Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

Mr. B

New member
I bought Andy Timmons new CD a month ago, and it blew me away. It has been years since I have heard an instrumental album that I found that inspiring. I have been following Satriani and VAi for years, and I do like a lot of their stuff, although some of their music gets so far "out there" that I don't really enjoy listening to it over and over.

What other NEW names should I be listening to for good intrumental guitar playing? (someone suggested Gary Hoey ??)

By the way, I don't really like shred for shredding sake. I do appreciate what some of the speed demons can do, they are technically brilliant, and I'd give anything to be able to do what they do, but its not really something I would sit and listen to very long. Thats why I'm so impressed with Andy Timmons CD. He can burn up the fretboard when he wants to, but he is also a tremendous songwriter, and has so much feeling in his playing.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

You may want to check out something like Rhapsody where for only 10 bucks a month you have access to thousands of albums free to listen to on your computer and they suggest other artists in the same category. I found some cool music like this.

Vai and Satch are my favorites by far. I agree at times the music can get a little out there, more Vai than Satch, but the majority is amazing That being said, here's some others:

Gary Hoey - Blues, surfer music, shreds some too

Eric Johnson - Blues, one of the best guitar tones but I never did like his voice

Joe Stump - Has some Yngwie Malmsteen sounding speed metal classical stuff, but I like the ripping blues based stuff better, so pick through what you like

Steve Morse - Southern influenced instrumental rock

Jeff Beck
- Some might say he started it all, his stuff is more fusion, can be wierd
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

+1 on Steve Morse... he goes from country to jazz to metal in the same phrase... his Deep Purple things are also amazing.

Frank Gambale- jazz fusion... amazing sweeps.

Rusty Cooley- considerd one of the best metal shreders and shrd teachers today. Fast but a little too many scales and less feel. Same goes for Michael Angelo Batio.

Paul Gilbert- has a few good instrumental albums and he also played guitar in one of the best hair metal albums- "Lean into it" by Mr. Big...

Greg Howe and Richie Kotzen- have a good album together named Tilt. Richie is amazing - played on the only good Poison (IMO) and replaced Paul Gilbert for Mr. Big.

Blues Sareceno- I guess you don't get a signature SD pickup without having great chops.

Scott Henderson- jazz mixed with blues and shredding, with SRV tone.
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

Good suggestions above :)

I will add Russ Freeman to the bunch. He leads "The Rippingtons". It's great, flowing jazz, even for people who are not crazy about jazz.
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

Greg Howe's last disc, Extraction, with Victor Wooten and Dennis Chambers is really good, definitely more of a fusion flavor than "shred". Steve Morse, Gambale, lots of great players out there, some of the suggestions are a little too shreddy for me.

At the same time, I know I'm going to get flames for this, but Eric Johnson can annoy me. He really needs to learn to relax, in life and playing. I've seen him live a few times, he's an awesome player, but he's so uptight it seems to come through in his music.
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

The Hellecasters. Not necessarily new but you have never heard anyone tear up a Tele until you've heard those three play together.....John Jorgenson, Will Ray & Jerry Donahue. Their first album, "Return of the Hellecasters", is a work of art. Check it out.
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

Paul Gilbert- has a few good instrumental albums and he also played guitar in one of the best hair metal albums- "Lean into it" by Mr. Big...

Yes'r!! I'm not a big kinda shred/instrumentalist kinda dude. However if I had to choose to listen to some really good guys like that I'd pick Paul and Joe Satriani. Ritchie Kotzen ain't so bad either.

Do a search of paul Gilbert and Ritchie Kotzen on www.youtube.com and I think you'll dig em I hope.

edit:
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=paul+gilbert&search=Search

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=ritchie+kotzen

another one of my favs (as far as blues SRV style) is Doyle Bramhall II. I love that dude man..and he can sing like hell.
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=+doyle+bramhall

The first vid is Doyle's ole man....check out the others. Not that Pops ain't bad. Doyle did learn from alot of badasses...including his Pops.
 
Last edited:
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

This is not an instrumental album, but if you want to be completely blown away, check out Lindsey Buckingham's "Out of the Cradle".
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

Two new finds: Walter Trout & Poppa Chubby ... both Strat players.
 
Re: Who should I be listening to ?? Advice needed

Tak Matsumoto has some nice instrumental stuff. He does the some fast shredding stuff, but he still has a lot of the slower emotional stuff. His from the japanese hard rock group B'z.
 
Back
Top