Favorite metal guitarist(s)

Well I was inspired by Ravisk with the topic about best guitar duos and decided to make a topic for favorite metal guitarists, both in Finland and the rest of the world. Here is my list (In no particular order):

Jari Mäenpää (Wintersun) (He's my personal favorite )
Micheal Romeo (Symphony X)
Jesper Strömblad (In Flames)
Antti Kokko (Kalmah)
Zachary Hietala (Tarot)
Emppu Vuorinen (Nightwish, Brother Firetribe)
Kirk Hammett (Metallica)
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)
Randy Rhodes (Ozzy Osbourne R.I.P)
Dimebag Darrell (Pantera, Damageplan R.I.P)
Dave Murray/Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)

Those are some of my favorites. What about you?

Go Empu!

CanuckFan wrote:Go Empu!

Emppu is really amazing actually, and is overlooked horribily. I love his style mainly because he isn't trying to be the fastest (he can play fast if he wants to, but chooses not to sometimes.). He plays with a lot of feeling.

And I love to watch him live! He's really entertaining and engaging & I love how he & Marco interact.

CanuckFan wrote:And I love to watch him live! He's really entertaining and engaging & I love how he & Marco interact.

They seem like best buds on stage, don't they? He also has the most EPIC stance EVER!! :

Yesssss! I love this guy!

CanuckFan wrote:Yesssss! I love this guy!

Emppu rules!

I'd add Kiko Loureiro, John Petrucci and Johan Reinholdz. Moreover, I really like the style of Tuomas Seppälä from Amberian Dawn - he plays keyboards live, though, even though he composes and plays the guitar parts, as well.

@ Almagest:

Tuomas Seppälä from Amberian Dawn

YES!!!!!

Almagest wrote:I'd add Kiko Loureiro, John Petrucci and Johan Reinholdz. Moreover, I really like the style of Tuomas Seppälä from Amberian Dawn - he plays keyboards live, though, even though he composes and plays the guitar parts, as well.

Opps, forgot Kiko and John..

James: I really like what I've heard from Stephan Forté so far. Seeing how you love Symphony X, you should really check his project Adagio out. It has started out as something in between progressive and symphonic power metal but Forté started to integrate more extreme elements recently. I strongly recommend Adagio to anyone who likes (shred-oriented) metal-classical crossovers.

What do you think about Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie or Timo Tolkki? Or Luca Turilli? Kai Hansen, Michael Weikath? Thomas Youngblood? Steve Vai? etc.

Almagest wrote:James: I really like what I've heard from Stephan Forté so far. Seeing how you love Symphony X, you should really check his project Adagio out. It has started out as something in between progressive and symphonic power metal but Forté started to integrate more extreme elements recently. I strongly recommend Adagio to anyone who likes (shred-oriented) metal-classical crossovers.

What do you think about Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie or Timo Tolkki? Or Luca Turilli? Kai Hansen, Michael Weikath? Thomas Youngblood? Steve Vai? etc.

I'll check those guys out. Sounds cool Dude, I could list an eternity of ppl who are guitarists that have made a significant impact on metal . Yngwie is one of my favorite players too, but I forgot to include him.. Those other guys are all very good too.

Almagest wrote:James: I really like what I've heard from Stephan Forté so far. Seeing how you love Symphony X, you should really check his project Adagio out. It has started out as something in between progressive and symphonic power metal but Forté started to integrate more extreme elements recently. I strongly recommend Adagio to anyone who likes (shred-oriented) metal-classical crossovers.

What do you think about Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie or Timo Tolkki? Or Luca Turilli? Kai Hansen, Michael Weikath? Thomas Youngblood? Steve Vai? etc.

Haha I love Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert and Joe Satriani \m/ \m/

Beyond going into who's a really good guitarist (because there are many), my favorites are probably Alexi Laiho and Petri Lindroos.

James: Can you make a top five (or so) list of your favourite Finnish guitarists?

In the interview I mentioned in another thread, Mike said the following:

At the moment, Tarja Turunen is my main job, perhaps the best gig I've ever had. I'll do everything to support this woman, who, by the way, is everything but a diva. You know, I've worked with male divas who where far less popular than her.

I suppose he is talking about Yngwie.

But I've read that Yngwie regrets that time now. He said he was always shitfaced, now that he's sober he can appreciate everything so much more.

I've found this quote on this forum devoted to neoclassical metal:

I always thought Chris Impelleteri was a big YJM clone.
He approached Yngwie in a bar in L.A once and said he had been playing the same style as long as YJM only Yngwie got famous before him. Malmsteen was pissed at that and on hearing his material said 'Anyone can learn to type real quick but not everyone can write a good novel!'

What do you think about Matias Kupiainen?

When they announced him as the new Strato guitarist, I remembered that he was the winner of that "Guitar Heroes" competition. I actually translated the Finnish article on him to English, so that English Wikipedia now has an article about him, too. Not because I'm a fan, just because the missing article bothered me.

Almagest, would you want me to start a new thread on the MFF area of this forum perhaps?

LOLS The Finnish Answer to G3

Alexi Laiho/Petri Lindroos/Jari Maenpaa
Alexi Laiho/Roope Latvala/Jani Liimatainen

@ Almagest:

You should add that Neo-classical metal site to the links thread!

efin7184 wrote:Almagest, would you want me to start a new thread on the MFF area of this forum perhaps?

Yeah, why not? You can go into more detail if you like, then and rave all you want.

CanuckFan: Will do!

Almagest wrote:

efin7184 wrote:Almagest, would you want me to start a new thread on the MFF area of this forum perhaps?

Yeah, why not? You can go into more detail if you like, then and rave all you want.

CanuckFan: Will do!

Already there Almagest!

Almagest, I forget Jason Becker. He's a great neo-classical guitarist! I like him more than Malmsteen personally:

Amazing! I'm not a fan of the guitar tone, though.

Let's not forget the great-grandfather of all shredders. RIP Les Paul.

(This ain't metal by a long shot, but still ... mind-boggingly far ahead of its time. I find it to sound astounding, still nowadays.)

Almagest wrote:Amazing! I'm not a fan of the guitar tone, though.

Let's not forget the great-grandfather of all shredders. RIP Les Paul.

(This ain't metal by a long shot, but still ... mind-boggingly far ahead of its time. I find it to sound astounding, still nowadays.)

You're right! I miss him already. RIP Les Paul..

He had a good life, though. What more can you strive for as a musician than to revolutionise the world of music, have your name immortalised as the name of a type of instrument that you more or less invented and keep doing what you love until that late in your life? That's what I call blessed.

Almagest wrote:He had a good life, though. What more can you strive for as a musician than to revolutionise the world of music, have your name immortalised as the name of a type of instrument that you more or less invented and keep doing what you love until that late in your life? That's what I call blessed.

Exactly right! Thank goodness he had that skill! We wouldn't have the metal like we do today if it weren't for him!

We've talked so much about neo-classical shredders now - how about guitarists with other styles? I've mentioned Mustaine somewhere on MFF because of this:

He did mention that he has finnish ancestory, wayback when Mustaine's were "Mustonen".

Almagest wrote:We've talked so much about neo-classical shredders now - how about guitarists with other styles? I've mentioned Mustaine somewhere on MFF because of this:

He did mention that he has finnish ancestory, wayback when Mustaine's were "Mustonen".

Well, the Finnish blood seem to know good metal after all!

What do you think of my new avatar?

Is that you?

Ah, there's another important classically influenced guitarist I've missed: Randy Rhoads. Again, RIP.

Almagest wrote:Is that you?

Ah, there's another important classically influenced guitarist I've missed: Randy Rhoads. Again, RIP.

Yep, that's me with my guitar!

Randy Rhodes was amazing. "Blizzard of Ozz" is such an amazing album! I own it.

R.I.P. Randy. Died WAY too soon...

At this moment it's Elias Viljanen. (Sonata Arctica) He plays Ibanez guitar and i love that sound and in my eyes he is a very great guitarplayer!

But other guitarplayers in my top list are:

Brian May (ok he is not metal but a rock guiitarist)
Tony Iomi
Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi)
Marcus Jidell (Royal Hunt)