@calfb I agree, but I get the feeling he is often kind of forgotten or skipped in this type of discussion, when he is trully one of the greatest and iconic rock guitarists
Tommy Emmanuel saying Jerry Reed made my heart jump. I have so much love for Jerry Reed as a guitar player and no one i talk to ever realize how good he actually was. RIP Jerry
I love the story about Elvis covering Guitar Man. They couldn't get the sound right and got a hold of Jerry who was fly fishing at the time. He came in, fishing boots on and played the tune. I do believe he played it with cat gut guitar strings.
I used to say Steve Lukather. - Been performing since schooling age, Toto, in-demand session player, played on a lot of high profile songs, credits all over the place, still making albums, tours constantly. There's a strong chance that everybody on this planet has heard a song that he's played on and yet somehow nowhere near enough people knows who he is. Now whilst this is all still kinda true, in all honesty, since the internet has matured, I have noticed that Luke appears to get more love these days. Deservedly so! So now I say Dann Huff.
@@robertm8552 I agree, absolutely. Michael Landau is definitely cut from the same cloth as Steve Lukather and Dann Huff, indeed Luke has said that in his opinion Landau is the most underrated player. It's odd that session players aren't celebrated more by a music loving public. When you think about the respective careers that each member of Toto has had... My god, magicians! - All of them.
I was looking for this comment. True, one of the absolute best. I would also say Jeff Beck. Yes, guitarists love him, but he is rarely known outside of the guitarists.
For blues rock, Rory Gallagher. A master of every technique, instrument and historical period of the blues. For jazz, John Abercrombie. Hard fusion for intellectuals.
Is Rory underrated? I don’t think so, he’s one of my top 3, first concert I ever went to & still the best an that’s from a out an out Rush fan, for me though always thought Joan Armertrading was never given her just acclaim, great to hear someone bringing up Rory’s name though, 👍
I would have to throw Dickeys name in there definitely, he is the most melodic player ever, and he stayed in major key most of the time, which is quite difficult. Duane was quoted as saying, "I'm the famous guitarist, but Dickey is the good guitarist!". But even more than Dickey is Paul Kossoff, go listen to what Clapton says about him, Joe Bonamassa absolutely idolises him, Page has praised him, and of course just ask Paul Rodgers, who was in The Firm with God, about his best mate!
Every fleetwood mac related video on TikTok and RUclips has a comment saying how underrated Buckingham is with 5000 likes. I think he’s properly rated at this point
@@charles9487 You'd expect him to be mentioned on Fleetwod Mac related content, he was a band member. He's underrated because he's not mentioned or is very low on the lists of the great guitar players.
@@sevenmarbles His live acoustic version of Big Love (The Dance Tour) was a solid wtf-moment when I first saw it. - He has a sort of rhythm and lead guitarist thing going on and he cracks through that song at quite a pace. Bonkers amazing. Everybody shouldcheck it out.
Mark Speer of Khruangbin. The way he's doing lead and rhythm guitar is phenomenal, never overplaying it, just serving the song with his tone. The whole band is fantastic.
Saw them live yesterday. They were phenomenal! Especially when improvising, Mark never drops the ball. His feel, timing and originality are exceptional (from a Westerner’s perspective, that is), dude didn’t play one blues note I think! A true modern guitar hero!
David GIlmour is not by any measure underrated. Everything Jared said, we have been giving Gilmour praise for those exact things for decades. He has been considered one of the best guitarists ever for those decades. Nothing underrated about him. And rightly so. He is awesome, has always been.
And gilmour is loved all over the world, in comparison to many other guitarist. I think he is the most known and famous western guitarist in my country... If you ask someone to name a electric guitar player...
Agree, along with Hendrix my favourite player but nowadays definitely not underrated, maybe in the past Gilmour wasnt getting spots on these infamous lists, now he gets in there constantly and lots of people want to play his stuff
Mark Knopfler is one of the most celebrated guitarists and songwriters of all time. It takes a very specific definition of “underrated” to categorize him as that. Gilmore is also universally celebrated.
I would say for it to be underrated it has to be not mentioned (enough) in conversations about "guitar legends". That to me is Mark Knopfler for instance. David Gilmour is definitely not underrated. Pink Floyd had way more influence on music than Dire Straits ever had. David Gilmour has got to be one of if not the clear factors for the success of PF
Yeah, a lot of the answers were just stupid. Although I guess Knopfler has, to some extent, eschewed international fame and rock stardom and now goes around playing guitar and singing songs. So perhaps one of these youtube halfwits born in the last 20-30 years doesn't realise the scale and size of Knopfler's fame. And specifically here Dire Straits were famous for their strat playing lead guitarist. You can't even say "He was in a famous band but..." - he was the band - (his brother might be a better answer if he'd been a better player) If someone had said 'mark knopfler underrated' in 1985 then everyone would have spat out their coffee and rolled around on the floor in hysterics.
@@brendantindall805 I'd suggest they have to be playing and releasing music and have some level of fame but without either (a) their guitar chops being so high that a ton of guitar players are all trying to copy them and know about them or (b) Their band being so famous that a couple of their solos are popular. You know, all the Blackmores, Gilmours, Pages, Mays of the world who are not that great at playing guitar to make them virtuosos, but they have at least one, possibly more solos that are hugely popular because they were in a huge band. Usually these bands were around in the 70s and 80s. Because most of these guitarists are overrated and (c) They probably have to be alive because Jeff Beck wouldn't be as renowned as he is suddenly became the other day if he hadn't have died recently. He was an incredible player but in the 70s, when all of the average players like Blackmore and Page were getting overrated he never got in a band that went stratospheric - and by the time players like Vai and Satriani were becoming huge for virtuoso guitar chops, Becks own virtuosity was being overlooked...but, as I say, he did a couple of nights at Ronnie Scotts, found an attractive bass player and then died a few years later making his playing more famous than it ever was and pushing him out of the 'underrated' category. What you need is a guitar player who has been in a band that is hugely famous and has a solo that everyone knows and thinks is great because it's in a song they know, but because of the bands marketing or another personality in the band few people know the guitarist's name. One of the replies mentioned the guy who is Bryan Adam's guitar player - and that works because Bryan Adams is the only person anyone knows is on stage when Bryan Adams is on stage - he overshadows the rest of the band - so if his guitar player has played a solo everyone knows from a Bryan Adams song, well he's underrated compared with, say, Gilmour, who is famous for 2 or 3 solos and overrated. Anyone in those 'rolling stone' lists of the 'best guitar solos' or 'best guitar players' is generally overrated - because the more popular your band is, the biggest the audience of people who don't really understand guitar playing. It's like the audience for Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran think they are great at guitar - these 2 are perhaps the most famous guitar players around now. Which I think is ironic because if you asked the youtube buffoons at this show who the most famous guitar players are they probably wouldn't name either. Hmm, I guess Dave Kilminster might be an option? As part of touring with Roger Waters he's done massive gigs. Stadiums. Although he's playing Gilmour's parts. At one point (although no longer) the highest grossing tour was Waters - The wall - and yet I would guess most of the audience have no idea who he is. And he's a player on par with Guthrie Govan in terms of chops - and has taken over Govan's place with Steven Wilson. I'd guess many people can list off the bands that Guthrie's played with, just like they can with Steve Vai - neither are quite as famous as those famous names, but Kilminster? He's had a similar career to Govan - played with the guitar magazines, released his own guitar albums with limited popularity, joined a few bands, got a few gigs with bigger names - but I think Kilminster hasn't managed the status of guitar god that Guthrie did.
@@PlayFloyd_IN I was fortunate to get to see him play live on the Waking Up The Nation tour at the London Fairgrounds when I was in high school (with Sass Jordan, Steve Miller Band and Extreme on the bill). What a great night!
Richard Thompson, incredible musician on acoustic & electric, he has so many "how is he doing that " moments and also never afraid to play something different, how he's not already up there with Beck, Page et all is a complete mystery. He is generally regarded by his peers as one of the greatest ever, such a pity the wider guitar playing community seem to be almost completely unaware of him.
no we are aware of him we just don't think he's that great.And in my experience many of his peers don't rate him that highly.Hes a good guitarist (he should be he's been playing for 60 years!!) but hardly in the class of Jan Akkerman or Robert Fripp.
I'm surprised that a couple of commenters have disagreed with you because RT is pretty much the "canonical" answer to this question: technically very advanced; signature style; little-known outside a devoted group of fans. Interestingly, RT himself said that John Martyn should be more widely known as a guitarist, so I'm going to throw him into the mix.
Brad and Watson were SO impactful during Night Ranger's first 2 albums. It faded after that and especially when Jeff left the band, but they were arguably the first mainstream rock band with 2 guitarists at that level and led the way for other bands to do it successfully. Scorps were great, but I'm going to respectfully disagree that either was at that level of a soloist. Lots of great 70s bands, but if I can play someone's stuff note for note without a lot of effort, I'm not going to consider them all time great players.
yeah. I love how when this topic comes up a ton of people always say "prince!" as if it's some novel answer, when in reality it's probably the most common answer. Don't get me wrong, zero hate for Prince but he's probably not the most underrated lol
John Norum, plays for the swedish rock band Europe. He also has a solo career with 8 studio albums which feature some terrific work and also used to play for Dokken. Heavily influenced by Gary Moore and Michael Schenker, he has wonderful tone and a melodic style.
Without even watching. Alex Lifeson. I bloody dare you to find a more influencial guy from the 70's onward who kind of left in the shadow. After watching. I do agree though, Joey is a modern genius, and Prince is an absolute shout out.
I used to think he was underrated, but over the past 10+ years I’ve seen more and more (well deserved/overdue) praise of his abilities all over the internet and RUclips that I’ve (happily) moved him out of that category. I think he has been finally getting the recognition he deserves, plus , you know, best Hall Of Fame acceptance speech ever…
I'd argue Michael Schenker was one of the most influential guys of the 70s and he doesn't get much credit for it. And don't get me started on Uli Jon Roth.
Frank marino, the original band from canada using the name rush, mahaganyrush.you aint gonna find anyone play hendrix 10 times better then hendrix, hence the asswipes in the industry hated him.
Heck yes brother you are so right! tho I would think that if more people were able to listen to him and other prog rock bands, people would appreciate them more. As for me the same goes for Steven rothery and John Mitchell
It's Lenny Breau. Mr. Guitar himself Chet Atkins, the man who bestowed the certified guitar player moniker to jerry reed and tommy emmanuel, called him the greatest guitarist on earth... yet he remains largely unknown. I'd place Blind Lemon Jefferson second. I'd also throw in Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Norman Blake, Bola Sete, Ali Farka Touré, Bonnie Raitt, Rev. Gary Davis, Mike Bloomfield, Fenton Robinson, Clarence White, Ernie Isley, Rosetta Tharpe, Steve Cropper, Robby Krieger, and Grady Martin.
That Jerry Reed answer shocked me. I’d certainly never disagree. It’s just surprising and a joy for me to hear that. I’m not so sure I’d ever heard Prince being underrated at guitar before. He was ALWAYS in the forefront of guitar aficionados.
Jerry was a tremendous writer of music for the guitar. Chet recorded about 20 of his songs. Tommy Emmanuel (interviewed in this piece) and Richard Smith along with Brent Mason headline an annual event in Nashville dedicated to the music of Jerry Reed.
Prince was left out of Rolling Stones Top 100 guitarists list - Then you got that epic performance at George Harrisons Tribute.. Not saying that's the reason for the great performance, that was just Prince, but its just an example of him being underrated (even though the list was a bit of a joke to be honest)..
I agree, but I also think Brian Doherty's contributions to Big Wreck are overlooked far too often. He had more technical ability than most of their stage performances showed (there are some old studio tapes on RUclips). He always played soley for the song arrangement.
@@alangeorgebarstow I agree but not enough people heard of him. Danny Gatton got more notoriety in the DC area than Roy did. Growing up in the DC area, I always heard about how great Danny Gatton was; but not many ever mentioned Roy.
@@shattered5560I was at a Bonnie Raitte, Jackson Brown, Bruce Hornsby, and Shawn Colvin show in the 90s. To open the show, a kinda weird looking dude came out and played a set with a drummer, blew the crowd away. That dude was David Lindley
Ian Thornley from Big Wreck / Thornley. Guitar skills + song writing + singing all together in one package. Anyone wanting to see their stuff, check out the Suhr Factory Party videos for some live crazyness. Bonus if you watch Ghosts video from the Suhr Factory for Dave McMillan showing off on bass before Ian shows his talents
Dave McMillan is God. Which is crazy because Ian is also God. I saw them last month and I was disappointed that Dave doesn't do that intro anymore, but Ghosts was probably 17-18 minutes long, Chris sang a new verse in the middle of Ian's second solo AND took a solo as well. Mind blowing live show, can't believe they only play to 4-5000 people. I can't wait to see them again!
Guthrie Govan it is for me. I saw hin with Hans Zimmer for the first time and i felt in love with his Style. His talent, musicial knowledge and songwriting is outstanding for me. Even tho it is mostly instrumental i just love it.
Paul Kossoff had more tone and more emotion in every note than almost anyone. Sadly, in a town with Green, Clapton, Page and Beck he didn’t believe himself to be as good as he really was.
He had major issues with drug addiction which didn’t help. His father, David Kossoff, the actor, became a very vocal anti-drugs campaigner after Paul died from his addictions.
@ sadly, it has been said that his addiction was fueled by a sense of inadequacy compared to the players I mentioned. It was a lack of self worth I guess and in truth he was just as talented and unique.
Actually Billy wrote most of the songs on acoustic. Steve helped those songs become more than a song on an acoustic. Got that from Billy's biography. Steve was my first guitar hero as a kid. FKN awesome!
Nils Lofgren, Martin Barre, Justin Hayward, Al McKay, Jubu Smith, Richard Thompson, Stanley Jordan, Rick Derringer...man there are a lot of under the radar great guitar players.
Knopfler & Gilmour are everything but underrated. Here are my top 5 most unmentioned & underrated guitar players. Brett Garsed Ron Jarzombek Richard Hallebeek Richie Kotzen Prashant Aswani
Tommy Shaw with Styx. He is one of my favorites and biggest influences and Styx was the first concert for me and I have been in awe of Tommy's playing since 1976.
Bob Weir! Many talk about Jerry’s soloing and overlook what Bob is playing behind him. Tasteful and unique chord-voicings and a natural feel like no other. He makes Jerry’s playing even better!
The three names that come to mind for me are: Lonnie Mack, Buck Dharma (Blue Oyster Cult), and Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers). Criminally underrated.
Mike Campbell (Tom Petty's guitarist). Never flash, but always playing exactly the right thing, and doing it with superb style. Always great tone choices too. A total master of the instrument. And he co-wrote several of Petty's big hits.
Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. He pushed the guitar as an instrument beyond boundaries and exerted an incredible amount of influence on an entire generation of musicians.
I remember when I was in my youth and it was all hair and Marshall distortion and I heard those first few notes on MTV (pushing Wild at heart) and it just haunted my soul. No other words for it, literally, those few notes communicated perfectly. What was unique was is it was clean.. like fender clean, but still cut. RIP the king of slow.
@@mrthorbs Your story is my story pretty much down to a tee. RIP Mr Wilsey. You might have been hugely underrated but you were a big reason why I took up guitar and boughty myself a Stratocaster all those years ago.
Massively influential, but doesn't get much recognition for it. He's a bit like Heavy metals' Jeff Beck; your favourite 80s metal band guitarist probably has Schenker as one of their favourites.
Someone here mentioned Lindsay Buckingham, and I wholeheartedly second that... And I'll add two more votes for seriously underrated guitarists: Robert Fripp (King Crimson; unique sophisticated guitar lines) and Jan Akkerman (Focus, then solo career). Oh, and thank you guys for raising the question; it's clear that opinions will vary ;)
I hope, Annika's answer is somehow "wrong", as it should be widely known by now, that Lari Basilio is a world class guitar player. So absolutely amazing. And my answer to the question (as always): Vernon Reid. The guy is just insane.
There are so many great players who don't get enough love and/or respect: Jake E Lee, Vivian Campbell, Jerry Reed, Vince Gill, Glenn Campbell, Jennifer Batten, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, etc.
Billy Corgan. Instantly recognizable sound especially the siamese Dream era. He seamlessly blends Shoegaze, punk, hair metal, melody and filth… sometimes all in the same song. SO MANY legendary riffs, but what most don’t know if he absolutely shreds…. While fronting the band. The first time I saw them live I was completely caught off guard
She's so good, you have to invent excuses why she doesn't count. Most underrated might be a studio musician unknown outside the industry, but not "widely celebrated guy who should be more celebrated".
Robben Ford and George Benson were two of my favorites along with at least one of the most underrated guitarists, composers, arrangers, and band leaders - Chieli Minucci.
@@Brati999I think he means, people never really gave him credit for how good he was while he was alive. He’s had far more credit and accolades since his death. The Irish rock guitarist gods are often sidelined.
Trey Anastasio- those who know, KNOW, but he doesn't get much mention. Michael Schenker- just incredible. Rory Gallagher has finally been getting some recognition, so that's great.
Peter Frampton, incredible guitarist on both electric and acoustic, both under his own name and with Humble Pie. And Rick Derringer, truly excellent. I never see them on lists of best guitarists, yet they are both great. From those listed in the video, I think Prince is the winner, named twice. I think he’s overlooked because he does so many things so well.
I really liked the naming of Jerry Reed, phenomenal player and writer. But for me the most underrated player, who incidentally underrates himself is Dave Simpson. Absolutely outstanding player and writer. More people should know about him.
Tal Farlow...such a class act with such a sound and those hands...just wow and were talking about late 40's and 50's here....that guy was a real musician and a real player...great documentary on him on RUclips
This is the correct answer. I'll go out on a limb and call him the best guitarist on the planet. Don't forget about the Thornley albums, his solo album, and he's got some more stuff coming out that is outlaw country! The first song was released a few weeks ago called Blood on the Highway under the name Fairfield A.D. It's a collaboration with Casey Marshall.
Werner Lämmerhirt. This guy almost made me give up on guitar when I met with him. He was a friend of Peter Bursch, who at that time gave guitar lessons at the local Volkshochschule, and Werner had agreed to giving a little concert during one of the lessons. I really considered to throw my guitar out of the window right there on the spot after hearing and watching him play. Decades later, someone told me that I played just like Werner. Well, these shoes are much too big for me, but it was one of the biggest compliments I have ever received. And I hadn't even noticed how much that brief encounter had influenced me 🙂
Joey Santiago of The Pixies. Indirectly responsible for the loud/quiet/loud thing that fuelled a generation of grunge players. But none of those other grunge guys could touch him when it came to writing the parts... His unusual fusion of Flamenco, Rock and Surf playing gave the Pixies a style that was all their own. If you don’t know him and you wanna see something cool, watch the Pixies play Vamos live!
Lots of top notch players mentioned, but i agree with Keith Scott.... we all know all his solos, riffs and melodies. Soo many songs with his work on. Saw him in concert with brian adams and he was fantastic live in the room - tone, touch, power, musicality and no overly flash gymnastics.
For me it‘s Keith Urban. Always seen as the famous country singer and sidekick of a hollywood actress, the guy has so much feel and tone in his playing besides the fact that he has much more technical abilities than he is showing. I don‘t think people know how good he really is.
Both he and Brad Paisley are actually killer guitar players. They don’t get as much notoriety as they should for it being on country radio but both guys are monster blues rock players too and can shred like crazy.
Rik Emmett of Triumph and Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive! Also Jeff Healey! Three incredible Canadian guitar players who have never gotten enough love.
I'd say Michael Romeo of Symphony X, Rik Emmett of Triumph and Michael Schenker. These guys wrote amazing guitar parts and extra kudos to Emmett cause he can sing like hell too!
Trevor Rabin. If you’ve only heard his playing with YES check out his solo work. No telling the music he could’ve created if he hadn’t spent so much time making movie soundtracks.
Agree mostly. However, I've seen BR in concert several times and honestly, she's not even really a guitarist. She's a singer. With a mesmerizing expressive voice. I love that voice! But, she's tagged as some great guitarist which is rank silliness.
No one mentions Mike Oldfield? He has his own sound, he's technically superb with his unique intenso violín style vibrato like no one else. And also one of the most talented composers.
If Prince is overlooked as guitar player, Mike Oldfield is totaly forgotten as a guitar player. And I do agree, probably the most underrated of any underrated guitar player ever.
Davey Johnstone, Guitarist and musical director for Elton John. Just like Mick Ronson, Richie Sambora, and Keith Scott is the guy that actually holds the song together behind the frontman, be flashy but not over shadowing the singer, and has to be versatile to play all sorts of things electric and acoustic.
The 2 alter bridge guys. They are both incredible songwriters, they are hard worker's, they are hunble guys, if you see a concert its amazing the kennedys hability to play and sing... 2 GOATs in the same band
Right there with you brother ✊ Myles arguably more of the 2 because he's the rhythm player in the band and known for vocals more than guitar, but his guitar playing is truly awesome. And Tremonti's playing is just out of this world!
2 dangerously talented “band” guitarists Bert Jansch (Pentangle) and Martin Barre (Jethro Tull) - I have seen often get missed out in such polls (…among other Brit legends) Another underrated American singer/guitarist I personally love is John Fogerty But yes… Some amazing answers and some great comments here and agree with all. Underrated is a subjective word.
He's on my list too. I came to the comments to see if anyone else commented. That's a guy who never wasted a note in his whole career, he made everything count.
The best answers was Paul Simon, if under-rated means “well known but not generally recognized as a great guitar player.” If people think of him as a guitar player at all it is likely as just a folkie strummer or finger picker but he is really a virtuoso who has rarely flaunted his skill. I kind of get what people mean when they mention Gilmour or Prince or Knopfler, which is really “even more impressive than you might have thought” but I’m still not sure it makes much sense to call three guys who are in the top ten of just about every list of greatest guitar players “under-rated.” But I admit to occasionally claiming that The Beatles were under-rated so don’t listen to me!
Prince was the best answer, totally agree. Gilmour and Knopfler are in my top 10, so it's hard to believe they would be underrated. The coolest thing about this video is there were some names I've never heard of, which I will check out to see what's the hype. I have three names that don't seem to get mentioned much, they are Alex Lifeson, Frank Marino and Gary Moore.
Doyle bramhall II for me his solos go where the song needs it and the fact he plays a left handed strat strung right handed is just the icing on the cake
Richie Kotzen, singer, song writer, plays everything, releases so much music. See him live if you can.
Buckethead releases even more although he doesn't sing
How about Ritchie Blackmore?
@@ratenothing Blackmore is/was awesome and indeed rated very highly by the guitar community
@calfb I agree, but I get the feeling he is often kind of forgotten or skipped in this type of discussion, when he is trully one of the greatest and iconic rock guitarists
Good answer. I agree.
Tommy Emmanuel saying Jerry Reed made my heart jump. I have so much love for Jerry Reed as a guitar player and no one i talk to ever realize how good he actually was. RIP Jerry
Meee too. My eyes lit up. Like ...... Your soo right!....yeah
I love the story about Elvis covering Guitar Man. They couldn't get the sound right and got a hold of Jerry who was fly fishing at the time. He came in, fishing boots on and played the tune. I do believe he played it with cat gut guitar strings.
Jerry Reed once said that Lenny Breau was the greatest guitarist to shit between two boots.
@@markmarkmark5315 Agreed 👍🏼 . Jerry was a great songwriter. Glen Campbell said my favorite song is “A Thing Called Love”
I used to say Steve Lukather. - Been performing since schooling age, Toto, in-demand session player, played on a lot of high profile songs, credits all over the place, still making albums, tours constantly. There's a strong chance that everybody on this planet has heard a song that he's played on and yet somehow nowhere near enough people knows who he is. Now whilst this is all still kinda true, in all honesty, since the internet has matured, I have noticed that Luke appears to get more love these days. Deservedly so!
So now I say Dann Huff.
You’ve already mentioned Steve Lukather and Dan Huff, so naturally I have to throw in Michael Landau as well haha
@@robertm8552 I agree, absolutely. Michael Landau is definitely cut from the same cloth as Steve Lukather and Dann Huff, indeed Luke has said that in his opinion Landau is the most underrated player. It's odd that session players aren't celebrated more by a music loving public. When you think about the respective careers that each member of Toto has had... My god, magicians! - All of them.
I was looking for this comment. True, one of the absolute best. I would also say Jeff Beck. Yes, guitarists love him, but he is rarely known outside of the guitarists.
Totally agree!
I second that
For blues rock, Rory Gallagher. A master of every technique, instrument and historical period of the blues. For jazz, John Abercrombie. Hard fusion for intellectuals.
Rory was so famous so not really underrated.
@@richardturk7162 Number 175 in the list of the greatest guitarists of all time according to the Rolling Stone Magazine. I do call that underrated.
Absolutely. The amount of guitarists I've turned on to Rory is embarrassingly high.
Is Rory underrated? I don’t think so, he’s one of my top 3, first concert I ever went to & still the best an that’s from a out an out Rush fan, for me though always thought Joan Armertrading was never given her just acclaim, great to hear someone bringing up Rory’s name though, 👍
@@carstenschonfeld5873 Tells you more about Rolling Stone magazine than Rory.
Dickey Betts. Everyone always talks about Duane. Dickey wrote Blue Sky, Jessica, many others, and my favorite Elizabeth Reed. Absolute legend!
.... and "Ramblin' Man" ...
I would have to throw Dickeys name in there definitely, he is the most melodic player ever, and he stayed in major key most of the time, which is quite difficult. Duane was quoted as saying, "I'm the famous guitarist, but Dickey is the good guitarist!". But even more than Dickey is Paul Kossoff, go listen to what Clapton says about him, Joe Bonamassa absolutely idolises him, Page has praised him, and of course just ask Paul Rodgers, who was in The Firm with God, about his best mate!
I agree, Dickey was absolutely underrated. Just look up his 1978 appearance on the German Rockpalast program. It can‘t get any better imho.
Andy Timmons, Eric Gayles, Josh Smith Guthrie Trapp
@@chrohm and Jimmy Herring!
Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Unbelievable control, so tasteful and energetic. He’s incredible.
Totally agree.
nyaah
100 % agree. Great pick. Mike is a BEAST and doesn't get much praise.
Lindsey Buckingham, incredible singer, songwriter and guitar player.
agreed. when he left the tour a few years ago they had to replace him with two guitarists. no one person could replace him on their own.
Every fleetwood mac related video on TikTok and RUclips has a comment saying how underrated Buckingham is with 5000 likes. I think he’s properly rated at this point
@@charles9487 You'd expect him to be mentioned on Fleetwod Mac related content, he was a band member. He's underrated because he's not mentioned or is very low on the lists of the great guitar players.
No, he's part of a band that were so famous they flew in private jets with en suite cocaine ffs. That's the opposite of underrated.
@@sevenmarbles His live acoustic version of Big Love (The Dance Tour) was a solid wtf-moment when I first saw it. - He has a sort of rhythm and lead guitarist thing going on and he cracks through that song at quite a pace. Bonkers amazing. Everybody shouldcheck it out.
Ty Tabor of King's X...unbelievable touch and feel, great composer, soloist and solo artist as well...
One word for Ty . . . Bends. WTH?
First one that comes to mind. Incredible.
Honestly for me it's a four way tie between him, Greg Howe, Mattias IA Ecklund and Ian Thornley.
I said the exact same. Ty is such a monster, incredible singer and songwriter too
Mark Speer of Khruangbin. The way he's doing lead and rhythm guitar is phenomenal, never overplaying it, just serving the song with his tone. The whole band is fantastic.
Yes he’s one of my favourites, I guess those exotic influences aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but I love that kind of thing.
Saw them live yesterday. They were phenomenal! Especially when improvising, Mark never drops the ball. His feel, timing and originality are exceptional (from a Westerner’s perspective, that is), dude didn’t play one blues note I think! A true modern guitar hero!
You got my vote!
Yeah dudes a beast he’ll just shred for hours on end
Any recommendations on what to check out from them?
Roy Clark, Peter Green, Rory Gallagher, Gary Hoey, Terry Kath,... The list goes on & on...
gary moore
Popa Chubby!!
You nailed it. Terry Kath. Gone way too soon
Lenny Breau
For me, it's Terry Kath.
David GIlmour is not by any measure underrated. Everything Jared said, we have been giving Gilmour praise for those exact things for decades. He has been considered one of the best guitarists ever for those decades. Nothing underrated about him. And rightly so. He is awesome, has always been.
Yea I was like. Are you kidding me Jared. Really
And gilmour is loved all over the world, in comparison to many other guitarist. I think he is the most known and famous western guitarist in my country... If you ask someone to name a electric guitar player...
But it's awesome to hear Jared talking about Gilmour
Agree, along with Hendrix my favourite player but nowadays definitely not underrated, maybe in the past Gilmour wasnt getting spots on these infamous lists, now he gets in there constantly and lots of people want to play his stuff
His recent US shows sold out in minutes.
Mark Knopfler is one of the most celebrated guitarists and songwriters of all time. It takes a very specific definition of “underrated” to categorize him as that. Gilmore is also universally celebrated.
I’m still trying to work out what underrated is, let alone a very specific definition of underrated 😂
I would say for it to be underrated it has to be not mentioned (enough) in conversations about "guitar legends".
That to me is Mark Knopfler for instance. David Gilmour is definitely not underrated. Pink Floyd had way more influence on music than Dire Straits ever had. David Gilmour has got to be one of if not the clear factors for the success of PF
Yeah, a lot of the answers were just stupid. Although I guess Knopfler has, to some extent, eschewed international fame and rock stardom and now goes around playing guitar and singing songs. So perhaps one of these youtube halfwits born in the last 20-30 years doesn't realise the scale and size of Knopfler's fame. And specifically here Dire Straits were famous for their strat playing lead guitarist. You can't even say "He was in a famous band but..." - he was the band - (his brother might be a better answer if he'd been a better player)
If someone had said 'mark knopfler underrated' in 1985 then everyone would have spat out their coffee and rolled around on the floor in hysterics.
@@brendantindall805 I'd suggest they have to be playing and releasing music and have some level of fame but without either (a) their guitar chops being so high that a ton of guitar players are all trying to copy them and know about them or (b) Their band being so famous that a couple of their solos are popular. You know, all the Blackmores, Gilmours, Pages, Mays of the world who are not that great at playing guitar to make them virtuosos, but they have at least one, possibly more solos that are hugely popular because they were in a huge band. Usually these bands were around in the 70s and 80s. Because most of these guitarists are overrated and (c) They probably have to be alive because Jeff Beck wouldn't be as renowned as he is suddenly became the other day if he hadn't have died recently. He was an incredible player but in the 70s, when all of the average players like Blackmore and Page were getting overrated he never got in a band that went stratospheric - and by the time players like Vai and Satriani were becoming huge for virtuoso guitar chops, Becks own virtuosity was being overlooked...but, as I say, he did a couple of nights at Ronnie Scotts, found an attractive bass player and then died a few years later making his playing more famous than it ever was and pushing him out of the 'underrated' category.
What you need is a guitar player who has been in a band that is hugely famous and has a solo that everyone knows and thinks is great because it's in a song they know, but because of the bands marketing or another personality in the band few people know the guitarist's name. One of the replies mentioned the guy who is Bryan Adam's guitar player - and that works because Bryan Adams is the only person anyone knows is on stage when Bryan Adams is on stage - he overshadows the rest of the band - so if his guitar player has played a solo everyone knows from a Bryan Adams song, well he's underrated compared with, say, Gilmour, who is famous for 2 or 3 solos and overrated.
Anyone in those 'rolling stone' lists of the 'best guitar solos' or 'best guitar players' is generally overrated - because the more popular your band is, the biggest the audience of people who don't really understand guitar playing. It's like the audience for Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran think they are great at guitar - these 2 are perhaps the most famous guitar players around now. Which I think is ironic because if you asked the youtube buffoons at this show who the most famous guitar players are they probably wouldn't name either.
Hmm, I guess Dave Kilminster might be an option? As part of touring with Roger Waters he's done massive gigs. Stadiums. Although he's playing Gilmour's parts. At one point (although no longer) the highest grossing tour was Waters - The wall - and yet I would guess most of the audience have no idea who he is. And he's a player on par with Guthrie Govan in terms of chops - and has taken over Govan's place with Steven Wilson. I'd guess many people can list off the bands that Guthrie's played with, just like they can with Steve Vai - neither are quite as famous as those famous names, but Kilminster? He's had a similar career to Govan - played with the guitar magazines, released his own guitar albums with limited popularity, joined a few bands, got a few gigs with bigger names - but I think Kilminster hasn't managed the status of guitar god that Guthrie did.
@@brendantindall805 Knopfler is definitely not underrated, though that word is used on every YT comment section. LOL
Vernon Reid, no one sounds like him, applying free jazz and Avant Garde music concepts to rock/ metal so knowledgeable and unique!
I think Living Colour are hugely underrated as a band too. As good if not better than RHCP...
Vernon Reid is fantastic 😊
Elliot Easton from The Cars.
Tasty unique licks that enhance the songs. Just plain underrated, IMHO.
Dude, the most memorable solos that are the most fun to play. Absolutely underrated.
Cover story in the latest edition of the "Tone Quest Report", which surprised me..
Oh yeah good one
Definitely some of the best guitar solos I've ever heard
100%
As a Canadian who was a kid in the 80s, Chris Buck’s answer nailed it. Keith Scott is a guitar hero!
💯♥️🎸
@@PlayFloyd_IN I was fortunate to get to see him play live on the Waking Up The Nation tour at the London Fairgrounds when I was in high school (with Sass Jordan, Steve Miller Band and Extreme on the bill). What a great night!
@@astewart9410He is amazing😊love his playing,special life he is crazy good😊
As a Canadian, id have to say Rik Emmett
@@B00B13S_L0L Another great shout!
Richard Thompson, incredible musician on acoustic & electric, he has so many "how is he doing that " moments and also never afraid to play something different, how he's not already up there with Beck, Page et all is a complete mystery. He is generally regarded by his peers as one of the greatest ever, such a pity the wider guitar playing community seem to be almost completely unaware of him.
Couldn't agree more!
I love Richard Thompson's songwriting and guitar playing.
no we are aware of him we just don't think he's that great.And in my experience many of his peers don't rate him that highly.Hes a good guitarist (he should be he's been playing for 60 years!!) but hardly in the class of Jan Akkerman or Robert Fripp.
I love Knopfler, but I find Richard Thompson to be of a similar vein and even more expressive.
I'm surprised that a couple of commenters have disagreed with you because RT is pretty much the "canonical" answer to this question: technically very advanced; signature style; little-known outside a devoted group of fans. Interestingly, RT himself said that John Martyn should be more widely known as a guitarist, so I'm going to throw him into the mix.
For me it's two guitarists. Jake E Lee and Brad Gillis. Both are impactful, but mostly forgotten.
Jake's playing in Badlands was as good or better than his stuff in Ozzy,which was great as well,100% agree with you.
Brad and Watson were SO impactful during Night Ranger's first 2 albums. It faded after that and especially when Jeff left the band, but they were arguably the first mainstream rock band with 2 guitarists at that level and led the way for other bands to do it successfully. Scorps were great, but I'm going to respectfully disagree that either was at that level of a soloist. Lots of great 70s bands, but if I can play someone's stuff note for note without a lot of effort, I'm not going to consider them all time great players.
My uncle was golfing buddies with Jerry Reed. Crazy to hear Tommy Emmanuel sing his praises. Jerry was truly an incredible guitar player.
The word "underrated" is not always the right one. Sometimes, "underappreciated" would be more appropiate.
Indeed...
yeah. I love how when this topic comes up a ton of people always say "prince!" as if it's some novel answer, when in reality it's probably the most common answer.
Don't get me wrong, zero hate for Prince but he's probably not the most underrated lol
John Norum, plays for the swedish rock band Europe. He also has a solo career with 8 studio albums which feature some terrific work and also used to play for Dokken. Heavily influenced by Gary Moore and Michael Schenker, he has wonderful tone and a melodic style.
Yes.The best tone and vibrato ever!
Without even watching.
Alex Lifeson.
I bloody dare you to find a more influencial guy from the 70's onward who kind of left in the shadow.
After watching.
I do agree though, Joey is a modern genius, and Prince is an absolute shout out.
I used to think he was underrated, but over the past 10+ years I’ve seen more and more (well deserved/overdue) praise of his abilities all over the internet and RUclips that I’ve (happily) moved him out of that category. I think he has been finally getting the recognition he deserves, plus , you know, best Hall Of Fame acceptance speech ever…
I'd argue Michael Schenker was one of the most influential guys of the 70s and he doesn't get much credit for it. And don't get me started on Uli Jon Roth.
Paul Kossoff! Without doubt. Talk to Clapton about him, talk to Joe Bonamassa about him.
Frank marino, the original band from canada using the name rush, mahaganyrush.you aint gonna find anyone play hendrix 10 times better then hendrix, hence the asswipes in the industry hated him.
Heck yes brother you are so right! tho I would think that if more people were able to listen to him and other prog rock bands, people would appreciate them more. As for me the same goes for Steven rothery and John Mitchell
It's Lenny Breau. Mr. Guitar himself Chet Atkins, the man who bestowed the certified guitar player moniker to jerry reed and tommy emmanuel, called him the greatest guitarist on earth... yet he remains largely unknown. I'd place Blind Lemon Jefferson second. I'd also throw in Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Norman Blake, Bola Sete, Ali Farka Touré, Bonnie Raitt, Rev. Gary Davis, Mike Bloomfield, Fenton Robinson, Clarence White, Ernie Isley, Rosetta Tharpe, Steve Cropper, Robby Krieger, and Grady Martin.
That Jerry Reed answer shocked me. I’d certainly never disagree. It’s just surprising and a joy for me to hear that.
I’m not so sure I’d ever heard Prince being underrated at guitar before. He was ALWAYS in the forefront of guitar aficionados.
Jerry Reed a Chet Atkins acolyte and an amazing player
Jerry was a tremendous writer of music for the guitar. Chet recorded about 20 of his songs. Tommy Emmanuel (interviewed in this piece) and Richard Smith along with Brent Mason headline an annual event in Nashville dedicated to the music of Jerry Reed.
Prince was left out of Rolling Stones Top 100 guitarists list - Then you got that epic performance at George Harrisons Tribute.. Not saying that's the reason for the great performance, that was just Prince, but its just an example of him being underrated (even though the list was a bit of a joke to be honest)..
vivienne campbell, his playing on the early Dio albums is godlike, he's really underused in Def Leppard
Agreed 👍
Ian Thornley from big wreck
That guy is a monster guitar player and singer/songwriter
And doing a Thornley anniversary show in November in Vancouver, and new Big Wreck music coming out soon.
Came here to say the same. To be that good at guitar and vocals is unmatched
Good one
I agree, but I also think Brian Doherty's contributions to Big Wreck are overlooked far too often. He had more technical ability than most of their stage performances showed (there are some old studio tapes on RUclips). He always played soley for the song arrangement.
@@mk0759Ian always says that the only ego in the room is the song. They all play what the song needs.
Robin Trower and Roy Buchanan.
Roy Buchanan was never underrated! Everyone who heard him lauded him as one of the best.
@@alangeorgebarstow I agree but not enough people heard of him. Danny Gatton got more notoriety in the DC area than Roy did. Growing up in the DC area, I always heard about how great Danny Gatton was; but not many ever mentioned Roy.
absolutely
Ry Cooder. David Lindley.
Love it
@@shattered5560I was at a Bonnie Raitte, Jackson Brown, Bruce Hornsby, and Shawn Colvin show in the 90s. To open the show, a kinda weird looking dude came out and played a set with a drummer, blew the crowd away. That dude was David Lindley
Ry Cooder for sure!
Love that Paul Davids said Knopfler-he’s talked about quite a bit, especially in guitar circles, but I still think he’s way underrated.
Ian Thornley from Big Wreck / Thornley. Guitar skills + song writing + singing all together in one package. Anyone wanting to see their stuff, check out the Suhr Factory Party videos for some live crazyness.
Bonus if you watch Ghosts video from the Suhr Factory for Dave McMillan showing off on bass before Ian shows his talents
Dave McMillan is God. Which is crazy because Ian is also God. I saw them last month and I was disappointed that Dave doesn't do that intro anymore, but Ghosts was probably 17-18 minutes long, Chris sang a new verse in the middle of Ian's second solo AND took a solo as well. Mind blowing live show, can't believe they only play to 4-5000 people. I can't wait to see them again!
Frank Marino is 10 times better!
Guthrie Govan it is for me.
I saw hin with Hans Zimmer for the first time and i felt in love with his Style.
His talent, musicial knowledge and songwriting is outstanding for me.
Even tho it is mostly instrumental i just love it.
he is not underrated tho. everyone knows how good he is
Greatest living guitarist in my opinion. I've seen the Aristocrats 7 or 8 times and he just keeps getting better.
Danny Gatton!
Came here to say this
He was a monster player.
Incredible guitarist and a big influence for me.
*Absolutely! Danny was a monster.*
*I'd add Scotty Anderson to that list.*
Yeah buddy! The humbler.
Graham Coxon. Everything he did with blur is just insanely perfect to every song
Rik Emmett and Bruce Cockburn. There used to be a show on CHCH called in session. They were both one one night and were amazing together.
Add Kim Mitchell to this list. tks
Is Rick Emmett the Triumph guitarist? If so, totally agree, he's simply amazing
Bruce Cockburn
Phil Keaggy
FINALLY SOMEONE WHO AGREES ABOUT RIK!!!!
Paul Kossoff had more tone and more emotion in every note than almost anyone.
Sadly, in a town with Green, Clapton, Page and Beck he didn’t believe himself to be as good as he really was.
He had major issues with drug addiction which didn’t help. His father, David Kossoff, the actor, became a very vocal anti-drugs campaigner after Paul died from his addictions.
@ sadly, it has been said that his addiction was fueled by a sense of inadequacy compared to the players I mentioned. It was a lack of self worth I guess and in truth he was just as talented and unique.
Steve Stevens from Billy Idol Band. Tight, on spot and wrote most of the songs.
Actually Billy wrote most of the songs on acoustic. Steve helped those songs become more than a song on an acoustic. Got that from Billy's biography. Steve was my first guitar hero as a kid. FKN awesome!
A totally underrated guitarist. Amazing compositional and arranging chops as well.
Oh Yeah... Memory Crash is just a phenomenal piece of work
Nils Lofgren, Martin Barre, Justin Hayward, Al McKay, Jubu Smith, Richard Thompson, Stanley Jordan, Rick Derringer...man there are a lot of under the radar great guitar players.
Martin Barre!!!
Phil Keaggy, too.
Nils Lofgren !!!!!! 🎉
@@ron88303yes. A very humble incredible player for 50 years.
Vinnie Moore. I feel like his name doesn't come up enough. Incredible player. Time Odyssey is a great album, amongst others.
Mind’s Eye is also great. Got to meet him after a guitar clinic, nicest and most humble guy
Couldn't agree moore! WHY does his name never come up?!
Knopfler & Gilmour are everything but underrated.
Here are my top 5 most unmentioned & underrated guitar players.
Brett Garsed
Ron Jarzombek
Richard Hallebeek
Richie Kotzen
Prashant Aswani
For me its Ian Thornley.... Killer singer and song writer but the insane amount of tasty licks is wild.
Tommy Shaw with Styx. He is one of my favorites and biggest influences and Styx was the first concert for me and I have been in awe of Tommy's playing since 1976.
Tommy had a unique way of getting under the skin of a song and really drivng it forward.
Jerry Reed, absolutely. And he was hilarious.
Chris Poland - smooth, precise and unique. He just never misses a note playing live and can enhance many musical types.
Shout 👍
Bob Weir! Many talk about Jerry’s soloing and overlook what Bob is playing behind him. Tasteful and unique chord-voicings and a natural feel like no other. He makes Jerry’s playing even better!
The three names that come to mind for me are: Lonnie Mack, Buck Dharma (Blue Oyster Cult), and Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers). Criminally underrated.
Mike Campbell (Tom Petty's guitarist). Never flash, but always playing exactly the right thing, and doing it with superb style. Always great tone choices too. A total master of the instrument. And he co-wrote several of Petty's big hits.
James Honeyman Scott, first guitarist from the pretenders was soo good RIP
Great call pal ... outstanding guitarist!
My pick is Ian Brairnson of Pilot and The Alan Parsons Project. Those guitar solos are so melodic and fit each song beautifully.
That was also the first name that came to my mind. By the way - it´s Bairnson, not Brairnson : )
@guitarelaxed I tried 3 times to get his name right.
I was just about to Ian Bairnson too., one of the most tasteful players ever.
Yes! Listening to the band recently he was a really tasteful and melodic guitarist.
Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. He pushed the guitar as an instrument beyond boundaries and exerted an incredible amount of influence on an entire generation of musicians.
James Wilsey, the guitar player who came up with the guitar lines of Wicked Game, Blue Hotel etc. What a melodic and atmospheric player!
I remember when I was in my youth and it was all hair and Marshall distortion and I heard those first few notes on MTV (pushing Wild at heart) and it just haunted my soul. No other words for it, literally, those few notes communicated perfectly. What was unique was is it was clean.. like fender clean, but still cut. RIP the king of slow.
@@mrthorbs Your story is my story pretty much down to a tee.
RIP Mr Wilsey. You might have been hugely underrated but you were a big reason why I took up guitar and boughty myself a Stratocaster all those years ago.
I gotta go with Rik Emmett from Triumph. Guitar player,singer or song writer. A Canadian great.
Absolutely!
Damn you stole my go to lol, when I see videos like this I always say Rik
I'd say good pick but if you are picking Canadians you have to pick Frank Marino.
I haven´t seen the video yet but the answer is Michael Romeo from Symphony X.
JD Simo!🎉 His tone, his playing, his knowledge…Unbelievable!
Schenker. He influenced all the great 80’s players
Which one? Rudolph, Michael or Blitzen?
Michael….the other two can’t hold a candle to him
Èxactly - a superb player!
Massively influential, but doesn't get much recognition for it. He's a bit like Heavy metals' Jeff Beck; your favourite 80s metal band guitarist probably has Schenker as one of their favourites.
Yes Michael Schenker
Someone here mentioned Lindsay Buckingham, and I wholeheartedly second that... And I'll add two more votes for seriously underrated guitarists: Robert Fripp (King Crimson; unique sophisticated guitar lines) and Jan Akkerman (Focus, then solo career).
Oh, and thank you guys for raising the question; it's clear that opinions will vary ;)
I hope, Annika's answer is somehow "wrong", as it should be widely known by now, that Lari Basilio is a world class guitar player. So absolutely amazing.
And my answer to the question (as always): Vernon Reid. The guy is just insane.
There are so many great players who don't get enough love and/or respect: Jake E Lee, Vivian Campbell, Jerry Reed, Vince Gill, Glenn Campbell, Jennifer Batten, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, etc.
Ty Taber Kings X
Billy Corgan. Instantly recognizable sound especially the siamese Dream era. He seamlessly blends Shoegaze, punk, hair metal, melody and filth… sometimes all in the same song. SO MANY legendary riffs, but what most don’t know if he absolutely shreds…. While fronting the band. The first time I saw them live I was completely caught off guard
Tory Slusher. Her playing is on a totally different level compared to anyone else.
She's so good, you have to invent excuses why she doesn't count.
Most underrated might be a studio musician unknown outside the industry, but not "widely celebrated guy who should be more celebrated".
Seconded! I found stumbled across her channel about a year ago and was totally floored.
Robben Ford and George Benson were two of my favorites along with at least one of the most underrated guitarists, composers, arrangers, and band leaders - Chieli Minucci.
Great shouts both
Gary Moore and Vito Bratta.
Gary Moore really. Is Gary Moore one of the most underrated guitarist? Are you kidding me
@@Brati999I think he means, people never really gave him credit for how good he was while he was alive. He’s had far more credit and accolades since his death. The Irish rock guitarist gods are often sidelined.
Hands up for Vito
Trey Anastasio- those who know, KNOW, but he doesn't get much mention. Michael Schenker- just incredible. Rory Gallagher has finally been getting some recognition, so that's great.
Danish Pete picks ‘The Purple One’ - surprise, surprise! 😉
Roy Buchanan, John Squire and Johnny Marr
Andy summers
Great pick
Genius. Great choice..
John Sykes and Rory Gallagher for me
Yeah, Rory and I'd also Add Peter Green
Frank Marino and Henrik Freischlader
Frank in the late 70s was a Monster
Frank is at the top of my list
Frank is the correct answer!
Peter Frampton, incredible guitarist on both electric and acoustic, both under his own name and with Humble Pie. And Rick Derringer, truly excellent. I never see them on lists of best guitarists, yet they are both great. From those listed in the video, I think Prince is the winner, named twice. I think he’s overlooked because he does so many things so well.
I really liked the naming of Jerry Reed, phenomenal player and writer. But for me the most underrated player, who incidentally underrates himself is Dave Simpson. Absolutely outstanding player and writer. More people should know about him.
Tal Farlow...such a class act with such a sound and those hands...just wow and were talking about late 40's and 50's here....that guy was a real musician and a real player...great documentary on him on RUclips
I’d say Ian Thornley from Big Wreck. Amazing singer and kick ass guitarist
This is the correct answer. I'll go out on a limb and call him the best guitarist on the planet.
Don't forget about the Thornley albums, his solo album, and he's got some more stuff coming out that is outlaw country! The first song was released a few weeks ago called Blood on the Highway under the name Fairfield A.D. It's a collaboration with Casey Marshall.
Werner Lämmerhirt. This guy almost made me give up on guitar when I met with him. He was a friend of Peter Bursch, who at that time gave guitar lessons at the local Volkshochschule, and Werner had agreed to giving a little concert during one of the lessons. I really considered to throw my guitar out of the window right there on the spot after hearing and watching him play. Decades later, someone told me that I played just like Werner. Well, these shoes are much too big for me, but it was one of the biggest compliments I have ever received. And I hadn't even noticed how much that brief encounter had influenced me 🙂
Joey Santiago of The Pixies. Indirectly responsible for the loud/quiet/loud thing that fuelled a generation of grunge players. But none of those other grunge guys could touch him when it came to writing the parts... His unusual fusion of Flamenco, Rock and Surf playing gave the Pixies a style that was all their own.
If you don’t know him and you wanna see something cool, watch the Pixies play Vamos live!
Lots of top notch players mentioned, but i agree with Keith Scott.... we all know all his solos, riffs and melodies. Soo many songs with his work on. Saw him in concert with brian adams and he was fantastic live in the room - tone, touch, power, musicality and no overly flash gymnastics.
For me it‘s Keith Urban. Always seen as the famous country singer and sidekick of a hollywood actress, the guy has so much feel and tone in his playing besides the fact that he has much more technical abilities than he is showing. I don‘t think people know how good he really is.
Oh I think I know exactly what you mean. Keith is amazing. //Kris
Both he and Brad Paisley are actually killer guitar players. They don’t get as much notoriety as they should for it being on country radio but both guys are monster blues rock players too and can shred like crazy.
Rik Emmett of Triumph and Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive! Also Jeff Healey! Three incredible Canadian guitar players who have never gotten enough love.
I'd say Michael Romeo of Symphony X, Rik Emmett of Triumph and Michael Schenker. These guys wrote amazing guitar parts and extra kudos to Emmett cause he can sing like hell too!
Trevor Rabin. If you’ve only heard his playing with YES check out his solo work. No telling the music he could’ve created if he hadn’t spent so much time making movie soundtracks.
Bonnie Raitt, Steve Hackett, Mississippi John Hurt all deserve a mention, but, as we are talking greatest underrated its got to be Ry.
Agree mostly. However, I've seen BR in concert several times and honestly, she's not even really a guitarist. She's a singer. With a mesmerizing expressive voice. I love that voice! But, she's tagged as some great guitarist which is rank silliness.
1:25 I've been saying this for years, Jerry played all his own solo's where others would hire a lead guitarists.
No one mentions Mike Oldfield? He has his own sound, he's technically superb with his unique intenso violín style vibrato like no one else. And also one of the most talented composers.
If Prince is overlooked as guitar player, Mike Oldfield is totaly forgotten as a guitar player.
And I do agree, probably the most underrated of any underrated guitar player ever.
The legacy that was The Brothers. Duane Allman, Dickie Betts, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks.
How can you forget to mention Jack Pearson???
Do not forget "Dangerous" Dan Toler and Jack Pearson, two fenomenal players!
Davey Johnstone, Guitarist and musical director for Elton John. Just like Mick Ronson, Richie Sambora, and Keith Scott is the guy that actually holds the song together behind the frontman, be flashy but not over shadowing the singer, and has to be versatile to play all sorts of things electric and acoustic.
Supertramp's bassist, Dougie Thomson, is absolutely amazing. Check out his bass on "Bloody Well Right" and "Another Man's Woman."
The 2 alter bridge guys. They are both incredible songwriters, they are hard worker's, they are hunble guys, if you see a concert its amazing the kennedys hability to play and sing... 2 GOATs in the same band
Right there with you brother ✊ Myles arguably more of the 2 because he's the rhythm player in the band and known for vocals more than guitar, but his guitar playing is truly awesome. And Tremonti's playing is just out of this world!
Ya man! Great musicians and songwriters!
2 dangerously talented “band” guitarists Bert Jansch (Pentangle) and Martin Barre (Jethro Tull) - I have seen often get missed out in such polls (…among other Brit legends)
Another underrated American singer/guitarist I personally love is John Fogerty
But yes…
Some amazing answers and some great comments here and agree with all. Underrated is a subjective word.
Peter Green too
Eddie Hazel - Parliament Funkadelic. Insanely under-rated. No one knows who he is!
Peter Green (original fleetwood mac line up), steve hillage, roy harper (amazing on acoustic), Jonny Marr.
Mike Campbell the right phrase at the right time!
And even apart from Petty - the guitar outro to Don Henley's 'Boys of Summer' comes to mind. Simple yet _perfect_ for the song!
Yep, him and Buckingham are masters of that.
He's on my list too. I came to the comments to see if anyone else commented. That's a guy who never wasted a note in his whole career, he made everything count.
The best answers was Paul Simon, if under-rated means “well known but not generally recognized as a great guitar player.” If people think of him as a guitar player at all it is likely as just a folkie strummer or finger picker but he is really a virtuoso who has rarely flaunted his skill. I kind of get what people mean when they mention Gilmour or Prince or Knopfler, which is really “even more impressive than you might have thought” but I’m still not sure it makes much sense to call three guys who are in the top ten of just about every list of greatest guitar players “under-rated.” But I admit to occasionally claiming that The Beatles were under-rated so don’t listen to me!
PS is a superb guitarist.
Alex Lifeson , guitar player for Rush, and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam.
Robin Trower, Dickie Betts, Robbie Basho and John Fahey
And Peter Green
Prince was the best answer, totally agree. Gilmour and Knopfler are in my top 10, so it's hard to believe they would be underrated. The coolest thing about this video is there were some names I've never heard of, which I will check out to see what's the hype. I have three names that don't seem to get mentioned much, they are Alex Lifeson, Frank Marino and Gary Moore.
Marino is 10 times better than Prince.
Doyle bramhall II for me his solos go where the song needs it and the fact he plays a left handed strat strung right handed is just the icing on the cake
I said Doyle as well
Stephen Stills. Great songwriter, but the bands he is famous for aren't guitar hero bands, but his playing is out of this world.
Seconded. Stephen Stills.
Ty Tabor (King's X) Andy Summers, Tom Scholz, Tommy Shaw, Lindsey Buckingham, Phil Keaggy, Alex Liefson, The Edge
Bill Nelson is criminally underrated
Agreed. Really needs more appreciation, such a fluid melodic style.
Roy Buchanan, Allen Collins, John Martyn, Lyndsey Buckingam, and as a guitarist : Joan Baez, Jeff Buckley,
For my two cents, Greg Koch, Nalle Colt (Vintage Trouble), Mark Speer (Khruangbin) and Sonny Landreth should be on this list.
The Gristlemaster!
John Kimbrough from Walt Mink, he found a way to combine rhythm and lead playing with effortless speed and complexity