Yngwie Johan Malmsteen is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In August 2009, Time magazine named Malmsteen No. 9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time.
Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which he has released numerous solo albums, and featured in numerous collaborations and guest appearances on other musicians' albums.
Tony MacAlpine is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning four decades, he has released twelve studio albums. MacAlpine is best known as an instrumental rock and heavy metal solo guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in guest appearances and collaborations.
William Sheehan is an American musician known for playing bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing style, including the use of chording, two-handed tapping, "three-finger picking" technique and controlled feedback. Sheehan has been voted "Best Rock Bass Player" five times in Guitar Player readers' polls.
Michael Amott is a Swedish guitarist, founding member of the metal bands Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars and Carnage, as well as a former member of Carcass. He is the older brother of Christopher Amott.
John Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced all of Dream Theater's albums from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999), and has been the sole producer of the band's albums released since A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011). Petrucci has also released two solo albums: Suspended Animation (2005) and Terminal Velocity (2020).
Jason Eli Becker is an American composer and guitarist. At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman, and they released two albums, Speed Metal Symphony (1987) and Go Off! (1988). Since the dissolution of Cacophony in 1989, Becker has undertaken a solo career, releasing seven albums since his 1988 debut Perpetual Burn. He later joined David Lee Roth's solo band and recorded one album with him, A Little Ain't Enough.
Derek Sherinian is an American keyboardist of Armenian descent who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X and also one of the founding members of Black Country Communion, Sons of Apollo, and Whom Gods Destroy. He has released nine solo albums that have featured a variety of prominent guest musicians, including guitarists Slash, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Michael Schenker, Steve Vai and Al Di Meola, and extensively drummer Simon Phillips.
Planet X was an instrumental rock supergroup, founded by keyboardist Derek Sherinian and drummer Virgil Donati. They were active for a decade, releasing three studio albums and a live album, each with a variety of guest musicians and oft-changing lineups.
Konstantinos Karamitroudis, better known as Gus G, is a Greek heavy metal guitarist. He currently plays with his band Firewind. He has also played in Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage, Arch Enemy, Dream Evil and Ozzy Osbourne's band.
Jeff Loomis is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary. In 2014, he joined Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, and in 2021 he joined Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz as well. He left Arch Enemy in 2023. As a solo artist he has released two albums and one EP.
Shred guitar is a virtuosic style of electric guitar performance. Categorized by its use of advanced techniques, shredding is a complex art form. Shred guitar includes fast alternate picking, sweep-picking, diminished and harmonic minor scales, tapping, and whammy bar use. Often incorporated in heavy metal, guitarists employ a guitar amplifier and a range of effects such as distortion. This creates a sustained guitar tone and may facilitate guitar feedback.
Rob Arnold is an American musician, best known for performing as the lead guitarist of the metal band Chimaira and later the rhythm guitarist of the death metal band Six Feet Under. In an interview with Roadrunner Records, he named Kirk Hammett, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman and Kerry King as being influential to his playing style.
Daniel Joseph Donegan is an American musician who is the guitarist, keyboardist and one of the founding members of heavy metal band Disturbed.
Carl Johan Grimmark is a Swedish guitarist. He has appeared with several influential Christian metal bands including Narnia, Saviour Machine, and Rob Rock. He joined the band Beautiful Sin in 2006. He has also played with Jerusalem on several occasions including Sweden rock in 2015. He's been a special guest guitarist on fellow Narnia bandmate Christian Liljegren's side projects Divinefire and Audiovision. He recorded his debut solo album titled Grimmark, where he also handles the lead vocals. Grimmark's style of playing, especially on Narnia's earlier work, is often compared to the neo-classical metal stylings of Yngwie Malmsteen, or under a more broad genre, neo-classicism.
William Peck is a guitarist from Orlando, Florida. Peck is best known for being a close friend with musician Mark Tremonti and for being featured in Guitar One Magazine several times.
Paul Hanson is an American guitarist. He started playing guitar at the age of 8. He formed bands in his hometown of Seattle, Washington, most notably Krakatoa, Silverload and Max. He is best known for his instructional series of books, CDs and videos.
Dave Reffett is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist, singer, producer, and bassist.
Ethan Brosh is a rock guitarist from Boston, Massachusetts. He is best known for his solo work and for his work as the lead guitarist in the band Burning Heat.
Jack Casey Vincent is a British guitarist. He was the lead guitarist of the American post-hardcore band Falling in Reverse from its formation in 2008 until his departure in 2015. After his departure, he founded power metal band Cry Venom. Since then, Vincent has concentrated on his solo career and teaching. He has two solo albums: Star X Speed Story, came third in the Guitar World 2013 readers poll for Best Shred album, and Life Imitating Art released in 2018. Vincent won the Alternative Press Guitarist of the Year award in 2012 and came third in the Guitar World "Best Shredder" readers pool awards in 2013.
