I particularly agree with Eric Clapton & BB King, also Hendrix (though I like him a lot) . . .

how about Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo? their influence has wasted more of my time recently than any blues dude. it seems like every time I go out I have to suffer through at least one set by some stoned fuck with a shitty guitar and 28 effects pedals feeding back for an hour. This was only cool when Throbbing Gristle did it in 1978, and even then you had Genesis P-Orridge sticking railroad spikes up his ass as a visual accompaniment.

blinduncledallas wrote:I hear "The Edge" sound everwhere nowadays. He's a lot more influencial than people give him credit for.

If you think about it, he can be overrated and influential. You can be CRAP and people may still decide to imitate you because you are so overrated that people think you have something cool going on.

Sorry, my vote stays the same.

I can't believe that in 3 pages of this thread, nobody has mentioned Jerry Garcia, a man who could (and did) spend 10-hour days on stage, noodling all around a weak melody line and never once taking it anywhere near the vicinity of mild interest.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Edge, Slash, Clapton and Gilmour references. Page also, but he actually did pull a few good licks out of his ass here and there. I think he's really more overplayed than overrated. The real shit-culprit in that band was Robert Plant, IMO.

Despite all the showiness and lack of class, you cannot deny that Eddie Van Halen was a very innovative player. Though he really is overrated, I certainly wouldn't place him anywhere near the top of the list. But all those annoying metalhead shredders who came after him and made careers out of the hammered-on arpeggio technique deserve prominent places on this shit-list.

But come on guys, Santana? Keith Richards? Jeff Beck? Hendrix?!? BB King?!? You guys got something against the blues, or what? Just because some music has been overplayed doesn't diminish its intrinsic value in terms of influence or innovation.

BTW, I think "overrated" is not really synonymous with "exerted the most negative influence on other guitarists." Truly great artists often spawn a fuck-ton of second-rate imitators who just suck ass. In the music industry, these kinds of bands can often get picked up by record company weenies trying to capitalize on a trend. Then we all continue to reap the benefits of getting lame, derivative crap shoved in our ears at every opportunity. Look at Nirvana, for instance. Great band. A bit overrated in my book, but a solid band nonetheless. Did some powerful stuff in their time, but have inspired some real crap.

All of these guys are great players, Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani, but they are overrated. It's not really so much "I can't stand them", it's more like "How many of these guys can you stand?" I don't think they play with much feeling. Like Van Halen for example. He can play, but he relies too much on tricks, and flashy tremolo jerking.

Someone like Cobain, who didn't have the technical aspect down, could still play his heart out. Sure, he may not have been pulling out the stops, but he played with feeling. Overrated doesn't mean it's crap, it just means theres too much credit given whereas some unknown could probably do better to suit a song.

See, I think Eddie Van Halen was a brilliant rhythm guitarist and he wrote some really amazing riffs as well.

Yeah I agree he's overrated and his flashiness is often beyond tasteless, but I feel he has enough merit as a technical innovator to withstand some criticism about his lack of soulfulness. Those other guys (Malmsteen, Satriani, et al.) are pale imitators of much of the technique Van Halen pioneered.

Geez I can't believe I'm sitting here making apologies for Eddie Van Halen!

Maybe I better get back to work.

Colonel Panic wrote:

But come on guys, Santana? Keith Richards? Jeff Beck? Hendrix?!? BB King?!? You guys got something against the blues, or what? Just because some music has been overplayed doesn't diminish its intrinsic value in terms of influence or innovation.

John Mayer wipes his ass with these hacks
You have to agree he's taken it to a new level
Convince me otherwise

sharko wrote: John Mayer wipes his ass with these hacks
You have to agree he's taken it to a new level
Convince me otherwise

I think it's cool how Blackberry sponsor his shows. It kind of neatly encapsulates his target demographic.

That guy is so soulful and bluesy man. Wow.

SecondEdition wrote:

big_dave wrote:clapton
a large number of improv players
almost all "shredders", with particular hatred for malmsteen and buckethead
frusciante
kevin shields
adrian belew

FYP.

Durr Durr. Yes of course. I was thinking of the arse-shat solo records and it threw me.

Kurt Cobain was a massive influence on me ever learning to play guitar, I don't think inspiring people makes anyone over rated.

Surely 'over-rated' would accurately describe only a bad guitarist being 'rated' a good guitarist, non?

Nobody would claim Cobain was objectively a 'good guitarist', and thus he can't be accurately described as 'over-rated'.

Paul Kossoff (to use the only example I can think of) was (I reckon) a guitarist of entirely unremarkable skill who is (confusingly to me) universally rated as a unique talent...

I dunno - 'over-rated' seems like a fairly ambiguous/retarded notion when discussing music.