Better guitarist. Li vs. EVH
 

Who do you believe is the better guitarist?

I believe Herman Li because he plays faster than basically every guitarist alive, and he plays by far the hardest material. Van Halen is really good too, but he's just got too big of an ego. Sorry Van Halen marks.

Shame it's all tuneless drivel

Has anyone ever told you that a musician's credibility is not entirely based on how technical he is?

Point taken.

However, when you consider the fact that a computer in two seconds can replicate what a 'technical' guitarist has practised his whole life to be able to play, technical ability on its own doesn't appear so glamorous. And this is why I find it hard to believe that anyone could truly base a musician's credibility on how technical he/she is.

Are you serious? DragonForce wankery is simple chromatic and minor arpeggios, scales, and hammer ons played really fast. Nothing technical about it. Learn what you're talking about before comparing Herman Li to one of the most inventive guitar players in the last 30 years.

I like how someone's ego apparently effects their guitar playing skills now.

You can credit Mr. Van Halen with half of the guitar solo's and leads in melodic death metal.

Plus didn't he pretty much invent/make popular the hammer on? I know no one used it like he did before him.

DragonForce RULES!!
hahaha DragonForce cracks me up

Hammer Ons were around before EVH. Page used them, notably on the Heartbreaker solo.

What EVH revolutionized about guitar playing was his two hand tapping. Which he didn't invent, Steve Hackett of Genesis did it a good while before EVH did, but EVH was the first to use it in a hard rock context, and he was the one who made it popular.

No he did innovate. He didn't innovate tapping but he innovated tapping in metal guitar. Most metal guitarists today owe something to EVH in one way or another.

You need to get your facts straight.

Jimmy Page never tapped, ever. He didn't tap in Heartbreaker. Learn the difference between hammer ons and tapping, they're two completely different techniques. EVH credited Pages hammer ons as an influence on his tapping technique, but its not the same thing.

How on earth could someone compare the two?? Eddie Van Halen >>>>>>>>>>> Herman Li. Herman Li would not be playing the way he does if it wasnt for Eddie Van Halen.

Do you like metal? Because if you do, list your favorite metal guitarists, I'm sure more than half of them are influenced by Eddie Van Halen.

eddie no doubt..... hes liks 10 times better at the least

This isn't even a fair comparison Eddie hands down

Considering the fact that Herman Li's playing is sped up digitally and that he can't actually play anything as fast as it is on their records, this poll is a joke. I mean, seriously, just listen to a Dragonforce song and you can hear how the attack on each note is all fuzzy and quick.





EVH, hands down, is the better guitarist. Herman Li? ....Shit's weak

Who care whos the best they are all good if people like them, I like Dragon Force and Van Halen both and they are both very skilled, but I think that Eddie has a bit more experience on the guitar.

Eddie, but not really the best. li is a joke, if you like tapping solos, then he's ur guy otherwise pffffft.

Where do you even hear that? I've never heard that before and I have two friends who saw them live, both say he played just as fast live.

It's just the way it sounds....you can tell that it's sped up. Guitars just don't sound like that. If not sped up, it's HEAVILY edited. They played here not too long ago and I know plenty of people who went. Everyone said they played everything way slower than the recorded versions.

wait.... are you saying li is better than eddie at tapping solos?? eddie was well known for his tapping... i havent listened to dragonforce that much so you migh tmean PURE tapping solos.. but eddie is definately a god at tapping...

^ I mean not knowing how to solo tapping solo's, which Li does, Ediie does it right.

I don't like new Eddie, I liked him when he was playing the hard rock stuff like Running With The Devil and Really Got Me, the new stuff I think is just garbage to me. Eddie is still great either way, but I just don't like his new stuff much. If he went back to that I would say that Li is better then him.

django reinhardt > both of those wankers.

David Gilmour>all

^ He's Pretty good, but Swisgar Swigelf is pretyy fresh

Because verbal claims from one event and saying that it sounds "heavily edited" (considering it's a produced CD of a distorted electric guitar enables you to tell that it's artificially sped up?)

There's nothing to do with the fact that for the CD recording he'd've spent loads of time practising and could've just done attempt after attempt to get it just right for the recording, scrapping previous versions which isn't exactly possible live with the effect of it being heavily edited having something to do with the fact that it's a produced sound track featuring a distorted electric guitar?

I'm not saying I know for sure, but then neither am I the one making opinionated claims as if they're fact.

wow...
 

:rofl:

have you ever HEARD LI LIVE?

he sounds TERRIBLE

^

I have heard Li live, he wasn't that far out. Point remains it's still a pretty big claim that you're making with fuck all to back it up. You reckon Van Halens better, great but use an actual reason as opposed to concocting some bull**** you don't have evidence for.

My vote went for Li btw, primarily because I prefer the stuff he writes (irrelevant or whether or not he actually plays at that speed, or plays well in a gig). As for people waxing lyrical about how metal guitarists have all built on Van Halen, Einstein himself used the phrase "we get where we are by standing on the shoulders of giants" and nobody's debating how smart he is; people build off the progress of others. It's how the world works. Doesn't make them any less worthy of individual recognition

^ He's right.

Of the two lesser mortals on offer, my vote is Van Halen.
Not that I care for either...but there ya go.

o wnat DR bur als he is impossible to find

Pardon?

sorry typing in the dark
I want some Django, but i can never find him

It's who is better, not who has inspired more people, Herman is better at guitar. I much prefer VH though.

I find dragonforce to be awefully repetitive as far as underlying rhythms and chord progressions go. In addition, Herman Li is not dynamic at all. He basically plays at absurd speeds, volume, and presence at all times. He lacks the ability to create subtle, intricate soundscapes that the untrained ear would not hear, as EVH obviously can. His playing style seems to stem from pure muscle memory and not at all from creativity. I can't really tell if he actually knows music theory, or just comes up with cool sounding parts over hours and hours of tinkering, but in actuality, he does play in a lot of interesting modes and wether it's digitally altered or not, he does play really fast. I hate his tone. It is brash and muddy.

Everyone is forgetting about EVH's use of the pinch harmonic. everyone uses that now.

by no means would I consider Van Halen the best, but he definitely pwns Herman Li.

This would be a much better poll if say we added some really great guitarists .
say Dimebag or Randy rhoads ..
hmmmmmmmmmmm

randy rhoads, maybe, dimebag....uh....no.

Already done it you're about 2 weeks too late.

I still don't understand all the hype over Dimebag. I remember before he died only Pantera fanboys hyped him now it seems like everyone is.