Underated Guitarists

boogieman

StageStruck;827832" said:

Deke Leonard and Mickey Jones(RIP) of Man.

Tony "TS" McPhee

Del Bromham of Stray.



Their respective bands were never in the A- List of their times, but all of them are/were very good players.

Amen to all of those.

I was actually listening to Man Alive yesterday. Spunk Rock is still an epic piece of music and they were a superb band. (Btw if you haven't read any of Deke's books, you definitely should). Mickey's son George plays with Son of Man and is really worth seeing if you get a chance. He's got a lot of the old man's talent and even uses his old SG and Strat.

TS is still trying to play, bless him, but on recent evidence the various strokes he's had have robbed him of a lot, if not all, of his skill. So sad, he was a unique talent in his prime.

Del looks like Albert Steptoe now but can still cut it.

StageStruck

Sad to hear that about TS, he used to play every year or two where I live. Always put on a good show whether it was an electric or acoustic gig. I knew he'd had issues after his strokes, to the point where I thought he'd retired. Sometimes it's hard for a guy to walk away from it, especially when it's been his life for 50+ years.

StefB

Francis Rossi & Rick Parfitt.

Ian Crichton from Saga.

scrumhalf

StageStruck said:

Deke Leonard and Mickey Jones(RIP) of Man.
Tony "TS" McPhee
Del Bromham of Stray.

Their respective bands were never in the A- List of their times, but all of them are/were very good players.

Have a wis, kind sir.

I've mentioned Micky Jones several times here over the years, there were times at gigs when I couldn't quite believe what I'd heard him play and felt that I'd cheated the band by not paying enough for my ticket. Very possibly the UK's Best guitarist you've never heard of.

I was a fan of both the Groundhogs and Stray from the age of about ten (the benefit of an older brother who had a decent taste in music, now sadly not so). I remember seeing the reformed Groundhogs at a gig that the pub landlord forgot to advertise, there were maybe half a dozen people there and three of them were locals who's just dropped in for a pint. Strangely enough, the band were awesome.

boogieman

I saw the original Groundhogs band lots of times in the 70s, they were an awesome live outfit. I saw the "Groundhogs" about thre or four years back. It was TS, an old bassist from Hawkwind (Dave someone?), a drummer I can't remember and TS's girlfriend on vocals. I'm sure she's a lovely woman and she obviously supports Tony up to the hilt but she can't sing to save her life. It was also pretty painful to watch Tony trying to play his old material, his brain obviously wants to do so much more than his hands are capable of, poor sod. He got a hero's welcome but I reckon most of it was down to nostalgia rather than his abilities. I genuinely felt choked at the end of the gig, life can be very cruel sometimes.

Rayza1983

I would have to say Little Wayne...........

PolarityMan

James Hetfield

viz

Jake Willson! Superb. Check this all you melodic jazz fusion fans:

viz

Duoblo posto.

Dominic

John 5

Tony Peluso ( carpenters ) now sadly no longer with us -great session/ arranger / player - fuzzy solo on Goodbye to love was so melodic and so ahead of its genre but worked brilliantly

Bellycaster

Terry Drummond

Who is he? Well, I managed to catch the start of "The Professionals" on ITV4 the other day.

Da Da Da Wakka Wakka Wakka :-)

He played the Wah Wah Guitar on the Theme Tune. Serious "Shaft" Level Wah and Skanky Rhythm skills.


Lots of good suggestions on here too.

Parker

James Dean Bradfield and Steve Craddock.

I agree Brian May is underrated to a point....or more uncool perhaps? But he is phenomenal in technique and playing. Orchestrated guitar parts - play them to 'normal' people and explain that's a multi-layered guitar and they suddenly 'get it'. Pioneering in so many ways. Many people love to knock him as a badger-saving, star gazing pop guitarist. There is a reason player-players such as Satch, Vai, Slash, Grohl and Beck love him!

samzadgan

Isaiah Mitchell is a genius...a lot of people don't know about him. His the guitarist in the 3 peice Earthless. The way the band operates is the bass player and drummer hold on a groove, and it may go for 15 minutes, meanwhile Isaiah is constantly going in and out of solo's. The best part is, apart from a few bits, the majority is improvised and the songs and lengths depend on the feel of the night.

I saw them play on the weekend, and they are amazing live...they feed off each other and is truely a great experience to witness the trio and Isaiah's amazing abilities.

I basically walked away from that gig thinking, i've had an experience similar to people who saw jimi hendrix live.

Philly_Q

samzadgan said:

I basically walked away from that gig thinking, i've had an experience similar to people who saw jimi hendrix live.

Sadly he'll never get that kind of recognition.

boogieman

Thing is, Hendrix playing live was shambolic a fair bit of the time. I know two guys who saw him play in the UK when he first came over, both said he was far too stoned to play decently. One of them even walked out of the gig, it was so bad. I do wonder how he would have developed as a player once he sorted out his personal and business life. Maybe the drugs were what fired his genius though?

Philly_Q

boogieman said:

Thing is, Hendrix playing live was shambolic a fair bit of the time. I know two guys who saw him play in the UK when he first came over, both said he was far too stoned to play decently. One of them even walked out of the gig, it was so bad. I do wonder how he would have developed as a player once he sorted out his personal and business life. Maybe the drugs were what fired his genius though?

But then you read those stories about the likes of Clapton, Beck and Townshend going to see him and being amazed.  He must have had good and bad nights!

samzadgan

Philly_Q said:

boogieman said:

Thing is, Hendrix playing live was shambolic a fair bit of the time. I know two guys who saw him play in the UK when he first came over, both said he was far too stoned to play decently. One of them even walked out of the gig, it was so bad. I do wonder how he would have developed as a player once he sorted out his personal and business life. Maybe the drugs were what fired his genius though?

But then you read those stories about the likes of Clapton, Beck and Townshend going to see him and being amazed.  He must have had good and bad nights!

I think any musician who goes out and plays what his feeling that night rather than reciting what he recorded would have good and bad nights...thats just part of the experience of playing that way.

Philly_Q

^ True, and I would rather go to a gig where you feel like you're seeing something unique on that particular night.  Which seems relatively rare nowadays.

That said, I remember seeing Ritchie Blackmore with Rainbow many years ago and being pissed off that none of his solos were even remotely like the records!

Phil_aka_Pip

Philly_Q said:

boogieman said:

Thing is, Hendrix playing live was shambolic a fair bit of the time. I know two guys who saw him play in the UK when he first came over, both said he was far too stoned to play decently. One of them even walked out of the gig, it was so bad. I do wonder how he would have developed as a player once he sorted out his personal and business life. Maybe the drugs were what fired his genius though?

But then you read those stories about the likes of Clapton, Beck and Townshend going to see him and being amazed.  He must have had good and bad nights!

Or they were just as stoned as him

StageStruck

Philly_Q said:

That said, I remember seeing Ritchie Blackmore with Rainbow many years ago and being pissed off that none of his solos were even remotely like the records!

Was that during the 80s when he tried his hand at being a tuneless shredder? Listen to some his live work on the '87 Deep Purple tour for further evidence of this. For a guy who made his name being something of a melodic virtuoso, it's a pretty hard listen at times