zappa blows petrucci away...

i bet not one can distinguish petrucci from any other highly skilled METAL(yeah, i said it) guitarist out there.

zappa on the other hand, was flambouyant and virtuosic to no extent, and was undeniably the most musically talented, somewhat mainstream, prog musician ever (or of those that ive heard)

he was even better than hendrix.

(im not blasting anyone in particular, just sharing thoughts)

I agree that Zappa blows away most other guitarists.

To me, it is that his solos are interesting, and are, at least the released instances, actually the compositions of the moment that Zappa was striving to achieve. His solos don't feel like traditional solos, they feel like an additional movement of the piece, not just linking devices or intrumental bridges.

There are obviously other examples of guitarists who have done this, but Zappa's work always seems to me to be the least 'safe', in so far as non-jazz pieces are concerned.

Just my opinion....

Man Overboard wrote: Petrucci has an extremely recognizable style.  A few weeks ago, someone posted a clip of an unrecognized song, and I'd never heard it either, but after listening to it, I realized it was Petrucci's playing, so some research led to me realizing it was from his brand new solo album.  So you're wrong on THAT count. However, Zappa *does* blow him and many others away.  Way to be ignorant about metal guitarists, though, many of them have very unique styles.  Douche.

Zappa owns other players as far as truely inventive improvising is concerned. His solos may seem like aimless noodling, but when you take a closer look you'll find that most of what he's playing really makes sense and is not just built from a collection of licks. Few other players manage that, maybe Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Scott Henderson (and others I may not know).

I agree that Petrucci is extremly recognizable. His alternate picking and sweeping are as unique as are his chords in clean passages.

wrax wrote: When Zappa wanted a shredder he called on Vai, in any case.

Steve Vai and Mike Keneally were his "stunt guitarists". The greatest stunts being Approximate and Drowning Witch. I wonder how many people think that was played by Zappa ...

Speaking of Vai: Two of his archives albums are devoted exclusively to Zappa. One features the various songs he played with/for Zappa, the other one features Mike Keneally playing selected Zappa songs on the piano. GREAT stuff!