Guitar Heroes

The electric guitar is simply the most expressive musical instrument in the world.  I’ve written in the past on my opinion of the world’s greatest guitar player, Brian Setzer.  Gary North recently published a video compilation of his favorite players.  Gary had some interesting picks but they were nowhere near the best playing in the world. So let me get started with some of my favorites.  There is always room for debate in these matters but I believe that my compilation will get the reader much closer to witnessing the greatest playing of the electric guitar.

Let’s start with what I call the Pyrotechnic School.  Its founder is Eddie Van Halen.  If you think of a man in front of a wall of speakers commanding their awesome sonic power with a guitar as a hero, then any dictionary entry for “guitar hero” should have EVH’s picture next to it.  His school is characterized by lighting speed all over the fretboard, screaming harmonics, whammy bar gymnastics, volume knob manipulations, double hammer tapping techniques, and anything generally that squeezes new sounds out of the electric guitar in a musical way.  Here is EVH is his prime doing a guitar solo back when that was one of the highlights of any rock show:

 

One might complain that this was just self-indulgent parlor tricks.  Perhaps, but it is what the crowd wanted to hear and any VH fan would recognize the improvisations on the “Little Guitars Intro”, the intro to “Mean Street”, “Spanish Fly” and of course the iconic “Eruption” itself.  Eddie Van Halen also has the greatest catalogue of songs of any hard rock player.

Next is Steve Vai.  He first came to prominence as Eddie Van Halen’s “replacement”, playing with former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth.  Steve Vai is far from a Van Halen clone; in some ways he has taken EVH’s style to another level.  Steve Vai is a genius in his own right.  Here he plays "For the Love of God":

To watch genius at work, check out Steve Vai explaining his song, "Freak Show Excess":

The last of the Pyrotechnic School I will highlight is Joe Satriani.  His original album "Surfing With the Alien" was an incredible introduction to another man who has been a true original.  Here is "Surfing With the Alien":

If that doesn't satisfy, there's always Satriani's incredible "Satch Boogie":

 

Now I shift gears to the amazing psycho-country of Junior Brown.  He was a real inspiration to me in combining guitar solos with cool songs.  Here is one of his coolest, "I Hung It Up":

Finally I give you the man, Brian Setzer.  No matter what the genre, rock, country, jazz, classical or any combination thereof, Brian Setzer can stand out; he's a master of virtually all that has preceded him and a great creator himself.  His style is also very friendly and catchy.  Here he plays "Guitar Rag" and then "Sleepwalk":

There are many others that could have been included, Danny Gatton and George Benson to name a couple, but this should give anyone a super introduction to the best of the greatest musical instrument known to man: the electric guitar.

Here's the author's minor contribution to cool guitar playing: