well for some reason i really like Alexi Laiho's style.

he's my fav,

even tho Steve Vai / Joe Satriani are really great.

Michael Angelo is really speeded for his style..

i still think that Yngwie Malmsteen is one of the best.

To everyone who thinks I am being narrow minded in my choice, don't think I havn't weighed up the contestants. But, Malmsteen still wins for me.

My favourite guitarist differs from who I think is the best, but it doesn't matter what style you look at, Malmsteen is always gonna be at the top. Andy Mckee is awesome, but he ain't no Malmsteen. Petrucci is awesome, but he's never gonna achieve the greatness of Malmsteen.

Yes, duh there are different genres than shred, and yes shred is considered boring by most people, but Malmsteen does more than shred. He can compose an entire symphony of shred, a feat which I fear very few other guitarists can either do at all, or perform to an entertaining standard.



Well who would you rate above him? Shred is techincally fucking stupid, so if you are at the top of the shred game then i'm afraid thats a win....



Gimme some names then please.



That isn't the arguement here. The arguement here is for the greatest living guitarist, not the most unboring guitarist alive...

Wouldn't that apply to almost every style there is then?

I think it would be better to rephrase that as Malmsteen its the best shredder alive, but not the best guitar player. Who is the best guitar player alive its a rhetorical question in my opinion.

Oh, sorry. I thought ability to entertain was taken into account when the best was considered. I guess guitar is just a measure of showboating. My mistake

Paco De Lucia #1

Bunch of technics & uncommon rythms... 2/4 4/4 /ban
10 years practise per string ftw

But yeah.. He's to high compared to the rest of humans since no one can beat him in his style.
Even tho there's some great challengers such as tomatito, vincente amigo..
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Ok to rejoin your point... It's kind of hard to pick one, there is a lot of great different players.

Let's pick some:

Lawson rollins
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai (but 20years ago with less show-off & acting)
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Petrucci
Paul Gilbert
Malmsteen

But I've to admit that I prefer artists like Kirk Hammett, John Lee Hooker & Slash than pure technical & velocity players.

This post was edited by tOrF on Nov 22 2009 01:28pm

I'd go with Paco De Lucia, and Paul Gilbert.

Paco because he's the master of acoustic guitar, and Paul Gilbert for many many reasons.

In the "shred" kind of playing, I'd pick those players any time of the day before Malmsteen

Paul Gilbert
Shawn Lane
Michael Romeo
Guthrie Govan
Devin Townsend

Hell, I think pretty much unknown players like Per Nilsson, Marcel Coenen and Gary Wehrkamp ... are much better technically and musically.

Other amazing melodic, virtuoso players that actually are creative.

Paco De Lucia
Al Di Meola
Allan Holdsworth
George Lynch
Vito Bratta

In the acoustic playing, Andy Mckee and Don Ross kick all kinds of ass. Their use of dynamics and incredible arrangements are far more impressive than plain shred.

This post was edited by JesperIF on Nov 22 2009 01:42pm

Cat Stevens

vai/yngwie/gilbert

nice to see all the paco de lucia votes. i have seen some youtube footage and own "guitar trio" -holy f'ing shit that could be the most brilliant trio that ever performed. give it a listen!