I was thinking about redoing my ginormous list of the 10 best everthings, but I decided to do this instead, since most of my issues were with the guitar list. So, here you go:

Guitarist (bands)

Rock

1. Eric Clapton (Cream, solo, Yardbirds, Derek & the Dominos)

Clapton at his finest: "Crossroads" with Cream (1968 )

2. Jimi Hendrix (Jimi Hendrix Experience, solo)

Hendrix at his finest: "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" with the Experience (1968 )

3. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin, Yardbirds)

Page at his finest: "Stairway to Heaven" (1971)

4. Pete Townshend (the Who)

Townshend at his finest: "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971)

5. Joe Perry & Brad Whitford (Aerosmith)

Perry and Whitford at their finest: "Love in an Elevator" (1989)

6. Dickey Betts & Duane Allman (the Allman Bros. Band)

Betts and Allman at their finest: "Blue Sky" (1972)

7. Angus and Malcolm Young (AC/DC)

the Youngs at their finest: "Back in Black" (1980)

8. Keith Richards (the Rolling Stones)

Richards at his finest: "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968 )

9. Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)

Van Halen at his finest: "Eruption" (1978 )

10. Alex Lifeson (Rush)

Lifeson at his finest: "Working Man" (1974)

Alternative

1. Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)

Cobain at his finest: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991)

2. Mike McCready & Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam)

McCready and Gossard at their finest: "Alive" (1991)

3. John Frusciante (the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Frusciante at his finest: "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" (album) (1991)

4. Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)

Corgan at his finest: "Geek U.S.A." (1993)

5. Rivers Cuomo (Weezer)

Cuomo at his finest: "Say It Ain't So" (1994)

6. Tom DeLonge (blink-182, Angels and Airwaves)

DeLonge at his finest: "Enema of the State" with blink-182 (album) (1999)

7. Jonny Greenwood & Ed O'Brien (Radiohead)

Greenwood and O'Brien at their finest: "Paranoid Android" (1997)

8. Dave Baksh (Sum 41)

Baksh at his finest: "In Too Deep" (2001)

9. Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)

Thayil at his finest: "Black Hole Sun" (1994)

10. Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)

Grohl at his finest: "Everlong" (1997)

Real Metal

1. Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)

Iommi at his finest: "War Pigs" (1970)

2. Kirk Hammett & James Hetfield (Metallica)

Hammett and Hetfield at their finest: "Master of Puppets" (1986)

3. Dave Mustaine & Marty Friedman (Megadeth)

Mustaine and Friedman at their finest: "Hangar 18" (1990)

4. Chris Poland (Megadeth)

Poland at his finest: "Good Mourning/Black Friday" (1986)

5. Glen Tipton & K.K. Downing (Judas Priest)

Tipton and Downing at their finest: "Painkiller" (1990)

6. Slash (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver)

Slash at his finest: "Paradise City" (1987)

7. Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot)

Rhoads at his finest: "Crazy Train" with Ozzy (1980)

8. Dave Murray & Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)

Murray and Smith at their finest: "Number of the Beast" (1982)

and for lack of any other guitarists in this category...

Glam Metal

1. Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi)

Sambora at his finest: "Livin' on a Prayer" (1986)

2. Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe)

Mars at his finest: "Dr. Feelgood" (album) (1989)

3. Ace Frehley (Kiss)

Frehley at his finest: "Shock Me" (1977)

4. Steve Clark & Phil Collen (Def Leppard)

Clark and Collen at their finest: "Photograph" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (1983, 87)

5. Robbin Crosby & Warren DeMartini (Ratt)

Crosby and DeMartini at their finest: "Wanted Man" and "Round and Round" (1984)

90s/00s Metal

1. John Petrucci (Dream Theater)

Pertucci at his finest: "Under a Glass Moon" (1992)

2. Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave)

Morello at his finest: "Rage Against the Machine" (album) (1992)

3. Synyster Gates & Zacky Vengeance (Avenged Sevenfold)

Gates and Vengeance at their finest: "Beast and the Harlot" (2005)

4. Herman Li & Sam Totman (DragonForce)

Li and Totman at their finest: "Through the Fire and Flames" (2006)

5. Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains)

Cantrell at his finest: "Man in the Box" (1990)

6. Daron Malakian (System of a Down)

Malakian at his finest: "BYOB" (2005)

7. Dan Donegan (Disturbed)

Donegan at his finest: "Indestructible" (2008 )

And there you go. My first blog post in forever. How'd I do?

Another blog dedicated to the under-appreciated bass guitar. Each song here includes an awesome intro, recurring riff, or bridge part. For those readers ho aren't music geniuses, a bridge is a transitional section of a song. Usually preempts a guitar solo or change in tempo/key/etc. of the song. This list is in the same format as all my other lists. Here we go:

Sweet Emotion- Aerosmith (Tom Hamilton)

Simply great technique. It's what makes the song the song.

Are You Gonna Be My Girl- JET (Mark Wilson)

Appropriate intro for the song. It sets the mood nicely. Until guitar takes over, anyway.

Reptilia- the Strokes (Nikolai Fraiture)

Simple, but powerful. Follows through nicely with the rest of the song.

Suicide and Redemption, Cyanide- Metallica (Robert Trujillo)

New guy Robert Trujillo proves his worth with the beginning thumps of this 10-minute instrumental off of Metallica's brand new album. The riff near the beginning of Cyanide is pretty nice, too.

Sleepwalker- Megadeth (James Lomenzo)

Another latest album by thrash metal legend Megadeth. The bass intro accompanies the guitar intro very nicely. It's nice and clean, but alas disappears when the song dives into it's angry thrash that continues till the song ends.

Constant Motion- Dream Theater (John Myung)

Great bridge beat here. Brief, powerful, and everything a good bridge should have.

Working Man- Rush (Geddy Lee)

Geddy's awesome bass talents shine brightly in the bridge for this 7-minute epic off of their first album. Noteworthy indeed.

Suck My Kiss- Red Hot Chili Peppers (Flea)

Admit it, if you were a bass guitarist, you'd wanna be like Flea. Never sitting on the sidelines and always ready to kick out another great line. This song is no exception, which brings me to our next track...

Tell Me Baby- RHCP (Flea)

This one is just made of pure musical win. Listen to it once for me, and I dare you to come back and tell me you weren't blown away by the awesome bass skillz shown here by the musical genius that is Michael "Flea" Balzary.

Okay, that's all I've got for right now. Enjoy!

In northeastern Ohio, it's friggin' windy right know. It's blowing doors open all over my house. It's getting a little annoying.

Rock Band 2 came out today only for Xbox 360 due to some exclusivity contract signed with Microsoft by Harmonix, developers of RB and former developers of the Guitar Hero franchise. Jeez, that sentence was long. Sadly, my Xbox 360 is still sick and I am unable to purchase said awesomeness. *sad face* I guess I'll have to wait another week or so. Damn.

Also, my uncle came to town this weekend and took us to a big fancy restaurant downtown. It was a delicious (and fancy) meal, but it took like two friggin' hours to get served le course de main...that's fake French for my f***ing steak. On the way in, we saw Cedric the Entertainer and posse on their way out, which was kind of cool. I didn't have a camera or any paper, so I have no proof (but come on, if i was lying, I would have seen someone much more famous).

So that's the deal right now. Enjoy.