Six-String Heroes... Some of My Favourite Guitarists

Oops, I missed my scheduled post last week. Forgive my lapse.

But on with business... today, I thought I'd talk a bit about some of my favourite guitarists. The recent passing of Grandmaster Edward Van Halen made me pause and consider other fine and legendary players who made their mark on the world, and especially on me.

Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top bending a string all the way from Austin to San Antone

I don't believe I thought in terms of guitar heroes when I was new to music as a young lad. I was buying and listening to Beatles, Monkees, and KISS in my formative years of music appreciation. Maybe a bit later on, I came to realize that guys like George Harrison and Michael Nesmith had some tasty chops, but their chops were somewhat understated and were tailored precisely to serve the songs. Not electrifying, stunning axe attacks. Ace Frehley of KISS sort of moved in that direction, but I was still young back then, and simply listened to the song... not breaking it down and zeroing in on individual instruments like the guitar. I mean, guitar heroics aside, KISS were pretty solid songwriters in their own right. Consider the status of songs like Rock and Roll All Nite, Strutter, Beth, and Detroit Rock City. Yep.

I'd say it was around the time when I was examining the songs of Rush so I could muddle up some semblance of them on my first guitar that I began to consider the notion of a guitar hero. I had already noodled a bit with Deep Purple and Zeppelin, but not with such single-mindedness. It was Alex Lifeson's techniques, styles, and sounds that caught my attention in a brand new way. Not only were Rush songs fun and interesting to play, but they were both a bit challenging and yet within my grasp as a novice player. So it didn't take me long to at least work out riffs and chords of several of Rush's earlier songs, and as I progressed, I tackled some later tunes. I recognized my limits and stayed within them, hunkering down and woodshedding to the likes of Fly By Night, In the End, Anthem, Bastille Day, chunks of 2112, Xanadu, La Villa Strangiato, and whatever I could manage from Moving Pictures.

So Lifeson inspired me and drove me to develop enough as a player to eventually look just as closely at other guitarists. Back in the day, I really liked Rik Emmett of another Canadian hard rock trio, Triumph, but maybe not so much nowadays. Yes, he's very accomplished, but just not my cup of tea now. I used to like hammering out some of their earliest tunes on my cheapie acoustic. Same with Jimmy Page; his Led Zeppelin riffs were fascinating to me early on, so I jammed to a bunch of those. But I never felt the need to delve very far into the Zep catalogue other than to just listen and enjoy.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... as much as I loved Eddie Van Halen's guitar genius, even as a teenager, I knew I had no clue how to tackle that stuff. For one thing, back then, I hadn't any idea about drop tuning, so forget about figuring out chords that sounded right. And with no natural gift or formal training, it was a bust for me. I just listened and loved the music. So Ed was and still is (RIP) a favourite... wait, let's be clear: my absolute favourite... guitarist. His otherworldly wailing and shredding sent chills down my spine, and his  rhythm work was pretty stellar, too. Not just a guitar god, but also a primo songwriter. Jump, Hot For Teacher, Mean Street, Panama, Atomic Punk. Jeez, all classics, and just the tip of the iceberg.

Alex Lifeson of Rush leaning into a searing prog-rock solo

Along the way, I also learned to love the playing of Steve Howe of progressive rock giants Yes. That music was a whole other world, a whole other level of musicianship. Howe could play anything. His guitar-work on Yes albums ranged in style from folk to classical to rock to jazz, and everything in between. Yes was truly an art rock band, and Howe was the man to fill the slot on six-string. The Fragile album displays his, and his bandmates', virtuosity on their respective instruments in a very structured and formal way, but then Relayer is just a vast monumental jazz-prog-rock fusion that blows the mind. Whew, it's exhausting even thinking about that stuff.

Moving in a different direction, there was the master of the metal riff, the Grandfather of Metal, Tony Iommi. His work with Black Sabbath set the standard for everything that would come after. His influence is heard everywhere in metal, and even outside the genre. Iommi's unique sound and style came about after he lost some fingertips in an accident. He improvised replacement tips for his hands, and eventually had specially-designed tips made for him to perform with. And thus his distinctive sound was born. Tony played a special role in my guitar-playing development. I didn't learn a lot of Sabbath songs, but getting stuff like Iron Man and Paranoid into my repertoire fed my hunger for moody, heavy riff-based music.

Matthias Jabbs of Scorpions always impressed me with his supersonic soloing, such melody and shredding all wrapped up in a Germanic metal package. I've always felt the same way about Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest... a heavy yet lyrical style of guitar playing that always spoke to me. He was part of the Priest one-two-punch on the axe; along with KK Downing, the two of them tore up the world with the first truly metal twin guitar attack.

While I've long been a fan of Dave Mustaine's fretwork, it's been his long line of second guitarist recruits that have wowed me time and again. Marty Friedman, who served in the Megadeth regime during the 90's, was technically brilliant, but also brought creative talents to the table that served the band well during what I would call their heyday. The album Rust in Piece is a prime example of that perfection. Then jump to recent years, and Megadeth now boasts the guitar mastery of Kiko Loureiro, who absolutely kicks things into the stratosphere when he takes a solo. 

For decades, I have been a fan of Kim Mitchell's creative output. I've kinda lost touch in later years, but from Mitchell's early work with Max Webster and his solo career up into the late 90's, I've always found something amazing going on with this Canadian-born musician. His homegrown sense of style and humour gave added flavour to his expressive guitar playing. Kim could shred and rock with the best of them, and yet he could write and play memorable radio-friendly songs that lit up any party. Well-rounded and lovable in his wacky way.

I could go on forever, but instead I'll wrap up by making mention of good ol' Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Talk about tasty guitar playing. His often rootsy yet always zesty blues-rock is never a bore. From rockers like La Grange to the slow jam of Blue Jean Blues, Gibbons possesses a sound, style and feel that really gets into your bones and makes you move. I'm less a fan of the electronic-drums sound of the 80's ZZ music, yet Billy always fit his down-home licks and strums into the mix. But it is that classic 70's ZZ Top that really tears it up for me. Jesus Just Left Chicago, Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers, Heard it on the X, Tush... such a vast catalogue of guitar-based blues gems.