Out of the four...

[Bronson]

Of these four guitarists, who is the best?

YouTube - Buckethead - Night of the Slunk

Buckethead

Buckethead is certainly the most unique of the four guitarists. He's the only one I've seen live and he was awesome. This song was pretty cool. The crazy stuff starts around 3:40.

YouTube - Steve Vai - "For The Love Of God"

Steve Vai

Vai's library is pretty hit-or-miss. He has some awesome songs, but he also has alot of pretty lame stuff that I could pass on. Then again, I could say the same about Buckethead or Malmsteen. This song is one of my five favorite songs of all time. In my opinion it's an absolute masterpiece. Vai doesn't start playing until around 2:25, but the orchestra intro is pretty sweet. The solo starts at 4:20 and then there's some crazy improv stuff during the outro.

YouTube - Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien

Joe Satriani

Satriani has the most solid body of work. He makes music that's just fun to listen to, whereas sometimes Vai and Buckethead put so much meaning behind their songs that it drains the fun out of them. This song is my 2nd favorite Satch song, next to Always With Me, Always With You, but that one doesn't lend itself to this kind of comparison. First solo checks in at :55, second at 2:25.

YouTube - Far Beyond The Sun - Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie Malmsteen

As hard as it is to believe, Malmsteen beats out Buckethead as the weirdest one of these guys. As far as his playing goes, it doesn't seem like there's really any rhyme or reason to it. The guy just shreds. There's really nothing to point out in this song. It's all pretty insane.

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As far as my vote goes, they all have their strengths. Satch makes the best music and Buckethead has the widest range of style. Overall I'm going with Vai though. I think he's the best pure player out there.

 

[Joe]

Hey I'm goin' with Vai too! I like 'em all, but FTLOG is super mega win. Satch is probably 2nd place. He's the only one I've seen in concert, saw him once in FL and once in London. Both were awesome.

 

[Dave]

Satch is probably the most "complete" guitarist on the list. Bronson summed it up pretty good when he said Vai is a "hit-or-miss." I like a lot of his songs...but then again a lot of his songs are just flat out not good at all. A lot of Buckethead's songs are weird as hell, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's a fucking awesome guitarist. He does some wild shit, and his songs are fun to listen to. Malmsteen is hard because all he does is just rock your face off. If you want that kind of guitar music, then of course Malmsteen is your man. Sometimes I'm in that mood. It'd be between Buckethead and Satch for me when it comes to who is the most complete and who do you think has the most overall talent with a guitar.

 

[Logan]

I'll preface it by saying I'd love to hear all 4 live, cause they'd all be great. Anyways, here we go.

Malmsteen is the craziest, he seems to be super old school and just know everything there is to know about playing. He seems to have skipped all the tapping and hand switching and just sticks to alcohol and stage antics. I can't listen to his music all that much cause it's almost exhausting.

Satriani has great songs and he's totally awesome. He was the first one Joe told me about and he's still super badass. His songs are formulaic, but fortunately, the formula is great.

Vai seems like a dick. He's so awesome in my dvds, but all this talking and bullshit he throws in to his recorded stuff is lame. It's what keeps me from listening to him that much. I don't think for the love of god is that great either :X. Vai worries more about stuffing Sampled Voice A into his track than playing something new and cool and that drives me CRAZY.

Buckethead is a weird bastard, but he's great. He has the most unique sound with the killswitch and what not. Buckethead wins the vote for me for the same reason Led Zeppelin is so cool. He has such a wide range. You couldn't believe all this sounds came out of the same guy. However, unlike Zeppelin, you don't get Plant's voice coming in giving it away. Listen to Jordan then download the album Colma and you'll never believe it's the same person.

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Talentwise - Buckethead, Malmsteen, Satch, Vai
Musicwise - Satch, Buckethead, Vai, Malmsteen
Badassness - Buckethead, Malmsteen, Satch, Vai

This is like rating all 4 indiana jones movies, cause I really do like them all. Oh well.

 

[Dave]

Shit damn. Buckethead pretty much kicks ass with anything with strings! Nice.

 

[SuperAfroBoy]

No love for Michael Angelo Batio?

 

[Joe]

Who?

 

[SuperAfroBoy]

YouTube - Speed Lives - No Boundaries by Michael Angelo Batio

 

[Logan]

wow ROFL at 1:50ish

sounds just like malmsteen though.

 

[Bronson]

I know I left out alot of good guitarists.

I'm gonna have to disagree with Logan when he says Vai is the least talented. At the very least he's more talented than Satch. I think he's more talented than Malmsteen and on par with Buckethead. I'd probably put him even with Buckethead as far as music, and I'd agree that he's the least badass.