Slash vs. Zakk Wylde vs. Randy Rhoads

[Towelie]

Just for fun.

[American Psycho]

Randy Rhoads

[Cdlove]

Honesty, none of those guitarists are really "virtuosos". But I like Zakk the most out of that list.

[Vincent Vega]

Slash, Zakk and then Randy. I never really got the love some have for Randy Rhoades. He was a good guitarist and I like his work with Ozzy but I don't see why some laud him like he was a guitar god.

[GUNSNROSES513]

Their all great guitarists in their own rights. But Slash is my favorite of the mix.

[bacardimayne]

In terms of pure skill,

Rhoads > Wylde > Slash

In terms of who's my "favorite",

Slash > Rhoads > Wylde

[inthisriver]

null vote.

[Black Sabbath]

Randy.

[Shuffle]

Voted as to who is my favourite, and that's Slash. Randy Rhoads was much much better technically, and is together with Eddie Van Halen the only shred-guitarist that I like. Don't really care much for Zakk either way.

[Spoon87]

Out of personal preference:

Slash, with Zakk being a close second, and then somewhen Randy Rhoads...

[J Dog]

Slash. But they all kick ass.

[FuddMckagan]

Favourite: Slash

Best: Randy

[PappyTron]

Nuno Bettencourt.

[inthisriver]

null vote.

Changed my vote.

Randy

[moreblack]

It's not Zakk, that's for sure.

[Bumble's Bridge Pickup]

In terms of pure skill,

Rhoads > Wylde > Slash

In terms of who's my "favorite",

Slash > Rhoads > Wylde

this

[dalsh327]

Randy never realized his full potential on guitar. Hard to say what direction he would've gone in as a musician.

Zappa said Warren from Ratt was an amazing guitarist, but had he really established himself as a memorable guitarist outside of the band?

[tat2d1]

Randy is the best on that list, imo. Slash is my fav on that list. Zakk just never really did it for me for some reason.

[Powerage5]

Slash isn't a virtuoso by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm going Randy.

[Towelie]

Slash isn't a virtuoso by any stretch of the imagination.

I disrespectfully disagree.

[Powerage5]

Slash isn't a virtuoso by any stretch of the imagination.

I disrespectfully disagree.

Give me a good argument for why he is. You literally never see Slash using any of the typical "virtuoso techniques" such as tapping, sweep picking, harmonics, etc. He clearly does not understand theory to the level which virtuosos do; his solos even now are still heavily based off of pentatonic scales, and his chord progressions are far from innovative. I never said Slash is a bad player, he just isn't nearly good enough on a technical level to be considered a virtuoso.

[MidnightRuMidnMidnight ner]

Slash gets my vote easily, I prefer him over Randy anytime. I'm just not a big fan of Randy's playing. He gets too much love IMO. 

And I'm not familiar with Zakk's work besides Ozzy's "No More Tears". 

 

[Powderfinger]

(I mean no disrespect to the OP) 

You can’t have a poll like this in any way meaningful. 3 very different guitarists with obviously different levels of proficiency. Slash is an emotive player and different to the other two. A different question to ask if you want to compare those 3 is who wrote the more memorable Riffs, Solos & Songs. Musicality in a guitar player will always be far more interesting to me than the speed and tricks they employ. Randy Rhoads straddled both worlds, Slash only one & Zakk Wylde seems to be only in one world also. 
 

Comparing guitar players is like comparing different types of alcohol. Winter I want Guinness & Whiskey, Summer I want Lager & weed. I’m glad they’re all there. 

[Powderfinger]

5 hours ago, MidnightRuMidnMidnight ner said:

Slash gets my vote easily, I prefer him over Randy anytime. I'm just not a big fan of Randy's playing. He gets too much love IMO. 

And I'm not familiar with Zakk's work besides Ozzy's "No More Tears". 

 

Im in no way a big Ozzy solo/Randy fan but I think he gets the respect he deserves rather than way too much love. The guy was pretty unique for his day and he had chops. There’s guys out there like Stevie Ray Vaughan & Ry Cooder out there that I don’t like but I respect what they do and done. It’s not my thing but I can see it’s someone very talented. 

[Rovim]

it depends what speaks to you musically imo. these 3 players have all developed their own thing from the soup of influences they were exposed to. It's a very personal thing, for me, what Slash was able to achieve is remarkable, it touches my soul the most out of these 3, but I like them all for different reasons.

Randy had something very special as well imo and Zakk is not all pinch harmonics either. He also does his own thing but I relate to it less. He came up with some great stuff though which I still enjoy, especially his earlier work. Nowdays, it doesn't feel as inspired.

bottom line is that I believe a great guitar player is like a melting pot of different parts of what came before them and kinda unites it to a fresh sounding style that reflects their own musical filter so that way it sounds like you're speaking your own language. Slash is a great exaple of this imo and you can't really compare these sort of things cause it's like comparing people. It's subjective which person you like the best cause it's also dictated by what kind of person you are. Same thing with the listener and the guitar player I think.