Who is the Most Underrated Guitarist?

[Lance]

exactly why they are not underated IMO. Nice guys too, I hung out with them briefly at wakarusa a few years ago and we had some fun.

True...to us. But I don't really see their names mentioned outside of the Jamband realm. Yeah, Brendan Bayliss too! Those guys totally rock! That Halloween show at the Warfield was just smashing! Slim's too. It may have been mentioned in this thread already, but I don't think that Scott Henderson gets quite enough attention. Yeah, he is very well known with us guitar nerds, but aside from that, not really. I just wish he could pull in enough bodies at shows to be able to tour the US regularly. Call me greedy, but I need more live Scott, dammit!

NERDS!!!

[rustneversleeps]

Mick Ronson. As much as I admire Bowie as a songwriter/performer and a pretty good guitarist in his own right, Ronno defined Bowie's early sound. I also recently read that he had a hand in some Pure Prairie League and John Mellencamp records.

[B_of_H]

True...to us. But I don't really see their names mentioned outside of the Jamband realm. Yeah, Brendan Bayliss too! Those guys totally rock! That Halloween show at the Warfield was just smashing! Slim's too. It may have been mentioned in this thread already, but I don't think that Scott Henderson gets quite enough attention. Yeah, he is very well known with us guitar nerds, but aside from that, not really. I just wish he could pull in enough bodies at shows to be able to tour the US regularly. Call me greedy, but I need more live Scott, dammit!

NERDS!!!


open up a guitar mag...you'll see them in there every month in at least an ad.

houser's band was/ is way bigger and they never got much....they even put a picture of john bell in guitar world when he died in 2002. :FM Yet the guy played rocking guitar in one of the top touring acts in the country...somehow never got more than a few small blurbs in guitar magazines.

now that is underrated. A great example is the space wrangler on 'Light the fuse and get away', great tones and a really great knack for following the flow of a song and building tension without resorting to odd or obtuse sounds then exploding with a flurry of raunchy rock at just the right time.

[roadfilm]

My picks for underrated are...
Steve Kimock, He makes me get teary eyed every time I see him.
Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser - Blue Oyster Cult
Jim McCarty - Cactus
Andy Powell - Wishbone Ash
Billy Zoom - X
Andy Gill - Gang of Four
Will Sargent - Echo and the Bunnymen
Tommy Bolin

On a side note, I saw Tommy Bolin when he was with "The James Gang" in 1973 opening for Johnny Winter. I was 12 years old. Needless to say that evening changed my life. Bolin was doing things that most other guitarists of that era couldn't even dream of. To this day there has never been another guitarist who freaked me out so much. He was from another planet.

[Heritage 80]

Dean Parks. Lowell George

Lowell!!!

[dblacker]

Clarence White (The Byrds)
Freddy Green (Count Basie)
Mick Taylor
Prince
John Hammond
Albert King

[pickaguitar]

Me or maybe Prince!

[PeaElAre]

exactly why they are not underated IMO. Nice guys too, I hung out with them briefly at wakarusa a few years ago and we had some fun.
Yeah...I take the opportunity to hang with them every time they roll through Dallas.

Jake and me (almost 80 lbs ago) ...

http://wannaberockstar.net/images/Jake.jpg

[geetarboy]

Bob Mould. He's a one man wall of sound and influenced a lot of players in the alt. rock genre. I'd throw J. Mascis in there as well.

[mojojasons]

That's easy...... ME!!

[Ulysses]

When you hear Lyle Workman, you know he's better than you, no matter who you are (really, the guy's just weirdly good beyond anything normal). He gets a very high rating from the majority of people who know what they're talking about, and a lot of people that don't.





Lyle Workman

+1. I did a search to see if he was already on here and found a few posts. I believe very few have any idea how good this guy really is.

[weezy]

BRUCE COCKBURN! I saw him live many years ago and he blew my mind with his guitar chops - I had no idea how amazing he was until then. Here's a sample of his playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK64qc-Mbts

Here's a video of him and Rik Emmett (2 Canadian legends) recording together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyk9AT6f_tE

[blownirocz]

Dean DeLeo

100%, without a doubt, +1 :agree

[jjboogie]

All of us who post on this website are the most underrated guitar players in the world!!!! :bong


Off the top of my head I would say

Tal Farlow
Lindsey Buckingham
Bruce Conte
Oliver Wood

[MartinPiana]

Egberto Gismonti.

[HarryJ]

Some that deserve much more attention IMHO:

Phil Keaggy
Chris Cain
Alan Hines
Jack Pearson
Pat Bergeson
Tuck Andress
Andy Timmons
Pierre BenSusan
Andy Most
Jim Campilongo
Greg Coch
Adam Rogers
Vince Gill
Pat Thrall
Guthrie Govan
Josh Smith

Soooooo many more

Harry J
www.harryj.net (http://www.harryj.net)

[Steve L]

Some that deserve much more attention IMHO:

Phil Keaggy
Chris Cain
Alan Hines
Jack Pearson
Pat Bergeson
Tuck Andress
Andy Timmons
Pierre BenSusan
Andy Most
Jim Campilongo
Greg Coch
Adam Rogers
Vince Gill
Pat Thrall
Guthrie Govan
Josh Smith

Soooooo many more

Harry J
www.harryj.net (http://www.harryj.net)

Nice list...
But I especially agree with Vince Gill. I never think of him as a "player," but every time I see him or hear his stuff I am blown away. And he makes it look so effortless....like many of these players do.

[Captain Midnite]

Malcolm

[Jazzydave]

+1 for Vince Gill. Brilliant.

[phishysounds]

+1 for chuck garvey of moe

[Donnie B.]

Bireli Lagrene, Nyugen Le, Allan Holdsworth, Shawn Lane.

Add Wayne Krantz and Guthrie Govan and this one's a winner!

[Twangdaddy]

Sheesh! I can't believe I have seen his name yet ...

J.J. CALE

Known as a songwriter, but as a player is incredibly restrained, tasteful and funky. What he does sounds very simple, but just try playing like him ...

[deluxeman]

doyle bramhall ii (this guy should be bigger than clapton)


duh!!!!

[Paul Conway]

May have said before...

Chuck Prophet
Kelly Joe Phelps
Brandon Ross
Stephen Bruton

And John McLaughlin never gets the praise he deserves.

[Zelja]

J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr)
John Squire (Stone Roses)
Richard Lloyd (Television, Matthew Sweeet)
Will Seargent (Echo & The Bunnymen)
Doug Marsch (Built to Spill)
Brett Myers (The Died Pretty)
Ash Naylor (Even, Paul Kelly's Band)

[teanett]

graham coxon

[americananalog]

Call me crazy but I never seem to see Jeff Beck get his due.
Jeff Beck owns a medieval castle in England and a garage full of classic hot rods that would make Jay Leno jealous. His talent is very well recognized.

[hcole]

Dean Deleo
David Roback (of Mazzy Star)

[JRenn]

Jack Pearson
Jack Pearson
Jack Pearson
Jack Pearson
Jack Pearson
...
.....

[mikeratan00]

John Norum
Chris Duarte
Eric Gale
Robert Fripp
Steve Khan
Ricardo Silvera

[ericprsse]

allen hinds
andy timmons

[americananalog]

John Norum

+100
Don't forget Uli Jon Roth

[arthur rotfeld]

Vince Gill maybe?

I don't follow his career much, but figure he's known as a singer. But the guitar playing is top notch. He's not getting much press in the guitar mags over the years.........

[americananalog]

Jerry Reed!!!

[sepultura]

And John McLaughlin never gets the praise he deserves.
What? :o He was elevated to superstardom during his Shakti and Mahavishnu days, and is still revered as a god. Incidentally, have you seen his instructional DVD set "This is the way I do it" ? Awesome.

As for guitarists, here's my list:
Martin Taylor (hardly anyone outside of the jazz domain has heard of this monster of melody)
Popa Chubby
Robben Ford
Tom Principato
Walter Trout
Ty Tabor

[americananalog]

I'll reiterate.
John Norum
Uli Jon Roth
Jerry Reed
and
The "Flying Dutchman" Adrian Vandenberg

[Mike Fleck]

Andy Cohen of the now defunct band Silkworm. I like what he does as a guitarist and songwriter.

[tjmicsak]

Jerry Reed
Brent Mason
Dann Huff
Gordon Kennedy
Lou Toomy
Rich Eckhardt
Greg Foresman
Jimmy Olander
Vince Gill

[90wreck]

I am going out on a limb here.
One of my best friends and business partner(vintage guitars and amps. Buying/selling/repair) from my area.
He is undocumented as far as recordings.
I would put him up against anybody except the top 10 known in the nation.
His name is Brent Thomas.
A good ole country boy that could be one of the best IMO.
He is shy and brilliant, has been building his own guitars since he was 13(when I first met him..he was playing a LP goldtop he built himself at that age) or so and has a huge collection of vintage amps and guitars(builds amps as well), yet plays locally.
Here's one for you Brent.
Hot rod country guitar/melodic/jazz/chord style/rock..he has it all.
He is amazing and I have heard them all.
We always have talks about getting an act together, but I would need to switch to bass...He says he would. LOL!
BTW....He is a hardcore Tele guy in general.
But he does whip out his LP's now and then and even a Parker or two...Which really looks strange on him, but he still sounds the same.
Strats are kinda a no-no for both of us even though we both own a few....They never have hit the stage as long as I can remember between the two of us.(MAYBE a couple of times in the 80's)

[skydog]

Jake is awesome. Where are you located? I saw HM several years ago at a blues fest in Munster Indiana. I went to see Steepwater an awesome blues band in their own right.

[jb70]

billy bauer
jimmy raney
wolfgang muthspiel
marc ducret
lionel loueke
steve topping
joe cohn
lorne lofsky

[Nick Rundall]

GUTHRIE GOVAN!!!
Zappa
George Harrison
Prince (too often overshadowed by all his other immense talents)
Jonny Greenwood
Bumblefoot
Wayne Krantz

[Steve L]

Jerry Reed
Brent Mason
Dann Huff
Gordon Kennedy
Lou Toomy
Rich Eckhardt
Greg Foresman
Jimmy Olander
Vince Gill

Can't believe this name isn't more prominently and frequently mentioned.
Also...have I missed Brian Setzer's name somewhere?

[iamdavea]

Some may argue over whether he is truly "underrated", but the fact is that Greg Howe released five extraordinary instrumental albums in a row (self-titled through the "Five" CD) and could barely get a mention in Guitar Player magazine. With any justice, he would have been headlining G3 tours. Absolutely NOBODY had/has his combination of otherwordly chops AND the knack for the memorable melodic hook. Want to hear a guy demonstrate total freedom of expression on guitar?; listen to his mind-blowing and spirit lifting solo from "Stringed Sanity" off his "Uncertain Terms" CD.

[Yngtchie]

Some may argue over whether he is truly "underrated", but the fact is that Greg Howe released five extraordinary instrumental albums in a row (self-titled through the "Five" CD) and could barely get a mention in Guitar Player magazine. With any justice, he would have been headlining G3 tours. Absolutely NOBODY had/has his combination of otherwordly chops AND the knack for the memorable melodic hook. Want to hear a guy demonstrate total freedom of expression on guitar?; listen to his mind-blowing and spirit lifting solo from "Stringed Sanity" off his "Uncertain Terms" CD.
Howe is good on CD, but I've yet to be blown away by his live performances, unlike someone like Lane or Garsed, who often sound even more insane live than in the studio.

[waltkh5]

Lenny Breau

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9SvTtaQLC4

[SkydogFan81]

Duane Allman

[jonlarsen002]

Fred Durst... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UQ_ZhC-1CU

[jdough]

George Harrison...he has never been listed as a 'great' guitarist, but his leads were very deceptive (and loaded with finesse)!

[Neill]

eivind aarset
greg leisz
steve tibbetts
torn
john hiatt
jj cale
brian eno
john cale
etc.

most underrated of all (imo!)? marc ducret.

[ivers]

Rafael (also spelled Raphael) Rabello is one who for me seems kinda overlooked, considering the qualities I hear in is music, but in a way I'm glad music is so subjective and mysterious that not everything makes sense to me in terms of who become huge and who remain more obscure...

[studiodunn]

Chris Cheney
Prince
Setzer
Scotty Anderson
Les Paul

and about 1 in 5 guitarist I see any night of the week in SoCal.

[Neill]

oh, i forgot chris whitley!

[Bobbofallenstar]

I'm so underrated - I'm not even rated!

[Audiofreud]

Kevin Cadogan (wrote and played most of the songs from Third Eye Blind's first and second albums)

Shayne Green (Dallas, TX)

[lalaland]

Duane Allman

Ha!

[Apeman]

Chris Hayes (of Huey Lewis & The News) :AOK

[Marc Roy]

Elliot Easton
Steve Trovato
Mike Slamer
Rory Gallagher
Audley Freed
Phil Sayce

[Neill]

also, erkan ogur and cenk erdogan.