Supposedly, this is a tribute to Les Paul.
It’s pretty hard to fuck up a top ten list this badly, you have to really work hard.
Putting Slash at number 2 is a good start.
Leaving off Eddie Van Halen gets you very close to home.
This entry though seals the deal.
Yngwie Malmsteen
The Swede’s superfast “neo-Classical” style —he credits Bach and Paganini as influences—is a blur of scales and technical precision. It almost makes you forget that the great bulk of his music is so fast that it’s unlistenable.
Uh, if most of his music is unlistenable, then he isn’t a very good guitar player. This isn’t Guitar Hero – you don’t get masturbation points.
I get the Yngwie criticism, but they’re probably basing his inclusion upon his technical ability and influence. Even other egomaniacal guitarists say “WOW!” when Yngwie does his stuff. Yes, he’s a pioneer of Neo-Classical, but more importantly SHRED guitar.
That said, I don’t like his music much at all either. LOL.