We'd have to define what "underrated" means, but I guess I'll just define it as overlooked even if they're in a popular band.

Chuck Schuldiner

Luc Lemay

Guthrie Govan

Marco Sfogli

Alex Hutchins

I'll be back with more in a bit.

Schuldiner and Govan are actually very highly regarded and included in conversations about the best guitarists.

Roman Bunka of Embryo. great guitar player, but no-one talks about him (except Friede and I). here 2 tracks from his first solo album:

I've been around the block a bit and I rarely hear them mentioned outside of guitar player groups themselves, honestly. Govan is top tier, Schuldiner was innovative AF.

Guthrie is an interesting case.  He is a star in guitarist circles.  But because prog circles aren't interested in that kind of music, his name doesn't come up even though he HAS played for Wilson.  

Likewise, Schulinder gets passed over owing to the general indifference towards prog metal in these parts.

Roye Albrighton, Phil Miller, and John Goodsall are all near the top of my list for the "classic" era. I'd also add Jan Akkerman: I think he is appreciated but he is so often forgotten or overlooked when we're naming our "favorite" or "best" guitarists. 

The "modern" (21st Century) era is often overlooked in general, so you could name anyone and they'd have to qualify (as "under-appreciated")--especially when compared to the "gods" of the "classic" era. But Dave Bainbridge, Nick Barrett, Björn Rjiis, and Guthrie Govan have all been consistent and virtuosic at their craft for a long time. (My personal modern-day guitar hero, Reine Fiske, and ex-Magma superstar James MacGaw both get a lot of love from PA members.) 

I repeat: There are SO MANY!

Perhaps David Torn needs a little more recognition, as well.

I had wanted to mention Miller too and forgot!

Oh, that u-word again...

Anyway, when seeing him live, I was most impressed by Kraan's Peter Wolbrandt.

The (un)usual suspects. These are hardly obscure but seldom get mentioned when the 'great and the good' are bandied about:

Russ Ballard (Argent)

Greg Lake (ELP)

Deke Leonard (Man)

Robbie Krieger (the Doors)

Sándor Cziránku (Barbaro)

David Byrne (Talking Heads)

Jean-Michel Brézovar (Ange)

Joop Van Nimwegen (Finch)

Franco Mussida (PFM)

I agree and thought the same; but thought i'd mention him anyway

Reine Fiske (Landberk, Paatos, Morte Macabre, Elephant 9)

Robien Guthrie (Cocteau Twins, Violet Indiana)

Marty Wilson-Pipper (The Church, Anekdoten, All About Eve, Noctorum)

Piggy (Voivod)

Gordon Giltrap, great!! great guitar player

 

Often talked about, but still overlooked as a player overall IMHO! Smooth and full of feel. Great tone for his era as well.

I'd also add Gary Green from Gentle Giant, and Alex Abercrombie from Billy Cobham to this list.

It's a pity that Genesis didn't take full advantage of his talents.  

Previously mentioned: Phil Manzanera, and Johnny Fean.

After reviewing all suggestions, I might have to make Karl Groom my main suggestion. Even though I am a lite listener to Threshold, I like his playing quite a lot.

Surely Richard Thompson has never be underrated...just unknown and not listened to by most young axe-head, head nodders..........with a name such as Richard Thompson he could not possibly be cool, could he?! But probably up there with any of the top tier either acoustic or electric guitarists of the past 50+ years.

Greg Lake is an interesting one. He started as lead guitarist and had to learn to play bass later on when he joined King Crimson. I'm not sure he was ever going to be a top class guitarist but tracks like Battlefield, The Sage and KE9 1st Impression Part One definitely demonstrate some ability.

how is Brian May, one of the most famous rock guitarists, underrated?

I don't get it. 

I wonder if the Queen plays rock guitar  Nah! 

I've actually corresponded with Prof. May about astronomical causes of climate change.  Brilliant chap!

From: Brian's Soapbox [email protected]

Subject: Re: continued discussion regarding climate change (and badgers!)

Date: October 12, 2013 at 8:03 PM

To: Charles Stack [email protected]

Thanks Charles.

I must admit I'd like to understand what is going on with the Earth's ice caps.

In a nutshell … are warming or cooling ?

Thanks also for you comments on the badgers. It's not going well, of course. We

have no power. But we are in the right.

Bri

—————————

For me, Steve Hackett is the most under-rated guitarist, because I think he's head and shoulders above any other guitarist on the planet. He can play anything from classical to shredding and tapping (the latter of which it seems he may have invented) and knows when to keep it simple or turn it up to 11.  

I agree with the comment about speed - it's about what you say, not how fast you say it. Also agree about Hackett but I'm not sure that I'd call him under-rated as he is generally recognised as one of the top prog guitarists.

My number 1 underrated guitarist would be Nick Barrett of Pendragon.

Alex Lifeson, Ed Wynn and Piotr Grudziński.

Steven Wilson is also one of my favorites, even though he's actually really average (at best) technically speaking.

Again, I wouldn't say Lifeson is underrated, certainly not in the prog world.

The problem with 'rating' Gilmour is in prog alone, Latimer, Hackett, Rothery can manage that soulful shtick as well as Gilmour AND also have more range than him, especially Hackett.  And if we look at Gilmour's 'direct' competition, which is really blues-rock guitarists (because that's the style he plays most often), then it's very tough to make a case for him being better than the likes of Duane Allman, Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc (or bluesy hard rockers like Blackmore - ok, not JUST blues - and Angus Young). I am not sure I would rate him over Martin Barre for that matter.  I mean, if the argument is Gilmour fits the music like a glove, so does Barre. 

Speaking of speed, how about speed AND complexity AND flavour? Mitch Watkins has it all in this solo:

I think the guitar is a very rangey instrument, capable of sounding extremely aggressive and flamboyant in ways not many other instruments do (except the saxophone which was, not surprisingly, the quintessential jazz instrument for many years).  So...why should slow and sentimental playing alone be elevated to the top of the pack? I think that Mitch Watkins solo is also soulful in a completely different way; it is invigorating and puts a big smile on your face rather than making you cry.  Is that really such a bad thing, must all art always be gloomy?  Mind, in saying all this, I AM a huge Floyd fan.

I think Gilmour is a better composer - both of tracks and of guitar parts - than a player. And a lot of the credit he gets for his playing is really intended for how good he is at writing parts. 

So, I'll second that - Martin.  A giant part of what we love about JT, but rarely talked about outside certain circles, and even among prog folks often overlooked.

I definitely agree with this!  I believe that he and Robert Fripp both had the same guitar instructor growing up in Wimborne Dorset. 

Come to think of it there are plenty of amazing records i've heard 100's of times, and have no idea who those players are beyond the band name.  For some reason the Samuel Jackson 5 come to mind - though maybe that's because the band name is so good!

Wow, nice call. BaldJean is the only other member here I'd expect to ref the Mitch. I love that line-up. 

No, really. A lot of people don't know he was a guitarist who formed a psych rock band called The Ones that dates back to '65. After they disbanded, Edgar embarked on a different musical path that was the result of crossing paths with Salvador Dali. Tangerine Dream goes back to '67, and back then they sounded nothing like what people are familiar with.

Videos like this one are one of the reasons why Jean and I wanted Barbara Denerlein added to jazz-rock/fusion. Her string of seven albums from "Orgelspiele" released in 1984 to "Outhipped" in 1999, six of which included Mitch Watkins, that in our opinion all clearly were jazz-rock/fusion, was another reason. A third reason was that she clearly is an innovator with her use of MIDI-technology and the way she plays the bass pedals.

Here another smoking track of her featuring Watkins:

The jazz-rock/fusion team did however not agree with us.

This clip is brilliant too, thanks for sharing.  Rick Keller plays a mean saxophone too where Andy Shepard was kind of off colour in that Sonny Rollins track performance. Of course, Barbara Dennerlein is always, unfailingly brilliant. 

I can see why the JR-F team wouldn't have accepted her.  I think they have a specific JR-F sound in mind for PA and she doesn't fit that.  I had suggested Ilayaraja for Indo-prog/Raga Rock as a long shot suggestion (he released two non-film all instrumental albums) and he was rejected too.  I guess he didn't fit the Indo-prog 'sound', whatever that maybe, though, um, he is Indian.  It's alright.  I am sure she has a home on JMA. 

If we can add more fusion oriented artists I will say Scott Mcgill.

He's also in a metal band called Scar Symmetry. Nice guitar work there as well. 

one of the few melodic death metal bands I enjoy. 

Psychedelic Paul wrote: The most underrated Prog-Rock guitarist will most likely be a guitarist I've never heard of.

That would probably be Roman Bunka. Jean posted two songs of his first solo album on page 1 of this thread. Here are two other great tracks on which he plays, one more from his great first solo album, the other from the

Embryo album "Steig Aus!":

Mitch positively shreds in that clip! 

In case people don't know, Mitch and Ronnie Burrage (drums) are Americans. Both had a couple albums released on the German jazz label Enja.

That does surprise me, because the Chick Corea Elektric Band are in the Archives under JR/F and a lot of CCEB sounds like contemporary jazz, which is what I assume the PA team considers Dennerlein.

Yes. Their first self-titled album sounds quite similar to Barbara Dennerlein's album "Hot Stuff".

I guess Chick Correa being part of RTF is considered relevant.  It shouldn't be, but it is. 

But we're talking guitarists. I love Allan Holdsworth, who is only maybe slightly underrated here (his solo output certainly is), but is certainly less well-known than he should be to the masses.

Ron Jarzombek.

valid suggestion for sure. Oldfield has created his own style with one of the most used instruments in existence. No mean achievement. Who else can we truly say has done that?

Brian May springs to mind. Others?

Yes, Roine Stolt is a great guitarist, and deserves more credit than he usually gets. Same goes for Martin Barre. 

Holdsworth is pretty well known and so I wouldn't call him underrated. Outside of prog and fusion circles maybe but that would mean 99.5 percent of those who are discussed here are underrated. The guy I mentioned earlier, Scott McGill, is way more underrated. Although most on here might not know him he has played with McGill, Manring, Stevens(with Michael Manring and Vic Stevens)and also Finneaus Gauge(which featured echolyn keyboardist Chris Buzby)as well as with Guy Leblanc(Nathan Mahl). Scott is pretty much the textbook definition of an underrated guitarist. He's technically almost as good(actually maybe as good)as Holdsworth. He also has several instructional videos on youtube. I'm pretty sure he teaches guitar also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiqOjWLjD_w" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiqOjWLjD_w

I doubt Oldfield could be a candidate for "most underrated..." The guy's world famous. There are four or five sequels to Tubular Bells. He has numerous compilations and live videos, including the amazing Live at Montreux 1981 video.

Fair. I brought him up because I was always so surprised when people I played jazz with in college, including guitarists, had never heard of him.

I also though I should mention SOMETHING about guitarists rather than just plug Chick Corea.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: ^I've actually heard you(or one of you guys)mention him before. What band did he play with? Or does he play with?

Embryo, Aera (on their first live album only), together with Roland Schaeffer of Guru Guru as RoRo, with the trio Orientación, solo albums and more.

With Embryo:

With Aera:

With RoRo:

With Orientación:

From his first solo album:

He is also one of the few European virtuosos on the oud (a fretless Arabian lute):

He also made a lot of film music and, together with his Korean wife Grace Yoon, took part in many musical radio plays.

To clarify, I was saying that Chick should be on here as a solo artist. He is anything but underrated. Another reason why he should be on here. His progressive output is revered, both in and out of RTF (and Elektric Band I suppose).

MICK  BOX

JASUN  TIPTON

CHRIS  HERIN 

Siegi Schwarb (Embyro guitarist on their best LP, Rocksession with Mal Waldron on the electric piano)

Larry Coryell.....I know, I know, not so underrated but I'm talking about the Coryell with the Chico Hamilton Quintet and the mid-60s Gary Burton bands - the guy brought fire to those sessions.

Peter Banks.....my heart goes out for this guy, man; maybe not the most technically proficient but those Wes Montgomery licks he brought to those early Yesyears are priceless.

Yep, Steve Howe practically stole Pete Banks' idea of incorporating jazz guitar into Yes. Steve did it on perpetual change and yours is no disgrace but Pete did it first. He actually became more technically proficient later imo although the early stuff was still very good. Listen to his playing on that first Flash album for example. Yes, he's very underrated. Good call.

Yes. Oh, yes! 

Obviously he's not underrated as a bass player and he's not exactly unknown, but he doesn't get talked about for his guitar contributions much.

Peter never gave up working on his craft up until his death.  Check out his lead guitar work on this tune, he positively channels Steve Vai by using one of Vai's signature Ibanez Jem guitar models!  Pete turns on the burners about 1:30 and doesn't look back to Planet Earth.  This CD was released in 1994.  

Probably Nash the Slash (he also played other instruments as well, of course).

Dude Rutherford rules, he's the unsung hero of Genesis lol. He gets overlooked. I agree completely on his lead guitar take over after Hackett's departure. Second Home by The Sea FTW!

Don't forget his bass work on the classic Genesis Gabriel era entries; he and Ray Shulman were trailing Squire's cape-tail that entire time!