Following will be a list of those who I feel are the best rock guitarists of
the last few decades. I thought about doing one list for Christian guitar
players and one for secular, but then I thought, why do that? The Christian
players can play in the same league as the secular ones as far as I'm
concerned. I'll do my best to put them in order the best on down, but no-one
on this list will be anything but an awsome guitarist.
EDWARD VAN HALEN - There was no question that Eddie would top my
list. He played what I believe was the
most pivotal role in shaping the sound of hard rock guitar in the late
70's and throughout the 80's. In the begining he basically taught
all the flash and shred boys how to do it, and his inovations
were imitated time and time again by pretty much all the
hot guitar players. To this day he continues to play as only he
can, making the rest of us sit back and say WOW!
LANNY CORDOLA - What can I say about Lanny. Here is a man who
plays just about every well known type of music and can play in every
style like an absolute virtuoso. Thank God he's one of ours.
CARLJOHAN GRIMMARK - It was sort of a tough decision to place this guy in the third spot rather than the second because he and Lanny Cordola are both such awsome guitarists. But I had to give the edge to Lanny because of his versatility. None the less, Carljohan is a guitar player who can blow your mind with his super fast and melodic guitar playing. In my book he and Lanny even surpass the much applauded Joe Satriani. But
guess who's next?
JOE SATRIANI - Yep, I gotta give it to Joe for the next spot. He's the the guy who really brought guitar
acrobatics front and center. He's fast, he's versatile and always entertaining.
STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN - Now Stevie is a big step in a different direction from the others who've made the list so far, but he was just an incredible guitarist. The first time I sat and watched this man play, I was totally
entralled and amazed. He was certainly most responsible for bringing the rockin' blues back to the for-front in
our time and was definetly a cut above the rest of the modern blues guitarists.
RANDY RHODES - Randy was a true innovater and probaby could have come in higher on the list had he lived longer. He invented one of the most indentifiable riffs in rock guitar for the Ozzy song Crazy Train, and played with lightning speed. Incorperating classical guitar into rock was one of his best innovations.
STEVE VAI - Steve may be the king of flash. He was a nice complimant to David Lee Roth after Dave left Van Halen, and in my opinion he was the only lead guitarist that Dave has used in his music that came any where close to Eddie. He has been a true innovator by introducing the seven string guitar, as well as playing both right and left handed. Pretty impressive.
CHRIS IMPELLITTERI - Getting back to those super fast guys...well, I dare not forget to mention Chris. He's fast, He's heavy, and he's all over the place. Keep burnin' up that fretboard Mr. Impelliterri.
REX CARROLL - It was hard for me to decide where to put this guy. Part of me feels that he should be higher
on the list, but the competition is getting really tough these days. Rex has pretty much been Christian rocks
answer to Eddie Van Halen which tends to make me feel even worse about not putting him higher on the list.
He is an extremely awsome guitarist who is also very versatile, and I hope to someday see him getting back to
the incredible kind of playing he did while in the band Whitecross.
JEFF SHEETZ - Well, if Rex is Christian musics answer to Eddie Van Halen, than Jeff is surely our answer to Joe
Satriani. This is the guy that HM Mag called on to put guitar lessons in the back of each of their Magazines. He
has put out several outstanding instrumental albums and also put together a band called SIGN OF THE TIMES that was very impressive as well. Among his most impressive guitar pieces are the intrumental tracks called Woodpecker Stomp and another called Texas Toast.
DENNIS CAMERON - Here we have the mastermind behind the music of the band Angelica. With his sense of
good song structure and his high flying guitar work, he gave us some of the best glam metal of the late 80's and early 90's.
TONY PALACIOS - Tony has entertained us for years as the lead guitar player for the band Guardian. With his
impressive and technically efficiant guitar work he has stood out as one of the best in Christian Rock. He recently gave us an album of all instumental guitar tunes that was more than ten years in the making and showed
even more of his six string excellence.
OZ FOX - Oz is best known for his guitar work with the band Stryper where his solos could either shred or create a great harmony, whatever was needed for the song at hand. Some of his guitar tricks were among the best I've heard and the guy can really sing too. Speaking of Singers, I'm gonna throw in an honorable mention here for MICHAEL SWEET because he also did a lot of lead guitar work Stryper. Oz and Michael would often play duel solos which sounded very cool and by that time they had almost become a lost art. So kudos for the guitar twins of Stryper, and lets hope we'll hear them again one day.
TOM SCHOLZ - Well, here's the mastermind of a band that I've always felt was in a league of their own musically. That band of course is Boston. This guy created one of the coolest guitar sounds ever played and played it with virtual excellence. He's not only an awsome guitarist but he's also an awsome songwriter.
ERIC CLAPTON - What a staple of rock guitar we have here. This man has blown people away with his guitar work since the 60's and his days with the band Cream. So much so, that some began saying Clapton is God. Well, we know that ain't no where near the truth, but the man is certainly one of the best to ever pick up a six string. Not unlike Stevie Ray, Clapton did a lot to bring the blues back into the mainstream of rock. Clapton has also written some of the best known songs of our time.
PHIL KEAGGY - This guy doesn't rock out near as much as I would like him to, but when he does he's smokin',
just plain smokin'. Going back to his days with the band Glass Harp, and Paul Clark, this guy was an awsome rocker who cranked out some really cool riffs and some very creative solos. He can still be heard to do this once in awhile like on his albums Crimson and Blue and 220. But even when he is doing the mellow stuff he has shown an impressive ability play the classical guitar just as well.
BOB HARTMAN - Well, here we have another guy who is not only a great guitar player but an incredible songwriter as well. He started the band Petra in 1972 and although he retired from touring after the No Doubt album he still has a major influence on the bands material, and he continues to do some of the playing in the studio. His guitar work on the Petra albums has never been anything less than excellent. Coming up with some of the coolest riffs in rock music for Petra's ealier albums, and then on later albums coming up with some very complex rythms. His solos, while not the flashiest out there have always been very entertaining and have complimented the songs very nicely. He is a solid player, not unlike a Clapton or a Tom Scholz.
MORE TO COME.......
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