Here's a great example of virtuoso playing while singing

 

  No. 19 - Mark Verney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 No. 18- Jimi Hendrix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 No. 17 Yngwie J. Malmsteen

 

 

 

 

Solo instrumentalist and now permanent feature of UFO. Vinnie is a worthy successor to Michael Schenker. To me he is a true virtuoso as he can play the most incredible fluid runs, but also show restraint and feeing when necessary. He is also one of those rare guitarists who manages to solo in major scales and still make it sound 'right' - never resorting to blues or pentatonic as an easy way out. I love the tones he gets from his Musicman guitar too. Some great work to be heard on UFO's 'Monkey Puzzle', 'The visitor' and 'You are here' albums.

Here's his take on 'Light's Out'

 

 

Not only a great guitarist - but a brilliant singer and songwriter. Nothing too flash here - just the right notes in the right places and with unctions of 'feel' . He is destined for greatness.

Click here for a sample

 

Guitarist with Dream theater, he can play just about anything! He is able to play extremely fast but also plays with great restraint. What’s more, he plays with immense feel. Watching his instructional video he makes you feel you can accomplish what he suggests – provided you practice at least 8 hours a day!

Click here for a good example

This guy's playing has grown on me during the last 2 years - particularly from his tenure with Black Country Communion - a truly outstanding band. He combines feel with classic songwriting and great improvisational skills. Like all true greats he has a recognisable signature sound.

Listen to and watch his classic song 'The Ballad Of John Henry'  to see what I mean.

Steve has now had a longer serving membership with Deep Purple than Ritchie Blackmore himself.  His first album with them was 'Purpendicular' back in 1995 - I would place this in my top 5 purple albums. Before this he was with Dixie Dregs and many solo ventures. His acoustic stuff is also truly amazing - see this for an example.

If ever there was a true great of the nylon-strung then it's this guy. The tone of his guitar and the expression he puts in to everything from Bach to Spanish pieces is truly stunning.

Listen to this for example.

Listening to his pre-1980's stuff in recent months has reminded me of what an awesome this guy was and still is. Another example of someone who can think up tasteful licks and runs that are relatively simple to play but sear your ears like sonic bullets. He's also got an awesome stage presence to boot.

Ted is also one of a select group who can make a semi-acoustic Gibson sound and look good. His Byrdland guitar is a wailing monstrosity – guaranteed to blow the balls off a charging rhinoceros at 50 paces! Great moment here during his solo on 'Stranglehold'

Of Whitesnake, M3 and ‘Company of Snakes’ fame. One of my favourite solos of all time is his re-working of ‘Blindman’ on ‘Ready an’Willing’. He is master of the blues in my book. The strength of his work was in his partnership with Micky Moody and his exquisite songwriting skills on some classic Whitesnake albums from 'Snakebite' through to 'Saints and Sinners'. Try this for size from the heady 80's - Click here.

The crazy, alcoholic kraut – and he would be the first to admit it. (Who said it was a fine line between genius and madness). He is one of the few people who can put the flying V through it’s paces. He always excels when working together with a good songwriter such as Mogg or Barden. He is another who emulates a classical, almost Wagnerian style. His hammer-ons and vibrato are perfect, as evidenced on ‘Rock Bottom’ and ‘Cry for the nations’. My favourite is a lesser-known MSG track called ‘Looking for love’

Much underrated. Lifeson is a guitarist who has evolved his style through the years. Influenced by Page in the early years he quickly ploughed his own furrow with prog-rock epics and developed a more ‘techno’ style in the eighties. His solos are original, deceptively easy to play – and yet he thought of them first! I love his use of alternate time signatures and avante garde approach. Favourites include ‘Red Barchetta’ and ‘Xanadu’

Here's the Exit Stage Left version of Xanadu

His Royal Highness – the Prince of Darkness, master of the 7-string Ibanez and various 3-necked guitars. Famed for his right-hand hammer-ons, Vai made extensive use of a harmonizer in his early playing to produce a sound like a guitar orchestra. Having been a ’hired hand for the likes of Roth and Coverdale he now concentrates on his solo work and annual jaunts with Joe Satriani in the G3 concerts. If you haven’t seen his latest G3 video I recommend it. You will not believe his note for note perfection combined with lots of ‘feel’. Particularly impressive is a section with his band where 3 guitarists and a bass player pick their own guitar with their right hands and finger the frets on the adjacent one with amazing dexterity. The only reason he is not placed higher is the fact that much of his work is instrumental and I prefer the dynamic of a solo in the context of a vocal sandwich. My favourites of his include ‘For the love of God’ and ‘Blue Powder’ off his ‘Passion and Warfare’ album. Here's him performing the former with the Holland Metropole Orchestra. 

No top 10 would be complete without him. He re-invented guitar-playing in the late 70’s – and it’s not just the finger-tapping which made him original. Check out his use of harmonics (standard, false and stopped). He also has a different angle on solos which brings across a sense of party and fun. One cannot forget his use of the tremolo as well – earning him the name ‘Eddie Van Wang-Nasty’. Top solos include ‘Eruption’ and ‘Hot for teacher’, but my favourite isn’t a Van Halen song but Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat it’ (When first played on Radio 1 the DJ said it sounded like Mark Knopfler!) Planet Zarg anyone?

He occupies such a high place due to his potential. His catalogue is very brief from Quiet Riot and Ozzy, yet in that short time he carved a niche of neoclassical playing which is just so satisfying to listen to and to play. A shame this genius’ time was so short. My favourites include ‘Mr. Crowley’ and ‘Revelation Mother Earth’. Here he is playing 'Mr Crowley'

If Blackmore is the Raphael of the axe then Jimmy Page is the Monet. Listening to his solos note for note he seems to fluff some and miss others, but stand back and look at the whole picture and you have a masterpiece. I also rate him in terms of his repertoire and songwriting. He covers such a wide variety of styles and yet his signature runs stand out as classic Page every time. His use of alternate tunings is well documented. It is hard to pick out any one song as better than another, but one that continually forms goose bumps on the spine is ‘Since I’ve been loving you’.

And here it is!

Yes, the man in black tops them all in terms of impeccable technique, style, charisma. His fat strat riffs and widdles are unmistakable – try out Child in time (Made in Japan version) and Gates of Babylon just for tasters. There are times when he plays crap – but you know it is deliberate – usually because he is in a mood (See his Smoke on the Water solo on ‘California jam’ – he plays most of it on one note!) Often copied but never equaled. His playing is so fluid and his use of the tremolo in earlier work is so much better than the fascile downward wang-work of modern players. His renaissance guitar of the last few years is not to be dismissed either. As Roger Glover once said of him – ‘When Ritchie was born, God pointed his finger at him and said  -‘You’

Here he is performing 'Mistreated' with the greatest vocalist of all time - Ronnie James Dio.

 

Click here for a prime example

and briefly ....

Michaelangelo Batio He looks weird but he's a great virtuoso and a brilliant tutor.  Playing two guitars at once anyone?  Click here and be amazed!

Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick and Ace Frehely - all have had tenures with KISS

Micky Moody – Also of Whitesnake fame. I love his slide work. Check out live version of ‘Love hunter’

 

Nuno Bettencourt – Of the now defunct ‘Extreme’. Where is he now? My favourite is his intro to ‘He-man woman hater’

 

Dave Gilmour – Self – effacing guitarist. His solos on ‘Another Brick in the wall’ and ‘Money’ often play through my head when I wake up in the early hours of the morning.

 

Billy Gibbons – I thought he was a very ordinary blues player until I tried to play some of his stuff. I can play the notes alright but to get his phrasing is nigh-on impossible.

 

Joe Perry – from Aerosmith. I like the fact that he uses so many guitars and creates the right sound for each song. The perfect foil for Steven Tyler.

The Edge – Not necessarily a virtuoso but highly original. I prefer his early material when he played an explorer through an echo box.

 

Jake E. Lee – One of Randy Rhoads successors. Much underrated. He was able to produce nose-dives by bending the neck of his strat rather than use a tremolo.

 

Joe Walsh – Has to be included due to his 50% contribution to Guitarist’s No. 1 solo of all time – ‘Hotel California’.

 

Andy Summers – More into jazz now, he was able to produce a big sound but not an intrusive one through his chorused telecaster. He was able to fill the space in the 3-piece which was The Police.

 

Neil Geraldo – Not well known but he did some very original guitar work with Pat Benatar

 

Scott Gorham, Snowy White and John Sykes – I preferred these partnerships to the ones with Robbo Robertson. Dual lead never sounded so good!

 

Mark Knopfler – He has 2 very distinctive styles. One he uses with the strat and the other with his Gibsons. Both are very different but very original. A guitarist friend of mine at university tried to encourage me to throw away my pick and adopt Knopfler’s thumb and 2 finger picking style. I can do it but it doesn’t come naturally.

 

Bernie Torme - best stuff done when with Gillan in the late 70's and 80's. His playing has been likened to a snakecharmer, conjuring feedback and nosedives out of his white strat.

Nancy Wilson - love her acoustic stuff especially, from the Seattle group 'Heart'

Joanne Shaw-Taylor - New blues artist onto the scene; she has  great feel and tone playing a telecaster through a Fender twin.

Eric Clapton – Is it just me or is his playing boring. I liked ‘Layla’ but how he became the influence for so many guitarists I’ll never know. (controversial again!)

 

Carlos Santana – Mr. repetitive. He has a way of extending the middle and endings of some tedious songs so that you wish some one would unplug his amp.

 

BB King – What’s he playing? A Hondo starter guitar from Woolworths through a practice amp? My cat could play more original licks.

 

Noel Gallagher – Brian May summed it up: “(Of Gallagher) I don’t find myself sitting and thinking at home ‘I wonder how he did that?’

 

Pete Townsend – OK so he invented the windmill rotating arm technique but his SG sounds like he’s playing a cheese-grater through a microphone.

 

George Harrison – Great songwriter, shame about the playing.