Top 10 Most Overrated Guitarists

For those of you saying Slash is overrated, I can 100% see where you're all coming from. I think that he's overrated, but he doesn't deserve to be hated on so much. His guitar solos are brilliant, and his rhythm work is great too. Slash was my inspiration to both pick up the guitar, and continue from there on out. I personally don't give a crap about the top hat, I didn't even know he was the guy from guitar hero back when I was a kid. I'd be listening to Nightrain, my favorite Guns N' Roses song, while pretending to jam out to it on guitar. Now, Michael Schenker, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield, Eddie, Dimebag, Angus, John Petrucci, Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, all these guys are also my inspiration. Being 15, I still have plenty of time to learn all of these guys's riffs and solos, but Slash has always been my #1. His guitar tone and sound may be too high, but that's his signature sound. It makes Nightrain and November Rain sound ...more

A lot of the players on this list are legends, and music as we know it would not be the same without them, Clapton, Hendrix, Page, Richards, Santana, these guys can play better than most. It's not about who can shred or tap fastest, or who knows more chords or tricks, it's about the way it all sounds and fits in with the song, it's about feeling and emotion. When Clapton plays you don't listen to it, you feel it. Page has written some of the best and most influential riffs ever. Without Hendrix non of the others would be as good as they are. I've played guitar for over 30 years and I only wish I was half as good as some of the players on this list, except the Edge, my dog can play better than him

November Rain solo-
Being a good guitarist isn't about playing 25 notes per second. It's, as with any instrument, fluency, intonation, and not being boring. I'd say Slash is able to make the instrument sound just as good as Axl's voice (before Chinese Democracy happened, anyway). His movement is always fluent and never overly abrupt, even when playing aggresive solos or riffs. Give credit where credit is due, people. If you want to claim Slash is overrated learn to play more than the Sweet Child o' Mine riff before you complain about him being basic.

Slash is a great guitarist for sure, but the fact that a lot of Guns n' Roses fans consider him the best thing since Jimi Hendrix and have him as the second greatest guitarist of all time really annoys me. Slash is great, but there are a lot guitar player who were/are better than him. Amazing player, yes, but top 5, and maybe even top ten, no. Also, Hendrix shouldn't be here. Just listen to "Here My Train A Comin'" live on the blues album.

The phenomenon of accumulating popularity after untimely death has seemed to echo through the ages. The death of JFK quickly gave him the title of 'Best Ever President' to many people who otherwise would have written him off. Edgar Allan Poe's 19th century poetry was only made more popular due to the mysterious nature of his untimely death. The same is true of Kurt Cobain, a technically below-par guitarist. Inspired by the Pixies, a band who were by no means technically gifted either, if Cobain, with his lack of ability on the instrument, hadn't coincided his association with the rise of the grunge movement of the early 90's, even that headline-snatching early death wouldn't have got him the praise he has today.

Guitarist ability is not just about the technical side of the playing, it's about applying what you do know to make good music. Kurt is a good guitarist because his music was good, he didn't have almost any technical ability but yet he made some of the best music there is. Perhaps making good music could be seen as a song writing thing to some people, but you could write good music and never actually play any of it because you can't apply any knowledge you know to your instrument. I've seen too many people think that just because you know all the scales and modes that you are a good guitarist, but if you can't actually make any good music out of it, then what you learnt is pointless really. Before you think I'm claiming he's one of the best, I don't think that at all, in fact I do think he's overrated just no where near to the extent some other people do.

TLDR: Being a good guitarist is more about technical ability, it's about how you apply what you know to make music. Cobain ...more

The first day I decided to pick up and learn guitar I was with my friend and he brought over the music sheet to Do You Feel Like We Do by Peter Frampton. While we were practicing my neighbour came over with this attitude and challenged me to play Smells Like Teen Spirit. I said I could for sure play that, just bring me the music sheet. Now, here I am only playing guitar for roughly 2 hours in my life and my neighbour comes back, gives me the music sheet and he acknowledged that I learned the whole song from start to finish including the solo in half-an-hour.

Kurt was a great guy, his voice was awesome and so was his songwriting.

But the only thing he could do on his guitar was playing some power chords, something which you're able to do when you play guitar for only a few months.
In my opinion the most overrated guitar player ever.

Led Zeppelin ripped off many artists and Page? Way over rated. I saw Zep live back in the day and between the violin bow, the 20 minute drum solo and Plants screeching I was bored to death and could not wait for the concert to end.

I don't understand what the big deal about Jimmy Page is. Ever since he wrote the guitar solo for Stairway to heaven, he's been overrated. His other solos aren't that good at all.

Decent dexterity, but very limited in his scope of playing ability. Jimi Hendrix was far more sloppy than Jimmy Page, but Jimmy is a close second.

Good guitarist, but receives too much credit for stuff that truly wasn't his. Frank Zappa is a better guitarist and composer in my mind.

I want to point out that, yes, I love AC/DC. Yet, I do have to agree that after a while it gets to be all the same. I personally stopped listening to AC/DC after "For Those About to Rock," and came back after "Razor's Edge," when things became more interesting, and promptly left again. Angus Young is one of the biggest inspirations in my life and I love his work, his blues rock riffs and solos are just fun to play, but yes he is really overrated. Though he is an absolutely outstanding showman and I have to condemn him for how long he's been in the business, his work became repetitive and less fun to listen to after Back in Black. I also have to say that he doesn't suck, he's not a terrible player at all! It's simply the style that he plays with and what he developed and created over his years, but that does NOT mean he is some kind of guitar-god.

Slash and Hendrix are both phenomenal guitarists. Especially Hendrix. But Angus Young? He should be right on top at number one. His stuff is appealing when you first hear his guitaring, but then when you explore his playing in different albums, it is simply staggering... how much it all boils down to the same thing. His stuff is manipulation beyond belief.

Doesn't have much talent in his music. Now, being a guitarist is about coming up with great riffs, styles, talent, and influence. For 1 thing, every AC/DC song sounds exactly the same, nothing changes. Two, Angus' talent isn't that great, he makes incredibly simple songs of the top of his head. His style hasn't changed since AC/DC was founded, which is what makes guitarists unique, their styles slowly change over time, sometimes better or worse, but hishasnt changed a bit. And lastly, he hasn't influenced ANYBODY, maybe like one guitarist, and that's it. Airgo, not a good guitarist.

He's absolutely terrible. The other people on this list either can't play with feel or can't play fast. Angus can do neither. His solos are literally just walking up and down the pentatonic scale, sometimes throwing in a simple blues lick.

Billie Joe is good at what he does, which is mostly power chords. And that's all he's really going for. He's not trying to be some guitar aficionado. His guitar riffs are made to support the song, and not as a lead instrument. Jason is a much better guitar player than Billie is.
In conclusion: Is Billie overrated? Yes. Is he good? Yes, he's good at what he does, which are simple guitar riffs made to support the song.

HA! Guitarist? Really? What a joke! If I could just meet him and tell him to his face "You really call yourself a guitarist...? Can you even gallop...? " I would... He's a disgrace to... So-Called "Punk", get him listening to some Killing Time, or Biohazard. Might change his perspective on what Punk really is... Poprock poser.

I don't see the point why he is overrated. Cause he's not, nobody's ever called him a good guitarist. He has even said that he is not a good guitarist himself and that's obvious. He's more like a singer.

Mostly a rhythm guitarist, plays few notes in a song, not many solos. Not very technical and on top 33 of "Greatest Rock Guitarists of All Time" list.

First of all, I have nothing against Mr. Gates personally. But 1 question bugs me: "Why is he in almost all the top ten lists in this site anyway? I'm beginning to think that he is actually a member and voting for himself! And what in the name of Amplifier Overload is his name doing in the fastest guitarist section. Trust me; I watched him live and even I can play faster than that. Okay here is the deal. I think people voting in this site are having favorites and their decisions are based on how famous this guy is and not on how good he really is. Sorry but... I'm not impressed. Just not impressed.

Gates is my personal favorite but I'll admit he is pretty overrated. But there are more overrated guitarists and many of those guitarists are in rock music. Synyster gates is a decent guitar player and I really don't see a pout for all the hate towards him or really towards any guitarists like Dimebag or John Petrucci etc. The reality is that despit being overrated, he majority of these guitarists are at least decent. Also, there's no need to be so close minded about this either. Music is music and we should at least appreciate that these guys are at least somewhat successful and have made a name for themselves in their respective genres/bands.

He's a great guitarist, but I have to admit he's really overrated. I will admit he plays like x7 better than I could (pun intended) but if you walk into any music store in a big city you will find players and gear demo guys that can outplay him.

Still it's not his fault he's overrated, he's just living his dream and probably knows there are several guitarist better than him- some of which he probably knows. It's those damn Ax7 fanboys- that have bad taste- that keep putting him up on the polls of guitarist. Can you believe the guys on Guitar world had the nerve to vote him 3rd fastest shredder ever? They voted him faster than Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci? That's just dumb and is the definition of "OVERRATED! "

This was not an easy choice, as there are many INCREDIBLY overrated guitarists, and I couldn't help but wonder if I was doing the right thing when I saw Kurt Cobain and Slash on this list, as they are both MEGA-overrated. But, the simple fact of the matter is, that that Synyster Gates is a poser who learned how to sweep and now all the little emo kids think he is greater than god. He can't write riffs, he is a poser, and his solos are incredibly repetitive.

His stuff on the Ride the Lightning album is all right, but after that most of his stuff is just garbage. Listen to the solo on Blackened for instance. The songs is very decent, with good riffing and dual guitar lead stuff, but Kirk's solo is just pathetic. He's not particularly fast, (if speed is what you want. Look at Mustaine, Schuldiner, Van Halen or Satriani for proper fast). He doesn't play particularly good emotional solos (as I said, the ones on Ride the Lighting are good, such as Fade to Black. I also like Orion's solos. But after that it's just downhill. For good emotional solos look at Petrucci or Rhoads or Schuldiner (Voice of the Soul).). Kirk is ridiculously overrated in my opinion.

Hammett is the jimmy page of our generation. He gets the title of guitar great cause he happened to be in a great band. Only thing is at least Page, though not a technically proficient player, wrote some great songs. And you can't call yourself a guitarist if you consider the guy who started the whole thing from nothing overrated. That would be Mr James Marshall Hendrix. That dude wrote and recorded more music in like 3 years than most people do in a lifetime.

So overrated, its not because a guitarist is in a popular band that he is the best in fact he is a great guitarist but look at metallica's fans they're ALL like he is the best guitarist ever! But no he is not THAT good MANY other guitarists are WAY better than him and are almost nothing compared to him in popularity so he is probably the most overrated guitarist EVER.

Most of the time it's not even Kirk that creates the riffs, instead it's usually James and it takes a while for Kirk to get onto it. His solos are interesting, but if you get into Metallica, basically all of the solos are the same thing in every song in a different key and scale. But he is a good guitarist, and doesn't have to be so high on the list.

Dimebag has a very unique sound first off. "This love" I have to say is a very good song with a very goid sound. But other than sound, that's it. Every other pantera song just sounds the same I mean come on sometimes it almost seems like Dimebag is playing the same note over and over again. The worst part is people think he is the BEST guitarist out there. He is good, but he is not excellent like people believe he is sorry

Why do people alway say Dimebag was a "guitar-god"? I don't understand why he's considered to be a legend, he doesn't bring anything interesting to the table except for a really good rhythm feel and decent technique. Then again, I don't even like Pantera, maybe I'm a little bit prejudiced because their music annoys me in general.

The way people defend him with such ferocity in how he's not overrated and he's "the greatest guitarist of all time" when he's not even the best guitarist in METAL just proves how overrated he is.

Yes he died and it's unfortunate. He didn't deserve to die but Jesus Christ nobody goes on about Chuck Schuldiner and he was better in every way than Dimebag.

Every solo of his is basically the same. It's just shredding. He dies and he's a legend all of a sudden. Barley any praise when he was alive. Has a ridiculous fanbase that beats their dicks to him when he plays the same solo every song. You learned to play a Dimebag solo? Congrats now you can pretty much play every solo he wrote.

Came to this list just for Jimi. His songs are alright, and he seems like a good guy, but his guitar playing is not at all what stands out to me when listening to his songs. I think even during his time that there were many better guitar players.

Noise noise crap. Terrible guitarist. Awesome showmanship though. I think that's why some many people where influenced by him. If there was a guitarist today that sounded or played that way no one would take them seriously. Most anyone who wants to be a "rock star" gets this emotion from showmanship not ability to play. For this reason I feel like he is the most over rated guitarist of all time. If we were talking about showmanship he could defiantly be top three.

Jimi was pretty bad. He had some moments but I really cannot stand the "well, for his time he was amazing" bs, no he wasn't. The instrument has existed in its current form, although not with amplification and effects, for more than 400 years and we have music from people in the 1600 and 1700s that made this guy sound like a doof with a tonka truck. It is the same, it is the same instrument and it is in complete parity. Just because somebody electrifies it and adds distortion doesn't mean that all of a sudden you can be garbage in the technique department and get a medal. I like Jimi, but I want to puke when he is number one on every single guitar list for ever and all time because he isn't.

I feel that Jimi Hendrix was a good guitar player but overrated. Look at what he has done played 3 songs people can name off the top of their heads and one of them is a cover. With a boat load more no one cares about. People who have just picked up a guitar say he's a god. Ask one of them to name some of his songs? They can't. Most Hendrix fans are people trying to bring on a new Hippie wave or just have those three magic songs playing over and over.

Most overrated rhythm guitarist in bluegrass music. He couldn't play in time, had abhorrent tone, and couldn't control volume. He was a fantastic singer and songwriter, but people often try and compare his Rhythm guitar to the greats like Del McCoury, Lester Flatt and Jimmy Martin,

First of all, the fact that Slash is at #1 is ridiculous. I HATE Guns N' Roses and I still admire Slash as a legendary guitar player. Also, why is Kurt Cobain here. He's not overrated as a guitarist because nobody thinks of him as a guitarist. He's mainly known for his vocals. Also Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, the two greatest guitarists of all time? Seriously? You guys are just haters who can't appreciate these two gods. Meanwhile, Eric Clapton actually is overrated. First of all, a lot of his riffs sound very similar. Apart from his hit songs, there's nothing he's really achieved that was that great. As a soloist, he's great but not at the level of Page, Hendrix, Gilmour, Slash and many more. I do think that Eric Clapton is a great guitarist, but the fact that people think he's the best is ridiculous.

The most overrated guitar player of all time! He tone is like nails on a chalk board. His solos are uninspiring and boring. Just awful!

Clapton is one of the best guitarists there has ever been. Listen to 'Why does love got to be so sad' live at the Guillmore, then if you still think he's over rated go to the doctors because you need to have your ears checked.

Eric Clapton sucks. The only reason guitarists like him was because he was successful but untalented.

Does this guy ever Rock? I have yet to hear it. His music is boring. He's not a technique freak at least and can make actual music. I just don't like his style.

John Mayer is a joke. I saw an interview where Santana preferred Derek Trucks over John Mayer easily. Mayer is just a knock off of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Just copied his style and didn't even come up with his own influential style.

Terrible god awful guitarist. He's so bad he makes Lil Wayne look like Jimi Hendrix.

How is he overrated when nobody likes him anyway?

It's always disgusting and retarded to hear U2 fans call this guy one of the greatest. The 4 most boring chords you will ever hear in your life along with Bonos ego and horrible singing. I wish more people would actually pull their head out of their butt and think outside of top 40 garbage. If you want to hear great guitar playing go listen to John Petrucci, Steve Hackett, Alan Holdsworth, BB King, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Jeff Beck, West Montgomery, Al Di Meola, George Benson, David Gilmour, Pat Metheny, Buddy Guy, Dave Gregory, John Mahasishnu McLaughlin, etc. I could write volumes of better guitarists than The Edge.

Anyone can play like The Edge, take away his fx units and he is playing one note and letting computers do the flash stuff. And a word about Hendrix, yup compared to modern players, he isn't all that, but remember this and remember it well, He was the first and if it wasn't for Jimi, we wouldn't have a lot of the tricks and likes of today. He worked with Jim Marshall to develop the marshall stack and therefore gave the world metal guitar playing. We owe Jimi Hendrix EVERYTHING

His playing is monotone, repetitive and effect-driven. Listen to any other guitarist using echo-pedals, and notice how he is able to come up with something more interesting than good old Edge. But my problem is simply that everything I've ever heard him play was 2-note, 3-note riffs. If the man actually tried some doublets! Just anything instead of single string 4/4 "down-down-down-down".

Most overrated guitarist ever.

I don't get why Kirk Hammett gets a lot of hate as a guitarist.

At least Kirk could play circles round this guy.

You know that scene in Back To The Future where Marty McFly plays Johnny B. Goode and at the end of the song starts playing an Eddie Van Halen type solo? Then the 50's kids at the dance look at him in disgust. Then Marty says, "I guess you're not ready for that yet."

They weren't ready for it because it doesn't resemble music. Just guitar wankery and noise. This is Eddie Van Halen's legacy.

"Your kids will love it." Yeah, 80's teens had bad taste. They loved fast, mindless guitar solos. They cried when shtity Hair bands went out of style and they're still not over it. "Grunge ruined music!" It actually saved music from shtity hair bands.

80's teens had better taste than teens of this century so far at least. I'll give them that.

His guitar playing is obnoxious, it's extremely repetitive, it all sounds the same, the solos are very sloppy and poorly implemented into songs, and the tone of his guitar is painful to listen to.
I'm not a fan of Angus Young's guitar playing. But he can play circles around Van Halen. At least his playing isn't this obnoxious. I'm tired of hearing that he's better than Hendrix. Hendrix destroys this guy. All of his complex techniques and diverse, amazing guitar playing has so much variety and it makes this guy look like Lil Wayne. At least Lil Wayne doesn't focus on guitar playing. He's a crap rapper.

One of the most boring guitar players that existed. His guitar solos, 99% of them, sound the same. They are not melodic at all. His sound was obnoxious. He didn't invent anything. He was a poor improviser.

"The guy changed guitar." Yeah. For the worse! He influenced 80's hair and generic YouTube shredders.

It was his influence that made a lot of people value technique and speed over music and melody.

He sounds better than Yanni Malmsteen and wrote some good tunes. Some. I'll give him that.

Yes sure he's good at playing, especially skillful songs like eruptipn, but it's not all about skill, it's about technique and emotion, there is no emotion in eruption which is why I think he is the most overrated guitarist, and that's not me saying he is a bad player because he's a hell of a lot better than me. It is insane that Jimi Hendrix is above him on this list, he is the best guitarist of all time because of the emotion in his songs and his innovation, Eddie Van Halen is massively overrated.

Like the guy, would love to have a beer with him. But the music is more generic than Walmart brand aspirin. And uninspiring. And simple. I mean, if you can pull a random dude out of a crowd and let him sit in on drums during a concert, you probably aren't pushing many boundaries.

Really just not that good at all. His playing is boring and sloppy

Contrary to popular belief, Tom Morello only uses Whammy, Wah Wah, Delay, Tremolo, Equalizer, Flanger, Phaser. That's not a lot. Sure, some people can shred faster or do two hand tapping better than he can, but he is one of the most original guitarists ever. He gets sounds out of his guitar that shouldn't be possible. I'd love to see Slash try and emulate DJ scratching or creating a helicopter effect with nothing more than a delay pedal and a pencil.

As a guitar player myself I can tell you sliding your hand across the guitar strings over the pickups instead of playing actual musical notes like slash, Hendrix, jimmy page etc does not take talent. I strongly agree with Tom being on the list but disagree with most of the others.
On the low key though still kinda like rage against the machine and I don't know y.

I can't even consider this guy a guitar player. I saw him up on stage with Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Zakk Wylde, John 5, Nuno Bettencort and others and they all traded solos. It was obvious in his body language that he didn't feel comfortable playing with actual guitar players. I actually felt bad for him.

This capitalist uses more effects than a animated science fiction movie. How else is he supposed to play AND hold up his fist? He has to let the world know he is woke.

He was far from the only one to play that musical style... and far from the best. 100% lightning-fast shredding, 0% emotion. If certain unfortunate circumstances hadn't come about and taken out the other major neo-classical guitarist of the time, he'd be second fiddle.

This is the most dull guitar player I've ever heard. Technique is not nearly as important as making decent music.

He is an insane shedder, but I don't think he could even improvise a blues solo.

Ok he is a really good guitarist but far from a Guitar Icon or Guitar hero like everyone claims.

Only popular because of "Seven Nation Army." I believe Meg was the one that wrote the riff too. Just look at him; he looks like a rejected Ozzy Osbourne.

Jack White and the Edge, both show that you don't have to be good to be famous.

Knows nothing about articulation, yet another noisy and sloppy sucker.

Never could understand the guitar god status this guy was given. He is horrible. The male version of St. Vincent, cringeworthy.

Keith Richard sucks. What he did is introduce the distortion to the mass, and created modern rock with that act. His riffs are simple and my 5 year old cousin can play them on his child guitar. And I think Hammett is so not the 5th most overrated player. People say that because Mustaine is better than him. Hammett is an excellent player, but not one of the best. Also, Richie Sambora is terribly underrated, I mean Richie could own all of the guys on this list.

He's out of tune most of the time!... That's a good for deaf people, most of them can identify his playing, they call it "style", I call it "silly repetitive melodies played out of tune

Frankly I think a lot of people are frustated. Keih Richards is not only a great guitar player but a faithful family man with a lot of qualities, that most straight people don't have

Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones suck. He's not creative and the whole band is terrible.

I can't stand his tone... That terrible blasty sound with tons of gain and then the endless wah... Definitely overrated

He's definitely lost his sense of creativity in his solos and riffs.

Please save me from the pinch harmonics.

Raping three notes for eight minutes. That's all how stupid wreslter makes his sound.

Just because Pat Metheny is a Jazz player doesn't exempt him from the list. Compared to other top Jazz guitarists like George Benson, or top Fusion players like John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny is boring at best.

Pat Metheny is not a bona fide jazz guitarist. Nor are jazz-wannabees John Scofield and Bill Frisell, both of whom should be on this list.

People who can't play always mention him as the best. He's just a elitist who only play in one key and nothing else. Those liberal-yuppie-know-it-alls always hail him as the best. Unfortunately, his rotten political opinions aside, Carlos is still one of the most boring guitarist you'll ever hear. He has absolutely no technique (can't shred, duh) or musicality (always the same pentatonic scale and one key playing).

The Rolling Stones were rating... Who or what! They probably need a more educated group of judges when compiling this list. Santana should have been in the top 10. Nevertheless, listening to Santana is a free ticket to the state of nirvana. His sounds are amazing, and his style is unique!

Carlos Santana completely hijacked Peter Green's style when Fleetwood Mac came to America. Even went as far as pawning off "Black Magic Woman" as his own material. Neil Schon was a way better guitarist, but Carlos only let him play rhythm during the Santana III years.

People who lack the taste and feeling which are the core to music will never understand santana or enjoy him. He is a LEGEND. He created a new style of music. Undeducated haters just judge. Got news for U. Steve Vai named Europa as his favorite instrumental of all time and it the main influence behind tender surrender.

Dave is a better player than he gets credit for. There'a a video of Dave and John 5 on youtube. Watch it. Better yet listen to all the Deconstruction album.
There's a reason why a lot of artists keep asking him to join their bands. Some requesting him for studio work. You'd be surprised how many albums has Navarro plays on.

Angus Young was on this list, but not this guy?

Just plays blues licks over and over again. He seems like a guy who you would see at an open mic night and be like "oh damn, he's pretty good," but go no further than that. He's better than the other guitarists on this list, but I had to put him here because of how many people think he's the greatest ever.