Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal
My favorite at the moment. A virtuoso with a real sense of humor, humble and entertaining. I call him guitar Tesla for his inventive fingering and off scale playing. A living example of how your music can be fun even if the guitar doodling is so advanced that explores hidden places of human mind. And yes. Content first. Low fi is the new black. He is still punk. And the needle thing on the pinky is so simple and handy that is simply genius. – Matteo Di Gioia
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miPBObF5JuU[/youtube]
Shawn Lane
He is the most talented and unbelievable musician I ever seen, an outstanding guitarist as much as a good pianist and drummer. His compositions are so terribly musical and melodic that they don’t even sound so technically unreachable! – Ralph Salati
[youtube]http://youtu.be/5yZksKwH9Co [/youtube]
Virgil Donati
Composition skills over the top and improvisation on odd meters like nobody else. He’s the godfather of extreme drumming. – Federico Paulovich
[youtube]http://youtu.be/ug5wHQGJxOQ[/youtube]
Mattias “Ia” Eklundh
Only a few guitarists can be recognized after a few notes, and Mattias is the king. His style is unique, his personality is hilarious and his mathematical brain gives me the creeps. I also consider him a rough model on the human side too. His integrity amazes me. He was offered to join huge projects and he respectfully declined saying “life is too short to play someone else’s music.” Being true is all. – Matteo Di Gioia
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhZeRu-Pe2o[/youtube]
Guthrie Govan
He is the major expression of the modern guitar virtuoso. I consider him as a kind of ring of conjunction between the old school fusion-shred style with lots of innovation in terms of used techniques, and the modern approach, which includes a way larger vocabulary in terms of languages and styles. He can really do on his guitar whatever he wants and thinks! – Ralph Salati
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkaqfgSqtHg[/youtube]
