# Best "Technical" Guitar Player Ever



## GuitarsCanada

I would have to say one of the very best, if not the best I have ever seen, or heard is John Petrucci. Simply amazing what he can do on a fret board.

Your thoughts on the subject?


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## violation

Petrucci is definetly up there but I'm going to say Paul Gilbert. He sweeps arpeggios with his teeth at guitar clinics and plays with an electric drill (with 3 picks on it). His string skipping arpeggios are totally insane. Plus he plays the Spice Girls, that's some tough business.


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## devnulljp

John McLaughlin?


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## sartana

Robert Fripp


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## devnulljp

sartana said:


> Robert Fripp


Yay, I love frippertronics.
I don't think that's the kind of technical the OP had in mind though. If you want to go down that road, Adrian Belew? Frank Zappa? Leo Brouwer when he was younger...?


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## Evilmusician

Lenny Breau 
Jason Becker
Paul Gilbert (is there anything he can't play note for note)
Tommy Emmanuel
but its all relative to what you like and listen to,main thing as a musician is to check out new things bands,cd's ,artists and grow! cheers!:rockon:


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## The Kicker Of Elves

For pure technical skill I'd say Vai.


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## suttree

chet atkins
andres segovia

it's gonna be one of those two, with joe pass and lenny breau hanging in the wings


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## Milkman

Although Lenny Breau may be one of the greatest players to ever pick up a guitar I'd say Steve Morse and Al Dimeola would be at the top of my list in terms of technical players.

Even in a category as narrow as this one it STILL comes down to tastes.


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## Jeff Flowerday

Pettruci gets my vote, he's a machine.


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## Evilmusician

oohhhhhh Pete Lesperance from Harem Scarem forgot him ! If petrucci ever left Dream Theater he's the guy !IMO:rockon:


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## zontar

Without naming names, I have heard a lot of players with excellent technique that leave me cold as a listener--it sounds like they're doing exercises. I can appreciate their technique as a guitarist, but as a listener--nothing.

As far as great technique and I enjoy listening--
Christopher Parkening is the top name in my mind.


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## Lester B. Flat

I often wonder how much the 'shredding' technique of Vai, Satriani, Gilbert, etc would transfer to a clean sound or acoustic guitar. It would be interesting to hear them along side John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia . These guys are just as amazing on acoustic guitars as electric. I'd pick any one of those guys for technique.


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## Jeff Flowerday

Lester B. Flat said:


> I often wonder how much the 'shredding' technique of Vai, Satriani, Gilbert, etc would transfer to a clean sound or acoustic guitar. It would be interesting to hear them along side John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia . These guys are just as amazing on acoustic guitars as electric. I'd pick any one of those guys for technique.


8 Gauge electric strings -> 13 Gauge acoustic strings would definately warrant a technique change.


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## violation

Lester B. Flat said:


> I often wonder how much the 'shredding' technique of Vai, Satriani, Gilbert, etc would transfer to a clean sound or acoustic guitar. It would be interesting to hear them along side John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia . These guys are just as amazing on acoustic guitars as electric. I'd pick any one of those guys for technique.


Paul Gilbert plays clean and acoustic quite a bit on his recordings. His tone with the GH50L was reasonably clean some of the time live... he's great at playing with the volume knob on his guitar. Like this from Japan during the "Bump Ahead" tour in 1993. Great performance... really shows how important control of the picking hand/dynamics are. 

For some pretty decent acoustic stuff there's always "Flamingo" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=11KaKhGAa3I


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## ne1roc

Pettruci gets my vote as well. I played Suspended Animation for 6 months straight in my car........nothing else. :bow: 

Unfortunately, I just can't get into Dream Theater's music.


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## Ti-Ron

My vote goes to that guy! I know that a lot of people hate him but I hate players like Petrucci and Vai....maybe I'm weird! 

Buckethead's Lesson


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## jcayer

There's *Steve Howe * and then the rest...


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## WarrenG

Can somebody define for me a "technical" guitar player? What are the attributes and criteria that merit such a distinction?


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## violation

WarrenG said:


> Can somebody define for me a "technical" guitar player? What are the attributes and criteria that merit such a distinction?


Someone who can use any/a lot of techniques while keeping it clean, accurate and can get some mad speed while doing it.


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## Accept2

Batio. Even when he plays fast, its always precise, like he has a built in metronome. Left hand, right hand, both hands, he does it all. Unfortunately his Phd in music and his absolute flawness technique makes him sound like a machine, and its all rather boring. Technique wise he is the greatest, but Id rather listen to Space Ace or Johnny Ramone fire off something memorable.......


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## devnulljp

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Pettruci gets my vote, he's a machine.


Is that a good thing?


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## jcayer

I agree with devnulljp about Pettruci the machine ( and all those shredders by the way...)

Is that a good thing?

As far as I'm concerned, musically, Petrucci is as interesting as a vasectomy ...


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## devnulljp

jcayer said:


> I agree with devnulljp about Pettruci the machine ( and all those shredders by the way...)
> Is that a good thing?
> As far as I'm concerned, musically, Petrucci is as interesting as a vasectomy ...


Wasn't riffing on 'em, I just couldn't tell whether the 'he's a machine' comment was meant as a compliment or an insult 
FWIW, I've heard Pettrucci and he doesn't sound human -- in the same way as Steve Vai or Paul Gilbert -- I can't fathom how a human being can do that. (Same writ large with Kiri Te Kanawa or Bryn Terfel or people like that ... don't necesaarily find it pleasing to listen to but wow!).
As for a definition of 'technical' aren't they all technical to some extent? BB King has blues technique down pat, Kurt Cobain had that barre chord grunge thing down, Paco Pena has flamenco down...
Someone mentioned Steve Howe, +1 on that.

Although I think we probably all know in our hearts that the OP was asking about rock/metal shredders and didn't want a lecture on Django Reinhardt 

Just can't listen to those guys, sorry. It's as entertaining (for me) as watching the Olympics.
EDIT: I got the perfect analogy (and you're not going to like it sorry): Celine Dion. What a voice. A dozen octaves or something, in and out of the range of human hearing. Vibrato. Legato. Power. Range. Accuracy. 
Couldn't pay me to listen to it.
But hey it's music, it's all subjective, whatever cranks your chain.

I'm also handing in my Grammar Nazi badge because I didn't notice you spelled it "Techincal"


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## Diablo

Vai or Satriani I guess.
But in a way, I'm more tempted to simply say "who cares?"...as a statement of how unlistenable most of the best technical guitarists are. I find them usually boring unless they're buttering their bread by doing something commercial, for Whitesnake or something.

Petrucci is great, but IMO he's the best cover band guitarist, since 90% of what I've seen him do on youtube is covers of other bands. "Pull me under" is nothing special.


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## Milkman

This thread isn't about the music we love the most. It's about who we think plays the guitar most impressively from a technical standpoint.

I suspect most of us would prefer other players than the ones we've listed here.

:food-smiley-004:


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## WarrenG

Thanks for that. Based on the YouTube clip of Paul Gilbert's "Flamingo" piece, I can say that, technically, his right hand fingerstyle technique is disastrous - he might as well be holding a plectrum. 

Have you guys seen the Cracking the Code video project? It's an excellent look at the right hand technique of many notable shredders using high speed camera capture technology.


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## Jeff Flowerday

devnulljp said:


> Is that a good thing?


Not the point of the thread. But to the answer your question: Yes and No, It makes him dry at time but it's also impressive when seeing him live play his DT stuff absolutely perfect note for note at mach 10.


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## suttree

well, i'm still standing by segovia or chet atkins. there's little doubt in my mind that segovia could have _sight-read_ any of the aforementioned shredders' guitar work (and probably at tempo), with the exception of the whammy bar techniques (which i imagine he'd have picked up fairly quickly, had he wanted to).


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## jcayer

suttree said:


> well, i'm still standing by segovia or chet atkins. there's little doubt in my mind that segovia could have _sight-read_ any of the aforementioned shredders' guitar work (and probably at tempo), with the exception of the whammy bar techniques (which i imagine he'd have picked up fairly quickly, had he wanted to).


+1

Plus Segovia wouldn't have needed all that super overdriven boosted echoe etc etc... effects to sound good...


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## shad

suttree said:


> well, i'm still standing by segovia or chet atkins. there's little doubt in my mind that segovia could have _sight-read_ any of the aforementioned shredders' guitar work (and probably at tempo), with the exception of the whammy bar techniques (which i imagine he'd have picked up fairly quickly, had he wanted to).


I second the vote for Chet Atkins, his playing was not only complex and intricate but also pure and clean, and most amazingly to me was that it seemed to be completely effortless.


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## devnulljp

suttree said:


> well, i'm still standing by segovia or chet atkins. there's little doubt in my mind that segovia could have _sight-read_ any of the aforementioned shredders' guitar work (and probably at tempo), with the exception of the whammy bar techniques (which i imagine he'd have picked up fairly quickly, had he wanted to).


 I think you're probably right. I imagine a masterclass between Segovia and some of these shredders wold go something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox5J6agBfAs

Celedonio Romero does some tapping on the last CD he recorded too. If you ever get a chance, have a listen to The Poet of the Guitar...one of those jaw-dropping experiences. 
And talking of jaw-dropping technique, Tilman Hoppstock.


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## violation

WarrenG said:


> Thanks for that. Based on the YouTube clip of Paul Gilbert's "Flamingo" piece, I can say that, technically, his right hand fingerstyle technique is disastrous - he might as well be holding a plectrum.


Yeah from what I've heard he can't finger pick very well because he has joint issues with his right hand so he never really practiced it much. I guess that's why you rarely see him doing it now... he's a lot older.


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## GuitarsCanada

Milkman said:


> This thread isn't about the music we love the most. It's about who we think plays the guitar most impressively from a technical standpoint.
> 
> I suspect most of us would prefer other players than the ones we've listed here.
> 
> :food-smiley-004:


You have the idea down, Mike. In terms of technical prowess, thats why I picked Petrucci. Is he my favorite guitarist? Nope. But he get's my vote in this category.


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## Warren

for the Segovia camp, although Segovia, it could be argued, invented contemporary classical guitar it has progressed since. I'll throw Roland Dyens into the thread:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJYm0qVIhFI

Possibly my favorite guitarist of any genre for taste, musicality and technique.


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## Diablo

Milkman said:


> This thread isn't about the music we love the most. It's about who we think plays the guitar most impressively from a technical standpoint.
> 
> I suspect most of us would prefer other players than the ones we've listed here.
> 
> :food-smiley-004:


Fine, Roy Clark then. :smile:
Just to be different.


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## zontar

Milkman said:


> This thread isn't about the music we love the most. It's about who we think plays the guitar most impressively from a technical standpoint.
> 
> I suspect most of us would prefer other players than the ones we've listed here.
> 
> :food-smiley-004:


That's why I didn't list all my favorite players.

But while Christopher Parkening is one of my favorite guitarists, he's also brilliant form a technical standpoint.


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## suttree

well... i just said segovia because he's such a towering figure, and well known. i know that there are other great classical players out there with ferocious technique. some of the gypsy jazz guys are heavy duty, too... the point is, when it comes to technique (and not just raw speed, but a depth of technique), the progressive metal guys are really pretty one-dimensional. the jazz guys like lenny breau (or joe pass, or john mclauglin, or or or), or the classical guys like segovia (or parkening, or yepes, or or or) have all the chops in the world to move fast, they have theoretical knowledge that typically blows the metal guys out of the water, they've got encyclopediac knowledge of chords, and they've got the ability to play any nuance of mood. while satch or vai or etc are undeniably great players (although not to my tastes either), they're not nearly as deep as the classical or jazz guys.


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## I_cant_play

Paco de Lucia is so far my favourite. He is the sole reason I completely changed the direction I was heading in as a guitar player. I started playing metal, classic rock and blues and eventually when that got boring I discovered flamenco. In my opinion there's simply nothing like it. I never could get into shredding. I like a song here and there but Paco de Lucia to me has it all. He's fast, accurate, tasteful to listen to. Also, just as importantly, hes not as self centered as many shredders I've seen. He finds terrific flute, sax and bass players and actually allows them to have their own solos. He doesn't dominate the show all by himself. In fact, he's changed songs that were originally all guitar, taken out 70% of the material in order to make room for the fantastic singers and other players. I've yet to see a musician that is that talented and that is still capable of appreciating other musicians and instruements around him. Most that I've seen, take the exact opposite route, the bass and drum just play the same thing over and over while the lead guitar IS the show. 

Here's a few clips. There isn't really many good ones on youtube where he plays with a band, but there's plenty of good clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxodluTaz4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3p48EezhOU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EYF0btZFG4

by the way, those black and white clips where he's playing in that kitchen with his brother are some of my favourites :smile:


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## Mooh

Joe Pass. More lately, Joscho Stephan, a wonderful swing player who's worth YouTubing.

Peace, Mooh.


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## rwe333

Lenny Breau
Paco de Lucia
Ted Greene
Allan Holdsworth
George Benson
Uli Jon Roth
Ollie Halsall
Michael Hedges
Richard Thompson
Jerry Donahue
Albert Lee
Steve Morse
etc.


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## devnulljp

Add Django Reinhardt to the list...especially as he lost use of two fingers on his left hand!


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## tomyam

Andy Timmons!!!
and also Tomo Fujita....
and definitely Paul Gilbert...the walking Guitar Pro5


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## netoman

I'd go for those technical guitar players with good taste, not just plain shredders:

Bireli Lagrene - This guy can play anything, but when he does Gypsy style there's no match. He can play really fast, but doesn't over do it. Nice phrasing too

Paco de Lucia - He is like the Devil playing guitar. But he doesn't overdo it and is an amazing composer and knows how to play tasteful flamenco. No one can play scales as fast as him. He plays them finger style and attacks every single note, instead of many shredders who mostly play arpeggios, tappings, legatos and sometimes attacked scales (with a pick)

Lenny Breau - He didn't play fast, but would do all sort of crazy stuff with chords and simultaneous multiple voices. Too bad he never became very famous, but all the big names in guitar say excellent things about him.


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## notme

+1 Steve Howe
Andy Summers

Several Jazz players


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## Milkman

Very nice to see Lenny Breau mentioned in a few lists here.

What a loss.


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## ark amps

*Shawn Lane*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NbANthdcGc&feature=related

Not too many can rip like this!


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## Luke98

Am I the only one who thinks Tom Morello deserves honorable mention?


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## hollowbody

ark amps said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NbANthdcGc&feature=related
> 
> Not too many can rip like this!


Ugh. Watching that made me feel like I was getting a high score in a video game. The dude can play quickly, no doubt about that, but honestly, that's not music.


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## ark amps

hollowbody said:


> Ugh. Watching that made me feel like I was getting a high score in a video game. The dude can play quickly, no doubt about that, but honestly, that's not music.


Then what about this song by him? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAySTTLWvfo&feature=related

or this version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmueqkhHyx8&feature=related

No video game music here


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## hollowbody

ark amps said:


> Then what about this song by him?
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAySTTLWvfo&feature=related
> 
> or this version:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmueqkhHyx8&feature=related
> 
> No video game music here


K, I take it back. Much better! Thanks for showing me more from him!


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## faracaster

Geez...... I consider "technical" players as ones that you can't tell who they are. No colour in their sound, just technically proficient.
All the players mentioned here I can tell in a instant who they are. They all have individual voices.
While they may be able to fly over the fretboard with blinding speed and accuracy, they all leave a identifiable sonic signature.

Cheers
pete


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## ark amps

faracaster said:


> Geez...... I consider "technical" players as ones that you can't tell who they are. No colour in their sound, just technically proficient.
> All the players mentioned here I can tell in a instant who they are. They all have individual voices.
> While they may be able to fly over the fretboard with blinding speed and accuracy, they all leave a identifiable sonic signature.
> 
> Cheers
> pete


Well said, I agree


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## Milkman

I think in this thread, "technical" doesn not necessarily mean lacking distinction. To me it means technically skilled and accurate. I don't think it means unmusical.

I guess you won't likely see Keith Richards name here, but should expect to see guys lie Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Steve Morse et cetera. They're still quite musical but decidedly technical to my ear.


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## ark amps

Milkman said:


> I think in this thread, "technical" doesn not necessarily mean lacking distinction. To me it means technically skilled and accurate. I don't think it means unmusical.
> 
> I guess you won't likely see Keith Richards name here, but should expect to see guys lie *Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Steve Morse* et cetera. They're still quite musical but decidedly technical to my ear.


"Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Steve Morse"

Talk about technical AND musical, these guys have it!:rockon2:


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## rippinglickfest

*The One and Only*

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Shawn Lane......not to diminish the excellence of all previously mentioned but this guy could do it all. Eric Johnson said he was the" best fast guitar player", Paul Gilbert called his technique "blazin, amazin, phrasin".
He could play with a lot of soul and emotion too........check out 
Epiogue for Lisa


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## rippinglickfest

Uhhhh .......excuse for not watching everybodys video postings............but if you want to be technical, his name was not mentioned.
That video is him playing around........the music on his albums is far more serious.


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## bolero

NEIL YOUNG!!!!!!!!!!



sdsre


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## ark amps

Before I got into Shawn Lane I was really into Greg Howe, great feel as well as technique, very unique player:rockon2:


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## Guest

zontar said:


> Without naming names, I have heard a lot of players with excellent technique that leave me cold as a listener--it sounds like they're doing exercises. ...


Exactly. There's more to playing guitar than speed. Touch and feel are far more important to making music that is "art" than having a reach that can span 8 frets or playing scales in 64th notes up and down the neck. It's "technically" impossible to dig in and make it scream or soar when you're moving at the speed of light. It's also "technically" impossible to caress it and make it whisper or weep so the term technical doesn't really apply to most of the players mentioned because they are not using the most valuable technical skills (ie: techniques).

I have come acroos one fast player who also knows how to make it sing and that's Al DiMeola whom I believe has already been mentioned on this thread.

Satch was in Edmonton a couple of nights ago and I have a buddy who was and still is so very stoked about seeing him play at the collusium. Personally I wouldn't even open my curtains if the man was playing on my front lawn.


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## fraser

> Satch was in Edmonton a couple of nights ago and I have a buddy who was and still is so very stoked about seeing him play at the collusium. Personally I wouldn't even open my curtains if the man was playing on my front lawn


lol excellent-
i fear, if twas me, i might be out on the lawn swinging a stratocaster at that clowns head,
but thats how i roll.:smile:


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## twoonie2

Paul Gilbert
Al Di Meola
John Petrucci
Joe Satriani

and the list goes on!


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## Starbuck

Estaban!!! He MUST be! He has a signature guitar!


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## Starbuck

fraser said:


> lol excellent-
> i fear, if twas me, i might be out on the lawn swinging a stratocaster at that clowns head,
> but thats how i roll.:smile:


Ha! me too fur sure, I have a friend who froths at the mouth for G3, tries to get me to go evertime one of them is in town. I just thought it was a guy thing, but Marnie loves Vai, so I might be wrong.


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## devnulljp

Augustin Barrios Mangore!


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## lbrown1

The Kicker Of Elves said:


> For pure technical skill I'd say Vai.




agreed - and also - to pick another obvious choice - satriani


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## zao_89

Micheal Romeo!
Runner ups would be:
Jason Becker
Petrucci
Preston Reed
Michael Keene
Jeff Loomis, Steve Smyth and Chris Broderick (three way Nevermore tie)


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## screamingdaisy

8 pages and no one's mentioned Michael Schenker....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgY_w6M6Fnc


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## starvingstudent

Joe Satriani
Paul Gilbert

end of story.


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## Robert1950

Yeah, I gotta go with Neil Young on this one. And on stage,... Jimmy Page.


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## Starbuck

*!q*



screamingdaisy said:


> 8 pages and no one's mentioned Michael Schenker....
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgY_w6M6Fnc


Ahh you hit a nerve a Fav of mine for sure!


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## Heineken

Batio or Rusty Cooley


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## guitarman2

I don't know if this guy was mentioned already. Probably not unless I already did and just forgot. I'll go with the most recorded guy in Nashville history. Brent Mason. And believe me, he is so much more than just a country guitarist.


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## EchoWD40

violation said:


> Paul Gilbert plays clean and acoustic quite a bit on his recordings. His tone with the GH50L was reasonably clean some of the time live... he's great at playing with the volume knob on his guitar. Like this from Japan during the "Bump Ahead" tour in 1993. Great performance... really shows how important control of the picking hand/dynamics are.
> 
> For some pretty decent acoustic stuff there's always "Flamingo" - http://youtube.com/watch?v=11KaKhGAa3I


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpDblDia5TE
that one owns acoustics.
My vote goes #2 to Paul Gilbert. 
But number one has to be Buckethead... that guy is insane.


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## Evilmusician

Ah once again no way to tell # 1 they all have there strenths and weakness and we all have our favs ,Paul Gilbert is sick and can play anything note for note ,one of my fav's,Andres Segovia,Robert Fripp,John McLaughlin,Shawn Lane (RIP) Jason Becker (RIP) John Petrucci ,Bret Mason,,Carl Verheyen,John 5 ,etc all great in there own way main thing don't limit yourself check out all different types and borrow ideas it'll really help ya develop your own thing !:rockon:


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## Dude5152

Steve Vai. 

If the 10 hour guitar workout doesnt prove anything I don't know what will.


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## DMac604

Another vote for Bucket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIn85m6RbKY


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## twoonie2

Marty Friedman
Shawn Lane
Guthrie Govan 
Buckethead


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## KapnKrunch

I am such a lousy guitar player that I have to call myself a "songwriter". Lol. However, John Petrucci's instructional video "Rock Discipline" doubled my skill on the instrument. Great teacher as well as a great technician.


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## greco

@twoonie2 Bored up in Sudbury are we? 

This thread is from 2008!!!


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## cboutilier

I don't pay much attention to that style of playing, but when I first saw Tosin Abasi I was floored.

Edit: whoops. Zombie thread.


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## twoonie2

greco said:


> @twoonie2 Bored up in Sudbury are we?
> 
> This thread is from 2008!!!


Not bored.. Just wanted to add my two cents lol!!


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## High/Deaf

If everyone could agree on one definition of 'best', perhaps this could be answered. Until then, it's a ridiculous question with no possible definite answer. IMO.


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## Dorian2

Didn't read through the whole thread, but since McLaughlin was mentioned I'd add one of my favorite fusion style players. Al DiMeola. He gets pretty damned technical in many aspects of playing from note choices to rhythmic inflection. I'd imagine you'de have to break this down further into genres as well.


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