Van Halen: When this meteor hit earth in 1978, every rocker of 10 years and older, was blown away by their debut album Van Halen (now known as Van Halen I). They completely changed rock music, the rock scene and were of huge influence for the glam and hair metal period during the 80’s: they were the kings of the hill. Guitar god Eddie van Halen (EVH) was known for his lightning fast soloing and show offs. He was lightyears ahead of the rest of all the gunslingers. But we almost forget what what an outstanding rhythm guitar player he is and the chemical click with his brother Alex on drums.
Gary Moore: he was an incredible guitar player! He had everything: feel, touch, speed, ability to play different musical styles (hard rock, metal, blues, jazz fusion). Never before have I seen a guitar player who put his whole everything in every note he played.
Also, he is maybe the king of the silly guitar faces, but where I suspect many guitarists to practice silly guitar faces, Gary is original and unique. Needless to say, that I am a big fan of his guitar playing before who lost him to the blues. First in Thin Lizzy and then his 1982-1989 metal period. Fortunately, a few years before his tragical death, he returned to hard rock/heavy metal.
The Irish folk influences in his music and his collaboration and friendship with Phil Lynott (Skid Row & Thin Lizzy) are unforgettable. The world lost a great musician 6th February 2011. He was a big influence for many guitar players, and not the least like John Sykes, Zakk Wylde, Joe Bonamassa, Doug Aldrich and Paul Gilbert.
Yngwie J. Malmsteen: Yngwie hit the rock scene in 1983 with Steeler, when only 20 years old, heavy metal would never be the same again: enter the new king of the hill. Melting baroq classical music (Bach, Mozart, Paganini) with heavy metal, he created the Neoclassical Metal style. That same year he moved to Alcatrazz , before starting his solo career in 1984.
Never ever have we seen such a lightning fast guitar player with an unmatched difficulty level, combining with an incredible touch and feel. He raised the bar to an extreme level and boosted the 80’s metal guitar hero era Eddie van Halen started. Like with Eddie, metal would never be the same without Yngwie. He has been an influence for millions of guitar players around the world.
Nowadays, there are legions of guitarists faster then Yngwie, but nobody could equal his combination of difficulty, speed AND touch: he invented it. And Yngwie = Yngwie! I dare to say that Eddie and Yngwie are responsible for what metal is today.
Michael Schenker: the blond German guitar God! Started with the Scorpions, later UFO and MSG (Michael Schenker Group). Also Michael has been a big influence for many guitar players, who started guitar play in the late 70’s and 80’s. Among those are legends like Metallica, Megadeth, Dimebag Darrell (Pantera), Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden), Slash, John Norum (Europe), Paul Gilbert, Randy Rhoads (Ozzie Osbourne), George Lynch (Dokken), John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Michael Amott (Arch Enemy) and Jeff Waters (Annihilator). He has a unique tone and very, very tastful style of soloing. Personally, I like his MSG work most.
John Norum: Everybody knows Europe’s “The Final Countdown” and John Norum’s iconic guitar solo. Forget the rest of the era. John left Europe soon after this hit single and started a solo career. That’s when I became a real fan of him. In 1990 he became the successor of another guitar hero (of mine), George Lynch of Dokken, although I think that Dokken = George Lynch. In 2006 Europe reunited and made a comeback as a completely different band: blues rock. That’s when I really started to like Europe as a band.
John Norum is a stirred not shaken cocktail of 1/3 Michael Schenker, 1/3 Gary Moore and 1/3 John Norum (incredible touch). A very nice cocktail of styles.
George Lynch: He is one of the most influential axe slingers of the 80’s (Dokken & Lynch Mob). He was the original guitarist of Dokken. On his last studio album with Dokken “Back For The Attack” in the 80’s, he was in blood shape, but the traditional lead singer – lead guitarist ego battle made him leave and start a new band. Lynch Mob hit the scene with a country influence heavy metal album with George at his best, an iconic album.
George’s influences were…Eddie, Yngwie and Michael Schenker!
Zakk Wylde: Who was this long blond kid with no shirt playing a Gibson Les Paul? Les Paul’s were for old hard rock guitarists. The modern heavy metal guitarists all play EVH influenced superstrats! Well, Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt became Ozzy Osbourne’s new axe man. And with his “take no prisoners” attitude, he kicked all our asses with extremely aggressive heavy guitar riffs and unbelievable squeals (pinched harmonics). Zakk has been at his top during his Ozzy period. For riffing, he has been of a big influence to me (Paul).
By the way, do you know where his name came from? When Ozzy saw Zakk for the 1st time (and recruited him at once) he said: “Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt is not really a hot rock & roll name and you look like Kim f*cking Wilde. From now on you are Zakk Wylde!”
Michael Romeo: our today’s hero is Michael Romeo. He is the guitarist and bandleader of Symphony X, a progressive metal band from the USA. Their music is a combination of symphonic, neoclassical, film music with power and thrash metal. Michael Romeo is the driver as you may notice: his solo album sounds exactly like Symphony X, only with other musicians. This guy has a sound, recognizable between thousands of guitarists. He is incredibly fast and manages to only look at his fretboard 2 or 3 times during a concert.
You can hear the music develop from symphonic to power metal. Symphony X is by far my (Paul) most favorite band of the last 25 years and I love Michael’s guitar playing.
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