Official Maidenfans poll: Favorite Maiden guitarist 2015

Who is your favorite Iron Maiden guitarist?

  • Dave Murray

    Votes: 38 30.4%
  • Adrian Smith

    Votes: 68 54.4%
  • Janick Gers

    Votes: 19 15.2%

  • Total voters
    125
Really? How so? I've been saying for ages that the solo survivor has cemented my appreciation of Dave solos, and his playing really stands out to me live. He can get a seriously beautiful sound out of a Strat.
 
The age-old question that philosophers have been pondering since the beginning of time. I'm normally not one to debate religious matters, but I feel the time has come to share my beliefs, in the hopes of possibly guiding at least a few lost souls to the path of true enlightenment.

The School of Adrian is the most popular belief among the masses. His resurrection in 1999, which followed his death in the year of 1990, plays a role in many people's minds in determining him the Savior. But while it may be true that he has provided a great deal of beauty to humanity, he is not our true messiah.

Janickists, on the other hand, are on the complete opposite spectrum. They believe in chaos over order, and reject the notion of strictly following any sort of guidelines in favor of spontaneity. While their fun-loving and free-spirited attitudes are admirable, They lack the discipline to be truly considered The Chosen Ones.

That leaves us with the House of Murray. While He may be often overlooked, His gifts must not be ignored. The almighty Dave has been with us since the beginning, and will be here until the ending of time. He has even performed several miracles! The biggest of which can be observed in Powerslave 2:56. (2:35 according to some scholars, which is actually due to a translation error starting at the ending of the previous chapter.) While Dave may not directly speak to us as frequently as the two false idols, when He does, it is truly a thing of beauty. The Man of Sorrows, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, and Deja-Vu are a few examples of His incredible creations. His smile alone has the power to stop all hatred in this world, and His abilities cannot be matched by mere mortals.

I do respect the rights of others to worship whoever they may wish, but there is only one possible answer to our one true God: Dave Murray
 
I just could no longer idly sit by while so many were being misled. I'm doing my best to spread the word however I can.
 
The age-old question that philosophers have been pondering since the beginning of time. I'm normally not one to debate religious matters, but I feel the time has come to share my beliefs, in the hopes of possibly guiding at least a few lost souls to the path of true enlightenment.

The School of Adrian is the most popular belief among the masses. His resurrection in 1999, which followed his death in the year of 1990, plays a role in many people's minds in determining him the Savior. But while it may be true that he has provided a great deal of beauty to humanity, he is not our true messiah.

Janickists, on the other hand, are on the complete opposite spectrum. They believe in chaos over order, and reject the notion of strictly following any sort of guidelines in favor of spontaneity. While their fun-loving and free-spirited attitudes are admirable, They lack the discipline to be truly considered The Chosen Ones.

That leaves us with the House of Murray. While He may be often overlooked, His gifts must not be ignored. The almighty Dave has been with us since the beginning, and will be here until the ending of time. He has even performed several miracles! The biggest of which can be observed in Powerslave 2:56. (2:35 according to some scholars, which is actually due to a translation error starting at the ending of the previous chapter.) While Dave may not directly speak to us as frequently as the two false idols, when He does, it is truly a thing of beauty. The Man of Sorrows, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, and Deja-Vu are a few examples of His incredible creations. His smile alone has the power to stop all hatred in this world, and His abilities cannot be matched by mere mortals.

I do respect the rights of others to worship whoever they may wish, but there is only one possible answer to our one true God: Dave Murray

Haha, funny post. I too voted Dave (I guess my nick gave it away anyhow hehe). But I must say that I have become to admire H more and more. Don't get me wrong, even though Dave has always been (and will always be) my favorite guitar player, I have always been a big fan of H too. And whilst Dave, rightfully, has short of stayed in his comfort zone (nothing wrong with that, as no one can play "Davey Murray" like Dave Murray, there's just no one like him), H has always sought forward. He has this willingness to try new things, he is creative , he co-writes a lot of good songs for Maiden and he is also a damn good soloist and definitely on my all time top 5 favorite guitar players list.

So I cannot fault those who prefer H, as he really stands out. But, for my personal preference, it's always been and will always be Dave. That feel, that smoothness, those solos that sound like cascades of water, like mountain rivers...ah... The man paints pictures with his solos. He is just one of a kind.
 
Close call between Janick and Adrian. I've been expecting a lot from Janick on Book of Souls and I got a lot. But I wasn't overwhelmed with his songwriting/playing like on previous albums. And a lot of it sounds "re-used". Adrian on the other side really surprised me. Didn't expect anything from Dave and almost got nothing. I'll deceide when I see them in few weeks time.

Adrian gets 1st place if he loses that Steven Tyler scarf / Janick gets 1st place if he keeps both of his feet on the ground for the 65% of the gig
 
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H H H H H H H H H H H H H

Adrian by a mile. Sorry but he was already my fave and when TBOS came out and I heard his solos, especially on TBOS and EOTC, I was once again bowing down at the altar. Someone in another post said Janick's songwriting skills were better than H.....????? Please.
 
His songwriting skills perhaps. Not that many people claim he's a better guitarist, but has written or has had a hand in writing much better songs as far as the past decade or so is concerned.
 
I think it's a little difficult to compare H & Jan's songwriting as H is so much more prolific. I think H's songwriting took a bit of a dip on TBOS - the strongest tracks for me were Bruce's IESF, Steve's TRATB and the title track, which was Jan & Steve. My favourite track from TFF was actually The Talisman, another Jan track. I've got to say that H's songwriting on AMOLAD was pretty damn formidable, but nevertheless feel that Jan & Steve's The Legacy is as good as Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, The Longest Day, etc.
 
Additionally, [Dave] always looks so effortless while playing, which maybe suggests that he is the most talented IM guitarist.

That's one thing that I noticed about Adrian - he probably picked some bad habits when he was learning because while Dave looks very relaxed, Adrian always looks like he has a lot of tension which he has learned to work around instead of getting rid of it. In the Live After Death video he always looks like he has a lot of tension in his neck and shoulders (the shoulder-padded vest does not help matters) and in the "En Vivo!" video whenever he steps up to the mike he actually looks like he's forced to sing at gunpoint. I don't think it's a coincidence that in every Maiden video Adrian is the one who's less time on camera - he's the least visually interesting of the lot.

(He SOUNDS magnificent, of course, which is what matters)
 
While I agree that Dave plays more effortless (Janick as well, maybe even more!!) The hard working of Adrian also has its charm to be honest. I like it when guitar players sound (and behave) different, especially when there is more than one in my favourite band.

His movements can also have a function. Without it, he might not be able to create his typical "moving" notes.
 
Janick is a great composer. But his technique is limited .... sufferable soils.
Dave is a great player but plays the same way since the first album.
Adrian is absolutely complete and is always evolving.

ADRIAN THE BEST FOREVER.
 
It's easy and popular to pick H - he's such a melodic player (and he's contributed to so many memorable tunes)....but I was thinking about it;the danger with Adrian is that if you leave him unchecked, he slowly morphs into a quasi-Bryan Adams clone (to wit, A.S.A.P). I think he needs someone like Steve in the background to curb the AOR tendencies.

I think they all serve their roles - Dave is the effortless legato specialist, H is the 'soulful' David Gilmore of metal, and Janick is the entertainer who can't play a lead smoothly....but he can test the flexibility limits of jeans like no-one else can.
 
In terms of songwriting, Janick/Smith.

In terms of playing, Murray/Smith.
You can see this is the main opinion if you read through replies.
I just wanna add:
Yes, Jannic is less skilled thus more chaotic, but that's not improvisation I enjoy, to me a good example of proper improvisation would be Zappa's ^^
And when playing live, do you think Jannick would be so comfortable if H didn't do all the hard work in the background.
Anyway, I find Adrian's compositions the most meaningful.
 
It's easy and popular to pick H - he's such a melodic player (and he's contributed to so many memorable tunes)....but I was thinking about it;the danger with Adrian is that if you leave him unchecked, he slowly morphs into a quasi-Bryan Adams clone (to wit, A.S.A.P). I think he needs someone like Steve in the background to curb the AOR tendencies.

I think they all serve their roles - Dave is the effortless legato specialist, H is the 'soulful' David Gilmore of metal, and Janick is the entertainer who can't play a lead smoothly....but he can test the flexibility limits of jeans like no-one else can.
I agree every word u say. I only wanna say I like those AOR works on A.S.A.P too. Moreover, H has many tendencies, not only AOR, since he never stops experimenting and that's very colourful and adds tastes to Maiden. And yes, Steve seems to be controlling those tendencies, which I'm not sure if that's really necessary. But, it's not a big secret. Remember he called his first band 'Urchin', maybe he is really one. Anyway, I enjoy all.
"Quasi-Bryan Adams" :D not that far anyway
 
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