Vote for Eddie! Greatest Guitarist of all time

[VH Freak]

The first ever greatest guitarist poll at Guitar World. http://www.guitarworld.com/poll-grea...s-randy-rhoads. Eddie so far is in the sweet 16 and is matched up against my 2nd favorite guitarist Randy Rhoads.

[Nelah]

Eddie is kicking it, around 75%....

[ErickC]

Jeez that poll has been going on for months now, i had completely forgotten about it and thought it had ended already.
here's the bracket for those who havent seen it yet the remaining Sweet 16
Sweet16Bracket.jpg

My final 4
Hendrix vs Page
EVH vs Dimebag

And i predict EVH will be in the final but vs who? That Hendrix vs Page matchup is tough to call.

[DLR 1973]

Eddie is kicking it, around 75%....

Obviously Eddie is kicking Randy's ass.

Randy Rhoads died before his time; before he was in his prime.

Randy was gifted and who knows what masterpieces he would have written had he lived.

I voted for Eddie. But pitching a 57 year old muscian who lived his life, wrote and recorded music over 35 years against a man that died aged 25 years, seems like a mismatched competition, that's outcome is certain before it even started.

Conversely, dead artists can benefit from an increase in popularity, record sales etc, much like a cult of personality.

I can not see how Guitar World expects to have a level playing field for this competition.

This directly effects the credibility of this competition and any worth attributed to the outcome.

Will the winner actually be the Greatest Guitarist of All Time? I doubt it.

Certainly not because of this competition.

I have cast my vote for this round of the competition, but having now questioned it's relevance, should I continue to follow the rounds and continue voting for something I don't now feel is relevant? I guess only I can answer that.

This competition maybe purely a marketing PR stunt by Guitar World to ultimately increase it's revenue by advertisers and sponsors.

Randy Rhoads, the man, and the musician, deserves respect, not this commercial, point scoring, 'I'm better than you' competition.

An obvious choice would have been a clip from the Ozzy years, so here's a solo from his Quiet Riot days.

[rawkinrobbievh1]

unfortunately , Hendrix will likely take the prize in this poll .

DLR stated that it was unfair to judge Eddie's 35 yr career VS Randy and his brief stint on the world stage .

i have to say though , that even if EVH only released 2 albums to match the 2 that RR did with OZZY - i'd still pick Edward .
not to diss RR at all . he's one of my fav guitarists ever and i love his playing ...

[unchainedguitars]

Rhoads has the benefit of dying in his prime, musically speaking.

He passed away at the top of his game, forver young & blindingly good.

Eddie, though, has been beaten & battered throughout the years, with addiction & poor musical
output, clouding his legacy.
Had Edward died after WACF or FW, he'd have the same perfect record as a Randy Rhoads.

So, in that sense, Randy has the advantage.
Same deal with Jimi.

[EVH_Erupted]

Rhoads has the benefit of dying in his prime, musically speaking.

He passed away at the top of his game, forver young & blindingly good.

Eddie, though, has been beaten & battered throughout the years, with addiction & poor musical
output, clouding his legacy.
Had Edward died after WACF or FW, he'd have the same perfect record as a Randy Rhoads.

So, in that sense, Randy has the advantage.
Same deal with Jimi.

I think if he had died a few years later, like maybe '88 instead of '82, he probably would have surpassed many guitarists. He probably would have been wiping the floor with the likes of Yngwie, or at least been on the same level of playing. The guy was really starting to branch out just around the time he died.

[Jungle Drummer]

Rhoads has the benefit of dying in his prime, musically speaking.

He passed away at the top of his game, forver young & blindingly good.

Eddie, though, has been beaten & battered throughout the years, with addiction & poor musical
output, clouding his legacy.
Had Edward died after WACF or FW, he'd have the same perfect record as a Randy Rhoads.

So, in that sense, Randy has the advantage.
Same deal with Jimi.

But, you see, RR DOESNT have a perfect record. See the two Quiet Riot records.
Atleast Ed will win this round, rightly so. He will probably even make the final, but predictably, Jimi will win. Yawn.

[Incomudro]

Rhoads has the benefit of dying in his prime, musically speaking.

He passed away at the top of his game, forver young & blindingly good.

Eddie, though, has been beaten & battered throughout the years, with addiction & poor musical
output, clouding his legacy.
Had Edward died after WACF or FW, he'd have the same perfect record as a Randy Rhoads.

So, in that sense, Randy has the advantage.
Same deal with Jimi.

Yeah, all musicians have a period of peak creativity and virtuosity.
You can plot that curve for virtually any individual rock artist or band.

I've often heard people say: "Imagine what Hendrix would be doing now?"
Well, not much probably - maybe he'd be in his blues period...
Point is artists, and in this case guitar players don't really get better and better as time progresses.
They don't gain dexterity and speed - if that's something you want to measure.
They may gain maturity which can be admirable...

[ErickC]

Obviously Eddie is kicking Randy's ass.

Randy Rhoads died before his time; before he was in his prime.

Randy was gifted and who knows what masterpieces he would have written had he lived.

I voted for Eddie. But pitching a 57 year old muscian who lived his life, wrote and recorded music over 35 years against a man that died aged 25 years, seems like a mismatched competition, that's outcome is certain before it even started.

Conversely, dead artists can benefit from an increase in popularity, record sales etc, much like a cult of personality.

I can not see how Guitar World expects to have a level playing field for this competition.

This directly effects the credibility of this competition and any worth attributed to the outcome.

Will the winner actually be the Greatest Guitarist of All Time? I doubt it.

Certainly not because of this competition.

I have cast my vote for this round of the competition, but having now questioned it's relevance, should I continue to follow the rounds and continue voting for something I don't now feel is relevant? I guess only I can answer that.

This competition maybe purely a marketing PR stunt by Guitar World to ultimately increase it's revenue by advertisers and sponsors.

Randy Rhoads, the man, and the musician, deserves respect, not this commercial, point scoring, 'I'm better than you' competition.

An obvious choice would have been a clip from the Ozzy years, so here's a solo from his Quiet Riot days.

there were like a gillion rounds previous to this match up. Ok maybe not that many but this was not a preselected match up. Here's the original starting bracket and you will see who EVH and RR beat to face off vs each other

http://dl.guitarworld.com/GW-Greates...ollBracket.pdf