Best Guitar Player by Category

[JAYMONSTER]

Here's a fun game....Name the best guitar-player of all time by the following categories:

SKILL:
INNOVATION:
COMPOSITION:
HISTORICAL IMPACT:
OVERALL:

Here's my pix:

SKILL: Satriani (faster than snot, classicaly trained,multiple styles)
INNOVATION: EVH (brought hammer-ons and harmonics into main-stream)
COMPOSITION: Jimmy Page (wrote a variety of styles and tunings)
HISTORICAL IMPACT: Chuck Berry (Opened the door for modern-day rock n roll)
OVERALL: EVH

The fact that Ed combines all these categories together is what puts him over for me.

[Unchained Wolfie]

cool Topic! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Skill - Ywinge Malmsteen (Just listen, alot of his stuff sounds the same, but he is really good)

Innovation - Edward Van Halen (Who has come up with more new, and original things than Eddie? He is also probably one of the best writers of songs, and he can really play! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img])

Composition - Jimmy Page (Just listen to his song with Zep)

Historical Impact - Jimi Hendrix (He has influence many people on how to play, and change rick guitar forever)

Overall - Eddie Van Halen (Because he could arguably be on the top in all of these categories)

[mrblu]

I don't know or listen to many other guitarists, but here goes:

Skill:I'm picking Ed. He just knows TOO much. I don't think there is anything he can't do.

Innovation:Ed. He brought too much to the forefront and singlehandedly caused a MOVEMENT in modern guitar playing. He changed it all.

Composition: Dunno. As far as song structure, I guess that's what this means; I don't really listen to enough other bands. I like certain songs by other players, but don't know. I'd say it'd have to be a complex player like Petrucci from Dream Theater or someone like that.

Historical Impact: That's tuff. Clapton, Hendrix, Page; they all came first. I think Ed and a few other could play circles around them too. Most times I feel the originals are over-rated. I'll go with Hendrix I guess.

Overall: Ed. He's a total package. Like I said earlier; I don't think there is anything he can NOT do on a guitar; and probably better.

[Glenn]

This is a great topic, but given that it's not specific to VH necessarily, I'm going to throw it to the Music Only Forum.

I'll add my two cents later, because this requires some thought. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]