Who are todays generation of heavy metal guitar heroes?

[TheGraveDigger]

A friend and I were talking about this last night. Thinking of all the bands that are out there from the 90's up until this very day who would you say are today's heavy metal guitar heroes?

Here's my top 5 list in no particular:

Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom)
Jeff Loomis (Nevermore)
Chris Broderick (Megadeth)
Gus G. (Firewind/Ozzy)
Michael and Christopher Ammot (Arch Enemy)

 

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

Michael Romeo

 

[J-Man]

Here are some of mine:

Malek Ben Arbia - Myrath
Michael Romeo
CJ Grimmark
Janne Stark
Marcus Jiddel
Emppu Vuorinen

 

[Metal_Camden]

Jani Liimatainen - ex sonata (and my personal favorite guitarist)
Michael Romeo - Natrually
Kiko Louriero - (misspell last name??) Angra
The guy from Noctoural rights is pretty bad ass - just got my first NR cd \m/!
broderick - naturally
Gus G - Naturally LOL
hell i even consider jon schaffer one, he has had a huge impact on my playing.
and several more but these are the ones off the top of my head

 

[FuturesEnd]

John Petrucci
Michael Romeo
Chris Broderick
Marc Pattison - Yeah, he is in my band and I may be biased, but I have heard what he can do. Holy shit the guy can really play. He did 9 solo albums before forming Futures End with me and his body of work is incredible.
Al Pitrelli - I know a lot of people will argue this, but he has style and attitude that is totally in your face
Eric Barnett - He is a guitarist in an instrumental band called Points North. He was voted one of the top 10 best in Guitar Player Magazine's Guitar Superstar contest in 2008. Not really a metal player, but a monster shredder nonetheless.
Danny Vargas - Danny is the guitarist for Magistral and pretty much blows away nearly everyone in the genre. Good GOD he can play!

 

[Cheiron]

Innovative guitar playing is essentially over. You'll still have great players, but very very few who seem to have their 'own' sound. It won't be until a new generation of ears, unaccustomed to the old generation of players, get modern guitar heroes. Or you have the fools who think that Bellamy is a guitar god, because they've never listened to somebody who plays better. So yeah, you really have to look up until the early 2000s to find somebody that can be considered a true guitar 'hero'.

 

[Creeps]

-nuff said.


well almost enuff, I'll +1 the Arch Enemy guys and throw in a Jeff Loomis.

 

[pyramazekeyboardist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7b-_YcACuQ

-nuff said.


well almost enuff, I'll +1 the Arch Enemy guys and throw in a Jeff Loomis.

Agreed, plus they have some sweet dance moves/choreography whilst shreddersizing

 

[Prog_Please]

John Petrucci
Adam Jones
Jeff Loomis

 

[ConnieOH]

Neat video!

 

[Bear]

Does it have to be heavy metal? I mean I still listen to Vinnie Moore who has a new album out and he pretty much smokes anyone. I love Mattias IA Eklund - Freak Kitchen, he is a guitar heroes hero to me! I love Frank Hannon from Tesla, who is so underrated its not even funny!

From the more metal side I think Mats Haugen is certainly and up and comer. Also Per Nilsson from Scar Symmetry is as well, very talented playrs but its those that stand the test of time to me that are the true guitar heroes! Such as Petrucci and Romeo

Bear

 

[Spiderpact]

Jari Maenpaa - Wintersun
James Malone - Arsis
Muhammed Suicmez - Necrophagist
Jeff Loomis - Nevermore
Chris Broderick - Megadeth

Those are a few of my current favorites, and I feel that they are fairly accessible to the average kid learning guitar.

I would also like to plug a set of fiddle players that I feel are right on par with Murray and Smith, Tipton and Downing, and Wilton and Degarmo...So let it be written that I think that Abel Camargo and Diego Kasper from Hibria currently rule the world of Speed/Power Metal guitar!

 

[edgeofthorns]

If I had to pick five, I'd say:

Jeff Loomis (the dude is a badass)
Emppu Vuorinen (I would love to meet him)
Michael Romeo (this is a given)
Jorn Viggo Lofstad (a personal favorite)
Jonathan Donias (Shadows Fall)

~Brian~

 

[mel_progson]

Victor Smolski
Marcel Coenen

 

[Creeps]

Neat video!

I thought so too, a friend of mine who's a guitarist turned me on to it the other day.

 

[FuturesEnd]

If I had to pick five, I'd say:

Jeff Loomis (the dude is a badass)
Emppu Vuorinen (I would love to meet him)
Michael Romeo (this is a given)
Jorn Viggo Lofstad (a personal favorite)
Jonathan Donias (Shadows Fall)

~Brian~

Jorn Viggo - Hell yes! Really amazing player!

 

[BenMech]

Nobody listed.

Sure, there are great players, but "kids" these days don't like for guitar heroes.

 

[MysticX9]

In addition to those already mentioned, I quite like:

David Valdes
Thorsten Koehne
Marco Sfogli
Tom S. Englund
Henrik Danhage
Rob Marcello
Erik Martensson
Jordan Ziff
Thom Matthews

Probably forgetting several so I may post again on this later...

 

[zedowns]

Tosin Abasi
Misha Mansoor

 

[Up&Away]

Today's generation? That's hard one. Most of us would have to go back to the 90's to pull out somebody who is fairly recognizable....is that todays' generation? l'm not sure...if so, Petrucci, Romeo, & Eklundh come to mind. More recent generational guitarists? That's tough too. But, Herman Li from Dragonforce and the guy in Avenged Sevenfold stand out.