While you might not know the name Hugh Myrone yet, he’s been making his way around the Los Angeles underground as part of Snaked, a DJ/guitar duo, and you’ll be hearing his music in Drift Stage, a racing game coming to PC/Mac and PS4. The guitarist has released a handful of singles and EPs, but his debut full length, Drift Stage, Vol. 1, was just released on Ghost Ramp, a label started by Nathan Williams of Waaves. An underrated guitar player himself, Myrone hit us with his list of five underappreciated guitarists, in no particular order.
Masahiro Andoh
Masahiro Andoh might be one of the most slept on guitarists of all time. He’s one of the rare players like Steve Lukather who has funk, jazz, AND rock chops. There are literally too many amazing T-square songs to even count, but a good starting point is “Truth.” Thank you Masahiro.
Vernon Reid
I always see Vernon Reid get pegged as a “metal guitar player” but the truth is that he is much more than that. Before Living Colour Vernon was going to be in R&B Legend Kashif’s band (RIP). Even in the context of his “metal band” Living Colour you can hear him draw from diverse set of musical influences that he effortlessly. Just listen to the chords in “Open Letter (To a Landlord),” you don’t write that stuff without being as hip to jazz/rnb stuff as you are rock stuff. Thank you Vernon.
Prince
Prince is literally amazing at everything, but I feel like people don’t really talk in depth about his guitar playing too much. Prince could solo with the best of them (see the “while my guitar gently weeps” video to watch him just son everyone on planet earth) but honestly it’s his rhythm parts that make him a legend to me. All those little funky bits on songs like “Nasty Girl” sound so effortless–and they probably were for prince–but they’re arranged within the context of the song with a mozart level of wizardry. Not only is this stuff about 9 billion times more interesting to me than some djent bro with his guitar on his chest doing sweep arpeggios, but people seem to dance more to it too. Thank you Prince.
Eddie Van Halen
I’m not even sure I can write something illuminating about Eddie Van Halen that hasn’t already been said, but I think my favorite part about his playing is how un-edited it is. In many ways Van Halen might be the most “authentic” band of all time. Many of their recordings are basically live takes of the band with minimal overdubs. It’s obvious from their recordings that they spent years on stage playing and weeks in the studio, as opposed to years in the studio and weeks on stage. How else do you sound so good when you’re panned left without a double on the right? Thank you Edward.
Jeff Beck
Once I grew out of my “guitar solos gotta go fast” phase I really started getting into Jeff Beck. Yet another player who is comfortable in a myriad of styles, and who really understands the concept of dynamics probably better than anyone else. Any performance I’ve seen of Jeff Beck he’s always got one part of his right hand on the strings, another on the tremolo, and another on the volume and tone knobs. Also he’s a legend forever for collaborating multiple times with Stevie Wonder. Thank you Jeff.
