Guitarists Who Are Better Than Most Would Think?

Bellycaster

There's quite a few of these too I can think of and I'm sure you all can.

I'll just start it with 1 name though.

My pick is Gary Kemp - Spandau Ballet. Yes, really, Gary Kemp.

Over to you.

Deadman

Captain Sensible.

[Deleted User]

Midge Ure.

mike_l

ricky warwick (the almighty/thin lizzy) way better lead player than he gets credit for. He's not just a rhythm player.

ICBM

Lloyd Cole

johnnyurq

Prince for sure who is severely underrated.

I would add.

Mick Ronson

Mick Jones

Lindsey Buckingham

And of course George Harrison.

mike_l

Steve Jones of the Sex pistols.

I'll also agree with all of the others.

jaygtr

Andy Taylor - Duran Duran, power station etc

[Deleted User]

Another one who springs to mind is Sting. I saw him on his first solo tour, where played guitar throughout.

As an encore he did Fleetwood Mac's 'Need Your Love So Bad'.

His lead playing was annoyingly good....

ICBM

jaygtr said:

Andy Taylor - Duran Duran, power station etc

John Taylor on bass even more so, but that's another thread probably...

For some reason "proper" bass players don't seem to rate him, I have no idea why. Maybe because he never played anything that could pass for any form of jazz .

dogload

richardhomer said:

Another one who springs to mind is Sting. I saw him on his first solo tour, where played guitar throughout.

As an encore he did Fleetwood Mac's 'Need Your Love So Bad'.

His lead playing was annoyingly good....

But he is a wanker.

+1 for Captain Sensible.

And my nomination for more better than you think guitarist is Julian Cope.

dindude

Not a big fan of their music, but in a pop context I'm always surprised by the tone and style of Coldplay geezer (no idea what his name is), especially in live footage.

DulcetJones

I'm surprised to see some of the names in this thread, mainly because my only exposure to a lot of them has been the radio, which can portray people as a limited part of who they really are.  Seeing people live(or live footage at least) changes that perception a lot of times.  I used to think Keef was just a lazy rhythm player who relied on alternate tunings to make his job easier until I saw a live clip of the Stones playing "Sympathy For the Devil" and he let fly with an extended solo that blew me away. 

jaygtr

ICBM;47484" said:

jaygtr said:

Andy Taylor - Duran Duran, power station etc





John Taylor on bass even more so, but that's another thread probably...

For some reason "proper" bass players don't seem to rate him, I have no idea why. Maybe because he never played anything that could pass for any form of jazz .

I think the whole band were somewhat underrated, I suspect this was largely to do with their image, and their target audience in the early 80's.
I saw them live (my first gig) and they were real pro's.

mudslide73

Nik Kershaw...

Also I saw Craig McLachlan of Neighbours fame playing Hot For Teacher on TV once.

equalsql

Andrew Gold...

not_the_dj

DulcetJones said:

I'm surprised to see some of the names in this thread, mainly because my only exposure to a lot of them has been the radio, which can portray people as a limited part of who they really are.  Seeing people live(or live footage at least) changes that perception a lot of times.  I used to think Keef was just a lazy rhythm player who relied on alternate tunings to make his job easier until I saw a live clip of the Stones playing "Sympathy For the Devil" and he let fly with an extended solo that blew me away. 

Must be an old clip, there's some footage from their recent gigs (IIRC on the offical Stones youtube channel) with a truly awful solo on Sympathy.

Handsome_Chris

ICBM said:

jaygtr said:

Andy Taylor - Duran Duran, power station etc

John Taylor on bass even more so, but that's another thread probably...

For some reason "proper" bass players don't seem to rate him, I have no idea why. Maybe because he never played anything that could pass for any form of jazz .

I'll go with both of these comments. 

On a slight aside, I saw Duran Duran at the Hyde Park Olympic opening gig, they were fantastic.  Stereophonic, on the other hand, sounded very meh.  I really expected it to be the other way around.  DD looked like they were enjoying it more too.

DulcetJones

not_the_dj said:

DulcetJones said:

I'm surprised to see some of the names in this thread, mainly because my only exposure to a lot of them has been the radio, which can portray people as a limited part of who they really are.  Seeing people live(or live footage at least) changes that perception a lot of times.  I used to think Keef was just a lazy rhythm player who relied on alternate tunings to make his job easier until I saw a live clip of the Stones playing "Sympathy For the Devil" and he let fly with an extended solo that blew me away. 

Must be an old clip, there's some footage from their recent gigs (IIRC on the offical Stones youtube channel) with a truly awful solo on Sympathy.

It was, I think taped in France at an outdoor event in the late 70's(pre-wrinkle Mick & Keef).  I agree about the recent clips though.

bertie

me

EricTheWeary

mudslide73 said:

Nik Kershaw...

 I got dragged along to a Nik Kershaw gig at the height of his fame and was amazed what a guitar heavy gig it was. Enormously enjoyable.