Which Guitarists Have You Discovered, Maybe Late In Their Career, That You Never Knew Were Badass?

Both of those guys are perfect for this thread you made. :)

Steve Hunter is all over the DLR album A Little Ain't Enough when he had to fill in
for Jason Becker.
I don't think that is quite correct.

Steve was there to "teach" Jason how to "play the blues" as far as what I read from an interview with Steve.

I believe he was also there to help track but I have never heard he was a "fill in", and Jason is fantastic all over that album!
 


I had the coolest guitar teacher when I first started. His name was Denny Oliver. He would drive up to my parents house in Utah in his Corvette for my lessons. He was a former studio guitarist for the Beach Boys.
When the Beatles came to America in’64 the Beach Boys decided to become the best band in the world. They fired their studio musicians and hired the Wrecking Crew partly because of their young hot shot guitarist Glen Campbell.
 
Tim Pierce. I had no idea he played on so many hit songs. Definitely one of many unsung hero session players out there. His YouTube channel is great.
I knew Tim at the beginning of his career (before he moved to LA), but I still get a kick out of discovering songs that he played on...songs that I've admired over the years without knowing he played on them.
 
MANCUSO! If I had learned of him earlier in life, I would have never used a guitar pick. He is probably in his early 20s, so I'm 3 times his age. Even Al Dimiola says this guitarist is a beast.
 
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I remember being shocked to see Charo, the "Coochie Coochie" girl, play Flamenco as well as she did. More seriously, Adrian Legg was a guy I didn't know existed until a couple of years ago and is now my favorite acoustic player.
 
John Sykes
Had no idea he was responsible for so many of the Whitesnake songs that I loved, until much later. (Apparently David Coverdale couldn't get along with anybody. Lol. Or maybe he felt threatened by Sykes, cuz he was the whole package.) Once I got to know more about him, I was blown away that he played a Les Paul Custom! Imo, that's got to be one of the hardest guitars to play fast. He's got so much energy, and then I learned that he was a great singer as well! Tried to get into Blue Murder, but it just didn't resonate with me for some reason.
 
I don't think that is quite correct.

Steve was there to "teach" Jason how to "play the blues" as far as what I read from an interview with Steve.

I believe he was also there to help track but I have never heard he was a "fill in", and Jason is fantastic all over that album!

Make me wonder. I have heard (interviews) and read all kinds of conflicting things about that
record, the sessions, and who played what. I know Jason is on the record playing some leads, but
he has only two writing credits (last two songs on the album??)... and by all accounts the ALS was
afflicting him big time by the time they were in the studio recording. I have heard he couldn't even
stand in the studio and the tremors in his hands had started already and that was why Steve came
on board.

Hard to argue if it is from Steve's own lips, though. :)
 
The prominence of the keyboards on that album make it a tough listen for me. Sounds
like Autograph was backing Dave. ;)
 
Make me wonder. I have heard (interviews) and read all kinds of conflicting things about that
record, the sessions, and who played what. I know Jason is on the record playing some leads, but
he has only two writing credits (last two songs on the album??)... and by all accounts the ALS was
afflicting him big time by the time they were in the studio recording. I have heard he couldn't even
stand in the studio and the tremors in his hands had started already and that was why Steve came
on board.

Hard to argue if it is from Steve's own lips, though. :)
But songwriting credits are not the same as recording... ;)

The Wikipedia page for the album lists Hunter as Rhythm and Slide guitar.

Steve Hunter was a veteran musician and the other writing credits include Robbie Nevil and Craig Goldie and the guys that had already been in Vai's band for years. In particular Gregg Bisonnette and Brett Tuggle.

Becker was the in all honesty most likely in the band because he could play really well, not because of songwriting skills... But getting 1st credit on 2 of 12 tracks of a DLR album is pretty damn good!

The prominence of the keyboards on that album make it a tough listen for me. Sounds
like Autograph was backing Dave. ;)
Most likely the previously mentioned Brett Tuggle contributions. I personally really like that album, though.
 
Annie Clark from St. Vincent

She’s been around for a while (thought not an old timer) but never knew what a unique guitar player she was and how talented.

Always heard of the band but though it was just the typical modern pop crap you’d hear on the radio so never bothered to actually listen
 
Annie Clark from St. Vincent

She’s been around for a while (thought not an old timer) but never knew what a unique guitar player she was and how talented.

Always heard of the band but though it was just the typical modern pop crap you’d hear on the radio so never bothered to actually listen
Just to be clear, St Vincent is not "the band", it's the stage name Annie uses.

And I guess at least Steve Vai agrees with you since he invited her to be part of the last Vai Academy. She's pretty good and very creative with a lot of interesting writing techniques, although her music isn't really my thing.

She is also the niece of Tuck Andress (of jazz act Tuck and Patti) and I believe was a touring tech with them for a while.
 
Does that mean nita Strauss isn't part of Alice Cooper since that's Vincent Damon Furnier's stage name?....I'm confused 🤔

He did change his name legally in 1975 to his stage name but isn't that kinda the same thing?
 
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