“If you look at the leads he was doing and when he was doing ’em, he innovated a lot of that stuff”: Slayer's Kerry King reveals who he thinks is the most “overlooked” guitarist in metal
The metal icon also names his top five guitarists of all time

Kerry King has revealed who he thinks is the most “overlooked” guitarist in metal. The Slayer guitarist was asked to name his top five guitarists of all time during an appearance on the Lipps Service With Scott Lipps podcast – and he took the opportunity to rave about a guitarist he believes deserves much more credit.
“Probably my favorite one [of] all time is [Judas Priest's] Glenn Tipton. And I think he's the most overlooked,” he states. “’Cause if you look at the leads he was doing and when he was doing ’em, he kind of innovated a lot of that stuff.”
As for the rest of his top five? “I would have a hard time numbering them, but I can come up with five. [Ritchie] Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen, without question. I'll go with a super-heavy hitter that's my bro and say Zakk Wylde.”
Over the years, King has spoken profusely about Judas Priest's impact on his playing. “As a young guitar player, I could tell there were two guitars on the recording, and the creativity and early uniqueness of two guitars totally inspired what Slayer became,” he told Rolling Stone in a 2022 interview.
“Judas Priest definitely inspired me and Jeff [Hanneman] and Slayer. If we were doing Priest covers in the beginning, he would always play the K.K. Downing guitar parts because he was the blond guy. I would always do the Glenn Tipton ones.”
In a recent Guitar World interview, King explained how he owes his choice of chords and rhythmic patterns to Judas Priest.
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Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.

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