Is Edge one of the ten best guitarists ever?
 

Don't laugh but being inducted with the other members of U2 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame merits him some consideration.



Agree or disagree?



Without him, U2 is just another band.


Bono is awesome but Edge is the most important member and his signature riffs define U2.

First of all, I believe his full name is The Edge, not Edge. I don't think any of us know him well enough to start calling him just Edge yet. ;D

I think he is definitely up there; not sure of top 10 status, but I haven't started a list personally yet, so he could very well be.

listen to the fly.. that is all.. top 5 for sure.

Jimi Hendrix. Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughn, are Eric Clapton would be in the top ten so there is space for him.

no.

Of course not. Top ten? Don't be silly.

I'd have to give a big no on that one as well.

Hard to say, really. One could argue that he's one of the most original and innovative guitar players in the history of rock, except that he stole everything he knows from Keith Levene. But I'd much rather listen to The Edge's work than yet another metal shred meister who can play diminished scales at a million miles an hour.

That was my first thought too.

This reminds me of the yearly Rolling Stone polls where everyone votes for their favorite musicians, or as RS puts it, "the best". I stopped buying RS eventually because I got sick of seeing all the clueless readers voting for every member of U2 being "the best"...EVERY STINKING YEAR. U2 may be a great band, and they may make great music as a collective unit, but in no way, shape or form are any of their individual members any better than at least 2 dozen other musicians that can be named for each of their respective instruments. These polls are popularity contests, and have nothing to do with talent.

So, in answer to the original question..........no.

^^ Well said.

Steve Vai, Albert Collins, Alex Lifeson, Prince, Stanley Jordan, Andres Segovia, B.B. King, Ace Frehley, Brian May, Frank Zappa, Billy Gibbons, Andy Summers, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson.....

OOPS! No more room. Sorry, Mr. Edge.

;)

His riffs are brilliantly simple in most cases, but there's a lot of guys who can pick circles around him.

Best? No.

Ten most influential? Possibly...

Definitely one of U2's top 10 guitarists.

Having a great sound and being a great guitarist are two different things.

There are great guitarists that never became a professional musicians or recorded. You will never get a consensus on the Top 10 Greatest Guitarists.

I do like his sound :-)

I do disagree on your summary. U2 could have been successful without The Edge but U2 would much less likely have become a success without Bono.

Try thinking of anyone else singing "Where The Streets Have No Name". It would not sound right.

Now picture another guitarist playing the same shake progressions that The Edge does, but with Bono still doing vocals .... I think it would work.

The Edge was not the first to do that style of rythm guitar. Although he created a unique rock version of it, it was used in R&B ... Even the Talking Heads used a similar style (not the same) on "More Songs About Buildings And Food."

It isn't an overly complex or demanding style. Just very very catchy.

The Edge, the Edge, the Edge, the Edge. He is a rare and true guitar original and one of the subtlest guitar heroes of all time. He's dedicated to ensemble playing and he subsumes his guitar ego in the group. But do not be fooled. Take Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Neil Young, Pete Townshend -- guitarists who defined the sound of their band and their times. If you play like them, you sound like them. If you are playing those rhythmic two-note sustained fourths, drenched in echo, you are going to sound like the Edge, my son. Go back to the drawing board and chances are you won’t have much luck. There are only a handful of guitar stylists who can create a world with their instruments, and he's one of them. The Edge's guitar playing creates enormous space and vast landscapes. It is a thrilling and a heartbreaking sound that hangs over you like the unsettled sky. In the turf it stakes out, it is inherently spiritual, it is grace and it is a gift.

-From Springsteen's induction speech of U2 into the RARHOF

(Chrisedge = Huge U2 fan, but I might have a hard time putting The Edge in the Top 10 all time guitarists)

:up: I agree

I would much rather hear someone that has a unique sound, such as The Edge, than hear some supposedly great, technical master such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Satriani or others run up and down the scales or fit as many notes as they can into each song.

I agree with that too. I do love guitar solos, but not the ones from those dudes. I prefer the Kirk Hammett, Chuck Schuldiner, Randy Rhoads or Alexi Laido....but that's just me. The Edge is certainly a fine musician and a talented guitarist and songwriter (assuming he writes or co-writes some of their stuff).

Technical skill does not equal "greatness" in my book. Look at Tony Iommi, the guy basically created an entire genre of rock, but you couldn't argue that he's a technically masterful guitarist. Fer crissake, he only has three fingers. He's still got to be in the top ten.

To me, a better measure of greatness is how instantly recognizable a musicians sound is or how many people imitate that sound. The average person could hear Jimi Hendrix being played faintly out or a car window driving by and be able to recognize his distinctive tone. Same is true of the Edge. After a few notes, you know it's him. In that sense, he is one of the greatest.

Couldn't agree any more with this statement and that's why I'd have no problem with Mr. E in the top ten.

I can agree with that statement also, because technically there are many that could put The Edge to shame. And even still, take out all of your Berklee/GTI style boys and I still could not find a spot anywhere near the top 10. Do I like what he does, style tone etc, sure ... but that still does not change my opinion. I could take many guitar players who play a lot less notes (opposite of a Vai/Malmsteen/Gilbert/Macalpine(sp?) etc who are gifted at what they do) and blow him away.

He owns the top position of all time in my book; you could follow wendersfan's lead and accuse The Edge of treading where others went before but, really, we all know that to be an inherently flawed argument since every musician builds off inspiration he takes from his musical predecessors. Others have more virtuosity (Hendrix) and others practice the instrument with a more clasically-trained kind of perfection (Stanley Jordan), but no guitarist in history has pulled off as adroitly what The Edge does so consistently--yank raw emotion out of the listener. A single chord from The Edge's guitar can put me at the edge (no pun intended) of shedding tears or feeling so exalted, I might burst into light--sometimes both at once. He has captured the human heart and human soul in his playing--I'm sure that sounds like a bunch of poetic hooey to many of you who prefer your musicians more cultivated or more sonically assaultive or experimental, but for me, music is about emotion and The Edge's minimalist, signature sound leaves me raw every time. Oh, and I have to go on record as saying there is more power and inspiration in The Edge accidentally bumping into a guitar and knocking it over than anything I've ever heard Eric Clapton do in his grossly overrated career. I flat-out canNOT understand what the appeal is of this guy in certain musical circles. I've yet to hear him do anything with a guitar that doesn't immediately make me feel like I've swallowed Nyquil.

his music does nothing to me, so I guess it's just personal preference. I also think you're confusing "best" with "favorite," but perhaps not.