Who is the best contemporary guitarist? Worst?

[Matt]

Who do ya'll think is the best guitarist that is alive and playing today? Who do you think is the worst? ;)

[Matt]

You don't hafta put the worst if you don't want to... It was meant as a joke... The worst guitarist is out there somewhere sitting in a garage all by himself with his old beat up guitar. LOL

[sonny-boy]

i think kurt cobain was the worst guitarist in rock n' roll. as a matter of fact, i think the 90's were a rather crappy time for guitarist, mainly because grunge made it "cool" to not be able to play your instrument.

[Matt]

Kurt Cobain is pretty cool...

[Focalized]

Originally posted by sonny-boy
i think kurt cobain was the worst guitarist in rock n' roll. as a matter of fact, i think the 90's were a rather crappy time for guitarist, mainly because grunge made it "cool" to not be able to play your instrument.

No way. Yeah Cobain wasn't a great technical guitarist (his songs didn't need it), but to say that time of grunge was bad for guitar is wrong. It was the best time for guitar rock since the late 60's - 70's. Look at Pearl Jam, SoundGarden, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Janes Addiction and more. Guitar based music and great at that. All got me playing guitar at least.

[Satch_21]

I dont care about all those other 90's grunge guys but Stone Gossard & Mike McCready both kick ass...

[StrungOutString]

for the best guitarist I always defer to the guitar competition in the summer olympics (or is it the winter?)...

anywho, the worst is Margaret Thatcher, she can't play at all.

[Clayton38]

Hell yeah man, Dave Navarro is bad ass. I thought I was the only one who liked Jane's Addiction or something. That guy brought eighties shred and actually made it relevant to intelligent, thought provoking music. With the help of Perry Farell, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins that is. And then when Ritual De Lo Habitual came out, that all flew out the window... but it was replaced by an overall mood change of lightning fast riffing and nice floaty chorus. Good Karma for all. I do love Jane's Addiction.

[guitar boy]

the best guitarist of the 90's well i think kurt cobain was very good, and a hell of a lot better then most nu metal bands, i actually have to sit down and think about what his playing on most of his songs. but i think one of my favorite guitarists at the moment is mike eizinger from incubus his very different from alot of stuff out there, i also really like john frusciant of the chili peppers but they might be a bit too old. the worst guitarist? any one still playing a crate after a year :P

[nothingnamed]

Kurt? I thought he was alright... he just loved music and had a great ear for songs. He knew how to write well for rhythm. Although his solos weren't honestly that intricate, or long, or well much of anything, they still fit the tune and sounded great.

Best? well let me list a few who I really like.
Tom morello, Adam Jones, Mike einzenegnernegnener(whatever his name is, guitarist from incubus), either of the two radiohead guitarists, and that seems about to be all that has come to me. They all are trying and doing things differently and new. Incubus and Radiohead both experiment with their guitar sounds, creating different landscapes with chorus, phase, flange and echo, and god do I love pedals. I really appreciate all they have done for effects lovers out there. On the contrary the other two, Tom and Adam, use barely any effects, but love to make odd noises with their guitars...

now in terms of worst... hmm. Any guitarist from the providence music scene here in RI. haha. :D

nothingnamed

[Aim]

I would say Jerry Cantrell.......best guitarist during that whole scene! ! ! Cobain's solos are underated......check out love buzz as well as some other stuff off bleach.....i still have no idea how he does those stuff......i mean check out the solo from teen spirit its pretty genius that he bends the second string on the fourth fret instead of just playing the note on the six fret.......if you have no idea what i'm talking about then ditch your tabs and start using your ears! ! ! !

[sonny-boy]

I wasn't really thinking about Pearl Jam or STP ,I do think some of those guys were quite good. (especially Mike Mcready) and I don't have any problem with keeping it simple, but I've heard some very crappy live recordings of Nirvana. I shouldn't have said 90's grunge, because that's too relative. what I really meant was Nirvana and all of the Nirvana clones. Besides, I was just stating my personal preference, I didn't mean to offend anyone.

[skip tracer]

margaret thatcher can't play guitar but she's one hell of a drummer.

[jacobhimself]

Mark tremonti is the wost guitarist ever. i just cant find anything good in any of creeds songs, riffs or licks or anything, i hate him and hes a tool. my favorite guitarist of the 90s is a toss between tom morello and cobain, tom morello just makes me wince when i hear some of the **** his guitar does, and kurt cobain was such an anti hero he became a hero.

[chode]

john scofield plays some mean guitar. tim reynolds solo stuff is pretty amazing. there's a lot of technique out there without the feeling to back it up tho, and i'd rather have it the other way around.

[wihaga83]

best : Mike McCready - circa 91-94, now he's too lazy & too old
Tom Morello
Mike Einzeiger

worst : any Nu-Metal guitarist........:)

[guitar boy]

oh yeah tom morrello! he does all this freaky stuff with a really normal rig and its always musical never a gimic. yeah mark tremonti, y does he get signature wah and PRS? hes not that good, his riffs arent catchy and hes not that popular in the guitar world. he's waaaaaaay over rated

[Aim]

i mean he supposingly brought back grunge..........but i dont buy their stuff either.......and btw grunge is dead...no one can bring it back unless you can resurrect kurt or do some voodoo ritual thingie and get his spirit in like a fresh dead corpse or something.....

[wihaga83]

vote for Paul Gilbert anybody ?

or the guys from Silverchair-Daniel Johns (circa '95), he really wrote a good grunge stuff !!

[srvfan]

The best contemporary guitarist by far is John Petrucci from Dream Theater. The man has lightning fast speed, unbelievable technique, complete chord mastery, and plenty of emotion.

If you don't believe it, check out the "Live Scenes from New York" DVD.

[deadlyorigami]

nels cline.

check it out www.nelscline.com

[VillageIdiot]

Originally posted by jacobhimself
Mark tremonti is the wost guitarist ever. i just cant find anything good in any of creeds songs, riffs or licks or anything,

LOL... that's interesting.

Have you listen to Pity for a Dime?

I mean, even if you don't like most of their first album, you gotta admit its definitely interesting and original.

Have you even heard there first album? It's really good. Or are you making your judgements based on Six Feet from the Edge?


But yeah... I do admit their new album is really crap. I like the first two, the first one even more, but the third is crap.

[jacobhimself]

Originally posted by VillageIdiot
LOL... that's interesting.

Have you listen to Pity for a Dime?

I mean, even if you don't like most of their first album, you gotta admit its definitely interesting and original.

Have you even heard there first album? It's really good. Or are you making your judgements based on Six Feet from the Edge?


But yeah... I do admit their new album is really crap. I like the first two, the first one even more, but the third is crap.

man..... ive heard all that before. i have some friends who are pretty into creed and they get pissed when i say they suck. my opinion isnt based on one particular song, but just their sound in general. ive always hated them, ever since i heard higher years ago ive hated them. i downloaded that pity for a dime song to see if its just their popular stuff that sucks, and decided that no, all their stuff sucks. whatever tickles your fancy people, i have friends that love creed and we live in near perfect harmony....

[Void]

For me, the best is Billy Corgan. Shame about his voice really.

[monkeyspunky]

Nick McCabe, ex- Verve without question

[mrmooson]

Tremonti is really good. Too much drop d though. I think Corgan is awesome too. I think Petrucci is amazing also. Adrian Bellew is still plugging away.

Worst is the new metal people and nickleback, come on, every song is pretty much just bar chords not even solo's.

[monkeyspunky]

oh and matt bellamy- muse, pretty good too :):):)

[pardo]

Well, I won't mention my absolute favorites sinse this thread seems to be geared more towards guitarists of the last decade or so.

I'd say the guys who I liked most out of that time period are:

Bradley Nowell from Sublime. The guy just flat out played his ass off and could cover a lot of styles. Loved his playing!

Fletcher Dragge from Pennywise. Amazing rhythme player! Only really plays 1 style, but he's probably my favorite player in that direction.

G. Love. He's one of those "less is more" dudes. But what he does play is very tasty and fits the tunes really well.

Dean DeLeo (sp?). Good guitarist and progressively got better with each STP disk.

Audly Freed from Cry of Love and Black Crows. Very traditional player. Can play killer rhythm and really throw down when it comes to solos. Awesome player!

Kim Thayall - listen to Bad Motor Finger.

Ben Harper. Really like his style and is an honest player. Very unique sound!

Ron Thall - Quirkier than Vai and has a ****load of technique. A little geeky sounding, but when it comes to this type of music, I'd rather listen to Ron than other dudes like him.

[khingpynn]

I'm not here to bash anyone.
Sure Kurt was not technical but he was very origional and very good at what he did. The grunge scene is well know for destroying the guitar crazed 80 shred scene. But you know... the grunge era still had a lot to offer to guitarists.
I grew up in the 80's and yeah I still like the guitar from the 80's so my "best guitarist" choice is George Lynch...without a doubt the definitive hard rocker, style, technique, tone, originality and allways improving. One hell of a nice guy too!
George is my pick, hands down.

Craig

[GDan]

Not the best in the world, just guys I like:

Johnny greenwood from radiohead: Great riffs and solos that are almost as catchy as the songs themselves.

Matt bellamy from muse: One of the few new crowd of rockers who still does solos, Goes a bit mental with the whammy pedal and noise but he is great in a look at meee! look at meeee! kind of way.

Tom morrello: Its great when he takes a load of white noise and feedback from his guitar and somehow turns it into something vaugely musical. A lot my music is influenced by his sense of rythem with power chords and palm mutes.

Worst: Most of the new wave of punk guitarists. Some of their riffs are so bad they actually make me crack up laughing 10 seconds into the song.

[jackass]

I've got to hold the candle for Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, who was able to unite Punk, Metal and Psychedelia into a really eerie, fluid style. Check out Badmotorfinger or Superunknown, but also listen to Louder than Love and Screaming Life.

Tied with Kim is Tom Morello. If you don't believe that he can shred, listen to the first RATM album, 'nuff said.

I'd put Wylde and Dimebag at second place. They've both got distinctive styles that do new things and build well on the work of their predecessors.

On the topic of Mike McCready, I guess he'd have to win for least original guitarist. His solos are solely pentatonic and essentially ripped off of Hendrix, SRV and Page. Moreover, the fact that he admits his songs are taken from these guys doesn't make it ok.

[Welladjusted]

best?
mike einziger, tom morello, adam jones and johnny greenwood all blow me away
worst?
tough call. i'd say any guitarist unwilling to try new things

[b0dah]

Tone wise nothing comes close to adam jones. He'll admit himself that he's almost embarrassed of the technical theory aspect of his playing (most of the people on this board could "outplay" him) But the guy has got tone.....frank black was wrong he OWNS the tones.

My close second, for tone is david gilmour. Comfortably numb, fav solo....ever! The guy worked delay like it was his bitch, and his tone on later albums, even though the music isn't so hot (division bell) improved tremendously....great feeling.

[khingpynn]

Small amps and studio smarts...

[DMStudios]

IMO of course....

Best contemporary guitarist?? Well, it depends on the style....

But.....

Marty Friedman & Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)have written music together that kicks ass. Pre Friedman stuff wasn't great, but, they have written music that puts Metallica to shame...as well as most bands of the same genre.

And Ted Kirkpatrick, drummer from Tourniquet, is a highly underated guitarist. Just plain friggin awesome.

You want to talk rockabilly, my vote is for the Reverend...Horton Heat that is...

If you want to talk of what's on your radio today, I think the guys in Incubus are really good. Something about the Pink Floyd rip offishness they have is really cool.

But the worst guitarist ever??

Could it be Sid Vicsious (even tho he's a bass player, but he's still a badass)?? Or should it be Curt Cobain, the guy from the White Stripes , or maybe the most of what's on the radio today???

It's hard to pick a best and worst guitarist. Each have their own identity and sound.....

[Gondo]

My vote goes for Jeff Martin. Guitarist for The Tea Party. If you never heard of Jeff Martin or The Tea Party try giving Mr. Jimmy Page a call and asking him who Jeff Martin is.

Jeff Martin is definitely the/my best modern rock guitarist of the 90's and today. As far as Mark Tremonti, Billy Corgan, Kurt Cobaine, Tom Morello, etc... and all those guys go...they couldn't hold a flame to Jeff Martin. I'm a big STP, Pearl Jam, Zwan fan but I worship The Tea Party for their musical talents and cause they plain out rock.

To see this guy in action....as well as one of the best rated drummers and rythym bass/keyboard players in the rock world today check out http://www.virtueoz.com/music/concerts/teaparty/index.html and you can watch the full length concert from Australia.

Billy Corgan and Mark Tremonti are actually big fans of The Tea Party and are inspired as guitarists by Jeff Martins playing. Jimmy Page sees Jeff Martin and The Tea Party as the modern Led Zeppelin. They actually have a access to use Jimmy Pages cottage in England. Pearl Jam asked Tea Party drummer Jeff Burrows to be their drummer but he turn down the offer.

For you Americans who never heard of The Tea Party I'll leave that story for another day. For you Canadians and Australians who know what I'm talking about, thank-you.

[TheWizard]

Best Contempt Guitarist... if you mean the 'grunge alternative' era... i would say its a massive tossup. Kim Thayil, Jerry Cantrell, Mike McCready(personal fav guitarist), Stone Gossard, Billy Corgan, James Iha, hell, even Kurt is in there. And yeah Mike McCready ripped off a few solos but he's still the man as far as I'm concerned.. oh yeah, and TOM FREAKING MORELLO. that guy was, is, and always will be the master of sonic masterpiece using the wierdest **** you can think of...

[clifford]

i agree with the adam jones, tom morello, mccready/gossard statements, they're great.

Cobain was good. he was a great songwriter, his solos were not THAT awful (he had some cool sounds) and he..

SANG AND PLAYED!!
sure hendrix pulled it off better but that "man" is barely human with a guitar.

cobain did some good stuff, he's a genius.

i dunno how well known he is but JUNIOR BROWN is also brilliant. (he did the song on the beginning of me myself & irene {highway patrol}) he's more towards country, but very very skilled

[540SLTD]

If you really want to hear John Petrucci at his best, forget Dream Theater and get Liquid Tension Experiment instead.

I'm glad I'm not the only one on this forum to mention John Scofield. Two wizards that never cease to amaze me are Frank Gambale and Allan Holdsworth. One of my all-time favorites however is John McLaughlin.

[grunge grl]

I'd have to say Tom Morello. The guy's a friggin' genius with the guitar... he's not afraid to try new stuff no matter how weird as long as he gets the sound he wants. He even tried using tools out of a tool box to press on the strings to create some cool sounds.
Kurt wasn't as remarkable on the guitar tech-wise. If you read his diaries, he said he was primarily concerned with the songwriting. His solos and riffs were simple but infectious. I love grunge and Nirvana but I love solos. One thing I didn't like about the grunge scene was how solos faded out in the 90s.
John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Satriani are my runner-ups. Those guys are the gods of guitar but I love Morello's aptness for creativity.

[SpaceLion]

I think the best guitarist alive today is Jeff Beck. His is most definitely NOT stuff that you can learn by pulling tabs off the internet. The feel and the atmosphere combined with the fretwork is just incomprehensible. Listen to "Nadia" or "Declan" and you'll see what I mean.
Runners up include the obvious Vai, Satriani, and Malmsteen along with Michael Batio, Adrian Belew, and Buckethead.
As for the worst guitarist alive today, there's a guy I hung out with in high school named Matt who was the absolute worst excuse for a guitarist I've ever heard. But since this probably is meant to refer to well-known guitarists, I'd have to say it's a tie between Jack White and Tom Delonge.

[TheWizard]

I totally agree with the Jeff Beck comment. Give Jeff a squier affinity strat and one of those 20 dollar amps off ebay and he still sounds like Jeff Beck, ya know?

[Wir-Click-Wir]

Now how contemporary are we talking here? Because my choices for the best are David Gilmour and George Harrison.

Worst? Avril Lavigne. :D

[DOA]

i thought cobain had some good solos, like pennyroyal tea, serve the servants, and about a girl to name a few. he wasn't technical but he wasn't trying to be.

anyway, as for my pics (i'm going from about the mid-to early-80's till today)

best:
kevin sheilds (greatest tone of his era)
jerry cantrell
josh homme
page hamilton
ed mundell (especially on "superjudge")
curt kirkwood
trey spruance (this guy is to guitar as mike patton is to vocals. so versitile it's not even funny)
adam jones
greg ginn
thurston moore (espeically when you consider that the early stuff was done with no effects pedals)

honorable mention:
dylan carlson (the heaviness man, the heaviness...)
buzz osbourne
pepper keenan
james hetfield (go ahead and laugh)
kim thayhill
joe selby (if you haven't heard sixty watt shaman yet, you should)

as for the worst:
i dunno, probably someone from a really bad nu-metal or pop-punk band.

ps: avril lavigne plays guitar?

[Wir-Click-Wir]

Originally posted by DOA
avril lavigne plays guitar?
She knows very little, but she pretends to play in her music videos.

[DOA]

She knows very little, but she pretends to play in her music videos

haha, i noticed that just about evey pic of her i see, she's holding a guitar but everytime i've seen her peform, she's not. her band did a nice job with "fuel" on the metallica icon thing though.

anyway, here's a few i forgot

robin guthrie
j. mascis
the guy from dillinger escape plan (who's name totally escapes me right now...no pun intended)
joey santiago (the "vamos" solo is one of my all time favorites)
campbell 2000 (he says he mainly just uses delay...but damn, have you ever heard akathisia?)
jim martin
matt pike (tuned pretty low but still great solos)

ok, i think i've covered everybody.

[jackass]

The Living End's guitarist has the perfect blend of punk with solid rock/rockabilly solos. Plus, he sings while playing rather complicated riffs.

[MonkeyBite]

Dave Knudson of Botch, and now of Minus the Bear.

[jcoriha]

There are many guitarists in the last 13 years who still played great stuff.

Corgan is my personal favorite, but I'm happy to see everyone here mentioning bands like My Bloody Valentine, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mr Bungle, and Tim Reynolds. I also wanted to mention Catherine Wheel. I think they have some great stuff. Cave In is another band I'm listening to right now, and am really enjoying. I still enjoy the work of many older players also:Alex Lifeson, The Edge, Robert Fripp/Adrian Belew, and if Waters and Gilmour ever resolve the feud I'll get in line for that CD/show for sure.

[feedbacker]

Best: Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead)..and me!! cause I know what I do when I'm playing....people just don't understand me.... :rolleyes:

Worst: the only guy that was in my class when I was having music lessons last year (please GOD, cut his arms!!he was real bad..)




"OH MY GOD!!!! SOMEBODY PUT **** IN MY PANTS!!!"

[welder]

I live in Estonia (little county in northern Europe).
75-85% of Estonian guitarists are total ****. They hate shredding stuff. They sound like **** and their technic is ****.
Popular syles are Black Metal, Death Metal and Nu Metal, so........

[malcom]

j. mascis

definately the best.

Other favorites I don't see listed:
Richard Lloyd (Television, Matthew Sweet)
Buckethead
Brian Setzer
Larry Lalond (Primus)

Worst?
Simple Plan?
Tom DeLong?
um. . .
How's Shakira for playing?

[Wir-Click-Wir]

Originally posted by malcom
Richard Lloyd (Television, Matthew Sweet)
Right on. Have you seen the lessons he offers on his website? They're pretty interesting. http://www.richardlloyd.com/lessons/index.htm

How's Shakira for playing?
I don't know, but she plays a Mustang, so she's cool with me.

[TheWizard]

I don't know, but she plays a Mustang, so she's cool with me.
Avril plays a gibson les paul custom but i still want to piss in her abnormally straight hair.

[flamekaster]

the best guitarist to me right now Tom Morrello, Doyle Bramhall II and Brad Paisley


Worst:

Tom Delong, Kenny Wayne Sheppard

[malcom]

Avril plays a gibson les paul custom but i still want to piss in her abnormally straight hair.

Which is all well and good, except we were talking about Shakira (who plays Cyclones) there.

[Lukin]

well..."the best...the worst" thing...its more than "likes" and "dislikes" stuff....but gotta admitt...that some guitar players mentioned before really sucks...but well....this is my list, in no particular order...

-Pearl jam Coupple(Gossard, McCready)
-Adam Jones
-Tom Morello
-John Scofield
-John Petrucci
-Nunno Bettencourt
-Jerry Cantrell

[stratocaster83]

the best? jeff beck. oh well, he's been the best ever, since electric guitar sound was developed...

the worst? gururyan, of his own admission, coz I've never heard him!

[TheGrinnan]

i thought cobain had some good solos, like pennyroyal tea, serve the servants, and about a girl to name a few. he wasn't technical but he wasn't trying to be.

My personal favorite was his solo for "Verse Chorus Verse." I don't know why, it just stands out to me.

[Wir-Click-Wir]

Originally posted by TheGrinnan
My personal favorite was his solo for "Verse Chorus Verse." I don't know why, it just stands out to me.

Apart from some of the stuff off of Bleach, that's as technical as he got. It's a good solo, too.