10 Rock Guitarists That Are Impossible To Imitate
7. Slash - Guns N Roses
For as much as the hair metal craze might have been fun at the start of the '80s, it tended to look a little soulless as the decade turned a corner. While there were still acts like Dokken and Poison making waves in the scene, the technical chops tended to either favor large scale runs or (in the worst case) trying to cover up for your incompetence on the instrument. Even though the substance might have been lost in the shuffle, the real rock star off of Sunset came in the form of a skinny guy in a top hat.
Whereas Guns N Roses' appeal came largely from the manic energy of Axl Rose, Slash's bluesy feel and defining look almost made him a dual frontman alongside him. We had certainly seen our fair share of blues guitarists up until this point, but Slash was the first one to make his solos sound almost modern, taking the lessons of Jeff Beck and Keith Richards as his blueprint.
Outside of the Guns N Roses mold, Slash has also proven to make his guitar fit in almost any genre that will have him, working with everyone from Bob Dylan to Michael Jackson to Carole King and somehow being the ideal fit on every single track he's on. For as easy it is to get distracted with his look, there's a lot more genius going on underneath that top hat.