[brad1]

I was lucky to have seen all 3 in concert play live. Seen Eddie twice.

Without a doubt it would be Randy for me. I was mesmerized by his playing.

[Rocky4]

Eddie Van Halen, the game changer....

[kaleb]

To me, Dime stood out from his peers. He had a groove and a certain "aura" to him. For shredding, I like guys who incorporate some country licks in. Both Dime and Zakk did/do that. And I think Pantera was the last really important non-death/black metal metal band from a game-changing standpoint. There's lots of great metal bands out there today, but the great ones aren't changing anything because they're not commercial enough. Skeletonwitch and Mastodon are great.

[crazytrain513]

Looks like Randy takes this one, although this may be biased since the Gibson player won on the Gibson forum...haha

[Cú Chulainn]

 kaleb, on 13 November 2012 - 09:29 PM, said:

Randy- A one-of-a-kind neo-classical pioneer

one of a kind, yes, but in no ways a neo-classical pioneer.
that title belongs to and is shared by Blackmore, Roth and Schenker...and to a lesser degree, Brian May.

 btoth76, on 14 November 2012 - 06:22 AM, said:

Without taste, feel, and ability to compose, it's acrobacy (Malmsteen for example).

bah, you're just jelaous of the mighty YNG!
what makes you think he has no feel? and what is feel?

[FirstMeasure]

 Cú Chulainn, on 20 December 2012 - 02:44 PM, said:

one of a kind, yes, but in no ways a neo-classical pioneer.
that title belongs to and is shared by Blackmore, Roth and Schenker...and to a lesser degree, Brian May.



bah, you're just jelaous of the mighty YNG!
what makes you think he has no feel? and what is feel?

Roth and Blackmore, I'm with you there. Schenker plays an awful lot of pentatonic stuff to be considered neo-classical. Of course I'll reserve judgment there because I'm not familiar with Schenkers obscure stuff.

But Brian May? Neoclassical? He may have brought a precision to Rock that is usually associated with classical, but he's all Rock and Roll.

[kaleb]

 Cú Chulainn, on 20 December 2012 - 02:44 PM, said:

one of a kind, yes, but in no ways a neo-classical pioneer.
that title belongs to and is shared by Blackmore, Roth and Schenker...and to a lesser degree, Brian May.


bah, you're just jelaous of the mighty YNG!
what makes you think he has no feel? and what is feel?

Well, he took neo-classical to a new level. I also think Alex Lifeson is somewhat neo-classical (or, was in the late 70s/early 80s). He played a nylon-stringer on some parts/intros of songs (the end of "Temples Of Syrinx", "Farewell To Kings", "The Trees", "La Villa Strangiato"), and he did classical runs in his solos. Plus, Rush had that whole flavor between 2112 and Moving Pictures (the riff in "Freewill" is a great example). The very early albums were more bluesy (even Caress Of Steel, especially "The Necromancer" with it's spacey Robin Trower-meets-Floyd first part), and after 1981 they moved to poppier, synthy stuff (obviously). Those 5 great studio albums in the 76-81 period are their neo-classical era. Heavy prog.


I love Yngwie. Most of the haters complain about fast players cause' they can't do it. Sure, a guy who has no rhythm and just plays finger exercises at 1000000 bpm is boring, but no great shredder is like that. Yngwie, Satriani, Vai, Paul Gilbert, and most other shredders are natural musicians with a great ear and rhythm.

[Zappa912]

Randy was probably was probably the most technically proficient of the lot, but I find Eddie to be a more interesting guitarist.