Your nominations for guitarists who receive "faint" praise

So who do you feel is considered a " Rodney Dangerfield " in the guitar world?? Who deserves more respect.

I'l start out with a softball...... Walter Becker of Steely Dan.

Lindsay Buckingham!

Ian Moss.
Rick Brewster.
Dave Dobbyn.
Elliot Easton.
Glenn Buxton.
Martin Barre. (a bit tenuous, I know...)

Have to agree, Ian moss cracks, also Jonny Diesel plays really well.

How about Alex Lifeson? He seldom gets the kudos given to the rhythm section, but what a player!

Dang it Colt, you stole my next nomination!!

Ooooh, that's a big call; Alex gets his share of the kudos, I reckon!! But I will bow to peer pressure if needs be!!

corsair wrote:Ooooh, that's a big call; Alex gets his share of the kudos, I reckon!! But I will bow to peer pressure if needs be!!

Sure, but it's guitar players who recognize Alex (and not all of them), not the general public. Guitar heroes like Clapton or Van Halen are recognized universally.

And Trevor Rabin typically does not get the recognition he deserves. All of the Yes snobs love Howe, and he is killer no doubt. But Rabin can play anything - he just doesn't have a recognizable style. Van Halen has copied and covered some Rabin stuff.

I like Adam Jones from Tool a lot. But he's no great player. I just like his style and tone. I have learned MANY Tool songs and they are quirky and the rhythms are odd and can be difficult to play. I think that many people give him too much credit. I've set up my remaining X-390CB in BEDGBE tuning for Parabol/Parabola...talk about quirky. The tuning is like a 7 string but without the A. Standard gauge strings just won't work in this tuning - I use a normal .010 set minus the A string and add a .056 on the bottom for the B. So there is a dramatic difference in diameter from the E to the D.

Yep!
I'll be dipped in dog dirt.

Malcolm Young.

Mars Cowling, err, On Bass

Bruce Welch,
If you haven't listned, listen.

Me

You beat me to it.

Westbone wrote:Bruce Welch,

+1... master craftsman of the rhythm guitar.

Asked my lovely bride and she said (whilst sipping on her Boddingtons ) Jeff Baxter. KQRS is a rock station in our metro area that plays MOR rock classics. Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers are on all the time. Think I'll take an informal poll tomorrow of the guys to see if anyone even knows who he is.

Iceman wrote:Asked my lovely bride and she said (whilst sipping on her Boddingtons ) Jeff Baxter. KQRS is a rock station in our metro area that plays MOR rock classics. Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers are on all the time. Think I'll take an informal poll tomorrow of the guys to see if anyone even knows who he is.

SKUNK!

How about the Hellecasters, otherwise known as Will Ray, John Jorgenson and Jerry Donahue. They seem nearly anonymous outside their genre, check this out -
The Hellecasters - Inspector Gadget

A special mention for Danny Kirwan, guitarist with Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. A talented guitarist and singer/songwriter who was still in his teens during his work with 'Mac, sadly his career went downhill when drink & drugs took hold, such a waste.
A quick selection -
Fleetwood Mac - Although The Sun Is Shining
Fleetwood Mac - Dragonfly
Fleetwood Mac - Like It This Way

DAN.

I'd put Peter Green himself up for this; I think his work with Fleetwood Mac was underrated.

My other nomination is Mick Taylor, best guitarist the Rolling Stones ever had. He's still gigging, met him last year (he lives in the flatlands too!).

caucajun wrote:

Iceman wrote:Asked my lovely bride and she said (whilst sipping on her Boddingtons ) Jeff Baxter. KQRS is a rock station in our metro area that plays MOR rock classics. Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers are on all the time. Think I'll take an informal poll tomorrow of the guys to see if anyone even knows who he is.

SKUNK!

Exactly mon frere !! So of the 23 (yes 23) guys I polled in the shop only 1 knew that Skunk does not stink. And even THAT is a skewed result as he plays semi-professionally on the side.

Truly not enough respect.

A special mention for Danny Kirwan, guitarist with Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.

True, and then again, of course, you'd have to mention Jeremy Spencer in the same breath!! Both were integral to FM's sound ....

True, true, back in the day the three of them were great together.

Jeremy Spencer could do a good take on Elmore James, apparently he was always doing impressions of other musicians on stage and the in the studio.

DAN.

Randy Jackson of Zebra - He tears it up on electric and does some amazing acoustic 12 string work as well

A few more.

Mick Ronson - Bowie's right-hand man during the Ziggy & The Spiders From Mars era, Ziggy Stardust.
Brad Whitford - Aerosmith's rock solid rhythm guitarist, Dream On.
Zal Cleminson - The scary clown faced guitarist behind the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Boston Tea Party.

In no particular order Mike Keneally, Andy Summers, Paul Gilbert.

With you on Zal Cleminson !! Saw SAHB's twice at their peak, and Zal and AH were solid ! Good VFM !!

Cool thread.

Not limiting this to any genre... but here goes...

Rory Gallagher - recognition has always been far below (IMHO) what he achieved
Johnny Ramone - simple but influential
Adrian Smith - melodic metal, um yeah
R L Burnside - "hill country blues" - didn't adhere to 12 and 16 bar patterns - wasn't big on chord changes - used his guitar as a percussion instrument as much as anything else

Going back to the older school a bit here but....

Albert Lee.... and since the misidentification seems to dog him everywhere also...

Alvin Lee.... never could understand why people mix these two up so often.

Nah; you can't have those, Ice - they receive all kinds of praise and none of it faint!! OK, maybe Alvin Lee isn't as widely appreciated as he should be....

How about Al Stewart and Lawrence Juber; both are very good players but one doesn't hear about them very often? Elliot Easton??
George Kooymans... still gigging 40 years on??

When one stops to think about it, there are so many under-appreciated musicians around that it takes your breath away; and I won't bore anyone with the NZ guitarists who have influenced me as the names will mean nothing to you fellas but they were very important to me as a young fella!!

corsair wrote:Nah; you can't have those, Ice - they receive all kinds of praise and none of it faint!! OK, maybe Alvin Lee isn't as widely appreciated as he should be....

A wager for you sir.

I will ask 500 people I meet on the street to tell me anything they know about Albert Lee, the guitarist, and unless I run across an Emmylou Harris fan I will bet 498 of them will not know who I am asking about. At least over here in the states.

I agree he does in fact get the respect he so richly deserves, but only from a smaller, be it more knowledgeable, sector of the populace.

Alvin probably does have a bit wider name presence here, but not by much I reckon.

Elliott Easton.... always wondered why the Cars bothered with a guitar player, but I did enjoy them back in the day.

Iceman wrote:A wager for you sir.

I will ask 500 people I meet on the street to tell me anything they know about Albert Lee, the guitarist, and unless I run across an Emmylou Harris fan I will bet 498 of them will not know who I am asking about. At least over here in the states.

Ahhh.. now you're adding conditions to it... Anyway; I shall not take that wager but that's quite a good indicator of some sort of popularity I guess; being known on both sides of the Atlantic....

OK now John - this is getting spooky - I had added Eliot Easton, then struck him from the muster as his group was wildly popular back when.

anaerobe wrote:OK now John - this is getting spooky - I had added Eliot Easton, then struck him from the muster as his group was wildly popular back when.

The band was popular, I agree, and everyone knew of Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr but not too many knew who the lead guitarist was...

Jeff Healey - He was blinded by cancer as a baby, sadly it also took his life in 2008. Definitely underrated, As The Years Go Passing By.

DAN.

Big call; I reckon he's pretty well represented in most peoples album collection somewhere, even if it's a compilation with his take on Red House or While my guitar gently weeps, eh...

WOW John, have you been looking through my letterbox! That's exactly what made me think of him, listening to a rock compilation on my iPod when While My Guitar Gently Weeps started playing.

This is a more difficult topic than it would first seem, I guess it all depends on what you listen to on a regular basis.

Both Steve Marriott and Scotty Moore popped up on my playlist lately but I thought they were just too obvious, but if your under the age of 25 or it's not your usual music, they could be valid nominee's?

DAN.

Hmmmmm...., 'kay, hows about Grant Geissman then?

Now you're talking; I wasn't sure anyone else would know who the hell he was!!! He's a bit busy for my tastes but he is certainly one of the "faint praised"!!

Very busy indeed! I know technique is important in any style but he can overdo it at times more than most. Great picking skills for certain.

You may have seen I rate Ronnie Earl, here's his Blues Guitar with Soul, which he has in spades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wLIOhnZkIM

Pulls a good face & it took some time to get used to him pulling up on low E but somehow he makes
it work. Though I don't know about faint praise, he's loved in New England & there's plenty over here who love his Blues playing too




____________________
“try to stay right sized in your playing & that means not less than or better than the people your playing with, try to be conscious of playing with soul” ..................Ronnie Earl.

Yes!! Nice one, Fish. You are dead on with the facial observations, what a great grimace he has.

Ed Wynne (Ozric Tentacles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btvihkGrDXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kxr3N2ht6Q

Lenny Kaye from Patti Smith Group

Not sure if this one fits quite into the category but how about Nils Lofgren? Heres an "intermediate" example of his guitar lessons!example

Staying with the lesson theme how about Martin Taylor? Clever or what?

Now youve got me on a roll. How about Erik Mongrain - self taught - Linky

Lofgren and Taylor are hardly in the "faint praise" bracket; both very well known and accomplished players!!

I know I know, just Lofgren was fresh in my mind, went to see him Saturday, very good show.

Having now been witness to his prowness firsthand, (albeit online courtesy of ElectraFest '11) I will confidently add Warrn to the list thus far.

Oh wow. Ice, that is flattering. Thank you!