Some Of The Greatest Rock Guitar Players Of My Time
As an experienced guitar player of many years I have witnessed the coming and going of some great rock guitar players, some are still around and some have left their mark and gone. One of my biggest influences, and one of the all time greats is Eddie Van Halen, he brought guitar playing into a whole new dimension, basically he was Jimi Hendrix on speed, he has of course been copied by many players but there is only one Eddie. His career has had its ups and downs, as well as his personal life, but he has produced some of the most memorable rock albums and guitar licks ever, and he is still doing it.
I could of course go back further, but this is more about players who came along since I was a young musician, I do however love a lot of the legends, Jeff Beck is someone who has also always broken new ground and comes up with new stuff all the time, you can hear him in many of today’s players like Steve Vai. I always have time to listen to what he is up to, I even noticed that he was in the house band in a scene from the Schwarzenegger movie Twins that I watched again the other day, he seems to crop up all over the place.
Another player that I have reacquainted myself with recently is Steve Vai himself, he has been around a long time now, I got a copy of his latest live album and there is some great playing on there, he really can still pull off some amazingly fast and fluent licks, and although everyone always says Joe Satriani is a better player, Steve brings something extra for me. He has of course also had the distinction of having the fastest ever recorded guitar lick crown, not that this is anything to do with music, but Steve is excellent and he plays good music as well as flash.
Yngwie Malmsteen is another legend, not quiet as popular as when he first appeared, but he spawned a million copycats, his neoclassical technique is astounding, but whenever I watched him I always thought that it got boring after a few numbers, he is great, but not an entertainer as much as someone like Vai in my opinion.