Number 98 Munky and Head

I put both guitarists in the same spot because their playing acts as one cohesive unit, like a hip Judas Priest that don't do solos. While you may not think off the bat that these guys deserve a spot on the list because, as previously stated, THEY DON'T DO SOLOS!! Bear with me. They can pull out a mean groove, and pretty much popularized the seven string (I understand Steve Vai or someone before probably used it but Munky and Head made it most popular) and come on you've got to be good to use another string on your guitar! These guys go together like peanut butter and jelly and their guitar playing runs smoother then maple syrup on flap jacks.

Songs: "Blind" "Good God" "Clown"

Number 99 Misha Mansoor

Lead guitarist and primary song-writer for the Progressive metal band Periphery. He took me by surprise when first hearing him, they were recommended to me through a friend, and I have to admit I don't really care for prog-metal there are a few bands I like but I find that it's too much on a whole. But the young Misha Mansoor is, on a whole, a phenominal guitar player. His melodic control is astounding for such a young musician, and he definitely can't be charged for over playing in any sense of the word (the same can't be said for many prog guitarists) not to mention this kid can kick out a groove that makes drummers jealous. He definitely deserves to be on this list!

Songs "Icarus Lives" "Buttersnips"

Number 100 Jerry Cantrell

With his brilliant use of the wah pedal and his "simple riff-messed up timing" technique, Jerry Cantrell has got to be one of the single most innovative guitar players in the grunge scene. Being both lead guitar and primary songwriter for the band Alice In Chains, his spot on the list was a shoe in!

Songs To Check Out: "Nutshell" "Man In The Box" "Them Bones"

Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 100 Greatest Guitarists (2011 Edition) List Is GARBAGE!

Well I've just finished reading the most recent bogus list that Rolling Stone Magazine has put out, this one is entitled the 2011 Edition of the Top 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time, and I have to say the entire thing is complete and utter rubbish in my opinion. So for the next 100, count 'em, 100 posts I'm going to be putting up MY version of who I think are the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Feel free to leave a comment below on your favourites.

Donate Now

It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday break! I myself had a particularly great one but enough about me, there's no point in blogging if I just wanted to talk about myself that's what job interviews are for! No I'm actually here to talk to you all about a serious topic to my heart, cancer. I've recently had someone close to my heart be diagnosed with this damnable disease (pardon me) and what people say is true, just when you think it could never happen to you it does. I won't bother explaining what cancer is because I'm sure if you have the mental capacity to use the internet and read a blog, you sure as hell (once again pardon me) know what cancer is. Some people in the world have deemed the fight against cancer "useless" and that "there's no point" well people can take what ever point of view they want on the subject but if you're one who thinks that way I'd like to try to sway your decision. We as human beings must find a cure for our children, and our children's children  because they too can be affected by this disease smokeing or non-smoking. A donation as little as 25 cents at your local corner store is a gesture of good will, but eeryday people spend that amount on the impulse buys by the cash register. Feel like going for a run? Not that much exercise? How about a walk? The race against cancer is held every year across the globe, and in Canada the Terry Fox Run helps to raise money for the fight against cancer. This disease has the potential to mutate and truly become and incurable neoplasm and if we don't find a cure fast then it will be too late please donate now.

Whenever, Wherever, No Matter What.

I'm here to talk about the people in our lives that will always be there for us no matter what. You're probably think friends? My spouse? No I'm talking parents, friends come and go and come on, we all know the divorce rate in North America alone, but parents will be with you from the day you're born to the time you die. I recently suffered a personal issue that tested the strength of my whole family, I'm not going to go into it but, as a young teenager I used to always think "man my 'rents are so dumb, they just don't understand what it's like, they're so old and uncool," well I have a new found respect for both my parents today. They proved to me that through thick and thin no matter what they will travel to the ends of the Earth to make sure that their baby boy their Logan is safe. This unconditional love has changed my selfish introverted ways, and I hope that reading this blog either A. inspires you as a youth to look at all your parents have done for you or B. as an adult keep in mind we know, and we love you too.

Technique For Techniques Sake

I recently read a comment on Youtube, I wonder if I can retype it verbatim, "I am glad to see  Heavy Metal breaking out of it's punk influences, with the jumping, screaming, and head banging. It will now drift more to the classical and jazz aspects of it's influences creating more technical pieces." I just wanted to know if I was the only one who thought of this as not such a good? I'm all for progressive music, Dream Theater and Between The Buried And Me are 2 of my favourite bands, but, we all need a break from the 14 minute long roller coaster songs that take you on an emotional ride that make you question every aspect of your being why are we here? What is my purpose? Ladies and gentlemen we have weed for that, Metal Heads don't want all Heavy Metal to be progressive, people are going to want that simplicity in their music just as in life nobody wants it too be complicate all the time, people want to drink a regular coffee black with 2 sugar (ahemm Starbucks) people want to sit on the couch get stoned and eat pizza pockets, it's a way of life. I recently started listening again to System Of A Down, before I had been listening to a lot of Devin Townsend, Watchtower, Nevermore, and SOAD is a break from all that. The song structure is simple, no huge time changes, and the guitar work is fairly straight forward and simple. Speaking of the guitar playing that brings me to my next point about the "evolution" of guitar playing. So many guitarists seem to have this obsession with the accumulation of all these techniques like legato, sweeping, tapping, alternate/economy picking, etc. Just ask yourself what musical void are you filling with all those techniques? You can write just as good songs with minimal guitar techniques as opposed to if you had all of them. Too many guitarists learn and use technique fro techniques sake, think of ACDC, Kiss, Scorpions, pretty simplistic song structure to a lot of their songs and they are much more successful then a lot of the bands out their that sweep and tap and shred the crap out of their instruments. Do want to know why? I'll tell you, it is because most non-guitarists only here this "wankity wank, wank, wank, wank wank wank." Only a guitar player (or a solo junky) listens to a song for the guitar, the majority of people in the world listen to music with no guitar in it so why should they go from their guitar-less music to a genre that is mostly guitar. Yeah ACDC, Kiss, Scorpions they had a lot of solos, but you could never accuse them of over playing, it fit and made sense. Now a days it's like a competition whoever has the most technique wins. So to conclude this rant I would like to persuade anyone that reads this to listen to the simple stuff again it bring backs memories and will give you a much needed break from some progressive mayhem. Oh and to the "Shredders" out there I'll leave you with this, there is a very fine line between an unmusical Shredder, and a guitarist who plays fast for the purpose of the song.