Ritchie Blackmore

highway star solo off made in japan is the best that he ever record solo listen to what he does to that bar at the end of it.I mean really listen to it.

Master of all time. Sensitive and speed.

yea, i know...deep purple...but i like them and think blackmore is pretty good.  plus he's tempermental as shit like any geat artist should be.

Simply the best guitarplayer. Defining the classic heavyrock - combining classic och blues to a own uniqe music.

He is a bit of a c**t there's no denying that. Any one of the many members of Rainbow that he's sacked will  no doubt agree. A bigger minus is that he is Yngwie Malmsteen's greatest inspiration, for which he must rot in the bowels of Hell for eternity. A third negative factor is that bar a few tunes Deep Purple MK 2 & 3 and were in fact quite sh*t, the one noteable plus being Ian Paice's drumming. Granted RB may have technique but I dont detect any soul/feel in his playing. It just goes in one ear and out the other.

Pales in coparison to Bolin.

Some of you guys are fuckin retarded. First of all, ritchie is a great acoustic player. Maybe you should listen to more of his current band, Blackmores Night. Second, he is not "boring," he is one of the greatest fuckin guitarist that ever lived. Also, Tommy Bolin was great, but NO ONE can replace blackmore and his tone. He is one of the most inventive and most influential guitarists.

Greatest improvisor ever. Great riffs, speed & invention

i'm not a big purple fan but i adore rainbow,isn't that weird?fave:man on the silver mountain.

So the guy is a bit of an ass. His talent shows through in Lazy and Highway Star. No other guitarest had that soft touch that grew into rock crescendoes.

Not very popular because of his ego. Also his sound and technique are very one dimensional. BORING!!!!!!

His guitar playing is okay, but what an arrogant asshole! His is so self-praising in all of his interviews that you want to slap him. He is a complete jerk! He has a distinct tone and sound, he sounds like he is always playing on the rhythm pickup of a strat through a plexi Marshall and he gets that "organ" type of guitar sound. Sometimes this fits the bill, sometimes it doesn't. I just don't think that Deep Purple or Rainbow were ever as good as Zeppelin or Black Sabbath or a lot of the other big metal originators.

fukin awsome

you blackmore detractors are clowns, the likes of steve Vai and Ingwe Malamsteen venerate Ritchie Blackmore

listen to highway star by deep purple or stargazer by rainbow and you will see why he is top.

Meathead axeman. And his acoustic playing is just shameful.

Richie Blackmore is awesome! His work with Deep Purple and Rainbow was great. He wrote the most famous riff of all time (the Smoke on the Water intro) and he has inspired many modern guitarists like Yngwie J Malmsteen.

Es un guitarrista con un gra feeling y una tecnica que da miedo... ademas ese cabron ya es un clasico, sino nada más recuerden smoke on the water o black night

Ritchie Blackmore is the world's second greatest guitar player, below only Gilmour. How anyone could say he is overrated or band, I have no idea. He is a god. Greatest Song- Highway Star

i have absolutely no idea who this musician is.

Look at all these Bozo's giving Ritchie one star for that matter three stars or less is ridiculous. Blackmore is so influential not just with Deep Purple but Rainbow. Ritchie is with out a doubt one of the Fathers of Heavy Metal.There must be a lack of respect because Deep Purple should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also. Live Deep Purple was full of energy as I can personally attest to. The Deep Purple catalog is full of outstanding R&R; albums such as "In Rock" "Stormbringer" "Machine Head" and "Who Do We Think We Are" Live Deep Purple has one of the all time classics "Live in Japan"and "Mark III The Final Concerts" is no slouch either.

I'd say Blackmore is below avarage.I always thought he's good but after playing guitar for several years i found him very primitive.

Very poor acoustic ability places him on the lowest level.

Crikes some of you clowns have no idea what you're talking about, Blackmore ain't technically the best guitarist going but he certainly one of the most innovative, he's the guy that pioneered neo-classical style that so many shredders of today favour. On top of that he's a great Blues guitarist check out the Album he did with Muddy waters. He's up there with Page, Beck, Gilmore, May, Howe, Clapton.

Incredibly boring and predictable. Once you have heard one of his lead breaks, you have heard them all. Tommy Bolin was so much better.

'benbonds', you must be on crack son! Blackmore has no 'grace'? Surely you jest! He was THE most stylistic and graceful solo practitioner on the scene back in the Deep Purple and Rainbow days! His tasteful, classical-like technical and emotive soloing was his trademark, and he was one of the original rock guitar gods of his time! A trailblazer who helped pave the way for some of the best 'old school' metal guitarists. Just listen to the incredible playing and soloing in 'Gates Of Babylon'! No one can touch him!

One of the three founders of metal(the other two being jimmy page and tonny iommi), the man is amazing especialy if you look at all the crap that people were writing at the time.

overrated just like deep purple

He's okay but all his lead breaks sound the same. Lacks grace and variation

Ritchie Blackmore is a one of my top 5 guitarist,an undeniably influential but hardly great and innovative guitarist.

While a fine guitarist, he certainly is not a 5-star general. Strictly technically speaking maybe he is worthy of 4 stars, but there are other things in his package (feel, etc) that deserve him a 3 star.

A guitarist who had a very distinctive style, his standing amongst the great guitarists has perhaps fallen somewhat as times and opinions change, but in his heyday with Deep Purple in the 70's few were considered to be greater. Blackmore first made waves as a respected session guitarist and member of several rather minor British bands before becoming one of the founders of Deep Purple in 1968 and later Rainbow in 1975. His versatile abilities and the wide range of styles he's explored encompasses classical guitar, Renaissance music, heavy metal, pop, psychedelia, Eastern sounds, and much more. I do feel that he would sometimes rely too much on the use of the whammy bar, but he's a top notch player by any standard.I think his arrogance and prickly personality may have contributed to the erosion of his regard as a player, he certainly hasn't done himself any favors with former bandmates or the music press over the years.

Miraculously nimble fingered guitar wizard with both Deep Purple and his own Rainbow starting in the late 60's and turning out eye-popping music for over a decade. When Deep Purple reformed in 1984, Blackmore continued to amaze audiences with his speed and dexterity. Why he and his boys have been over-looked by thr R&R; Hall is another astounding mystery. Small, but mighty, I wish he'd get back together with the boys for one more tour.