Who Is The Biggest Guitar Hero Of This Era?

[Shamrocker]

I'm not really fan of where the whole "djent" thing has ended up, but Tosin and Misha Mansoor are the closest thing to guitar idols in modern music. And if you want to look at the last 10-15 years you would have to say that Fredrik Thordendal has been the only hugely influential guitarist from 2000 on.

The two of them are really the only players who are doing something relatively new and innovative whilst having something of a wide following, and they have had a tangible influence on the way younger players are choosing to learn the instrument.

Because of the way the music industry has gone, there will probably be no more players as iconic as a Hendrix, Hammet or a Dimebag.

Dime was definitely a metal icon.What a senseless waste of a really decent person as well as an incredible player.

 

[tru3f4n]

Nobody cares about guitar heroes anymore because nobody wants to hear solos and guitar driven music.
*sigh*

We need another John McLaughlin.
Hopefully jazz makes a comeback.
Speed metal comeback would be sweet too

In the latest Guitar World they were talking to James and Kirk about their upcoming Metallica album and funny enough Kirk brought up John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

 

[Jackonfire]

Warren Haynes is a modern player with an old school sensibility. Put in work with the Allman Brothers. Got his own thing going on with Gov't Mule. Currently touring with various muscisians paying tribute to the Band and the 40th anniversary of their historic concert The Last Waltz.

*Edit: He's played with everyone from Phil Lesh and Bob Weir to Les Claypool and Tom Waites. Its always a treat to see him live. You never know what cover songs he'll break out.

 

[Shamrocker]

[/QUOTE]
Extremely underrated imo.I was lucky to get free tickets to his show in Portland last year.Brilliant show with a mix of Allman Bros. & his own material.Only downside was that he didnt play "Midnight Rider" which in all honesty is not a bad night if thats my only negative. EDIT... @Jackonfire. Chara i dont know why your post was deleted as i wanted your thoughts there for my response.Ive a shite LG as a backup to my Iphone that is currently being delivered in the post after a "malfunction" repair and the LG performs like kaka.Cheers pal.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

We need clairification of the different eras.

Most of the posts have only mentioned talent that have been popular for 15+ years.

 

[ajwbjj87]

No mention of Kirk Hammet ???

 

[Crimson Glory]

Guthrie Govan is the best player alive.

 

[Crimson Glory]

No mention of Kirk Hammet ???

HA!

 

[ajwbjj87]

HA!

Not sure how to take this.....?

 

[Shamrocker]

Not sure how to take this.....?

He's mentioned bro'

 

[ArchGoat]

Jari Maenpaa , Juho Patinen, Lord Ahriman, Jesse Black Liu

Those are mine

 

[Shamrocker]

Guthrie Govan is the best player alive.

He is incredible.He's a trip man.Reminds me of a cross between David Gilmour and Yngwie Malmsteen! Without a doubt the man has immense talent.Tasty chops. Edit: if your a guitar fan then you should give him a listen.

 

[Blackjack]

Nobody cares about guitar heroes anymore because nobody wants to hear solos and guitar driven music.
*sigh*

We need another John McLaughlin.
Hopefully jazz makes a comeback.
Speed metal comeback would be sweet too

There are lots of people who want to hear guitar driven music, but our country needs a music industry for there to be new bands that can create music without fear of it being stolen from them by someone just uploading their album to the internet against their wishes. Right now we don't have that. The internet has been allowed to run roughshod over our industry. There need to be laws protecting people who make their living off their intellectual property. Right now the laws we do have aren't even being enforced.

 

[Blackjack]

no mention of angus?

he doesn't fit the criteria: "Who today (someone who is relatively new, someone who debuted in the last 15 years) has the stature of a Hendrix, Page, Blackmore, Van Halen, Rhoads, Or Malmsteen"?

 

[Philo-Publius]

The 60's had Clapton Page, Beck, and Hendrix. The 70's had still had Clapton, beck and Page, but also David Gilmour, Ritchie Blackmore and then Eddie Van Halen took rock guitar to a new level.

The 80's had Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani and they were guitar heroes into the 90's as well.

Who today (someone who is relatively new, someone who debuted in the last 15 years) has the stature of a Hendrix, Page, Blackmore, Van Halen, Rhoads, Or Malmsteen?

I would add Zakk Wylde to the mix.

 

[Simian Raticus]

I know he died in the 1990's but Stevie Ray Vaughan would be considered far more iconic than Hammett and / or Dime eh?As far as reaching a broader range of audience he was better known and heard plus he was like no others of our time talent wise.

I was throwing those guys out there as examples, but yeah I'd definitely put SVR in the top echelon with them.

I think Dime might have been the last real guitar god. Can't really think of anyone after him that I'd put in that category.

I guess Head and Munky from Korn made a pretty big splash when they came out - that was around the time I started playing and I remember a lot of guys were buying 7 strings and experimenting with different pedal combinations because of the things they were doing. Still, I wouldn't quite put them up there with the greats.

 

[Gorack]

I get your point 100%!I grew up listening to everything from SRV to Christy Moore,Al DiMeola to the fucking Irish Rovers but Dime,Eddie,Skolnik & Jerry Cantrell are all favourites as well.Ive the most eclectic musical tastes of anyone you'll ever meet but as far as icons like Jimi,Clapton & the likes of Jimmy Page i think on a wider world stage SRV is closer to them than someone like Dime.If you ask strictly metal fans no but a general audience probably yes.But in the end its all just music and its all just ones opinion i suppose.Cheers.

I think you, isor and maybe a couple of others are touching on the real crux of the matter; Guys like Hendrix, Page, Clapton, EVH and the like were, in their time, the guys every kid picking up a guitar wanted to imitate. All of those 80s hair bands really wanted to be Zeppelin. Every kid wanted to sound like Page in the 70's as much as every kid in the 80's wanted to sound like Eddie Van Halen.

Page and Clapton defined blues rock while Hendrix played a more progressive style of blues rock. David Gilmour, Robert Fripp and Steve Hackett were pushing non blues based playing (prog rock) in the mainstream while EVH popularized finger tapping techniques and Randy Rhoads was delivering crushing speedy and memorable solos behind Ozzy.

Meanwhile you had Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani, Steve Hillage, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth, Larry Coryell, Stanley Jordan and a number of other top notch players pushing the boundaries of sound and technique with guitar with a fraction of the following or imitability for whatever reasons.

I agree that SRV is likely the most recent "guitar god" with widespread appeal and kids modeling their playing after him. Not to say plenty of kids didn't pick up the instrument wanting to sound like Dimebag, Hammett, Slash or any number of other great players. But the talent pool now is much larger than kids had access to in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. (BTW, I'm not a big Slash fan at all but cite him only because I think GnR were influential to some people.)

Anyway, you can google and listen to any artist mentioned in this thread within minutes. It wasn't like that before the internet. You had to buy the albums or cassettes or dupe them off of your friends. You were only exposed to so many artists via radio and eventually MTV and/or word of mouth. It's really a circumstance that's prevalent in entertainment in general in that there's so much of it out there now that it's hard to pinpoint idols/gods as the pool of options for all of us is so broad at this point.

I agree with Jack White because Seven Nation Army is as copied or teased by live bands I go see as Smoke on the Water was in the 70's and 80's. That shit's catchy but really Jack White's playing is particularly derivative of Jimmy Page. Just as SRV was derivative of earlier blues players as well but he had a proficiency few reach. Hendrix was derivative of Buddy Guy but again, he took the style to new levels. I named Derek Trucks because there's not many great slide players these days and he touches on the greatness that was Duane Allman. Buckethead is in the same category as Vai, Malmsteen, and Satriani as being tremendous on the instrument but fairly inaccessible to a mainstream audience. Most, if not all of the great jazz players fall in that same category. That shit don't play in the sticks as it were.

Sorry for the ramble but hopefully my point comes across. Guitar is far from dead, it's just people have so much more music available to them now that it's hard to say "so and so is the best!" Which is a stupid statement anyway given all of the styles of music and musicians out there. It's all about taste. Some of the guitar gods in the first post reached that status because they were essentially pop stars before pop stars became passé. The guys like Satch and Malmsteen don't fall in that category but they're guitar nerd guitar gods in that most people wouldn't recognize their songs or their playing the way most people could recognize and name multiple Zep, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, or Van Halen songs.

 

[Shamrocker]

I think you, isor and maybe a couple of others are touching on the real crux of the matter; Guys like Hendrix, Page, Clapton, EVH and the like were, in their time, the guys every kid picking up a guitar wanted to imitate. All of those 80s hair bands really wanted to be Zeppelin. Every kid wanted to sound like Page in the 70's as much as every kid in the 80's wanted to sound like Eddie Van Halen.

Page and Clapton defined blues rock while Hendrix played a more progressive style of blues rock. David Gilmour, Robert Fripp and Steve Hackett were pushing non blues based playing (prog rock) in the mainstream while EVH popularized finger tapping techniques and Randy Rhoads was delivering crushing speedy and memorable solos behind Ozzy.

Meanwhile you had Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani, Steve Hillage, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth, Larry Coryell, Stanley Jordan and a number of other top notch players pushing the boundaries of sound and technique with guitar with a fraction of the following or imitability for whatever reasons.

I agree that SRV is likely the most recent "guitar god" with widespread appeal and kids modeling their playing after him. Not to say plenty of kids didn't pick up the instrument wanting to sound like Dimebag, Hammett, Slash or any number of other great players. But the talent pool now is much larger than kids had access to in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. (BTW, I'm not a big Slash fan at all but cite him only because I think GnR were influential to some people.)

Anyway, you can google and listen to any artist mentioned in this thread within minutes. It wasn't like that before the internet. You had to buy the albums or cassettes or dupe them off of your friends. You were only exposed to so many artists via radio and eventually MTV and/or word of mouth. It's really a circumstance that's prevalent in entertainment in general in that there's so much of it out there now that it's hard to pinpoint idols/gods as the pool of options for all of us is so broad at this point.

I agree with Jack White because Seven Nation Army is as copied or teased by live bands I go see as Smoke on the Water was in the 70's and 80's. That shit's catchy but really Jack White's playing is particularly derivative of Jimmy Page. Just as SRV was derivative of earlier blues players as well but he had a proficiency few reach. Hendrix was derivative of Buddy Guy but again, he took the style to new levels. I named Derek Trucks because there's not many great slide players these days and he touches on the greatness that was Duane Allman. Buckethead is in the same category as Vai, Malmsteen, and Satriani as being tremendous on the instrument but fairly inaccessible to a mainstream audience. Most, if not all of the great jazz players fall in that same category. That shit don't play in the sticks as it were.

Sorry for the ramble but hopefully my point comes across. Guitar is far from dead, it's just people have so much more music available to them now that it's hard to say "so and so is the best!" Which is a stupid statement anyway given all of the styles of music and musicians out there. It's all about taste. Some of the guitar gods in the first post reached that status because they were essentially pop stars before pop stars became passé. The guys like Satch and Malmsteen don't fall in that category but they're guitar nerd guitar gods in that most people wouldn't recognize their songs or their playing the way most people could recognize and name multiple Zep, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, or Van Halen songs.

Well said pal,well said.Innovators are what so many you listed truly are.So many phenomenal players in this world just not that many that really are innovators,those that change guitar in a way that Hendrix,V.H.,Page did.There are thousands of guitar heroes & icons for so many so imo guitar will never be dead.

 

[lukeuidswords]

Jonny Greenwood and the tele is basically iconic at this point

But guitar bands are basically all tribute acts now anyway so don't expect any more

 

[Gorack]

Warren Haynes is a modern player with an old school sensibility. Put in work with the Allman Brothers. Got his own thing going on with Gov't Mule. Currently touring with various muscisians paying tribute to the Band and the 40th anniversary of their historic concert The Last Waltz.

*Edit: He's played with everyone from Phil Lesh and Bob Weir to Les Claypool and Tom Waites. Its always a treat to see him live. You never know what cover songs he'll break out.

I've seen Warren quite a bit and met him once in 2001. He was part of Phil Lesh and Friends greatest line-up (The Quintet or The Q) from late 2000 - 2003. I caught 11 of those shows with him playing alongside Jimmy Herring, who is an excellent guitarist as well. Previous to that I'd seen him with The Allman Brothers and Government Mule. He and Allen Woody were quite the duo with The Allmans and later with Govt. Mule. It's a shame Woody died as I feel Govt. Mule would be more of a force in the music world if he were still around. Still, Warren has had some great bassists and personalities pass through that band.

When I met him in Somerset, WI on Phil tour in 2001 we were standing along a fence in the shade watching one of the bands earlier in the day at this fest play. Beyond the "snow"-fence were tour buses and semis and such. When Warren stepped off their bus someone right by us was like "hey look, it's Warren!" He basically b-lined right over to us nonchalantly and fairly unnoticed by most people as we were kind of in an out of the way spot. He was as cool as you can imagine him to be, asked "hey, how ya'll doing" shook hands, signed our ticket stubs whatever. I threw an inside joke at him and told him he had to tell Jimmy (Herring) his official nickname was Jimmy Motherfucking Herring Bone! He laughed and was like "I'll do that." I dunno if he did but it was nice getting a chuckle out of him.

The week of the first Bonnaroo Festival (2002) we saw him with the Allmans on a Wednesday night in Chicago, drove to Tennessee for the fest, saw him with Les Claypool (the first act on the main stage) went over to a side stage and saw him with Govt. Mule and saw him later with Phil maybe the next day, it all runs together at this point. It was funny though because he had to be golf carted over to the Govt. Mule slot after Les and was actually late starting his own slot as a result.

I digress, but Warren is great and I'm a sucker for a raspy tenor which he definitely has in spades. His bluesy guitar playing with touches of slide and rock distortion are fantastic and it matches his voice with such a genuine quality. If it weren't for David Hidalgo from Los Lobos I'd be hard pressed to name a singer/guitarist I enjoy more for those two pure qualities that work so well together. (Hidalgo isn't a tenor but his voice/guitar playing are just heaven to my ears.)