Gods dammit, cliffs of dover is just a good song .. it's not the grandest piece of guitar wank ever made. Not on any level, technical skill, feeling or pure sound aesthetics.

That was an opinion, but I like to think it's somewhat educated one. I do like Eric Johnson and I've also had Ah Via Musicom in my collection for a long time, but I find him a little boring. Cliffs of Dover is definetly the best song from that album, I think, but I'm not sure it fully deserves all this godly praise. :p

Having a hard time choosing between Vai and Johnson. Both are stupidly good musicians.

petrucci. just a personal favorite. an idol for me. i'd love to be able to play like him someday.

this poll is a little silly if you think about it. all of these guitar players are incredible and extremely versatile, though i haven't heard much johnson.

yngwie is a little overrated maybe, but he's still fun.

They all play well, but without sould. None of there stuff makes me tingle, I think they pretty much sound the same. When you listen to Beck or Clapton, you realise just how empty those listed guitarists really are

Tell me that piece has no soul, and I'll have to make the assumption that YOU have no soul.

I have no soul.

But seriously... that bored me to f*cking death.

What do you think of Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton?

EDIT: And now that I think about it, what do you think of classical music?

I usually enjoy them a lot more than the G3 bunch.

I used that example BECAUSE it's so widely excepted as soulful, he and Satch have other good ones. But of course, there's plenty of their songs that aren't emotionally touching in the least, but then that isn't their purpose. That's like writing off any number of metal bands as poor because you get no emotional response from their music.

Bah, what's the point of arguing this? They're virtuosos, they're obviously good at what they do .. otherwise, they wouldn't be famous for being good.

If you don't like it, fine - most people don't. If you do like it, then that's also fine.

Many of these discussions seem to eventually burn down to "my taste in music is better than your taste in music" and unless it really entertains you, that's a stupid argument to have with someone on a forum.