by Hanley! » Apr 24, '14, 1:45 pm
Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains. I could name a bunch of guitarists that I love (and would love to be able to emulate more successfully), but nobody does it for me the way Cantrell does. He's really technically gifted and has his own sound and style of playing. And he's a great song-writer to cap it all off.
The way I always think of it, the best guitarists aren't necessarily the ones who can play the most notes in a second. People who can do that shit are a dime a dozen. A great guitar player is one who is technically proficient, but more importantly one who has their own sound. There are loads shitty metal guitarists who can churn out a wanky solo that nobody remembers 2 seconds after its over. But a great guitarist will be more memorable. If they're really good, fans will instinctively know when they're the person playing, even if they've never heard the song before.