WildRanger
Nomad
These two guitarists are often compared (because they were contemporaries).
Who will get your personal vote and why?
Who will get your personal vote and why?
Hmmmh, really not sure about it, once again maybe in the US where Van Halen was extremely popular but surely not in Europe.I think somebody on this forum said that he can hear EVH in pretty much every guitarist that came after mid 70s (except maybe Slash) and that speaks volumes about him.
Define "achieved way more".Randy Rhoads without a single doubt. In just two albums with Ozzy, he has achieved way more than EVH ever did.
OK, this is two areas now. Are we talking about them as guitarists or as a musicians? Of course Van Halen's music was more mainstream but that doesn't make him better or worse guitarist than Randy. It would be like saying "Well, Randy Rhoads is way more popular than Mick Box who is better, because Randy played for Ozzy who was already well known then." Speaking of "Beat It" - nobody knew he played a solo when it came out. It was Jackson (greatest music star at the time and one of the greatest music stars all time) said - "I want the best guitarist in the world to play a solo there" and Quincy Jones brought Eddie (who was already well known waaaaay before that).Of course, EVH was way more popular (actually more in the US than in Europe, btw) because Van Halen was clearly more mainstream than Ozzy (playing the Beat It solo helped a lot as well).
OK then, who did? Steve Hackett? Jimmy Page? I get it, credit where credit's due, but to me - inventing something doesn't mean a lot if you don't know what to do with it. It's like that story about a man inventing a steam machine 200 years before industrial revolution but used it - to spin doner kebab. Hackett and Page maybe did something similar, but Eddie perfected it. And made it popular. And patented it.Eddie made the two hand tapping popular but it really gets on my nerves when some still claims he invented it!
What is it that Randy brought?But just in terms of guitar skills and what was brought by each of them, Randy brought a lot more, it's just that unfortunately he never got the recognition he deserved.
Donnington '84 bootleg surfaced about month ago (after being "in release" for over 28 years!!!!!!) and when I saw that smile - man, I wish I had the chance to see him live. But I did saw Petrucci, so I got that going for me, which is nice.Eddie with the beautiful guitar, Eddie with the iconic rock guitar sound, the ever-smiling Eddie!
It's like that story about a man inventing a steam machine 200 years before industrial revolution but used it - to spin doner kebab.
It means that in just two albums and I'm talking stricktly from a guitar technique point of view (been playing guitar for more than 30 years now...I'm that old!), its difficult to explain it with words rather than showing it but when you take a guitar and try to learn EVH stuff and RR stuff, even if each one has brought a lot to the guitar world, you'll see that Randy has a wider range in terms of technique and music theory knowledge. A simple example: Ritchie Blackmore might be one of the first if not the first rock guitar player that brought classical inspiration into rock but Randy went way beyond that (you can check songs like Goodbye to Romance or specially Diary of a madman).Define "achieved way more".
Popularity helps to get recognition. An example among others, in the early 90's guitarists like Slash (or even Kurt Cobain!!!) was considered to be an amazing guitar player...not that he's bad but if we compare guitar players from the same period of time, a guy like Nuno Bettencourt is 1000 times better. Was he ever mentionned in top 5, 10??? Hardly...why? Simply because Exteme popularity can't be compared to GNR. Same goes for EVH, Van Halen the band became very popular, so it helped him to be mentionned a lot (again, not diminishing his qualities, just saying that it helped him a lot).OK, this is two areas now. Are we talking about them as guitarists or as a musicians? Of course Van Halen's music was more mainstream but that doesn't make him better or worse guitarist than Randy. It would be like saying "Well, Randy Rhoads is way more popular than Mick Box who is better, because Randy played for Ozzy who was already well known then." Speaking of "Beat It" - nobody knew he played a solo when it came out. It was Jackson (greatest music star at the time and one of the greatest music stars all time) said - "I want the best guitarist in the world to play a solo there" and Quincy Jones brought Eddie (who was already well known waaaaay before that). Now this is a serious question. I only quoted you like this so I don't get lost in trying to present my point. I don't want to you to think I'm trying to prove you wrong, it's just I've never heard something like this. When people speak about top 5, 10 or whatever guitarists, Randy is rarely or never mentioned.
For sure Steve Hackett was the first one when it comes to rock music (solo of The Musical Box) and he knew how to use it. The only "difference" was that he was not a flashy player, rarely into the limelight. He was "just" one of the musicians (limelight for Genesis in the early years, it was mainly Peter Gabriel with his stories and costumes). It's just that it was just something he did once because probably he thought it would work great within a song (and it really did) where EVH used it a lot of times so, of course (along with the help of lots of people that thought he was the one that invented it and made all a fuss about it) it was thanks to him that this technique became famous. For that, kudos to himOK then, who did? Steve Hackett? Jimmy Page? I get it, credit where credit's due, but to me - inventing something doesn't mean a lot if you don't know what to do with it. It's like that story about a man inventing a steam machine 200 years before industrial revolution but used it - to spin doner kebab. Hackett and Page maybe did something similar, but Eddie perfected it. And made it popular. And patented it.