namepeace said:

I don't know about that Namepeace. Prince can definitely play guitar very well; fuck that, he's an excellent guitarist. But he definitely does not belong on any greatest guitarist lists of all time and he's certainly not under rated. People are now realizing that he's a superb player, with that HoF induction ceremony solo, the Grammys, SNL (where he played the hell out of "Fury"), the Super Bowl - you have to be stuck underneath a rock in order not to realize that he can play. Prince WAS under rated as a guitarist simply because his pop songs/singles never featured blistering guitar work or ever betrayed the fact that he's a wide rock guitar vocabulary. When did you ever hear a Prince song on the radio during his heyday and said "Damn, this boy can play guitar like a mutherfucker!"? This is why I respected him as a songwriter - he let the song dictate what he played. Most of the time, the song didn't need blistering guitar work. But of course, if you looked deeper into the mix, you can hear that he's no slouch.


But to me, the best guitarist on earth is Allan Holdsworth followed by John McLaughlin. Prince can't even touch the hem of their garments - until he steps out of his pentatonic comfort level and step into the final frontier that is jazz, he will simply remain a great rock guitarist.

chuckaducci said:[quote]


But to me, the best guitarist on earth is Allan Holdsworth [quote]


AMEN

Holdsworth and McLaughlin are both absolutely wonderful guitarists, yes, but I still maintain the most interesting and groundbreaking guitarist out there (even now he's in his 60s) is Jeff Beck.

Nobody's mentioned Allan Holdsworth yet - he's not one of my favourites, but he's a very nice player.

Zal Cleminson from SAHB was a good blues/rock player, too - it's a genre particulary difficult to keep interesting, and the way he throttled the shit out of his SG was electrifying!

JoeTyler said:

Sorry, man - they just bored the tits off me, they really did. Astonishing technique across the whole band, though.

Duane Allman & Dickey Betts
John Frusciante

Allan Holdsworth is so good that fantastic players like Gambale gets all humbled and nervous when they play with him.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...ed&search=

see for yourself: a little teaser with Allan Holdsworth. He brings the guitar playing into a completely different and new level. The way he fluently and effortlessly plays over modulations in harmony is rare. He's got fantastic company as well: Alan Pasqua, Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Haslip

peterfalconer said:

Say what? I mentioned him on the first page and yourresponse where you just mentioned him is directly related to my post above!!


It's a matter of taste, I guess, regarding Beck versus Holdsworth, but Holdsworth vocabulary, stretching back from the 60s to today is much more astonishing personally. Holdsworth's runs and grasp of theory is something Beck cannot touch. I will admit that Beck is an interesting guitarist, however.
[Edited 3/17/07 12:07pm]

Catfish



http://www.youtube.com/wa...DGpeW4sUUs

chuckaducci said:

I might be splitting hairs, but what I said was he belongs among the greats, but I wouldn't count him as the GREATEST (going on scale of greatest > great). Prince is music's answer to Magic Johnson. He can play any position on the floor. He may not be the technical master others are on any given instrument, but he moves between (most) instruments and genres of music with a fluidity such that he makes them his own.

And I say he's underrated for the reasons you set forth below. I really don't think it's been until very recently that people have woken up and realized Prince's prowess as a guitar player.



Amen. That being said, a lot of folks WERE stuck under a rock for a long time. It took 20 years for a lot of music fans to realize that he actually played guitar. Notwithstanding Purple Rain or his amazing work in the SOTT movie. Notwithstanding his memorable appearances on MTV, the Arsenio Hall show, the SNL 15 year special (remember "Electric Chair"?) in the late 80's and early 90's. Notwithstanding his amazing live shows or albums like Chaos and Disorder and TGE when he rips it. No, it was only in 2004 when people began to wake up. I guess that's what I mean.



Indeed. Those who were devoted fans or knew music knew the deal.



Indeed, like I said, Prince is a great, but not among the greatEST. I leave that to others.

peterfalconer said:

Don't you like the Lean into it album? It's a classic!!

JoeTyler said:

I love Paul Gilbert. But I prefer the solo stuff and Racer X over Mr. Big.

namepeace said:

I couldn't have said it any better. Great post.

Ani DiFranco. If she would just shut up sometimes and simply play those weird rhythmic things she does.

Not just Tito Jackson, but alot of the Jacksons are under-rated. Tito is under-rated as a guitarist, Jermaine as a bassist and a singer, Jackie as a singer and songwriter, Michael as a songwriter and producer.

This is the only video I could find on YouTube that shows Tito's guitar skills, but it still doesn't show him in all his glory. http://www.youtube.com/wa..._9O0nS29Uo

...
Some of my favorite underrated players:

Wayne Krantz



...

Jean Paul Bourelly





...

Bill Frisell



...



David Gilmore (the Jazz guitarist --Not that PF guy )






...

DarlingDiana said:

Agreed on all.



No way. OTW and Thriller were testaments to 1) Michael's talent as a singer/songwriter, AND 2) Quincy's talent as a producer. Without Quincy, Michael as we know hin wouldn't exist, and I wish MJ fans would realize that.
[Edited 3/17/07 20:37pm]

ThreadBare said:

Co-sign

namepeace said:

Good point and one I agree with. P, when it comes to just flat out playing, is very good on the guitar. When it comes to his showmanship when he's playing guitar, he elevates in the ranking. I say this cuz he can pull out the "I'm soooo the rock star/guitar hero" thing, and that's important. P has always had the guts to pull that off where as many other guitarists who are better would straight freeze and become totally paralized in that kind of spotlight. That's why I rank P as high as I do cuz, for me and my generation, coming up in the 80's, Prince was our Hendrix. And that can't be underplayed. Did I know he was biting off of Hendrix? Sure. But it didn't matter cuz u could clearly see the love and respect he had for Jimi and he was just bringing it, early 80's style, to us kids. Prince being black and me being black, yeah, it spoke to me and influenced me. In a way that of course Jimi couldn't have cuz Prince was alive and in the flesh. I could actually go see Prince live in concert. And even from the get, P ALWAYS brought the "guitar hero' thang. That's why I don't buy that bullshit when folks "try" to pretend that they didn't know P could play guitar. Those motherfuckers know. They would have to be living under a rock. Who else made a blackbuster rock film in the 80's? Van Halen? Def Leopard? The Scorpions? Hell nah. Damn near every clip in the film, P is playing guitar. How is someone not going to know? Yeah,..trust me, they know.

GMusic said:

I agree 100%. Terry was hella good during a period when u had many good guitarists and he definately more than held his own.

A lot of this boils down to who folks prefer. I'll give it up to a cat even if I don't like his playing style; i.e. Vernon Reid. Many mentioned are good choices. My few picks;

Ernie Isley
Eddie Hazel
Dwayne Blackbyrd McKnight
Ty Tabor
Stanley Jordon
Roger Troutman
Leroy Sugarfoot Bonner
Roy Clark
Allan Holdsworth
Terry Kath
Uli Roth
Glen Buxton
Gary Moore
Matthias Jabs

And the king of them all that went tragically underrated;

Robert Johnson

DarlingDiana said:

Hard to judge how much of it was him playing from that clip. There's a sharp volume drop-off from the solo to the return to the verse. There were some behind-the-curtain musicians on that. I couldn't tell: Was his guitar even plugged in?

Adrian Vandenberg - really melodic, classically influenced player.
http://www.youtube.com/wa...SB2B_MXZOc

Roger Troutman
http://www.youtube.com/wa...qynOvM4p0c

Jimmy Thackery
http://www.youtube.com/wa...TQSa7wno6w
[Edited 3/17/07 23:15pm]

Oh yeah, I gotta add three of my favorites:

Mato Nanji
http://www.youtube.com/wa..._od-2ezJyQ (the volume's kinda low)

Eric Gales
http://www.youtube.com/wa...j_rYnB5YRM

Joe Bonamassa
http://www.youtube.com/wa...BgAfksivZo

To be honest, they're not really underrated by fellow guitarists/musicians - they're pretty unknown the general population.

Those who know Robben Ford don't underrate him, but he's not particularly famous, even though he's played with Miles & Joni & George Harrison...

NDRU said:

I wasn't sure whether he should be mentioned. He was next on my list. Amazing phrasing, Robben has.

JesseDezz said:

I think of PK as the consummate guitarist. I haven't seen anyone else who so comprehensively has mastered the guitar, whose instrumental and stylistic vocabularies are as broad and deep.

I saw him do a solo acoustic spot, about a decade ago, and it floored me. I had been in awe of his electric abilities up to then, but I couldn't believe all he was doing with an acoustic guitar and a sampler.

The boy is bad. Had he devoted his years to "secular" rock and roll, he'd be a household name. But his devotion to Christian rock has had a profound effect on those of us in the Christian arena. We owe him a huge debt.

The MOST underrated great guitarist is him IMO.....

Mr.Charlie Christian


People refer to him as Benny Goodman's guitarist, but his whole(and short) recording career is nothing less than impressive. There's far more than his sessions with Benny Goodman.

MR. Wes Borland