I have to go for the incomparable John Petrucci as have been listening to Dream Theater a lot lately. 

But also my favourite guitarists come mostly from outside metal.

Dave and Yngwie make metal sound very impressively technical. But Randy can do that too, yet without losing any of the fun simplicity in heavy metal guitar. The balance is just perfect.

 

Wonder why that is?

 

In other circumstances, Hendrix.

He regularly used to blow up his amps during gigs from overdriving them too heavily - and he used Fender 50 Watt jobs, the most powerful of the time.

 

So Leo Fender created the 100 Watt amp, just for him - and both were happy!

 

Leo Fender also got Dale to be the guinea-pig for his newly-invented Stratocaster guitar. Dale loved it, but, since he was left handed, and Fender hadn't got around to making a left-handed version, he had to re-string and play the thing upside down - remind you of anyone?

 

Dick Dale was the first truly aggressive guitarist, despite playing what is unmistakably Surf Music (some say he invented it in the late 1950s) - but then, they hadn't even heard of heavy rock in those days, let alone heavy metal - it simply wasn't a style that anyone had ever played in.

 

Dale used all manner of techniques which Judas Priest and a vast number of other metal bands would later use.

 

The same could be said for Chuck Berry, of course, but every metal band who used Berry's licks turned up the gas on them and made them sound more aggressive, since Berry's tone was hardly hi-gain, and his style, while rockin', could hardly be said to be edgy or metallic.

 

Dick Dale, on the other hand, had everything - rapid alternate picking that could be considered tremolo, except that he did not use it for a tremolo effect, he used it to make the music sound more muscular and aggressive.

 

He also used unmistakably metal modes, hammer-ons and pull-offs and produced passages of music that Priest have re-cycled virtually note-for-note. I also seem to remember "No More Heroes" by The Stranglers beginning with a Dick Dale lick.

 

Maybe that should be re-phrased...

 

Dale recorded with the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan in the late 1980s - there's a video of his tune "Pipeline", and then in the early 1990s, recorded something that showcased his style against a more apropriate musical backdrop - listen to "Nitro" below.

 

Anyway, here are a couple of examples - don't be thrown by the fact that this is undeiably surf music - listen to the guitar playing and think about the year in which it was played.

 

Then cower before the true God of metal guitar...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now THAT's where Priest (and probably the Stranglers) got their sound from!

 

 

 

i hadnt thought of that, ho ho

 

I think its interesting that Blackmore and Petrucci are neck to neck here

 

 

 

 

A great Power Metal axeman from Trieste.

Extremely recommended!!!

 

But since they're not on the list, here's a mention of Michael Romeo, Chris Caffery and Johan Reinholdz.

 

\m/ \m/

Out of that list, I voted for Steve Vai, who is the only on the list who makes my personal top 5. But he is also the most gifted on my list as well.

The list is:

Jason Becker, Andy LaRocque, Criss Oliva, Kai Hansen.

Honourable mentions:

Jeff Waters, Jeff Loomis, Mattias IA Eklund, Bumblefoot.