panterrasports

December 08, 2008 at 12:12pm

These lists are risky business. There are so many great players out there. How do you evaluate 'speed'. To me, I would look at how a player's efforts have impacted guitar music and estimate their importance 20 or 50 years from now. There are kids in their basement that can play faster than half your list, but they will never make a mark...and possibly for good reason. It still has to be music, no matter how fast.

Here are a few true pioneers you missed:

John McLaughlin
Petrucci
Yngwie
Greg Howe
Steve Morse
Chris Poland
Michael Schenker
Eric Johnson
Chet Atkins

I realize some of these guys haven't done much in a while and some have become parodies of themselves but you can't deny their impact on how the guitar is played today.

I'm also a fan of Warren DeMartini though I don't know that I'd consider him a pioneer. Same with Adrian Vandenberg, Chris Broderick, John Sykes, Gary Moore, Emil Werstler (Daath), Joe Stump, James Murphy and Vito Bratta.

I also think it's important to make mention of some great rhythm players. Hammering out superfast riffs can be every bit as technical as great leads. If you're talking about speed/accuracy of rhythm playing, it's hard to overlook:
Kerry King & Jeff Hanneman
Willie Adler & Mark Morton
Scott Ian
Hetfield
Mustaine

I can't help but wonder whether leaving Kirk Hammett off the list was oversight or insight...?

May (real) shred never die

acdc_acca_dacca

December 04, 2008 at 12:45pm

you guys r dumb as fuck u left out two of the best ever angus yung and chuck barry so fuck you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dougguitar

December 02, 2008 at 11:30pm

Speed is only one weapon in his arsenal certainly, but Steve Morse should definitely be on this list, too. Not only can he pick fast, he picks insanely difficult things fast. There may be others that pick single-string or scalar runs faster, but I don't think I've heard anyone pick wide, string-skipping licks faster than Morse. He essentially becomes two guitarists at once -- one playing a blazing fast upper melody, and another playing a speedy lower counterpoint.

zappaman

November 28, 2008 at 3:26pm

you have Gambale,Dimeola and holdsworth but not the great John Mclaughin? put down your game controller and put on some cds of the Mahavishnu orchestra or Shakti unless substance doesn't count either.

sobplayer23

November 27, 2008 at 10:21pm

great list and the only one i can think of thats missing is kirk hammet. for all those people wondering where yngwies spot on the list is, its in the august issue

oldrhoadsfan

November 26, 2008 at 4:02am

Ok, the original shredder....Chet Atkins is missing. If you have ever had the opotunity to hear him play flight of the bumblebee then you would know, this guy is fast. And Roy Clark was an incredibly fast player as well. And again, how can you have a list of shredders without Yngwie?

hatfield954

November 22, 2008 at 4:46pm

There are others that need to be mentioned. So this could turn out to be more than 50 if they were all given praise, such as the ones listed. One great one that is a favorite to me is Mr. George Lynch. He seems to have stayed under the radar much of the time, but is one of the greatest. One of the tracks he performed was even in the movie Nightmare on Elm Street. He is very great and very fast.

jhewell

November 22, 2008 at 10:36am

You've obviously never heard them or they would have made this list.

majunga

November 22, 2008 at 6:23am

Great List of 50: However, to be fair, there are a lot OF OTHER SUPER FAST and just as talented professionals out there, who can piece together even more interesting and entertaining solos than some listed above. Of course, much of this is subjective; and, FAST does NOT mean interesting by any means! ;^)

Maybe there is a need for the TOP 200 instead.

You missed Chris Broderick (Megadeth).
You missed Jeff Waters (Anniliator): Just take a listen to his solo on Roadrunner Records' Roadrunner United CD playing, on the song "The Dagger" (Kicks Azzzzzz, is fast, and best of all, TECHNICALLY INTERESTING!) Not just a bunch of fast-fluff! And Jeff is "kick'en it" at the age of 42!

Great list, but with a few missing!

darkslayer13

November 22, 2008 at 6:20am

So, where is Yngwie Malmsteen?....If he's not here, this list is CRAP

bugmenot

November 22, 2008 at 5:31am

I know Brazil is normally not in the map for great guitarists but when it comes to speed (and skill as well) Yamandú Costa is easily among the best 50 in the world. Check it out.

kotsubu

November 22, 2008 at 4:09am

I don't want to take anything away from the people mentioned in this list, but it seems pretty biased towards the shredders with a couple token people from other genres thrown in. Perhaps the writers from Guitar World don't listen to a lot of non-rock music.

There are many more people that I think deserve to be in an open "fast guitarists" list, and some others who, while not the overall fastest, are faster than the article chose. I think guys like Robert Conti and Jimmy Bruno have to be on any list of 50 fastest guitarists. What about John McLaughlin? You mention Django - who IS an icon, but you don't list Andreas Oberg, Jimmy Rosenberg or Bireli Lagrene. Have a listen to them for some fast gypsy jazz. Tonino Baliardo (Gypsy Kings) has some of the fastest hands (fingerstyle, rather than pickstyle) around. The article mentioned a few old-school guitarists - a couple more I could add would include Johnny Smith (check out 'Jaguar'), Chet Atkins (fast notes per second travis picking rather than single note lines) and Merle Travis (check out Merle's Boogie Woogie).

juanchis

November 21, 2008 at 1:15am

and john petrucci "paradigm shift" liquid tension experiment?