There's been no love for Mattias Eklundh yet so I'll nominate "The Road Less Traveled" as one of the most innovative and unique instrumental guitar releases ever. His mastery of harmonics in particular makes Zakk Wylde's over-lauded pinch harmonics look like... well... over-lauded pinch harmonics
.
I've been digging Buckethead a lot for years and he would be one of the few instrumental guitarists with a sufficiently diverse catalog as to never get boring. Anyone who writes him off as a mindless shredder needs to check out "Electric Tears" (simply beautiful, primarily acoustic-based album), Colma (very very moody), "The Cuckoo Clocks Of Hell" (imagine Meshuggah without vocals and songs with enough personality that they don't all sound the same) or get a sense of humour and "Bucketheadland 2".
I picked up John 5's solo albums just before xmas and was completely blown away. He has some killer chops, far more versatility than I would've given him credit for going by his Manson/Zombie work, and most of the songs are actually
memorable *gasp*.
There's an Aussie guitarist Chris Brooks who released a heavily Dream Theater-inspired instrumental album called "The Master Plan" which kicks a lot of arse if you're into that kind of thing. Stu Marshall (currently in Paindivision, formerly from now-defunct Dungeon) is another awesome Aussie guitarist who put out a solo album "Altered States" last year. I expected a lot but was still pleasantly surprised by just how absorbing it is.
Ferrigno Leal Kuprij's "Promised Land" tends to cross over into the "mindless wank" category at times but there's an awesome fusiony vibe to most of the songs reminiscent of Planet X and the skills on display are absolutely jaw-dropping.
Kiko Loureiro (Angra) has two solo albums out so far. His most recent is a traditional-sounding Brazilian folk instrumental affair which still rules but his first self titled effort is probably more to the taste of the folk around here. If you like Friedman's solo albums I imagine you'll love Lourerio's. Other than for a couple flamenco-styled tracks it's generally insanely addictive metal instrumentals with the kind of expressiveness and layered subtlety that sets Friedman apart from so many other shredders.
As much as I dislike everything I have Paul Gilbert is on I'm feeling that I might have just got unlucky & got some of his lesser works.
Odds are you didn't get unlucky. His solo albums, for the most part, really do suck. Generic cheesy pop tunes for the most part. His most recent one "Get Out Of My Yard" starts off with an awesome sounding solo track but then goes back to the same-old Gilberto solo material. If you're a metal-head and you want to get the best value out of Paul Gilbert, Racer X is the only way to go
Dave Martone is a modern guitar genius.
Everything he touches turns to gold. Easily one of my favourite guitarists of all time.
G3 with Vai, Martone and Eklundh would be the ultimate aural orgasm.
