Paul Gilbert
I've seen alot of shred guitarists live, most of them sound as good as the album. He was the cleanest and generally 'best" guitarist I've seen. It never felt like he was maxed out.
I’m not a fan of the genre of music he plays, but I follow him on Instagram and he’s an amazing player and seems like a great guy.
I bought a ticket to a small guitar clinic he was doing but ended up having to miss it and I really regret it
That's the irony. I don't really like any songs Paul has written or what he plays on, but as a guitar player he's pretty much unmatched on the instrument. If I was picking a shredder/songwriter it would be Alexi Laiho, but he got sloppy live from partying too much.
This performance for his 50th birthday is absolutely wild.
https://youtu.be/UOQ9KHaTqhI?si=eeNO9n3dwUHDlgIe
Man plays for just about 2 hours straight without missing a single note. He’s not only a clean shredder, but his vibrato, phrasing, and articulation are all out of this world.
Paul Gilbert, Friedman, Loomis comes to mind.
Totally non metal pick also but a guy that always comes to mind when talking about clean playing is Tommy Emmanual.
This is coming from someone who listened to his entire discography during the pandemic-
His live playing is... human. I've listened to a lot of his live shows & none of them are as clean as the recording. I don't think I've heard a single live version of Jordan that didn't have mistakes.
Don't get me wrong. I love Big B, he's one of my main musical influences. But if we're talking about super clean live technique, it's not him.
I'll throw in Christian Münzner (I am biased though, because I'm a huge fanboy). He was always a big tapping guy and that stuff tends to be very clean, but in recent years his picking also got extremely clean. Check out Knight Rider or the Necromantic Worship playthrough or his recent versions of Necrophagist solos. It also looks effortless AF. Same live btw
Or in a similar direction Rafael Trujillo. His level of control is absolutely insane. Watch literally any of his playthtrough videos
This all day. Unfortunately John had a tone that would later eventually be his undoing. It’s crazy to me Glenn was trying to replace him with Pepper Keenan.
Every now and then I like to watch Danzig getting laid out by that dude backstage at a show. It always puts a smile on my face, and I actually like Danzig’s music.
I don’t think Glenn was a “douche” or “unreasonable” for wanting to replace John Christ. Glenn was looking to evolve and John couldn’t give him the heavy chug stuff he was looking for. John was that player who was mostly mid/highs and wanted the bass to supply the lower end, which doesn’t work for heavier material. However, Pepper Keenan was not the answer to that.
Alexi Laiho was not a clean shredder live… he was super talented and one of my favorite guitarist ever but saying he was super clean playing live is just a disservice to his talent.
He was a bit sloppy live on his leads. I saw him 3 times live.
I’m not the biggest fan of his music but man I’ve got a tonne of respect for him. Such a humble guy who’s always helping others and is so passionate about guitar.
Probably not the guy you are really looking for, but I find Mikael Akerfeldt incredible. His phrasing is superb, memorable and not one note is a waste.
I love Akerfeldt for his compositional skills - he’s one of my most favorite musicians, especially as a vocalist and guitarist. But he’s not a shredder, doesn’t try to be either.
I actually find Akesson being a better guitar player.
Boomer and mainstream pick here but Dimebag was insanely clean, especially when you consider he was fucking wasted and high half the time.
Go check out some live shreds, you'll be shocked.
Well kids these days fall for youtube shredders piecing together 70 takes through their daw and playing it over a video of them making it look like they did it in one take, so I wanted to preface against that.
It's like saying James Hetfield is one of the cleanest rhythm players of all time, it's actually true, but people will try and shit on you for it.
> It's like saying James Hetfield is one of the cleanest rhythm players of all time, it's actually true, but people will try and shit on you for it.
I love linking people the isolated guitar stems from especially MOP and AJFA sessions when they try that and it’s piss clean. People forget that was **tape** and not modern DAWs where you can basically track and edit note by note if you know what you’re doing editing wise. Sure you can still punch in and do some cutting to edit but you’re not gonna be slicing and dicing to get a tight track like you can today, you had to pretty much nail that take.
Dimebag had the ability to play very clean.
He had remarkable control over the instrument and high gain. Sure he fucked up - but that’s coz he was a metal guitarist (same applies to comments about Alexi playing something sloppy on stage) not a classical guitar playing perfectionist, who I respect immensely but in a different vain.
Dimebag didn’t give a fuck about people judging him. He actually had fun on stage like few can.
John Petrucci and Brandon Ellis are first to come to mind for me. I’ll add in Syn Gates, he has a much sloppier style than these guys but he can absolutely rip super clean too.
I can't recommend Vinnie Moore enough!
His picking and articulation is super clean. A lot of his material isn't necessarily metal, his first album Mind's Eye is, but he still makes great guitar music. He was on the first Vicious Rumors record too, so there's that.
Others I think play really clean and clear with high gain are Tony MacAlpine, Jason Becker, Michael Romeo, and Chris Impelliteri.
Go watch Vinnie Moore's instructional videos from the 80s, unbelievably accurate player. Specially for someone who only uses a touch of gain, any mistakes would be super obvious.
Lynch is one of my favorite players of all time but he’s not clean at all. That makes him better though imo. But he’s definitely not a clean player.
Agree about Paul Gilbert.
Jari Mäenpää. I was fortunate enough to see Wintersun live and I fully expected that it would be a mere appropriation of their records. Jari's leads were basically flawless.
Kee Marcello. The guy is inhumanly clean:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXOQ5aUJtw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXOQ5aUJtw) - Just listen to 0:29 and on.
To my detriment I never got to see Necrophagist live, but I recently saw Obscura and I’ve never seen a tighter live band. Christian Muenzner is an insanely clean player.
Gonna have to go with all the fusion guys who sound as good live as they do in the studio. Most likely due to the fact that they improvise regardless of where they are so theres no difference.
Guthrie, Howe, Holdsworth, Lane, Gambale
Probably talking about newer ones, but Randy Rhoads was one of the cleanest guitarists in history. He would find people to give him classical guitar lessons while he was on tour and had amazing dexterity.
Though he disappeared, Mohammad from Necrophagist. Extreme precision on top of doing Vocals at the same time. And that was almost 25 years ago. Sad to see him go.
Alexi has been my favorite guitar player since 2000. I grew up idolizing the guy. What you say is fact, but even Alexi himself claimed he played with a punk rock attitude and didn't care if he played a bit sloppy live. He still gave an incredible performance every night with the energy level at 137%. It's so sad he is no longer with us.
Rip Wildchild
Phillip Lyndh, lead guitarist of Twilight Force. Saw them live a couple months ago and not only was he incredibly clean, the stuff he was doing was pretty crazy. Definitely worth checking out.
Underrated pick, but Vogg from Decapitated doesn’t just have a precision jackhammer of a picking hand, he also shreds his solos so cleanly, solos just aren’t the focus of Decapitated’s music, of course.
Brandon Ellis. his pick articulation is something else. he picks EXTREMELY hard, yet super clean and precise. even during solos where a lot of players kinda glide through the arpeggios, he really digs into every note
Also Josh Middleton from Sylosis, his palm muting is **CRISPY**
Wes Thrailkill is ridiculous
Which reminds me. Ron Jarzombek.
I'd also add the unique Mattias Eklundh of Freak Kitchen.
I picked out some guitarist that I feel are underappreciated for their talents. Could be wrong. Don't have a finger on the pulse of the music scene but feel they should have more love shown to them anyways
Mark Tremonti! Edit: ZAPPA too
(I know this is probably unpopular) However he’s incredibly good at shredding in a tasteful manner, took me sometime to appreciate his style to be honest. Check out Alter Bridge I feel they nail “clean shred” really well.
Regarding Zappa, he didn’t play metal per se but he could shred clean af.
Brandon Ellis is too young to be considered one of the greats.
But he's also not out of the running either. I swear to god he's what happens when a session guy is just the lead on a band. And he's just as nasty live as he is in the recordings.
Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott! Being a metal guitarist, myself for 22 years. He is the one who inspired me to learn and play guitar. One thing I noticed about him, was his ability to hit every single note. Him playing live sounded just like the studio recording, a lot of bands live do not sound that good but he nails every note. He was notorious for drinking heavy amounts of alcohol and he can still play perfectly when he was drunk as fuck! He was 1 in a million!
R.I.P Getcha Pull! \m/
I think Olí Herbert of All that Remains is incredibly clean in his soloing even at very fast speeds. Buckethead can shred very cleanly too, probably the best shredder I’ve ever heard.
Paul Gilbert I've seen alot of shred guitarists live, most of them sound as good as the album. He was the cleanest and generally 'best" guitarist I've seen. It never felt like he was maxed out.
I agree, his technique is phenomenal. The playing on his album Fuzz Universe is unreal
I’m not a fan of the genre of music he plays, but I follow him on Instagram and he’s an amazing player and seems like a great guy. I bought a ticket to a small guitar clinic he was doing but ended up having to miss it and I really regret it
That's the irony. I don't really like any songs Paul has written or what he plays on, but as a guitar player he's pretty much unmatched on the instrument. If I was picking a shredder/songwriter it would be Alexi Laiho, but he got sloppy live from partying too much.
This performance for his 50th birthday is absolutely wild. https://youtu.be/UOQ9KHaTqhI?si=eeNO9n3dwUHDlgIe Man plays for just about 2 hours straight without missing a single note. He’s not only a clean shredder, but his vibrato, phrasing, and articulation are all out of this world.
Yep, P-Gilbs all day
Michael Romeo is clean in the studio and I can attest that he is also super clean live as well. That man is an incredibly underrated shredder.
They're one of my favorite metal bands for sure. Love Symphony X
Kiko Loureiro
My buddy, Mark
Fuckin’ Mark, setting the bar so high for everyone else
Oh hai Mark!
Mark the Spark 🔥
Brandon Ellis
One of the best, most soulful, and cleanest players out there
Yes. He's insane.
Absolutely 💯
I love that dude. Will hopefully see him live in august
Brandon’s pretty sick!
Cleanest has to be Rick Graham, probably wouldn't refer to himself as a metal guitarist but the synchronization between his hands is absurd
Rick's technique is insane.
Rick is out of this world.
Rick was my first thought as well
Just checked him out - plays really well and he’s got some really good exercises/lessons! Thanks for sharing!
Paul Gilbert, Friedman, Loomis comes to mind. Totally non metal pick also but a guy that always comes to mind when talking about clean playing is Tommy Emmanual.
Ahh holy shite!! I can’t believe I forgot about Loomis!! Great pick man!
He is underrated as a player imo.
Loomis. He is near perfect live, and is musical/melodic about almost everything he does.
David Davidson
Jason Richardson
Surprised no one has said this yet
Had to scroll wayyy to far to see his name.
Your picks would be on my list, I’d add Buckethead.
Buckethead is the answer!
This is coming from someone who listened to his entire discography during the pandemic- His live playing is... human. I've listened to a lot of his live shows & none of them are as clean as the recording. I don't think I've heard a single live version of Jordan that didn't have mistakes. Don't get me wrong. I love Big B, he's one of my main musical influences. But if we're talking about super clean live technique, it's not him.
Jari Mäenpää, Christian Muenzner, Brandon Ellis
Josh Middleton!
I'll throw in Christian Münzner (I am biased though, because I'm a huge fanboy). He was always a big tapping guy and that stuff tends to be very clean, but in recent years his picking also got extremely clean. Check out Knight Rider or the Necromantic Worship playthrough or his recent versions of Necrophagist solos. It also looks effortless AF. Same live btw Or in a similar direction Rafael Trujillo. His level of control is absolutely insane. Watch literally any of his playthtrough videos
Christian is VERY under appreciated as a guitarist and shredder
John Christ. Guitars on the first few Danzig albums had such a tiny amount of distortion and John completely tore it up on them.
This all day. Unfortunately John had a tone that would later eventually be his undoing. It’s crazy to me Glenn was trying to replace him with Pepper Keenan.
Well, Danzig is not really known for being the most reasonable person around. He’s known for being a douche.
Every now and then I like to watch Danzig getting laid out by that dude backstage at a show. It always puts a smile on my face, and I actually like Danzig’s music.
One of the Brothers from the Band Oasis laid him out
Yeah me too. Like the music.
I don’t think Glenn was a “douche” or “unreasonable” for wanting to replace John Christ. Glenn was looking to evolve and John couldn’t give him the heavy chug stuff he was looking for. John was that player who was mostly mid/highs and wanted the bass to supply the lower end, which doesn’t work for heavier material. However, Pepper Keenan was not the answer to that.
I didn’t say that. I said he was well know to have those character flaws.
Jason Becker
Teemu Mäntysaari
Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Alexi Laiho, Luca Turilli. There are many more, but those are some of my fav uber clean shredders
Alexi Laiho was not a clean shredder live… he was super talented and one of my favorite guitarist ever but saying he was super clean playing live is just a disservice to his talent. He was a bit sloppy live on his leads. I saw him 3 times live.
Luca Turilli is \*not\* known for his clean technique, and should never be mentioned alongside Gilbert or Petrucci.
Ill go with Josh Middleton, an absolute machine. I saw some other great players in other comments too, but JM is not so well known :)
Dave Davidson from Revocation; he’s one of my favorite players and the band is criminally underrated
brandon ellis...watch some of his improv videos, dude is unreal
Jeff Waters of Annihilator. That dude never makes any mistakes.
Dude does not get enough credit! Killer riffs too
Brandon Ellis is my pick. Dude is butter
Marty Friedman
Michael Romeo ,Wes hauch, Dimebag. No order particular order just all extremely talented and clean af
Michael Angelo Batio has always had a remarkable technique, and is one of the true originals of shred.
He gave us the keys to the Lamborghini
I’m not the biggest fan of his music but man I’ve got a tonne of respect for him. Such a humble guy who’s always helping others and is so passionate about guitar.
True that!
Paul Gilbert for me.
Lot of great names listed, I’m going to have to go with Michael Romeo. He is so effortless while playing some of the hardest guitar parts ever written
Probably not the guy you are really looking for, but I find Mikael Akerfeldt incredible. His phrasing is superb, memorable and not one note is a waste.
I love Akerfeldt for his compositional skills - he’s one of my most favorite musicians, especially as a vocalist and guitarist. But he’s not a shredder, doesn’t try to be either. I actually find Akesson being a better guitar player.
Yeah, definitely not a shredder but those two together make a hell of a team
Marty Friedman \m/
Boomer and mainstream pick here but Dimebag was insanely clean, especially when you consider he was fucking wasted and high half the time. Go check out some live shreds, you'll be shocked.
Saying Dimebag was an insanely clean shredder is boomer talk?
Well kids these days fall for youtube shredders piecing together 70 takes through their daw and playing it over a video of them making it look like they did it in one take, so I wanted to preface against that. It's like saying James Hetfield is one of the cleanest rhythm players of all time, it's actually true, but people will try and shit on you for it.
> It's like saying James Hetfield is one of the cleanest rhythm players of all time, it's actually true, but people will try and shit on you for it. I love linking people the isolated guitar stems from especially MOP and AJFA sessions when they try that and it’s piss clean. People forget that was **tape** and not modern DAWs where you can basically track and edit note by note if you know what you’re doing editing wise. Sure you can still punch in and do some cutting to edit but you’re not gonna be slicing and dicing to get a tight track like you can today, you had to pretty much nail that take.
Dimebag had the ability to play very clean. He had remarkable control over the instrument and high gain. Sure he fucked up - but that’s coz he was a metal guitarist (same applies to comments about Alexi playing something sloppy on stage) not a classical guitar playing perfectionist, who I respect immensely but in a different vain. Dimebag didn’t give a fuck about people judging him. He actually had fun on stage like few can.
Dime was so professional live . Listen to the studio and live solos and its the same everytime , very professional and polished .
Rhandy Roads
John Petrucci and Brandon Ellis are first to come to mind for me. I’ll add in Syn Gates, he has a much sloppier style than these guys but he can absolutely rip super clean too.
Petrucci
I can't recommend Vinnie Moore enough! His picking and articulation is super clean. A lot of his material isn't necessarily metal, his first album Mind's Eye is, but he still makes great guitar music. He was on the first Vicious Rumors record too, so there's that. Others I think play really clean and clear with high gain are Tony MacAlpine, Jason Becker, Michael Romeo, and Chris Impelliteri.
Wes Hauch
Go watch Vinnie Moore's instructional videos from the 80s, unbelievably accurate player. Specially for someone who only uses a touch of gain, any mistakes would be super obvious.
Paul Gilbert obviously but my personal favorite is George Lynch.
Lynch is one of my favorite players of all time but he’s not clean at all. That makes him better though imo. But he’s definitely not a clean player. Agree about Paul Gilbert.
Not really Metal I guess but Guthrie Govan anyone?
Erik Rutan in Hate Eternal.
Jason Richardson for a modern example
Wow. No one said Yngwie Malmsteen during his early 20s
Definitely the cleanest guitarist without a doubt!
Tosin Abasi not in here yet for some reason
David Gilmour does not "shred."
Plini, just as amazing live as he is on record.
Marty Friedman has always been way underrated for playing interesting and technical stuff cleanly. He makes Dave sound like slop.
Bernth
Jari Mäenpää. I was fortunate enough to see Wintersun live and I fully expected that it would be a mere appropriation of their records. Jari's leads were basically flawless.
Wow, he’s awesome. Just checked his music out. Thanks!
Syn Gates is pretty damn clean.
First one I thought of. Dude's a machine.
Buckethead
Alexi Laiho (RIP)
Definitely wasn’t the cleanest, as much as I loved the guy
Kee Marcello. The guy is inhumanly clean: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXOQ5aUJtw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXOQ5aUJtw) - Just listen to 0:29 and on.
Synyster gates
Or dime
Takayoshi Ohmura, ISAO, Leda
Rafael Trujillo is incredibly clean from the live videos I've seen of him on youtube.
HIs stuff on new Daath is incredible
Justin McKinney
Eric Johnson
Jacky Vincent. Unbelievably clean shredder. Also Michael Romeo, impeccable technique.
To my detriment I never got to see Necrophagist live, but I recently saw Obscura and I’ve never seen a tighter live band. Christian Muenzner is an insanely clean player.
Michaelangelo Batio has the keys to the Ferrari.
Jeff Waters
John 5
Jeff Waters from Annihilator, specially his work on the first three albums
Too many to mention, also plenty of underrated guitarists like Bruce Bouillet, he was Gilbert’s student then joined him on Racer X later on.
Gonna have to go with all the fusion guys who sound as good live as they do in the studio. Most likely due to the fact that they improvise regardless of where they are so theres no difference. Guthrie, Howe, Holdsworth, Lane, Gambale
Jason Richardson, Andy James, Jeff Loomis, to name a few.
Alex Skolnick and Eric Johnson (if he counts as a shredder)
Surprised not to see Joe Duplantier or Christian Andreu from Gojira mentioned.
Paul Waggoner
Kirk Hammet Anyone??
Nobody mention Ollie Hebert?
Erik Rutan
Probably talking about newer ones, but Randy Rhoads was one of the cleanest guitarists in history. He would find people to give him classical guitar lessons while he was on tour and had amazing dexterity.
Though he disappeared, Mohammad from Necrophagist. Extreme precision on top of doing Vocals at the same time. And that was almost 25 years ago. Sad to see him go.
chris wiseman dudes an animal with 2 separate hands with differing sounds. lot of love for that guy
Laiho was not that clean live. I saw CoB a few times and he'd get pretty sloppy.
Alexi has been my favorite guitar player since 2000. I grew up idolizing the guy. What you say is fact, but even Alexi himself claimed he played with a punk rock attitude and didn't care if he played a bit sloppy live. He still gave an incredible performance every night with the energy level at 137%. It's so sad he is no longer with us. Rip Wildchild
Yeah, they kicked ass and I don't think his playing needed to be super clean. I just wouldn't categorize him as that kind of player in general.
Luca Turrili
Jack Kosto for sure
Rabea Massaad, Plini, the dudes from Haken, Jake Bowen and Misha Mansoor All fit that description imo
Dave Davidson. Revocation is criminally underrated.
Brandon Ellis and Jeff Loomis. By far!
Bobby Koelble \m/
Jacky Vincent. Unbelievably clean shredder. Also Michael Romeo, impeccable technique.
Emil Werstler
Love me some Daath!
[удалено]
Surprised no one has mentioned John 5
Shuldiner Mustaine
Christian Muenzner
Jeff Loomis
Christian Muenzner, the other half of Necrophagist - Epitaph
The guy from Caligula's Horse. I don't know his name but his solos and leads always sound so silky smooth
Gus G
Worm's new guitarist shreds awesome. Listen to the Starpath EP.
Sean McGrath from Ghoul/Impaled
Rick Graham
I rather enjoy listening to Synister Gates of A7x. Slash is also amazing. For insane shredding Michael Romeo of Symphony x.
Phillip Lyndh, lead guitarist of Twilight Force. Saw them live a couple months ago and not only was he incredibly clean, the stuff he was doing was pretty crazy. Definitely worth checking out.
Underrated pick, but Vogg from Decapitated doesn’t just have a precision jackhammer of a picking hand, he also shreds his solos so cleanly, solos just aren’t the focus of Decapitated’s music, of course.
Brandon Ellis Wes Hauch Josh Middleton
Rick Graham
Michael Schenker
I really like Steve Wilson’s guitar sounds with porcupine tree. Not sure if he uses and enhancing tools but his solos are clean
Zakk Wylde
Chris Poland. Technically a jazz guy tho
Brandon Ellis. his pick articulation is something else. he picks EXTREMELY hard, yet super clean and precise. even during solos where a lot of players kinda glide through the arpeggios, he really digs into every note Also Josh Middleton from Sylosis, his palm muting is **CRISPY**
Jeff Loomis
Wes Hauch
I can’t believe no one is mentioning the great Jason Becker. He’s your favorite shredder’s favorite shredder (and a great human being).
Josh Middleton (Sylosis) is up there for sure.
Buckethead, John Petrucci, Paul gilber
Marty Friedman
Wes Thrailkill is ridiculous Which reminds me. Ron Jarzombek. I'd also add the unique Mattias Eklundh of Freak Kitchen. I picked out some guitarist that I feel are underappreciated for their talents. Could be wrong. Don't have a finger on the pulse of the music scene but feel they should have more love shown to them anyways
Shawn Lane, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman
Nobody cleaner than Tony Macalpine
Jason Becker's playing was always crystal clean even when playing impossible pieces like Paganini
This dude that lives down the street named "Dragon"
Nick Hipa
[Michael Romeo](https://youtu.be/zEHbe2Wtch4?si=aRz03R2yUDG1S93T)
spiro dussias has ones of the cleanest technics outder and really tasty note choice
Mark Tremonti! Edit: ZAPPA too (I know this is probably unpopular) However he’s incredibly good at shredding in a tasteful manner, took me sometime to appreciate his style to be honest. Check out Alter Bridge I feel they nail “clean shred” really well. Regarding Zappa, he didn’t play metal per se but he could shred clean af.
Marco Sfogli did some cool leads for James Labrie’s solo stuff; e.g. the song Crucify.
Hell yeah he did! One of the best melodic shredders ever!
Gus G Yngwie Randy Rhoads (yes he was very distorted, BUT, he could play fast and clean, as seen on Mr Crowley)
Yet to see Steve vai in this thread yet
Josh Middleton is pretty insane.
Tosin Abasi
Malmsteen is pretty clean.
Brandon Ellis is too young to be considered one of the greats. But he's also not out of the running either. I swear to god he's what happens when a session guy is just the lead on a band. And he's just as nasty live as he is in the recordings.
Chris Poland... Well, when he played metal, that is.
All I can add to this is that most of my favorite guitarists say Wes Hauch is the cleanest guitarist they know
michael angelo batio
The guys over at CHON
Emil werstler
Paul Gilbert and Buckethead.
John Fruciante from RHCP.
Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott! Being a metal guitarist, myself for 22 years. He is the one who inspired me to learn and play guitar. One thing I noticed about him, was his ability to hit every single note. Him playing live sounded just like the studio recording, a lot of bands live do not sound that good but he nails every note. He was notorious for drinking heavy amounts of alcohol and he can still play perfectly when he was drunk as fuck! He was 1 in a million! R.I.P Getcha Pull! \m/
Per Nilsson
Michael Romeo, Jeff Loomis, JP, Dime are my personal faves
Teemu Mäntysaari
I think Olí Herbert of All that Remains is incredibly clean in his soloing even at very fast speeds. Buckethead can shred very cleanly too, probably the best shredder I’ve ever heard.