With a dime a dozen of guitarists out there today, picking out who’s hot and who’s not can be a bitter-sweet challenge.

One way to overcome this challenge is to use, what I call, the Guitar Hero Effect Test. Basically … what you do is … compare the elements of the new rock guitarist to those of the legendary guitarists … and then … note where there is a similarity … something that matches … a common ground …

The best way to do this is to create and follow a simple method … for instance … you can …

1. Determine who the new rock guitarist’s biggest influences are

2. Find what they share in common with legendary guitarists

3. Then create a list that states the following …

Like … name of legendary guitarist(s) … name of new rock guitarist … list what they have in common

The best way to illustrate this is using an example. Let’s take the new classic rock guitarist LYONS is r.s.p. – rock sensory perception …

You read up on Lyons is r.s.p. and find that he has many influences. These range from the Beatles, to classical composers, to many rock guitar heroes. You decide to focus in on the guitarists.

As you go over the main qualities of the legendary guitarists that have contributed to Lyons’ style you uncover the following … he has definitely capitalized on the experience of his heroes.

You then start to put a list together and it ends up looking something like this …

Like … Stevie Ray Vaughn … Lyons … was deeply inspired by Jimi Hendrix

Like … Carlos Santana … Lyons … is a self-taught guitarist

Like … Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore … Lyons … plays a Strat

Like … Eric Clapton … Lyons … has a great respect for the blues

Like … Eddie van Halen and Alvin Lee … Lyons … is real fast on the guitar

Like … David Gilmour and Jimmy Page … Lyons … plays with intense feeling

Like Robin Trower and many others … Lyons … uses the Marshall Amp

So then comes the big question … is LYONS hot or not?

Considering how much and what he has in common with his guitar heroes … Lyons is definitely hot …

However, what really ends up clinching the deal is … that just like every guitar hero before him … Lyons has learnt from the best and created his own style and sound. Which in my book, conclusively makes him HOT!

He ain’t no copycat! He is unique and definitely HOT!

So next time you are dilly-dallying between who is hot and who is not. Use the Guitar Hero Effects Test. It works every time.

© 2011 Wanda de Liefde