I know this is a likely stupid question. But I have been youtube surfing this morning (well not only this morning, I tend to do this a lot these days). Nevertheless, I am coming to a conclusion which perhaps someone can help me with - ya, this is the stupid part. But here goes...
Probably based on today's rock and pop guitarists. But I noticed he didn't do any jazz guitarists like Pat Metheny, Joe Pass, etc, or any country guitar pickers like Chet Atkins, Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, etc. I know different genres thus that is why I said today's rock and pop guitarists.
To the question is he the greatest living guitarist. Probably not. Most likely not. I have seen a number of totally amazing, jaw droppingly good, makes you want to burn your guitar and take up potato farming, guitarists in my time. Some of the kids I see on the internet are astounding. Some of the players I see do mind boggling things on the guitar that I, as a player for close to 5 decades don't have a clue on how to start doing what they are doing.
When you think you've found the best and greatest, all you need to do is wait a few and there will be someone else coming along that says, here. hold my beer, and they will blow you away.
There's always a kid sitting in his or her bedroom listening to player like him and learning their chops and figuring out how to do it better, more tastefully, faster, or in a more unique fashion.
All that aside, yeah, he's a really talented guy. From that video, he changed convincingly into the style of the 20 guitarists.... although I thought the Hendrix thing was more closely aligned to Via or Satriani's playing style than Hendrix. But still really good. He'd be a handy studio session player for sure. I don't know enough about him, aside from a quick lookup on Wikipedia.
I'm with Floyd.... it would be nice to be able to DL those tabs..... patterns didn't look too far off from what I use.... it's just that he uses them a bit differently and better that I think I do. He's a teacher of guitar so I don't doubt they're for sale on his website somewhere.
EDIT: if you are in any of the hundreds of musician/guitarists facebook groups, you can't help but seeing a lot of obscure but amazing guitarists.... from the little 3 year old Chinese kids playing guitars bigger than they are, like seasoned professionals, to the teen age girl who shreds like a monster, to the guy who taps everything on a classical guitar, to the guy who plays with both hands on the neck and never picks a single note. Who's the greatest? I don't have a clue. They are all amazing. And me... well I know a few chords and can pick out a lead and hang with good musicians in a jam session. That's my claim to fame.
Is he the world's fastest guitarist? Well, maybe he's in the race. Lot's of notes in the shortest time.
Is this guy the greatest living guitarist? A more difficult question to answer. Lot's of notes in the shortest time doesn't necessarily make anyone the greatest.
Is he the world's fastest guitarist? Well, maybe he's in the race. Lot's of notes in the shortest time.
And remember, video can be sped up. A lot of the youtube djent heroes speed their videos up to make them look faster and attract hits. If you watch their hair moving and such as they play you can tell.
Not to say that this guy does it, but there is always a place for reasonable doubt.
Calling anyone the "best" or "greatest living guitarist" is a futile task. Although he plays in 20 styles in the clip, that actually means very little. He is a very talented guitarist but I would never even consider calling him the "best".
Add to that the fact that he's playing an electric guitar which is exponentially physically easier to play than an acoustic guitar and he doesn't even make it in the top 100.
But he is damn good. There are SO many damn good guitarists out there now that it's almost unbelievable. The amount of great instructional material available means that almost anyone who is willing to work their a*s off for years can become a damn good guitarist. Providing of course they can keep a beat and have a decent ear.
One of the things that always pissed me off was when people would tell me "I wish I was born with the gift to play like that". I always wanted to respond "gift my a*s!" LOL
EDIT: I wouldn't even think of calling ANYONE the best living guitarist.
Thanks for playing along guys, remember I acknowledged it was a dumb question. Here is someone else discussing the same point. And yes, Goven is right there in the middle of the video.
Guys like Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth and many others can throw an extremely impressive number of notes at you at a mind numbing speed, but I'd never purchase a recording of any of them.
It's like they missed or overlooked the purpose of music.
It becomes tiring and annoying to listen to more than 30-45 seconds of any of these guys. They're not making music, ... they are trying to impress people.
There's a difference between guitarist's guitarists and normal guitarists. I've been listening to Guthrie today and I'm astounded by his ability and the way he mixes styles. I've also been listening to some chickin' pickers as I want to improve my right hand work. But what else have I been listening to over the last few days? Apart from select hits of 2015-20 to stay current, I've been listening to Pink Floyd, Prince and Deep Purple. I stopped listening to Led Zeppelin as I found them a bit jarring though of course I still admire and enjoy them. I prefer the melodic playing of Gillian and Gilmore. horses for courses.
That's why, in the case of electric guitarist's, I prefer Eric Clapton, (aka "Slow Hand"), Billy Gibbons or BB King, just to name a few.
I'd probably want to put Lindsey Buckingham in that discussion. Extreme amounts of taste and plays music that compliments the song but doesn't dominate it.
Tommy Immanual..... and Jim Stafford. Jim is freaking amazing. Most know him for his comedy songs but what a talented guy. And Tommy, well, he kinda makes you want to burn your guitars when you hear the man play. He's that good.
The thing these guys who are playing a thousand notes a minute don't seem to realize is that 1/4 notes, 1/2 notes and whole notes exist for a reason. The same can be said of rest's in those same values.
It seems like they're afraid people will think they lost focus for a split second.
That blizzard of notes they play would be cool if they saved them for the last two or four bars of a solo. To do it incessantly sucks.
Here is someone else discussing the same point. And yes, Goven is right there in the middle of the video.