman and so many others!

 

[Gabriel Corso]

So many great names in the posts above!
There are a lot of guitarrists that inspire me to go forward and play.
Omar Rodríguez-López – amazing Prog. Guitarrist. A lot of Trippy sounds on his The Mars Volta records. I also like his punk guitar riffs on At the Drive In
Josh Homme – I think that BADASS is a good word to caracterize this great guitar player. His fat sounding guitar riffs are amazing to me.
Synyster Gates – first huge guitar influence on my life! My favorite guitar player of all time!
David gilmour – well, gilmour is a legend. His way of communication trough guitar is amazing. He, besides syn, influences me a lot.
Jimmy Page – another guitar legend. So many riffs which made me want to improve as a guitar player. Huge sound!
LOUD is a good word to describe him haha.
Billie Joe Armstrong – I always been a huge fan of Green Day. Billie is a great guitarrist + front man.
John Mayer – I recently started to like his stuff. He is a master in blues, and I really like that. So much feel in his playing.

 

[Jamie London]

Dimebag definitely gets two spots haha not even gonna edit it I also have to add Brian May to my list above. I’m not sure I forgot him. Definitely one of my biggest influences! Also @Ed , Keef all day every day!

 

[Rad Synner]

I mean, obviously Syn is a big one but the other who really helped me a lot to find my voice was James Hetfield. Since I love playing rythm so much, his songs, his technique and also his mindset helped me a lot to grow as a guitar player.
I would also add Jim Root, Dave Mustaine and yeah Randy Rhoads.

 

[Alan Celis]

Steve Vai is also a really good guitarist with a really nice control of the floyd and Carlos Santana bcuz he has been one of my earliest inspirations and a reason i wanted to play the guitar
And obviously Syn with his amazing solos that made me get better and better

 

[Noah Berends]

My personal favorite guitarists/influences:
Syn (Duh)
John Petrucci (Duh)
Jason Richardson (Prog-style metal mixed with insane tasteful speed, some of the fastest speed I’ve ever personally heard.)
Will Swan (Insanely attracted to his style of playing. It’s almost like beautiful ADHD chaos)
Adam Zytkiewicz (Insanely innovative metal style IMO)
Gary Clark Jr (My favorite blues player)
Buckethead (Innovative, freaky, and often classy)
Dimebag (The legend)
Herman Li (My first REAL guitar influence)
Eric Johnson
Guthrie Govan
Mark Holcomb (lead) and Misha Mansoor (Tone)
Plini
Steve Vai
Seth Blake (100% riff king)

 

[Ed Seith]

I didn’t mention Vai, even though I should have. I assumed he was a “given,” and yet I DID include others that I would also consider “a given.” If the wah solo in For the Love of God doesn’t give you chills, you’re simply not living, but I remember (showing my age here) coming home from the mall in my Mom’s car and I made her let me put on the cassette of Flex-Able that I’d just bought at Sam Goody. “Little Green Men” was definitely NOT what Mom was expecting when I told her “this guy is this AMAZING guitar player and this is his record!”
I remember learning “Call It Sleep” and the guitar solo “Lighter Shade of Green” from his Alcatrazz record (which has a lot of great rock stuff – I recommend it!)
So yeah, Vai, for sure.
Petrucci for techincality and some general tastiness, but he doesn’t get an emotional response from me.
Anyone here listen to Brian Setzer, too? AMAZING rockabilly and big-band guitarist.
Johnny Hiland.

 

[Marc Komma]

Also love Jason Richardson as well and this guy is worth mentioning.
Slash is one of my favorites as well when it comes to creating good tunes.
Also great players are Richard Fortus, Bumblefoot and DJ Ashba. Everyone of them played (or plays) in Guns N Roses at some point, but their music they have put out is amazing and everyone of them has an amazing and recognizable soloing style.