Your Top Five Underrated Guitarists

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Ah, and now we get into the question as to what one means by underrated. In that Rolling Stone list I posted, I feel Johnny Winter is underrated at #63. But I also think Duane Allman is underrated at #9. Hell, crazy as it sounds, I would not argue if someone here said Jimi Hendrix was underrated at #1, if you get what I'm saying.

Subjectivity definitely comes in to play in what is such an opinion-based topic. Hell, some of the best guitarists in the world as far as technique, skill, speed, phrasing, etc. - and the ability to combine all of those melodically - are currently working in heavy and extreme metal and thus are not well known at all. So I could easily put out a top five "underrated" list that goes:
1) Mikael Akerfeldt
2) Jeff Waters
3) Brent Hinds
4) Corey Beaulieu
5) Alex Skolnick

And 95%+ of the people out there would be scratching their heads going "who???"

I looked at the list you linked to from RS and saw that three of my top five were considered among the top 100 (Fripp, Zappa, and Prince, IIRC). So can three guys who are thought of among the top 100 players ever really be considered "underrated" (assuming you lend any credence to RS's opinion )? I don't know...but it's a fun subject to discuss. And if nothing else it might turn some people on to some players they might not be familiar with.

As a side note I heard "Cowboy Song" by Thin Lizzy on the radio today and my first thought was "Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson could definitely go on that list!" Maybe "Top 5" was too limiting.