WORST OVERRATED GUITARISTS------

I appreciate Vai's playing, but he is definitely a poser. He looks downright silly on parts of the G3 thing. As far as Eric Johnson goes, Playing complex chord progressions with well thought out solos is a lot harder than "shreading" the neck. Which is what he's doing on the G3 thing. Everytime I watch that video, I picture him wanting to kill his agent for getting him mixed up in that thing.
 
Korns guitar players are way lame. These guys play wierd sounds not music.
None of these newer bands like Limp Bizkt, God smack,
Powerman 5000 etc. aren't any good Jeez listen to God Smacks
song Voodoo. The only thing cool about that song is the Drumbeat. And I thought the 8tys were bad.
 
Kirk Hammet!!!!

The guy is good but he should at least learn some new licks for crying out loud!!!!
Can you say repeat?
Ohyeah and anyone who can only play a week little pentatonic solo should be sold to terorist. hehehehehheh!!!!
 
Bow.. I agree with what you said about Van Halen not doing anything lately, but come one, he did enough on the first album alone to never have to pick up a guitar again and still be considered great and an influence to almost everyone that has picked up an electric guitar since then. Eddie could start playing like Mark Tremonti (overrated, just like the band he's in) tomorrow and still never be overrated cause of what he's already done. Van Halen may be living off the past, but he's still far from overrated. I never even bothered with the last two CDs they put out.

I think of overrated as someone that has never really done any great playing and is still considered great. Like, for instance, who reco just mentioned and most any of the guitarists from 90s bands. You know what though, I bet most of those guys grew up playing Van Halen licks at some point. Too bad they (and we) would have been better off staying in cover bands trying to play "Unchained" and "Aint Talkin Bout Love" than putting out their own stuff. I think these guys are the current new crop of 'guitar heroes' for the same reason Aerosmith can still sell records as a rock band: There's nothing else out there.

I also think Vai is just inhuman when it comes to guitar playing. No one should be able to do the stuff that he pulls off. It just aint fair. Now that I think about it, he sorta looks like an alien too. :) So he goes overboard sometimes and becomes more of a sideshow than a guitar player, and I prefer to listen to several other players instead of Vai, he's still not overrated by a long shot.
 
Wow. I am really shocked by some of the comments. HockeyPunk, it's clear to me that when it comes to Neil Young, you just don't get it. Which is fine, but you shouldn't really go off on something you just don't get. It's not all about technical prowess guys, sometimes someone's brilliance is about anything but that. Alot of the people being shot down here are songwriters first, using the guitar as a means to an end. Springsteen is not overrated, and the comment about stevie Ray made me choke on my beer. Cobain killed Rock? Anything he killed needed killing, I'll tell you that. And thank God someone brought Bob Mould, who I do think is an innovative guitarist. Johnny Marr? J. Mascis? Bob Stinson? The guys in Archers of Loaf? There are so many talented players out there. It might not be your cup of tea, but tearing them down says more about you own limitations, than any they may have. Technique is nothing without passion. Lets not lose sight of what it's all about.
K.
 
I agree to an extent. I've never really heard many people talk about what great guitarists Springsteen or Neil Young are... it's about the songs they write and their delivery of the material. That said, if anyone does think they are masterful guitar players then that person is overrating them as guitarists. I don't like it when people confuse good songwriting and performing with good guitar playing in the sense we are discussing here. Let's face it, if you are a sloppy player that knows a few chords and can write incredible songs, you're still not a great guitarist. From that point of view, those guys you mentioned aren't great players, but they are great songwriters and performers. I still don't see them overrated as guitarists, as not only are they mostly know for things other than guitar playing, some of them aren't that well know anyway. Gotta be more popular than that to be overrated I think.

Check the cover of most any of the 50+ guitar magazines onsale this month and at least 75% will have a picture of an overrated guitarist I bet. It's the people that read those and don't have another perspective or reality check that I feel for. Those kids are growing up thinking Munky is the greatest thing to pick up a guitar. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... We must think about the children... Stop the madness before those young guitar minds are corrupted by the dark side. :D
 
hehehehe

Hey Jon X!

You are correct about the guitar mag covers! I got my Guitar Player wednesday night...The Edge is on the cover! Fire up your delay boys! it is time for 3 chords and the truth [and a delay rack, keyboards, etc.].

Chris N-
Vai a poser? Why, because he has fun playing the guitar for people and makes some funny faces while doing it? If you see him live, not on video, he makes everyone in the room feel like he is playing just for you.
A poser is one who pretends to be awesome when they are not [Kirk Hammet, Korn, Limp Bizket]....NO ONE can touch Vai at his level.
I would not be surprised if he is an Alien! But he is a showman who enjoys what he does, and he appreciates his fans. That man can play more with just his left hand alone than 90% of the guitar players out there. Jon X is correct, what he can do on a guitar is illegal in 40 different countries, or should be....
 
I don't think we really need to worry about the younger generation of guitarists. We really start to sound like our parents when we talk like that. I am blessed with an eight year old nephew and a fourteen year old brother-in-law. The 8 yr old just had music appreciation classes in school and now he likes Jazz music. Go figure. The teenager likes Korn and Bizkit, but he's heard my bands with plenty of melodies and guitar solos and he likes that stuff too. I know other kids who dig Blues and Classic rock too. We don't have anything to "worry" about here. Most of the kids picking up guitars these days are going to emulate whichever performers affect the majority of their peers. That isn't really any different than when any of us picked up the instrument. We can talk about loving music 'till we're blue in the face, but many, if not most of us decided on guitar because it was a cool instrument. We could stand out front and wow our friends and maybe impress some members of the opposite sex. Many of us today would be ashamed of the music we listened to in Junior High and the first songs we wanted to learn, but we matured, and so did our tastes. So let the kids bash around on their detuned 7 strings. They'll be ok. I think we need to worry about stuff like overrated financial planners and overrated hair restoration treatments (present company excluded, of course).

peace.
 
Bow

I think our difinition of a poser are slightly different. To me it's someone who may be of reasonable ability but is too full of himself and his ability. I really don't want to get into a debate over Vai, because he is quite capable and I wouldn't say he is exactly overrated. Although his stage presence doesn't really say to me, he's having any more fun than the next guy. And I've seen a lot of great guitarists.
...............

As far as being embarrased about who I listened to in high school. Not likely, I was listening to guys like John McGlaughlin, Al Dimeola, Robert Fripp, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Hacket, Santana, Steve Morse. Someone like Wes Borland pale in comparison to these guys.
 
Chris,
I think if you read any interviews with Vai, he doesn't seem to come across as someone who is "full of himself and his ability". Vai played with Frank Zappa, someone with a reputation for tounge-firmly-in-cheek, sarcastic personae, onstage and off. I'm sure Vai knows all about self-caricature and its clear that he also knows how to entertain while playing. If we always applied the intellectual approach, (as does one of the guitarists you named) wouldn't that make for a crashing bore of a seated rock-show? Of course we would all play much better if we performed sitting down, but people coming to see a show want a SHOW. If Adrian Belew weren't such a good, and often goofy performer, everyone would just buy Crimson albums and not bother to come to the shows.

As far as Wes Borland and his ilk, I'm not fond of the music or the playing. But the guitar certainly does fit with the rest of the band and with the message (if there needs to be a message other than "dude, witness the catharsis") they're trying to put across. None of the styles of the players that you mentioned would fit in that kind of "groove" anyway. I don't think we should bag on the dude because he doesn't play like we think he should. Sorta like telling Jackson Pollock he should have used your brush.

peace.
 
Wow....Steve Howe overrated, Jimmy Page, Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Vai, Neil Young. It does sound like a who's who of guitarists over the last 20 years. I've learned probably hundreds of their songs and riffs over the years and I can be as critical as the next person because these artists set the bar really high for themselves and they don't always live up to the standard but remember that THEY were the ones who raised the bar and set the standards. They are all good acoustic guitarists and that is something that the new breed of player just don't bother with. I'm a guitar teacher and the only acoustic song they want to learn is by Green Day. That's in stark contrast to when I was coming up and everyone could play lots of acoustic numbers.

Wes Borland from Limp Biscuit isn't much of a guitarist but if they ever do another sequel to Planet of the Apes then I'm sure he'll be the first one cast.
 
All these people almost you people say are over rated aren't. Sure they might not be the most incredible guitarists, but that doesn't make them overrated. They sure aren't! They aren''t trying to be Eddie Van Halen, they are trying to make good music, and that has nothing to do with how virtuosic of a performer you are. In responce to some of the early posts:
Dimebag Darrell: fucking incredible, how can you even put him down? he is so innovative, has INCREDIBLE skills, (this says nothing about his attitude/life, hes an ass) and is just again awesome.
Clapton: Awwww come one, who cares who he ripped off, or whatever. He is incredible.
Page: Incredible, no matter what anyone says.
Neil Young: Not incredible, but not all that highly regarded as an awesome guitarists (although i cringe at the sound of his voice on any of his folky albums, ie: after the gold rush)
The Edge: Sure he may not be the greratest most incredible player, but he writes some really good music. He isn't regarded as an incredible player.
Slash: Mediocre my ass.
This could go on for a while.

Jake
http://www.worthlessmusic.com
http://www.creation16.com
 
effedupstrat,

I suppose I didn't really clearly define my opinion of Vai from the beginning. I stayed away from this thread because of the nature of the topic, which comes down personal taste. I agree with you and whoever else thinks Vai is a excellent player. It was just when somebody metioned the G3 video, I had to agree. Personally I skip through Vai's performance to get to EJ and Satch, Who just speak to me more directly. You metioned Belew which is a good comparison. Belew acts goofy plays goofy (sometimes) and develops a repoir with audience, but doesn't ever appear to be full of himself or his playing in the slightest. It's not that way with Vai, (for me atleast) I guess I thought we were talking about musicianship and not Rock stardom. I'm perfectly happy to listen to Fripp just sit there and be a genious.

Comparing Limp Bizkit to Jackson Pollack is just plain crazy. Excuse me for having a level of dignity that I would hope gets conveyed in my music and the music I listen to. I try to work out my demons in private so I can rise above that level and create something of redeeming value.
 
Why does our level of dignity have to be reflected in the music we choose to listen to or play? If you read this whole thread, you'll find that I never weighed in to slag anyone off. I just don't believe in that. That's my level of dignity reflected in my attitude. All I'm trying to get across is that showmanship is valid, dressing up like a freakin' monkey and jumping around to white-boy rap music is valid. Playing blues lines is valid. Country licks with a hip-bender are valid. Fingerpicking folk songs is valid. I do all this stuff with the guitar (okay, maybe no monkey suit) and luckily I still look young enough so people don't say "look at the old fart with an identity crisis". The problem innate in conversations such as these is that "musicianship" is entirely subjective. Because one prefers the music or performance style of one artist over another shouldn't translate to the assumption that they are a better musician.

Once again I'll say we're in danger of becoming our parents. And for the record, I'm not really fond of Jackson Pollock either, but he obviously touched people with his art and isn't that what we strive for each in our own way?

peace.
 
effedupstrat,

Sorry if my words implied you didn't have any dignity due to the music you listen to. That wasn't my intention. Yeah this stuff is all very subjective. I just rememeber a time when the majority of music around use to really fill me up with good vibes, it's really hard for me to find those moments anymore. It's around just not the norm. For me anyways.......

Cheers
 
Yeah ChrisN,
I know what you mean about the vibes in music today. It seems to be either vacuous poppy stuff or loaded with rage and noise. But sometimes I find that the stuff that really makes me feel good is some of the most downer stuff. Often its nice to know that someone feels the same way that I do. I also love to listen to Holdsworth, McLaughlin, DiMeola, Larry Carlton, Eric Johnson and others. Guitar for guitar's sake is very cool to me. But on the other hand I can also appreciate guys that can just heave slabs of energy around with the instrument, because sometimes I feel like just venting steam.

No offense taken, by the way, and all respects to you and your music.

peace.
 
Rockguitar??

Overrated? I don´t think anyone you´ve mentioned is overrated, they´re all great in different ways to different people. Personally I think everyone you´ve mentioned suck except for Neil Young and J Mascis, but that´s just because I´m not into everything being perfect. I don´t think they´re overrated, I´m just not interested. And I know that Yngwie is a better technical player than Jon Spencer and Judah Bauer from the Blues Explosion, but I just don´t feel anything when he plays, except for boredom maybe. Unlike when I watch the Blues Explosion beat their guitars almost to death, making them sound like it really is "the devil´s music". So no, I don´t think Yngwie, Vai, van Halen and the rest of them are overrated, they´re great guitar players. But I wouldn´t say that there´s any ROCK in them at all. To me rock is ment to be dangerous and exciting, and they certainly are not. But overrated? No. It´s just that guitar playing and rock music in some cases have parted. Split up. A painful divorce where Clapton got the money and Spencer got the soul... the understandig of rock´n´roll. Clapton had it for a while, but everything must go.
 
You can't say Eddie Van Halen doesn't have any "rock" in him. Listen to the album "Fair Warning" or their first album....he's a hell of a guitarist. I never liked his solos but he has great ideas and attitude. Eddie VH admitted to stealing his tapping idea after seeing Steve Hackett (Genesis) on television. Now, Steve Hackett....that's a REAL guitar player and artist.
 
It's Back !

geez, didn't we go through all this before?

For the record, Jimmy Page is one of the best. If he's sloppy, it's because he has always pushed himself harder than others would dare. He is responsible for the most memorable and melodic leadwork in rock and roll history, and is a true recording artist with more sophisticated layering of tracks than most musicians even bother with in the studio. He also made extensive use of non-standard tunings, including many which he invented,and mastered slide guitar techniques as well. That's not to mention the stunts pulled with violin bows, Therenins (whatever they're called), and other stringed instruments.

done.
 
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