virtuoso guitarists

Montu Sekhmet said:
Again, petrucci, romeo, malmsteen, and vai. My favorites.

Towards the van halen thing: I thought he didnt even read music? correct me if I'm wrong, but usually to be a virtuoso you have to read music. I may be wrong, but that was always my perception because his stuff was always not hard and simple. In my opinion, of course.

He can read music hes a classically trained pianist.. And most of his stuff isn't that simplistic.. Van Halen was always doing something cool and interesting in his songs. I think the amount of technique innovation he contributed is immense compared to most other guitarists.

Hm I also forgot to mention Michael Angelo Batio in my post before.
 
Second vote to Ron Jarzombek! :worship: My favorite!

What that guy did in Spastic Ink and Watchtower is incredible, even if those are just 4 albums :err:

Not just a great guitar player, but a killer composer too!I He rules IMO!

Loomis is great too, IMO, as well as Steve Smyth - the last Nevermore album is very cool!

What about Ritchie Kotzen??
 
Neurotic said:
yeah gilmour is mr. hit the right note at the right time every fucking time eheh he rules.

my favorites at the moment

allan holdsworth
John Mclaughlin
robert fripp
steve hacket in the genesis days was cool
fredrik thordental (soul niger is awesome although it reeks of holdsworths influences eheh)
jeff loomis of course

Great picks. Some other good ones

Jimi Hendrix (star spangled banner owns)
Pete Cosey (from miles davis electric band (which everyone should check out, they even just got into the ROCK hall of fame), this guy was crazy)
Just for fun, instead of starting with robert Fripps solo work, try his albums with an amazing group called King Crimson. On any album after the seventh studio, listen to the other guitarist. That is Adrian Belew, playing a fretless guitar. I don't know how he could influence you, since you need a fretless to do most of his crud, but it sure is entertaining.
isahn from emperor is very good
David gilmour from pink floyd
 
hey man, try listening to some stuff by guys like Children Of Bodom, Naglfar, or even Amon Amarth (they're not shredders but they have a pretty cool sound)
 
Valgeir said:
Two names that I'm (not too) surprised haven't been mentioned. Victor Smolski and Stephan Forte.

Smolskis solo album was like the worst thing I ever made the mistake of buying.

But the playing is rage is often awesome.
 
My favorite virtuosos: Malmsteen, Friedman, MacAlpine, Vai, Becker, and Romeo. Al Di Meola for fusion... Shawn Lane is cool too.
 
Jeff Loomis is a good lead guitarist, but his riffs/rythmn are so cliche and lacking.

back on topic...

Hank Sherman(mercyful fate). I am guessing he's a virtuoso.

For the people who mention the Hoffmans(assume you mean Deicide guitarists) and the guitarist for Meshuggah I laughed out loud. sorry