Obligatory Music Post: Great Underrated Guitarists

[Fenris]

Clarence White



Who, to you, is/was a great underrated guitarist?

[LandOLincoln]

1. Robby Krieger. eom

[judge_smales]

2. Mark Knoffler

Still goin' strong.

[Magrittes Pipe]

6. I don't think anyone underrates Knopfler.

Most Dire Straits songs I can take or leave. That man sure is one hell of a guitarist, though.

[jobycom]

7. He's highly rated, and deserves to be. nt

[section321]

3. Malcolm Young - AC/DC

Malcolm was nowhere near the guitarist his brother was, but he was a great rhythm guitarist.

[Fenris]

14. Didn't he come up with the opening riff to "Back in Black"?

I remember reading that somewhere.

[southpaw]

25. Are Mal and Angus dead???

Or just their careers? The past tense is scary. Don't jinx them.

[jobycom]

4. Lindsay Buckingham, the Edge

[Fenris]

12. Buckingham is highly underrated.

[southpaw]

22. I'll second that...

Buckingham is one of the greats

[MissMillie]

52. I'll "third" it

on most "best" lists he is ignored, but he's quite talented.

[ProfessorGAC]

36. I'll Go With Buckingham, Too

The Professor

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. Bernard Butler

[Fenris]

11. He shouldn't have left Suede.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

17. They sure went downhill quick without him.

[Fenris]

19. Yup. Egos will do that.

[yorgatron]

13. Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music and 801

also Curtis Mayfield,mostly recognized for songwriting instead of guitar,and Jimmy Nolan from James Brown,enormously influential,but most people don't even know his name.

[redqueen]

8. Django Reinhardt

Mark Knopfler

Chet Atkins

[johnnie]

47. I don't think any of those three are underrated

Not among guitarists anyway.

[minkyboodle]

9. Eddie Hazel

You don't hear him mentioned as much as I think he should be these days..

[Ivan Zero]

10. Jeff Beck

IMO, Beck deserves, and never has gotten, the same level of respect as the other guitar gods of his generation.

Totally agree with you on Clarence White. The Byrds made some of their greatest music with him onboard.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

15. Bernard Sumner

http://www.performancephotography.com/zimg-p/pf20010803areaone/010803r07-31crp-

[Fenris]

23. Sumner? Or was it Albrecht?

:evilgrin:

[GOPisEvil]

16. Prince.

Dude can flat-out play when he wants to.

[jobycom]

46. He knows how to please

A lot of guitarists have great technical skill, or the ability to play really fast. Steve Vai, Shelton (is that his name, the guy from Shreveport), and Joe Ely come to mind. But despite their technical skills (at least to my untrained but music-worshipping ears), they are just boring to listen to.

Prince gets music. He can play any instrument and make it sound good because he knows how it should sound, not how it should be played. I love that about him.

Good choice, in other words :-)

[Catholic Sensation]

18. Eric Johnson

"Cliffs of Dover" is one of the best songs ever

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

20. Ernest Ranglin

[bif]

21. Adrian Legg

Perhaps more underknown than underrated. The guy's a monster guitarist.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. Too many to mention

Marco Mendoza
Nokie Edwards
John Sebastian
Dean Parks
lots more

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

26. Or Wes Montgomery

[Fenris]

27. YES! HIGHLY underrated and underappreciated!

[punpirate]

35. Still get goosebumps when I listen to...

... his "Four on Six."

Lots of west coast jazz players were neglected over the years, Wes Montgomery among them.

[tigerbeat]

28. David Byrne n/t

[NightTrain]

29. Paul Burlison of the Johnny Burnette Trio.

[XNASA]

30. Dave Gregory

From XTC.

Who'd ya think I was gonna say?

[Fenris]

33. No. I was relatively certain it would be Gregory.

:D

[southpaw]

31. I don't know if Steve Howe classifies as underrated...

But his recognition is typically limited to those prog-rock fans among us. He certainly needs to be more appreciated outside his own genre.

[Syrinx]

32. Alex Zivojinovich

[southpaw]

34. Ahhh, Lifeson...

I do so love Lerxst!

[Calico Jack Rackham]

37. Mike Ness

[Tom Kitten]

38. Tony (T.S.) McPhee

Over 40 years of the Groundhogs! Started out straight blues, backed up john Lee Hooker, then later went prog...Released a series of classic albums in the late 60s/early 70s (Blues Obituary, Thank Christ for the Bomb, Split, Hogwash)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

39. Bernard......damn. There are no other guitar-playing Bernards.

[ProfessorGAC]

40. A Short List

Reeve Grabels
Jamie West-Oram
Andy Summers
Todd Rundgren

There's more, but i'd say those guys are all overlooked as guitarists.
The Professor

[stinkeefresh]

41. George Harrison

[chaska]

42. How about an unknown?

Spencer Kirkpatrick from the 70's band Hydra. He's a great, great player and also a personal friend of mine.

[Soloflecks]

43. Shawn Phillips

I wonder if anyone here has heard of him. He's amazingly gifted.

http://www.shawnphillips.com/



Maybe it was because we were stoned and had driven 40 miles in the worst storm around 1973, but we felt it was well worth it after we heard him play. Hardly anyone showed up, but Phillips played his heart out and performed several encores after a standing ovation.

44. I saw Clarence White, you're right

also
Rory Gallagher is underrated in the sense that a lot of people don't know about him.

but-- underrated by whom?
I see Django listed. He's not underrated by anyone who has ever heard him.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

45. Larry Carlton, "Skunk" Baxter...................

and Adrian Belew.

[BigBigBear]

48. Richard Thompson, Jorma Kaukonen n/t

.

[Spider Jerusalem]

49. Reeves Gabrels. Johnny Marr.

Adrian Belew.

Carlos Alomar.

Robert Fripp.

Prince (he doesn't get the respect he ought to as a guitarist, in my opinion).

And more, but can't think of them right now.

[BigBigBear]

50. erm...Robert Fripp - everyone else is irrelevant - n/t

,

51. Fripp-- underrated?

Hardly.
He's a genius. I go with my earlier comment.
Anybody who has heard Fripp knows this.
Just like Django.

They might not be known, that's different.

[StClone]

53. Eric Lee

TYA.

[Beaverhausen]

54. Joni Mitchell

She is an amazing player. Her use of alternate tunings and unusual rhythms has created a body of work unparalleled in it's harmonic and melodic depth.

[Xandor]

55. Amos Garrett